How does the idea of gaining a wider audience and more followers without doing extra work sound?
Many of today’s marketers love the idea, which is why marketing campaigns have evolved to include the pursuit of content syndication.
Syndication is not the same as guest posting. With syndication, you write a piece of original content and post it on your website then try to get others to post it on their sites as well.
Questions arise involving duplicate content and good search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, but these issues are being solved daily by forward-thinking entrepreneurs.
Does this marketing tactic work? In short, yes. The bottom line is that content syndication can earn you a larger audience as well as more backlinks.
What is Content Syndication?
Content syndication is a process that allows your internet content to take a walk. It is the practice of publishing your original material on other peoples’ web sites.
While this may sound strange at first, the statistics speak for themselves. You can enjoy great success with such a strategy.
New York Times bestselling author James Clear has seen a massive jump in followers using syndication.
Twice a week, he writes a piece of content to publish on his site. About one week later, he focuses on getting this original material published on third-party websites.
He calls this giving his content legs. One of his original pieces that was re-published on Lifehacker earned him 600 new followers.
Write great content to drive traffic to your website then, as part of your content strategy, approach relevant third-party sites about re-publishing your material.
Syndication yields better results than writing guest blog posts on other peoples’ sites. Internet marketing influencer Neil Patel describes syndication as having more scalability, which basically means you get more out of what you already have.
Syndicated content naturally earns you backlinks. In essence, syndication is working smarter, not harder.
However, the process of syndication must be handled smartly and carefully. If not, it could bring you new problems rather than new followers.
Content Syndication and SEO
Some of the biggest problems that could result from syndication are SEO problems. The largest search engine, Google, frowns upon duplicate content. Identical material can cause multiple complications.
- Search engines could choose the wrong web site to rank as your original creation, thus costing you rankings.
- As search engines crawl content, if there is too much duplication without explanation, they might miss your original content.
- Extensive replication of material could weaken your SEO rankings.
If you want to improve your SEO rankings and grow your followers and audience in hopes of earning more sales, create content designed to reach your target audience organically.
However, since syndication yields excellent results without extra work, how can you get around the issue of duplication?
There are ways. One of the most important tools for avoiding problems with replica material is the rel canonical tag. These tags let search engines know which URL is the original master copy of a specific web page.
Tips for Effective Content Syndication
In addition to canonical tags, there are other ways to maximize syndication benefits.
- Advanced Planning—Syndication should be built into your overall content marketing strategy. Define your business goals. Create material of high quality to drive traffic to your website then look for relevant syndication partners and create attention-grabbing pitches.
- Identify Appropriate Syndication Associates—Look for well-liked websites with high SEO rankings that are related to your target audience. You must do the research, but this work pays off.
- Distinguish Your Most Effective Syndication Strategy—There are multiple ways you can syndicate an original piece of content. You can personally approach possible syndication partners. You may also want to consider syndication networks. In some cases, you may want to syndicate a headline only with a link back to your website.
- Use Social Networks—Social media is a great way to get more exposure for your original blog posts and material. Social shares can drive traffic to your web site.
Content syndication is an effective way to make your original copy work harder for you without spending extra time and money.
By working with other website owners to re-publish your material on their sites, you can earn valuable backlinks, stronger SEO rankings, a larger audience, and possibly more business.
With so many benefits, syndication is worth considering as part of your digital content marketing strategy.