Suppose you’re constantly on the lookout for content or merely scrolling through different articles to look for a specific topic. You may have stumbled upon the same article multiple times but on other platforms. Ever wondered why? The phenomenon is known as Content Syndication Marketing.
It’s becoming a vital part of Digital Marketing Strategies, just like optimizing content for Search Intent. And so, if you are looking to boost your content or increase your reachability, here’s everything you may need to know about content syndication or content syndication marketing.
What is Content Syndication?
Content Syndication is the act of reposting an article on multiple third-party platforms. Content Syndication is a strategy to reach untapped audiences primarily. Also, Content Syndication Marketing is a distribution tactic by brands. Thus, Syndication increases eyeball on their content by tapping into other sites’ audiences.
However, don’t confuse Syndication with plagiarism. Content Syndication happens with full awareness and consent of the parties involved.
Content Syndication Marketing offers a win-win situation by giving you, the brand, a chance to find and reach new audiences and allow third-party websites to present quality content to their audiences and increase their readership.
Source: Find Your Influence.
For example, this article on Influencer Marketing published on Find Your Influence is a type of content syndication. The article was initially posted on Pyxl.
You can Syndicate any Digital Content. This includes full articles, infographics, videos, etc. Because of this, your content or bits of it can appear duplicated on multiple platforms. Some might worry about this method as it might lead to getting flagged as spam. However, Google assures and confirms no duplicate penalty for syndicated content.
They understand that this goal was not to manipulate results but rather to reach a larger audience. Therefore, it makes sure that the original content remains as the article that ranks on the pages. Google clusters these duplicates and identifies its primary source through relevant tags.
Although there are cases where Google mistakenly identifies and ranks an original, this rarely happens. To make sure that you avoid this from happening, it would be wise to remember to put backlink references or canonical links back to the original post.
Types of Content Syndication
There are three types of Content Syndication that you can use:
Free Syndication.
This type of Syndication will save you from spending money. Still, it will most likely require you to spend your time looking for publications that are open to partnering with you and are also available for Syndication.
You can search for them using Google and its related keywords such as: “Originally published on…”, “Republished with permission from…” etc. You may also accompany these keywords with the topic you are looking for to find sites that have previously published these types of content.
Once you’ve found these websites, you may reach out to them and ask for a partnership. You can also e-mail them and confirm if they are open for Syndication if you have a site in mind.
Paid Syndication.
If reaching out to these websites doesn’t work for you, you can also choose to use Paid Syndication. This type of Syndication wherein you pay a sum of money to place your content in significant and prominent publications.
Taboola and Outbrain are some of the platforms that do this. They will place links and recommend your content at the end of editorials or articles on notable publications such as CNN, BBC or The Guardian.
Source: Ahrefs.
Own or Self-Syndication.
Another type of Syndication that you can do is by doing it yourself. For example, you can repost your article on other websites that allows you to freely do so, like Medium and LinkedIn.
Source: Towards Data Science.
This article on Committing to Sanity is a self-content syndication example. The author, Zak Jost, posted this article on Towards Data Science through Medium, taken from his original post on his website’s blog post.
How to Syndicate Content
To effectively syndicate content, it is essential to remember that you must:
Create Good Quality Content.
Of course, you should start with valuable content, and you need to hire a decent Content Writer to get it. Then, you need to ensure that the article or content you want to syndicate is as polished as possible. First, it is posted on another website, possibly a significant publication. Also, it becomes visible outside your typical audience. Therefore, you want to capture an audience’s attention so that they will want to search more for your content.
You also have to remember that publications that repost your content do not lack free content, but they need great content, and it is in your best interest to offer them that so that they also want to connect with you again.
Ensure quality posts by planning your content using Content Calendars or different Social Marketing Tools.
Choose the type of Syndication that you will use.
As there are three types of Syndication that you can choose from, you can freely use any of them, but you must consider which one suits your best interest at hand. You can also opt to use more than one simultaneously to further your reach.
Always remember to put reference backlinks and canonical links.
Though this method has been mentioned multiple times, it still needs to be accentuated. For example, putting reference backlinks helps you avoid situations wherein your syndicated posts are mistaken as the original. But, of course, it’s also true for the reversed situation.
Choose the right platform.
Multiple platforms may offer and accept your proposal for Syndication. However, remember that it is vital to choose the right platform. So, the platform should be directly aligned with your goals.
You can use it to enhance your reach. Still, the key to effective content syndication marketing is to make sure that you connect to the right platform to bring you an audience willing to make a purchasing decision.
Other Types of Syndication for different Audiences:
Content Syndication does not limit you to reposting articles alone on another website, but you can also choose to reformat it depending on the audience that you want to reach. For example, suppose you’re going to get an audience’s attention. But, the audience isn’t so interested in reading. In that case, you may consider syndicating your article on podcasts, YouTube Videos, etc.
You may also splinter it into bite-sized information. Then, you can post on social media pages such as Twitter and Instagram. Thus, you provide a direct link to the initially-published content.
Content Syndication Marketing is an excellent opportunity to widen your horizons and offer what you have to your audience to a fresh set of people who may want to consume your content. In the same way, if you accept Syndication from other websites, this also gives your readers new content from what you originally posted and offers them a fresh perspective on your website.
