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How to Syndicate Without Being Duplicate: The 101 On Content Syndication

December 31, 2020September 14, 2015 by Adam Oakley

For those who don’t know, “content syndication” is the act of publishing a piece of writing multiple times in multiple locations. Keep in mind, however, that good content syndication does not mean copying and pasting the same article for use over and over again without any attribution or precautions. Google recognizes the latter as duplicate content and will happily ding your site for this. Instead, syndicating your own work is essentially the same as creating re-runs of your greatest hits and, for writers who publish a lot of blog posts or articles, it can be a great way to get the most bang for your metaphorical buck. Additionally, good syndication practices have the potential to earn you more shares and afford your content a much wider reach. When syndication is done well, it allows a variety of online sources to find and feature your original work, which is a win-win for everyone involved. “But how,” you might ask, “do I syndicate correctly?” While there are many myths about syndicated content flying around, making sure that you are syndicating correctly is an important piece of the syndication process because, as we mentioned earlier, duplicate content is a big no-no in the world of SEO. Let’s find out more about this. What is Content Syndication? As we’ve established, content syndication is when a publisher or writer re-purposes an already-published piece of writing for use on a different platform. It’s a tricky business though, because Google hates duplicate content (as it has made explicitly clear with its recent updates) and will happily ding sites that copy a blog from one platform to another. The reason Google is so tough on duplicate content is easy to understand: the Internet is an information-delivering machine and nobody wants to encounter the same post on every site they visit. Duplicate content doesn’t benefit readers nearly as much as high-quality, original content and, when Google users enter search queries, they expect to see a few million similar but different results pop up, which is impossible in a world of copy-and-paste content. Syndicating content without ticking off Google is a difficult ball game and it is important that writers and publishers take it very seriously. 5 Ways to Syndicate Content Safely Although it’s not fair to say that content syndication is so risky and ill-advised that it shouldn’t be attempted at all, it is fair to say that it should be undertaken cautiously and with a broad knowledge of how to syndicate safely. These tactics will keep you in Google’s good graces while also allowing you to reap the benefits of re-purposed content: 1. Write a Recap One of the easiest ways to syndicate content correctly is to write a recap. Start a blog post by introducing the post you’ve already written as well as the platform on which it was published. Add a few more words, a nice image, a compelling call-to action, a link to the piece and you’re done. This form of syndication is great because it’s simple, amazingly time-efficient, and easy to do. Additionally, linking to the site that features your blog has the potential to boost your SEO ranking and also provides your readers with the opportunity to visit a blog they’re unfamiliar with, thus expanding their horizons as well. 2. Add A rel-canonical Tag If you’re syndicating your own content to a different portal, consider adding a useful little rel-canonical tag to the page that will feature your new article. Keep in mind that the tag in question should always point back to your site’s original article. By doing this, you give Google a way to interpret your syndicated content correctly and help search engines realize that the article is a copy and that you are its original publisher. This prevents you from slipping into the dark world of duplicate content and saves your site from costly SEO dings by the Google Gods. Additionally, all of the subsequent links to your syndicated copy will point back to your original copy, which is good for your site and your visibility. 3. Opt for NoIndex If the rel-canonical tag isn’t up your alley, try the No-Index option. When you syndicate your own content, simply insert a No-Index tag in the article copy. Doing this tells Google that it needs to exclude the syndicated copy from its index but allows linking between the two articles. Keep in mind that this is not the same process as No-Follow, which is an entirely different practice among bloggers. 4. Ensure Balance Once your content marketing strategy begins to tip heavily toward all syndicated content, all the time, you’re in trouble. When Google’s Panda 4.0 was introduced, many sites that favor syndicated content saw a 60% decrease in their organic traffic. That said, it’s wise to ensure that if you are using syndicated content, you’re balancing it well with high-quality, original content. Opt for a 60/40 split, with 60% of your content being original pieces that are updated often. Ensure you’re utilizing proper linking techniques and that your content is garnering good shares. This, combined with other preventative syndication measures, should be enough to keep you in Google’s good graces. 5. Beef Up Syndicated Pieces One of the worst things you can do in pursuit of syndication is copy and paste third-party pieces without adding value to the content. Generally, good writers know that constructing a blog built entirely around third-party pieces that are taken from other sources is a dangerous game. There is, however, a way to do it correctly. By utilizing third party pieces to quote from or to draw fragments from, writers can build authority and synthesize new content. To do this, ensure that the pieces you choose to syndicate were published by a high-quality site and that they are written with flow and comprehension in mind. Additionally, be sure that you are adding some quality to syndicated third-party pieces. Insert your own commentary or pull pieces of the third-party article to beef up your … Read more

Blog Writing Frequency: Do This, Don’t Do That!

December 31, 2020November 22, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Starting a blog and maintaining blog writing these days often stems from the need to generate income. You CAN earn a living using a blog. Whether you’re using a blog to attract visitors to your business website or you’re writing a blog just to gain income off advertisements, getting real traffic is the first and most important thing for success. After all, if you don’t have readers, your blog won’t serve you much of a purpose. Blog Writing By Volume A lot of blog owners ask how frequently they should blog because either they want to know what the bare minimum is for success or because they want to know what threshold they must meet to have a successful blog and maintain blog writing. Whatever the reasons are for you reading this post today, it’s important to know that there’s not a one-size-fits-all answer to how frequently you should post. First Things First Before we jump into your frequency for blog writing, we must cover an important rule for blogging: don’t write poor content just to increase your traffic — it won’t work. Your content is judged by readers and search engines, so even if you’re posting twice a day, crappy content could put you at the bottom of the ranks, especially after the release of Google Hummingbird. Learn more about how that can impact you in this article by Forbes. Good content is something that: Engages the audience Meets the expectations of your audience Teaches your audience something Encourages your audience to come back for more Content is Key Your blog is all about the content — literally. The content you publish on your blog ultimately determines what type of reader you’ll get, if they’ll follow and whether or not they’ll share your content. What makes your blog writing unique stems from a combination of your opinion, expertise, your personal style, and your blog’s overall freshness. The frequency with which you post is also tied into your content. So How Often Should I Post? The amount of blogs you post and how frequently you post them will ultimately determine your traffic volumes. According to a recent study published by HubSpot, organizations who blog 15 times or more per on a monthly basis get up to five times more traffic than organizations that don’t. Companies that increase their blogging frequency have been shown to double their leads too. For a decent amount of traffic, experts recommend at least three to four 500-word blog posts per week. By just blogging one 500-word blog per day 50 to 80 percent of your SEO rankings could be because of that blogging routine. Bottom line, if you want a high-ranking blog using quality blog writing, you’re going to have to post more than once a month or even once a week. Posting frequency is important and how much you should post is based on your ultimate goals. Some good guidelines to follow, according to About.com are: Blog a few times per day for maximum growth. Blog at least once a day for steady growth. Blog two to three times per week for slower growth. Blog once a week for very slow or limited growth. Does Blog Writing More Frequently Attract More Visitors? Absolutely. Blogging on a frequent basis attracts visitors in two ways: Frequent content encourages readers to visit your blog on a daily basis to see what you’re offering. Frequent posting encourages search engines to rank your website higher, which results in higher visitor counts. Every new post is another opportunity for people to stumble across your blog when they input a new search query. How Else Can Posting Frequently Help Me? Posting your blogs and maintaining blog writing on a frequent basis will attract more visitors and encourage people to subscribe to your blog. Also, every time you post a new blog, subscribers will receive a copy of that blog in their email or in their feed reader — giving you more opportunities to encourage them to click and look for more. How Do Images Help? Original subscription and stock photo images can significantly help a blog in two ways: adding visual elements, and another SEO element. If you tag the purchased stock image with your keyword, that’s an original image that can be organically crawled in Google Image Search. If you use blog writing management services, make sure they are optimizing and using an original image with your blog along with writing and posting it. So What Should I Not Do? We’ve covered what you should do with your blog in terms of frequency and we’ve left the door open for you to decide how often you want to blog (based on your blogging goals). But, now it is time to discuss what you should never do when blogging. Once you establish a blogging frequency, stick to it. There is nothing more detrimental to your search engine rank than blogging consistently and then dropping off the radar for a few weeks or months. Google penalizes you for infrequent content and taking a hiatus from your blog might actually force you to start all over in terms of gaining readers, attracting readers and increasing your rank. So, whatever you do, pick a frequency and stick to it. If you’re blogging once a week, do once a week. Got a vacation coming up? Prewrite and schedule your blogs so they still post while you’re on the beach in Tahiti (or wherever you go). If you don’t have the time, consider hiring a professional to do the blog writing and posting for you. You can have your blogs written in batches or submitted daily. In some cases you can even have a company write and submit them for you — so your blog is 100 percent maintained while you focus on operating the core of your business.