Content Syndication: Definition & How It Works

Content syndication is a win-win content marketing strategy. Republishing the same piece of content benefits both content authors (or website owners) and publishers.

Done right, syndicating content complements your entire digital marketing and search engine optimization strategies. Let’s look deeper into what content syndication is and how it works.

What Is Content Syndication?

Content syndication is republishing a piece of existing content on other platforms with clear crediting.

It is a powerful tool for content creators to amplify their reach, build backlinks, and boost their SEO efforts. At the same time, it enables publishers to offer their audiences fresh, quality content, enhancing their platform's value.

There’s no room for plagiarism in content syndication. Content sources are clearly mentioned and linked. You often see wording like: “This story originally appeared in name of website with a link.”

This type of source attribution adds valuable referral links for your off-site SEO optimization. It also notifies users and search engines that a certain republished piece is not an issue of careless copying.

Content syndication applies to any type of content, from article syndication to videos, images, infographics, and more.

Content Syndication & SEO: Good Or Bad?

Many website owners wonder if syndicating content is good or bad for SEO.

Well, the truth is that -if done right- content syndication is a smart SEO practice.

SEO Benefits Of Content Syndication

• Enhances your backlink profile
• Increases referral traffic
• Broadcasts your content to a wider audience
• Helps your online reputation management
• Enhances your overall digital marketing and CRO efforts

But to reap all the benefits of your repeated content, you need to do it right.

How To Syndicate Your Content The Right Way

If PR is not your cup of tea and you choose to outsource, professional content syndication services can help companies reach more prospects and generate quality leads.

From an SEO perspective, when syndicating content, you must pay attention to every little detail and monitor progress and technicalities. Plus, all parties must be clear on the re-publishing terms and conditions.

Here is how to syndicate your content in favor of SEO:

1. Reach Out To Prominent Publishers

Choose respectable sites with a large audience and high rankings. You can also get in touch with smaller, niche-specific sites that host third-party content.

To make it more interesting, you can always give your content a twist and tailor it to each publisher’s audience.

2. Publish Content To Your Website First

This is a no-brainer, but it’s worth mentioning that you should post each piece of content on your own website first. This gives search engines the signal you hold the original version of your syndicated piece.

Once published, you can “force-index” your new content via Google Search Console and spread it around your social media and other forums to give it a good boost.

Remember that when you syndicate content, there’s always the risk that Google will show the version that is considered the most appropriate for each search - not necessarily yours. That’s why you need to use canonical tags.

3. Shield From Duplicate Content Issues

The biggest drawback of syndication for SEO is duplicate content issues. You must let search engines know that you are syndicating on purpose.

To do that, you need to:

Use Canonical Tags

This is the most popular practice to avoid duplicate content penalties. Your syndicating partners should add a canonical tag pointing to your website.

Canonical tags look like this:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://yourwebsite/your-original-url/" />

However, canonicals do not prevent syndicated content from outranking the original source.

As a result, Google recently announced that:

... the canonical link element is not recommended because syndicated articles (in Google News) are often very different in overall content from original articles.

And proposes the “no-index” solution.

Add NoIndex Tag

Channels that republish your content should add a NoIndex robots meta tag to syndicated content:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

This is the best way to avoid duplicate content SEO issues. However, it also prevents audiences outside your reach from seeing your content in SERPs. Tricky, isn’t it?

Ultimately, it seems that there’s always a catch when syndicating content. Still, the pros usually outweigh the cons. And, keep in mind that as search engine bots get smarter, it gets easier to discern syndicated from duplicates.

Ensure Proper Crediting

One thing you must ensure when offering your content to 3rd parties is proper crediting to the source. This includes a notice like ”Originally published in…” and your (brand) name with a link to your website. Plus, a short bio if possible.

This is an additional syndication sign for search engines and users.

Keep On Syndicating

Content syndication works best if you do it regularly. Indeed, finding a reliable syndication partner is time-consuming, so you’ll be much better off arranging a weekly/monthly republishing schedule.

In this way, third-party audiences see your content repeatedly. They start to recognize your brand name and eventually become more interested in what you offer.

Above everything else, though, you must start by setting your syndication goals and building a content syndication strategy.

If done right, content syndication can boost your digital marketing efforts. However, you can also take the middle way, i.e., repurpose your content and spread it around notable websites and platforms.

Content Syndication Vs. Repurposing

Repurposing your content is a great way to spread your message and get extra backlinks with genuine content.

Repurposing allows you to expand your reach and increase your credibility and domain authority without saturating audiences. Plus, you can tailor your ready content to better resonate with specific user groups.

Note that repurposing may result in presenting the same information to the same audience in different ways. Nevertheless, it’s a marketing method that allows you to optimize ROI from a single piece of content and enhance discoverability without duplicate content issues.

No matter what you choose, content syndication and repurposing enhance your brand’s visibility in SERPs and complement your overall marketing strategy.

At Atropos Digital, we help you leverage the potential of your digital content to attract visitors and increase conversions. Combining top SEO with comprehensive CRO services, we optimize your brand’s visibility and ROI. Ready to start? Give us a call.