Syndication vs Guest Blogging:
Syndication is a term that originates in broadcast television. The idea behind syndication was that if a network had a show that was successful, and had broad appeal, then the network could still generate revenue after their show had run its course by licensing the rights out to other networks.
Content that has wide appeal, and popularity gains extended lifespan by allowing other publications to use this content, with relevant and appropriate citations to the original source. Instead of taking payment for this content, the original content writer simply requests clear citations to the original post as to take advantage of the additional exposure.
Benefits of syndication:
Extended content shelf life
Doubles the utility of your articles (getting in front of more than one audience via reusability)
Gain additional visibility
Many syndicating publications have large followings
Syndication is not to be confused with guest blogging. There are some distinct, yet sometimes hard to miss differences between the two. The differences are:
Guest Posting: creating content for publication on third-party websites. Content is on a single site, and all rights to the content belong to the hosting website.
Syndication: content is on your website and you give other parties permission to post a copy of that content on their site.
The key point of syndication is to only syndicate with sites that share an audience relevant to your business. Bonus points if the syndicating site is authoritative.
Syndicating safely
The big question now is what should you syndicate? And the answer is simple: your best content. This may seem backwards, as you want to retain your best content for your site and your site alone. The
truth of the matter is, with a clear citation on whatever site hosts that content, you will still gain the credibility and develop an authoritative online presence. Building that reputation will have immense value for your business in the long run. With authority comes trust, and with trust comes revenue.
When it comes to syndicating, it’s like keyword packing. Sure, you can slam your blogs full of powerful keywords, gaining hits from every search that contains a particular word or phrase. That won’t benefit you one bit though, and syndication is similar. You want to have enough content out there on other domains linking back to your site to have a consistent presence on multiple platforms (gaining quality backlinks in the process), but you need to “leave some meat on the bone” for visitors to your site. As a rule of thumb, apply the 3-to-1 rule as mentioned above. Try to syndicate one article on another site for every three you publish on your own.
Get credit where credit is due
There are some unscrupulous publishers out there. We’ve all seen them, their websites plastered with ads, and accusations of lack of credibility on other, more prominent sites or on social media. These are what you need to watch out for. When syndicating you want to be sure you request a backlink back to your original post every time. There’s also a couple of other key practices you want to follow below:
Request they include the following code snippet somewhere on the article to tell search engines that yes, the content is copied and your site is the source:
<link rel=“canonical” href=“URL-to-the-content-on-your-site” />
(replace URL-to-the-content-on-your-site with the appropriate URL)
Request that add a NoIndex meta tag to the article as well. This helps ensure you are not penalized by search engines, and your site gains the proper credit for the content.
If the first two options are out of the question, you have two choices.
Don’t syndicate with that site.
Request a direct link back to the syndicated content (not your homepage!)
In all, syndication is a balancing act that requires careful consideration, research and patience to reap the benefits it has to offer. Guest posting can have equal benefits, and potentially more impact when building your online reputation, while syndication can be an easier road to reaching the level of ROI you would hope to see from either of the two. Combining both practices is a sure fire way to solidify your organization as an authority in your industry, build a broader audience and thus increase your business.
