Content syndication vs. guest posting — these two tactics differ but work well when paired together in your content strategy.
SEO is all about putting great content on your website that pleases Google and attracts visitors, right? Wrong. There’s actually more to it, specifically, off-page SEO. Off-page SEO, as the name implies, includes things you do outside of your website to improve your search results.
One of the most popular is link-building, which involves getting links outside your site that send clickers and tappers to your pages. Two other off-page SEO types are content syndication and guest posting.
While both techniques involve resourceful content distribution, there are some key differences between the two. Read on to learn more about what content syndication and guest posting are, their differences, and how they can improve your SEO.
What’s the difference between guest posting vs. content syndication?
Guest posting on blogs is different from content syndication in a few key ways:
- Guest posting involves creating a single, new post on one specific site, while content syndication involves allowing potentially many sites to publish existing content you’ve already created.
- With content syndication, the content starts on your site, and then you give others the right to post it on theirs. Guest posting, on the other hand, involves you handing over all publication rights to the owner of the site you’re blogging for.
Here’s a look at content syndication vs. guest posting and how each technique works.
What is a content syndication solution?
A simple way of thinking about this technique is to divide it into three elements — content syndication: solutions, specialists, and strategy.
The content syndication solution
Content syndication involves taking original content and republishing it on at least one other website. It’s a great way of promoting your content and reaching a wider audience. By republishing your content, you can increase organic traffic because people who read it may be drawn to your site to read more.
Content syndication specialists
Some creators use paid syndication specialists to get their content in front of their target audience. These content syndication services enable you to choose which demographics or buyers you’d like to focus on, and then they create a strategy to get what you create in front of their eyes and ears.
Content syndication strategy
The strategy driving a content campaign centers around first creating strong content that others in your industry may want on their sites. Then, after they agree to syndicate your content, you put a link back to the original piece on your site.
Content syndication example
Suppose you have a law firm and you wrote a blog called “How to Negotiate With Prosecutors for Lighter Sentences.” You realize that this kind of thought leadership content may appeal to other attorneys, so you reach out to several of them and offer to let them post it on their sites.
In this way, you’re driving traffic, particularly because you can also include a link back to the original, which lives on your site.
What are the main advantages of content syndication?
The main advantages of content syndication include:
- Getting your name, brand, product, or services in front of a broader audience. In B2B content syndication, for example, you can position links to specific pages on your site, driving organic traffic.
- Boosting your website authority. The more pages that link to your site, the higher its authority.
- More leads. One reason why content syndication is a strong off-page strategy is that it exposes your offering to the clientele of the sites your content is living on. This can result in more high-quality leads.
What is guest posting?
Guest posting involves writing an article or blog for another person’s site. The site or business owner either reaches out to you or accepts your request to write a post they feel suits their content marketing strategy. You then write the blog, and it gets posted on their site.
Some people also engage in what amounts to black hat guest posting, where they post content and links back to their site in the comments section of someone else. It’s better, however, to keep things above board and get explicit permission whenever you post any content that includes a link to your site.
What is the process of guest posting?
Guest posting typically happens in a couple of different ways: You ask someone if you can create a post for their site, or someone else asks you to write a blog for one of their pages.
For example, if you’ve written a blog about internet of things (IoT) devices in healthcare and an IoT producer reads and likes it, they may ask you to write a guest blog on their site. To promote their offering, they could ask you to slap a call to action (CTA) at the end that features one of their products.
At the same time, as a specialist in healthcare IoT devices, you could also look for producers and service providers who may value your content on their sites. After checking a few examples, they may agree — and even pay you for your services.
What is the ideal frequency of guest posting?
The ideal number of guest posts over a given time period will vary depending on your marketing strategy, but a good place to start is between one to five posts per month. This way, you don’t over-extend yourself, spending too much time crafting posts for other sites, but you also maintain a regular schedule of off-page content creation.
Can I publish my single original content on multiple blogs?
Yes, you can publish a single piece of original content on multiple blogs using content syndication because you have the rights to the content. While some may want to ensure they have no duplicate content issues, having your content duplicated on multiple sites doesn’t hurt your reputation.
To ensure there’s no confusion, you can ask the syndicating site to include a simple statement clarifying where it came from, such as: “This blog originally appeared on [the name of your site and a link to it].”
Now that you know the differences between content syndication vs. guest posting, you can use both to supercharge your strategy for maximum results.
Maximize your content syndication and guest posting with ClearVoice
If, like many business owners, you don’t have the time to map out your off-page SEO strategy and create the content needed to implement it, you can outsource your content creation to ClearVoice.
With experienced content creators and strategists, ClearVoice has the resources and knowledge to maximize your SEO. Learn more by connecting with ClearVoice today.
