Third Party Content Syndication Process

The purpose of this article is to clearly define what constitutes third-party content syndication and provide an overview of the steps of the third-party content syndication process.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Definition 
Existing Third-Party Collaboration 
What to Syndicate 
Cautions/Things to Be Wary of 
Tips to Generate Success 
WorkFront

Definition

Content syndication is the process of republishing existing online content on to other sites. Most commonly, websites are made available to provide either summaries or full renditions of a website's recently added or most popular content pieces. The primary benefit of content syndication is to reach a larger audience through the third-party website and try to direct that traffic to your website.  

Third-party content syndication is slightly more specific. Your existing content will be republished by a third-party vendor who is paid to utilize their existing relationships and processes to maximize the effectiveness of syndication. These third-party vendors typically operate on a cost-per-lead (CPL) model – charging you for each lead they deliver you through the content being syndicated. Other models include paying for a yearly subscription, paying cost-per-click model, or paying for membership that promotes your content via newsletters etc. and provides you a list of contacts.  You need to have a solid strategy for content syndication in place. Talk through your prospects digital journey with your inbound marketer and third-party vendor to understand the best method for conversion.

Before you move forward with a content syndication campaign, you need to have a clear goal, objective and strategy in place. Talk through your prospects digital journey with your inbound marketer and third-party vendor to understand the best method for conversion and which assets to use.  

Below are the main methods for using content syndication. Which path you choose will be dependent on your target audience, content selected, and overall objective of the campaign:

• Republish on websites with more followers, authority, and recognition than our own.
• Syndicate content to a smaller, more focused publication(s) that has existing engagement with your target audience(s).
• Write a guest post on a larger publication, then later publish on our website, Medium, or LinkedIn.
• Get picked up by sites that specialize in publishing syndicated content like Quora. 

Remember, syndicated content clearly needs to specify where the original post was published with a statement like “Published originally on websitename on date”. Make sure your third-party vendor is mentioning this and is adding backlinks to the original piece. This is critical as any content without a statement like this will be considered duplicate content and can negatively affect our SEO authority with search engines. 

Difference Between PPC & Content Syndication

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising works by bidding on pre-vetted keywords associated with the content you want to promote and displaying your ad at or near the top of a search engine results page (SERP). Instead of earning traffic through organic (or free) sources – such as email, social media, SEO, content, etc., you pay the advertising platform (i.e. Google) each time a user clicks on the ad and goes to your site.  

Third-party content syndication works a lot like PPC. You set a budget and the spend allows you to place your content in prominent places. But there are a few differences.

The most obvious difference is that your content is not found in search results. Instead, it will show up on sites like CNN, Forbes, People, ESPN, or other networks/publications where your audience engages with content. Often the content will be displayed in the sidebar or footer of these sites, but it can also be featured as a full or abbreviated article.

Second, PPC ads appear clearly as ads. Most people know that the first couple of links in a Google SERP are ads and, if they don’t, they are clearly labeled as such. Syndicated content blends in with the content around it more naturally, so visitors don’t necessarily know that they’re being taken to third-party sites when they click on them.  

Because PPC ads are based on keywords, the audience clicking on the ads was likely already searching for something related to the content you are promoting. Syndicated content is based on audience, meaning that the audience might not be directly looking for the content you are promoting. In theory, this means that the traffic that comes through syndicated content is generated by someone who has clicked on a piece of content that piqued their interest in the topic.

Lastly, PPC campaigns can direct traffic to a variety of content types (landing or sales pages, articles, videos, or pretty much anything else with a web address). Content syndication is designed simply to amplify existing pieces of content. 

Existing Third-Party Collaboration

Here are a couple of syndication platforms/partners that Armanino is currently utilizing:  

•     Infuse Media (third-party vendor who disperses content on targeted smaller sites)
•    Manufacturing.net
•    Construction Wire
•    Taboola (vetting)
•    Outbrain (vetting)
•    DemandScience (vetting)

What to Syndicate

When syndicating content, it’s a good idea to choose an already high-performing content piece. When a piece of content has earned you a high number of conversions, quality leads, page views or email subscribers, there’s a good chance it’s going to work with new audiences as well.  

Here are some of the most common types of content that work well for content syndication:

•     Whitepapers or eBooks
•    Checklists
•    On Demand Webinars
•    Infographics
•    Articles
•    Videos 

Caution and Things to Be Wary Of

Content syndication is a great strategy to get net new prospects and can often produce tangible ROI. However, like with most things, there are pitfalls along the way that can lead to undesirable results. 

Improper Duplication of Content Affects SEO Rankings

Google describes duplicate content as “substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar” (Source). The reason why Google doesn’t allow this is because its algorithm is focused on providing true value to users based on their search intent as opposed to just creating and index content based on keywords. However, you can work around this rule if the content is cited properly as mentioned above.  

Further, when you don’t cite content properly, Google will only show one of the URLs where the duplicate content is found alongside other results with other, more unique content written about the searched topic. The ranking for the “duplicate” URLs will suffer - including the site where the content was originally published. If Google suspects that content has been duplicated maliciously, they may remove all concerned URLs from their search index and the links to the content will not appear at all.

Content That Doesn’t Add Value

People are put off when they click on a link, only to bounce off the page after a few seconds of reading because the content doesn’t add any value to them. What’s worse, the more this happens with a brand, the more the audience begins to associate that brand with giving irrelevant and empty information. To avoid this, make sure when selecting content for syndication, you are using assets that provide the audience with valuable insights on how to solve a pain point they have.

Here are some other things to consider before implementing a content syndication strategy

• Brand awareness– Since the audience isn’t downloading or engaging with content directly on our website, they may not be familiar with our brand or service.
• Timing is crucial – If contacts are engaging with the content, it’s important to nurture the lead further around the topic in a timely manner. We want to maintain their focus and provide plenty of opportunities for conversion when a contact is ready to take the next step
• Spam sites and vendors – You will waste budget without doing your due diligence. It is important to vet content syndication sites and third-party vendors to make sure we are not appearing on poor quality publications.
• Lead quality – In any lead generation initiative there is the potential for poor lead quality. Further nurturing leads to uncover more information about them and to generate intent signals before the handoff to sales will help to validate the quality of the leads.

Tips to Generate Success

• Check with the Inbound Team to analyze and properly vet any new third-party syndication site or vendor.
• Avoid duplicate content penalties on our website by clearly linking to the original post when syndicating content.  
• Expect to wait at least 2 months from the publish date before syndicating a piece of content to give the search engine enough time to identify the original post.
• Create higher-level offers/headlines and call to actions – see example above

WorkFront

The request is made under Request/New Request/Marketing Project Request/Things Found on the Web.  The content syndication template will be applied.