Content syndication refers to the practice of having your content published across multiple websites and platforms beyond just your own. This allows you to leverage existing high-domain-authority publishers to increase the reach, visibility and exposure for your content. In this article we will also learn to syndicate your guest posts.
Benefits of Content Syndication
There are many benefits of utilising a content syndication strategy including:
Increased Domain Authority
Publishing on authoritative sites passes link equity and “domain juice” to your own site over time, boosting rankings. Putting content on premium domains gives a boost to your own domain authority.
More Referral Traffic
Your syndicated content acts as a gateway to introduce new readers to your site who can then browse more of your content. Readers who find your articles on other sites can click back to your site for more content.
Improved Brand Visibility
Putting your content, and therefore your brand, in front of more engaged audiences aids brand building efforts. Wider content distribution strengthens brand recognition and loyalty.
Expanded Reach and Readership
Leveraging the existing audiences of other sites exposes your content to more readers. Reaching the already built-in readership of publishing sites grows your audience.
Backlink Opportunities
Sites your content gets syndicated on can include backlinks pointing back to your site which aid SEO efforts. In addition to more eyeballs, syndication provides quality link building chances.
Paid Content Syndication allows you to precisely target relevant audiences if you select syndication sites carefully. But there are also free syndication opportunities like guest posting.
Content Syndication Best Practices
To maximise the impact of your syndication efforts, here are some tips:
- Choose syndication publishers whose audiences align closely to your target readers
Carefully vet publishers to find ones catering to your ideal reader persona. Place content where it will resonate most. - Ensure syndicated content is high-quality and relevant, not overly self-promotional
Provide genuinely useful, engaging content fitted to the publisher’s audience without aggressive self-promotion. - Include backlinks to your website within the syndicated content where applicable
Naturally incorporate one or two relevant backlinks connecting key points to supporting content on your site. - Share the content across your own social media channels to boost visibility
Amplify reach by posting syndicated content across your social profiles. - Repurpose and expand on the syndicated content back on your own site
Build on the content by creating a more comprehensive version with additional info for your site.
Evaluating Content Syndication Opportunities
Not all content syndication opportunities provide equal value. Before investing time into syndicating your content, evaluate potential publisher partners on key criteria:
- Relevance of the publisher’s audience to your target readers
- Authority and influence of the publisher in your niche
- The typical traffic and engagement the publisher receives
- Links back to your site allowed within syndicated pieces
- Reach of the publisher’s social media channels
Checking these factors will help focus your efforts on the syndication opportunities likely to make the biggest impact.
Promoting Your Syndicated Content
Getting your content on reputable industry sites is a great first step, but you need to maximise visibility for the content to get results.
Promotional tactics like:
- Social shares
- Link inserts in other website content
- Mentions in email newsletters and promotions
- Increased on-page optimization
Can all help more readers discover your syndicated articles. Don’t leave it up to the publisher alone to promote the content. Proactively boost visibility any way you can.
Tracking Content Syndication Results
To continually refine your syndication approach, closely track performance metrics like:
- Referral traffic generated
- Backlinks obtained
- Social shares and engagement
- Overall reach and impressions
This quantifiable data will reveal your highest value publisher partners to continue working with. It will also spotlight any weak points to improve upon going forward. Actively monitoring analytics will enable you to continually optimise who you choose to syndicate with and the content you push out.
Repurposing Syndicated Content
One effective way to maximise your syndication efforts is to repurpose the content for your own site. You can take the article from an external publisher and build on it by:
- Creating a more in-depth version with additional tips, stats, examples etc.
- Turning key points into a sequence based blog series
- Using parts of the content in a new infographic, checklist or guide
- Expanding insights into a Slideshare or video presentation
- Developing a podcast discussion about the main ideas
Repurposing shows readers you offer valuable knowledge not just syndication. It positions your site as an authority on the topic. You essentially get to double dip with content that has already been tested and optimised based on initial engagement and feedback.
Syndicate Your Guest Posts
Guest posting remains one of the best link building tactics and is essentially free content syndication. By publishing posts on relevant blogs in your niche, you can gain backlinks, referral traffic and exposure.
Identify possible guest posting opportunities by reaching out to site owners in your industry. Offer to provide an insightful, entertaining or thought-leading article on a topic their audience would appreciate. With persistence and great content, you can land some influential guest post spots.
Conclusion
Content syndication, both paid and organic, should be a key part of any modern content marketing strategy. Benefits of content syndication by doing right, syndicating your best content across multiple platforms beyond just your own can yield huge dividends – from improved domain authority to increased referral traffic and exponentially expanded reach. By sticking to best practices, thoroughly tracking performance, optimizing based on analytics, and repurposing top content, you can maximize the value of syndication efforts for your brand over the long haul.
