Content Syndication, Distribution, & Contribution

Updated June 17, 2022

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Content is anything and everything that adds value to a searcher. This could be in the form of a blog post, a video, a podcast, or even a hilarious meme. It is essential for businesses because it is one of the tools that can drive traffic and conversions to your site. 

In addition, content helps your site rank on Google and other search engines. But, simply creating content is not enough. Creating and publishing content will attract leads and prospects, but these will not immediately convert to a sale.

To see results, you need to have a well-thought-out content strategy.

A content strategy is the process of planning, creating, distributing, and managing content to achieve specific business objectives, and your plan should include the following:

• Your goals for the content you create
• The topics you will cover
• The format of the content you will create
• The frequency with which you will publish new content

Creating a content strategy ensures that everyone on your team is on the same page and working towards common goals. It also allows you to track your progress and see how you perform.

When developing a content strategy, identifying your target audience is an excellent place to start. Once you know who you’re trying to reach, you can begin to create topics that will resonate with them.

Once you familiarize yourself with your target audience and the topics they care about, it’s time to start creating! This is where things like blog posts, infographics, videos, and other pieces of content come into play.

Now, what comes after the content is created? It would help if you decided what to do with it, and that’s where content syndication, contribution, and distribution come in.

Syndication, Contribution & Distribution: What’s the Difference?

All three content strategies can help you reach your business goals. Still, it’s important to understand the difference between them to decide which one is right for you since they have advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take an in-depth look at each one.

1. Content Syndication

Content syndication is the process of republishing your content on other sites. This exposes your content to new audiences and can help you build authority and backlinks. The idea behind syndication is to increase the reach of your content and get it to as many people as possible.

It’s preferred by most since it’s cost-effective, helps you boost brand awareness, and improves SEO performance. But, duplicate content can outrank your site because the syndicated page has higher authority. This is not good since Google does not like duplicate content and could lower your ranking. There are ways to avoid the double content hit, like not indexing one of the listings.

2. Content Contribution

This strategy is used to write a guest post on another site or serve as a regular article contributor to an industry publication. Content contribution helps to get your name and business out there (building E-A-T) and build relationships with other thought leaders in your field.

Like content syndication, making content contributions can help improve brand awareness and boost your site’s SEO. In addition, it’s also important to make sure that you’re contributing to high-quality sites that will give you a backlink. Otherwise, there’s no point in doing it.

One example of content contribution is submitting your articles to sites like Medium or Forbes. These two are high-authority sites with millions of monthly visitors; however, before your content is approved and posted on the site, you must register or sign up for a membership.

3. Content Distribution

This is the process of making your content available on multiple platforms. This could include social media, email marketing, or even paid advertising. The main advantage of content distribution is that it helps you reach new audiences that might not have found you otherwise.

When you distribute your content, you’re giving other people or organizations the right to use it however they see fit. They can edit it, change it, or even republish it without your permission.

In addition, there are several disadvantages, such as finding the right niche, platform, or network to distribute your content to and knowing if it’s worth the price since some of them require a membership fee.

Another disadvantage of content distribution is quite limited since you have no direct link with the customers.

Platforms for Promoting your Content

Contributing content doesn’t just happen on your website. There are actually plenty of distribution channels out there where you can get your brand’s message across.

Free platforms like Medium have 100 million monthly active users, catering to all sorts of topics like B2B marketing, startups, and entrepreneurship, to name a few. You may even own a LinkedIn account for your company and these days everyone is on it. Here, you’re free to share your posts on your profile or leave helpful comments on posts and link them back to a relevant article you’ve published. If you’re willing to spend on your content, membership platforms like Entrepreneur.com help narrow down your audience to business professionals & company owners.

Content Syndication Formats

There are several content syndication formats, and each one has its advantages and disadvantages that you should consider before deciding which one is right for you.

• Blogging

Anyone can do it, and there is no need for expensive equipment. You can write an article about any topic imaginable anywhere at any time. But, it requires consistent effort since it takes time to build an audience.

• Images & Infographics

The majority of the people now are visual learners, and images and infographics are a mixture of elements such as words and icons that can quickly communicate complex information. You can repurpose these materials for other content formats. But, creating images and infographics can be time-consuming to develop since it requires design skills.

• Music (Podcasts) and Video (Webinars & Interviews)

We’ve already mentioned that the majority of the people now are visual learners; thus, more people are likely to watch a video than read an article. These are all engaging and entertaining. In addition, music and video are versatile since you can repurpose them for other content formats. However, these two require expensive equipment and software, which can be time-consuming to produce.

• eBooks

These are great long-form content, and they are packed with a lot of information, making them an excellent tool for building trust and credibility. But just like the previous formats, eBooks take time to write and design because they need to be well-researched and well-written.

• Case Studies & Success Stories

These can tangibly showcase your work and are a great way to build trust with potential clients. In addition, they can be repurposed as blog posts or social media content.

Content Distribution Tools

Various content distribution tools help you get your content in front of as many people as possible. These tools include the following:

• AddThis – A free tool that allows you to share your content on social media with just one click.

• Click To Tweet – A free tool that allows you to create tweets that people can share with one click.

• SumoMe – Another free tool that allows you to share your social media and email content.

• Hubspot Schedule Tool – A paid tool that allows you to schedule and publish your content on multiple platforms at once.

• GaggleAMP – Another paid tool that allows you to amplify your content on social media.

Choosing the right content distribution tool will depend on your budget, time, and goals. If you want to save time, consider using a paid tool like Hubspot Schedule Tool. 

But, if your goal is to save money, consider using a free tool like AddThis or ClickToTweet or if you like to reach as many people as possible, consider using a paid tool like GaggleAMP.

Google Guidelines Concerning Syndication & Distribution

In Google’s eyes, content syndication and distribution are legal; however, large-scale publishing, duplicating content, and cannibalization are grounds for penalties.

“I mean if it’s a guest post, then it’s a guest post. And our guidance for links and guest posts is that they should be nofollow. So if you’re writing these guest posts to drive awareness to your business, I think that’s perfectly fine.

From John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst

Content syndication and distribution are a great way to reach new audiences and promote your content to make everything successful. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Make sure the content you’re syndicating is high-quality and original.
• Do not duplicate content.
• If you syndicate your content, make sure to do that with sites that have a good reputation and that the site you are syndicating to is relevant to your audience.
• Make sure that each piece links back to your site if you distribute your content.
• Don’t cannibalize your content by ranking several pieces for the same keyword.

Content Strategy FAQs

• Is content syndication good for SEO?

Yes, content syndication can be good for SEO if done correctly. It can help provide valuable backlinks (from follow links within the article) that can improve the domain reputation of your site. This will eventually help improve your SEO by increasing your organic reach and getting your content in front of new audiences.  However, it’s crucial to ensure that your syndicating content is high-quality and original. You also want to avoid duplicating content or cannibalizing your own by ranking several pieces for the same keyword.

• What does a content distribution manager do?

A content distribution manager is responsible for planning, executing, and measuring the success of a content distribution strategy. They collaborate with various stakeholders to help amplify the reach of an organization’s content and ensure its success.

• How do you avoid duplicate content with syndicated content?

If you allow other sites to republish your content, ask them to link each piece back to your site with the correct anchor text. You may also request them to use the rel-tag or the noindex tag to prevent duplicate content issues caused by the republishing.