In this article, you will learn what is content syndication in marketing and how does it work?
You've worked hard to create quality content. You've posted it on your blog, and on your social media platforms, and you've made sure it's optimized for search engines.
But the number of views and followers isn't where you'd like them to be.
If it makes you feel better, know that getting traffic is actually a common problem for most marketers. And while there are many ways to increase those numbers, content syndication stands out for its cost-effectiveness, ability to build brand awareness, and improve SEO performance.
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What is Content Syndication in Marketing
Content syndication consists of republishing the same piece of content -- an article, a video, an infographic, etc.-- on one or more different websites. Publications large and small love syndicating content because it allows them to provide fresh information to their readers. Original authors also benefit from this practice, which allows their brand to reach a new audience. It's a win-win situation.
It's important to note that, while it may sound similar, content syndication is not the same as guest blogging. A guest post is entirely new content written specifically for a publication. Content syndication is literally taking the same content and republishing it, with permission, on other platforms. This is very important, not only to credit the original author but also to avoid problems of duplicate content.
The biggest advantage of content syndication over guest posting is that content syndication is scalable. Basically, you just write a blog post and publish it on your blog. You can then syndicate that article to other blogs or syndication platforms. Reposting lets you leverage the same content multiple times.
Guest posts, on the other hand, are not scalable. Once you've written a guest post for a popular blog in your niche, the post will stay there. However, you won't be able to republish it elsewhere. So content syndication is more scalable than guest posting.
Benefits of Content Syndication
There are many ways you and your business can benefit from content syndication. Here are 6 of the most effective reasons businesses turn to content syndication for organic marketing:
1- Build brand awareness
One of the most beneficial aspects of content syndication is the ability to create a brand for your website or reaffirm the brand you already have.
Providing niche content on third-party websites increases credibility by establishing a business in a particular industry and republishing the content on other websites.
2- Encourages traffic to the original article
Content syndication facilitates traffic back to the original source, as the newly published content is usually a summary of the full article accessible on the original publisher's website.
It also increases the lifespan of your content, helping it create value over a longer period of time. As a result, your brand gains visibility and you get more relevant traffic to your website.
3- Generate leads
Content syndication helps the original content creator and the republishing site save time.
For content creators, it provides more engagement and benefits from the same article than they get from other original content on the website. And creating the article will likely take more time and effort.
For third-party sites, content syndication saves valuable time by creating your own content and instead directing traffic by consistently publishing a combination of original and republished content on the site.
4- Creates more backlinks
Backlinks are links from one website to another. The more backlinks you get, the more highly you rank in search engines.
The foundation of content syndication requires users to set up legitimate links that point to the original post and web pages.
The more backlinks to the original website, the more trustworthiness the search engine gives it. As a result, your website appears frequently in search engine results, which increases the potential for organic traffic.
5- Is cost-effective
Content syndication is a very cost-effective way to generate a large number of related leads. Once expectations are managed and the follow-up process is done, even automated content syndication will feed the pipeline and generate leads that will keep the sales team busy and happy.
Even if you pay, there are many ways to generate leads and attract more prospects into your marketing funnel. There is also a benefit to third-party vendors as they can get free content for their websites.
6- Allows you to reach a wider audience
Content syndication offers users the opportunity to connect with a wider audience than they can reach on a niche site. This can be done by republishing content on a larger website with a wider variety of topics and a larger traffic pool.
This is also useful for companies that want to expand their business to multiple industries, products, or services.
Does Syndicated Content Hurt SEO?
Content syndication is useful to increase the exposure of a particular piece of content. In addition to increased brand awareness, syndicated content is a valuable tool for driving organic traffic back to the company's website.
While syndicated content can be a great content marketing strategy, it comes with SEO risks. Content syndication, when used carefully, can be very beneficial and does not negatively impact SEO. But there is a fine line between syndicated content and duplicate content that marketers need to be aware of.
How Does Content Syndication Work?
There are 4 main ways to syndicate your content for free:
1- Republish your most recent or best-performing content to larger websites with more readers and more authority than your own. By syndicating your content to a larger publication, you increase your reach. However, because readers can consume the entire content directly on the third-party website, they have little incentive to visit the original source. Thus, only a small percentage of readers will visit your website. That said, if your main goal is to increase brand awareness, syndication on major publications is the best solution.
2- Syndicate your old content to websites that have roughly the same audience and authority as yours. If you want to focus more on a niche audience, you should consider syndicating content to smaller, more targeted publications. Ideally, look for publications with similar authority and readership to your blog. They can also allow more contextual links so you can reference your blog in the article. This is a great way for their readers to discover more content on your blog and generate new leads.
3- Publish an article on a larger publication (Medium or LinkedIn) and then syndicate it to your website. Sometimes it's worth publishing on a larger site first, as they may only be interested in fresh, original content. This gives you the advantage of getting your thought leadership out to a wide audience that wouldn't have had access to your content otherwise. After a certain amount of time, depending on the publication, you are free to republish this article to your audience and social channels.
4- Get picked up by websites that naturally syndicate content. If you take the title of a recent article from a major publication and type it into Google, you will see that it has been picked up by many smaller publications. These publications usually publish an excerpt from the original article and link back to the source.
Finally, give other publications a reason to syndicate your content, either fully or partially. For example, include graphics, infographics, or charts that can easily be picked up and syndicated.
FAQs About Syndicated Content
Is content syndication bad?
Content syndication can be a great way to drive traffic to your website, get exposure and maybe even improve your rankings. But, on the other hand, it can also be devastating, if misused. The main concern with syndication is duplicate content.
What is content syndication lead generation?
This is a marketing tactic that involves distributing content you've published on your digital assets to be republished on third-party websites.
Is content syndication legal?
This is legal. The only difference is that syndicated content can be found on multiple websites, article directories, and others. Guest posts, however, also provide you with backlinks, but the content must be - in most cases - unique to a specific website.
What are content syndication examples?
Content syndication is the republishing of web content on a third-party website. Any type of digital content can be syndicated, including blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, and more. It is a kind of barter agreement. The third-party website receives free, relevant content.
Content Syndication Summary
Content syndication is the perfect way to expand your reach. If you avoid the trap of duplicate content and always target relevant sites, syndication can bring more customers to your site without costing you a cent. With so many companies competing in the marketplace, having your content on multiple sites can give you a real competitive advantage.
With affiliate sites, it's not just about keeping up with your competitors, it's about trying to get ahead of them. And with the growth of online learning, content syndication can be a way to attract new students.
Businesses and customers are increasingly tech-savvy. Customers can access your platforms from multiple devices, so when your content is spread across multiple sites, you're more likely to match their preferences.
