what is content syndication?
Content syndication is a method by which writings find their way around the ether of the Internet. Specifically, one article that a person writes could appear, with the writer’s permission, on many websites. The key word there is permission, which the writer is supposed to give before a website reprints his or her article. In many cases today, because it is so easy to cut and paste electronically, articles appear in syndication without the requisite author permission.
A content syndication agreement usually involves some form of compensation to the original author. This can be as little as acknowledging the author’s name. It could include the author’s name and website address. The agreement might even include monetary compensation.
A content syndication agreement can be for one article or for many. It can also be an ongoing agreement under which the author or authors agree to provide periodical writings that the website(s) will then publish on a daily or otherwise regular basis. With the explosion of web publishing tools in the past few years, it has become easier and easier for people to publish their writings on the web. Be they articles or reports or blogs or travelogues, these writings are prime candidates for content syndication to certain interested parties.
One very common form of content syndication these days is RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. This RSS is a “feed,” which is a constant source of articles from all over the Net, which are “fed” to websites that subscribe to the feed. Content syndication was never so easy.
The benefit of content syndication to the author can be immense: he or she gets his or her name out there in the cyber sea; and this publicity could lead to contacts, more publicity, and even money. A writer could even be “discovered” through content syndication. The benefit of content syndication to the website publisher is potentially huge as well: it gives him or her a constant source of new material that can be run on the site. With the immediacy of the Internet driving news content these days, it is imperative that websites be updated continually and appear to be fresh and new, even if the content isn’t personally written by the website’s publisher(s).
Types of writings that are part of content syndication agreements include news articles; blogs; political and cultural commentaries; reviews of TV, music, books, and other forms of media; travel pieces; sports scores and stories; stock quotes and analysis; and even full-length songs or movies.
Web content syndication is the next big thing in SEO. Even the Google engineers acknowledge that tweaking your tags and on-page elements is not as important as having good content and a reputation in your community. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a format that allows you to syndicate your web content to other sites or have it read by individuals with a newsreader application- either on their desktop on online.
RSS is fast becoming a mainstream application. Adoption is rocketing and sites using RSS report excellent results: an increase in search ranking, more qualified traffic on the site and even increased sales.
Just as some of the news sites syndicate their headlines, with RSS you can syndicate your web content. Any search engine will only give you a maximum of two results on a search page. If you want to dominate the top half of the search page for your keywords, you have to have your content on more than one site - and that means web content syndication. You can get extra placements in the search engines by having your content on many other sites as articles, press releases, tips or news items.
