If you create content for your website, you’ll always be looking for ways to expand its reach and engagement with new audiences – especially in an AI era, where creating ‘generic’ content and expecting it to perform is no longer enough.
If you feel that you aren’t getting enough out of your content strategy and are looking for some additional inspiration, then our expert content team will help to ensure your “Content is king”. Get in touch today!
In the meantime, let’s discuss a powerful strategy called ‘Content Syndication’ that could aid you in getting better value from your content creation.
Content Syndication is the process of republishing your existing content on other websites/platforms. This could be in the form of videos, infographics, articles, and more.
Essentially, it provides you with the opportunity to expand your content reach by featuring on external platforms.
There are three main types of Content Syndication which we will discuss in more detail below:
Paid Content Syndication is the process of paying third parties to publish your content on their platforms. This is often indicated by a sponsored post/content disclaimer, which allows you to promote your content in front of high-traffic, relevant sites.
Free Content Syndication allows you to distribute your content across other platforms for free. Common examples include guest posting on third-party sites or using LinkedIn to repurpose and share your content.
Owned Syndication is the process of reworking your content across your own channels. This could involve sharing your content across newsletters, publishing on a company’s social media platforms, or uploading videos to a YouTube channel.
A common issue with Content Syndication is duplicate content issues. In some instances, Google may decide to rank a duplicate version of your content, especially if it features on a more authoritative domain than your own. This will result in the majority of traffic being sent to other pages rather than yours.
To combat this, you’ll need to ensure third-party sites include a canonical tag that points back to the original content so Google knows which page to rank.
An example of a canonical tag can be seen below:
<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.exampledomain.com/original-content-version/” />
Now that we know what Content Syndication is, let’s take a look at some of the benefits you could receive by adopting this content engagement strategy.
SEO backlink strength
The first benefit by publishing your content on other websites is the backlink strength you’ll receive from them referencing your work.
Over time, acquiring backlinks from authoritative sources will help strengthen your domain authority, improve your online visibility, and ultimately determine how well your content performs in the SERPs. Essentially, a backlink will act as a ‘vote of confidence’ to Google, helping it to outrank similar content on the web.
Also, creating different types of content that feature on a range of unique domains will help to diversify your backlink profile and gain links that your competitors don’t have.
Finally, if you manage to land a publication on an authoritative domain such as Forbes, other publishers are also likely to link back to the original source as they will assume it’s trustworthy and of a particular high quality.
Brand engagement
The second benefit of Content Syndication is improved brand engagement. Publishing your content on other websites will allow you to reach new audiences you simply wouldn’t reach by just posting the content on your own domain. The benefit is even greater if the other domain has a larger online presence too!
As well as this, diversifying where your content is featured, such as newsletters or social media, can help you tap into a more engaged audience.
By bringing new audiences from other platforms, you’ll likely attract qualified traffic that is open to learning more about you; therefore, it’s essential that when a user lands on your page, you can take advantage of that traffic.
Expanding your investment in content creation
An obvious benefit of Content Syndication is that you are getting more value out of your content than simply posting it on one platform.
Content Syndication essentially allows you to improve your content’s lifespan and exposure without the need to create additional content that would require more resources and time.
Brand credibility
Content Syndication is a great way to boost your brand’s credibility. If a user is constantly seeing your brand featured on third-party platforms, it’ll help to improve brand recall and trustworthiness.
Also, being featured on authoritative external platforms that only reference credible sources is a strong indication to any customer that you are a ‘thought leader’ within your industry that’s known for producing high-quality content.
Partnership opportunities
Content Syndication could give you an opportunity to form potential partnerships with other third-party platforms.
If you know a brand is sharing your content, it gives you a reason to reach out and discuss future collaboration opportunities, broadening your network of contacts.
Improved audience growth
Sharing your content on third-party platforms can provide you with additional opportunities to grow your audience, especially if the other platform has an engaged audience or your specific content piece performs particularly well.
As previously mentioned, whilst gaining a larger audience or volume of traffic to your content is useful, it’s what you do with that traffic that is important. You need to ensure the traffic is meaningful and benefits the long-term goals of your content.
Content repurposing opportunities
Content Syndication allows you to repurpose your content into different formats, whether it’s designed for a newsletter, infographic, or LinkedIn article, allowing you to get more out of the original work.
Additionally, publishing content in multiple formats allows you to monitor how each version performs across different platforms. This provides valuable insight into which repurposed formats resonate most with your audience and where they generate the best engagement. This data will help you make more informed Content Syndication decisions, improving your future content ROI.
By now you should be familiar with what Content Syndication is, the different types and the many benefits it can provide.
If you feel that you need help improving your content so that it’s shareable with other third-party platforms, please get in touch with our content team to learn more!
