One of the hardest parts of running a WordPress blog is being able to create enough content to keep your audience consistently engaged. Itβs easy enough for a fledgling website with few visitors, but it becomes exponentially harder as your website grows.
Content syndication is a simple way to fill your blogβs schedule without having to write articles yourself or pay someone else to do it. In short, you take content you can use for free (legally) and you republish it on your blog while making proper attributions. For this article, weβll talk more about what content syndication is, how the process works, and teach you two ways to implement it in WordPress.
Letβs get to work!
When you make your blogβs contents available for republishing on other websites, youβre syndicating it. More importantly, syndicating your content still enables you to retain ownership of it and get links back to your website.
Content syndication also includes taking articles others have made available for syndication and publishing them on your blog.Β Using third-party content on your website might seem like a bad idea, but there are plenty of upsides to it:
- It enables you to pad out your content schedule. The more articles you have available for publication, the more in advance you can plan your blogβs calendar.
- You provide your readers with more blog posts they can enjoy. Pulling from syndicated content provides you with a wealth of pieces you can choose from. Thereβs so much content available, finding articles your audience will be interested in shouldnβt be hard.
- Itβs legal. Thereβs a difference between copying a blog post without permission and pulling syndicated content β the latter is legal.
Even if itβs legal to publish syndicated articles, youβll still need to provide proper attribution to their authors, just as you would with stock images. In many ways, syndicating content for your blog is much like opening it to guest posting. The only difference is syndicated content can make it onto multiple websites, article directories, and more. Guest posts, on the other hand, also provide you with backlinks, but the content needs to be β in most cases β unique to a specific website.
Syndicating pre-published content onto your blog is an efficient way to make a name for yourself and get some high-quality links to your website. The only problem is, search engines donβt like duplicated content. Google, for example, understands the concept of content syndication, but removes duplicate content from search results.
This raises a problem from an SEO standpoint. For example, imagine writing a fantastic post, then syndicating it to a popular blog such as VentureBeat. Itβs entirely possible the VentureBeat version will get a lot more traffic and thus be the one to show up when people search for related keywords. Β This means youβre losing out on potential search engine traffic for a post you know could perform well.
The good news is there are ways to deal with this issue, but they all require cooperation from the website syndicating your content. Here are the two main workarounds to prevent the practice from affecting your websiteβs SEO:
- Add aΒ rel=canonicalΒ tag to link to the original source of the syndicated content.
- Use aΒ NoIndexΒ tag to prevent syndicated content from being indexed in the first place.
If you regularly add syndicated content to your blog, either of these approaches is a good practice. Likewise, if you want to syndicate your articles, youβll want to make a point of asking the blogs that publish your content to implement either workaround.
At the very least, you should always get a full attribution link to the original post. If thereβs a publication insisting on publishing your content without giving you proper attribution or using either of the tags mentioned above, stay away from them!
How to Add Syndicated Content to Your WordPress Website (2 Methods)
Thereβs no way around it β the ideal way to add syndicated content to your website is to use the manual approach. This way, you can fully control article formatting, attribution, and any necessary tags.
However, not everyone has the time to tackle content syndication manually, which is where the plugins come in. The following two tools enable you to pull content from any sources you want via their Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. Each of them has their own quirks, though, which weβll explore in a minute.
Method #1: Use the CyberSyn Plugin
The CyberSyn plugin enables you to pull content from Atom and RSS feeds and publish it on your website automatically. You can add as many feeds as you want using the plugin and it will pull one article at a time from them after an interval.
Moreover, the plugin can also take care of importing media attachments and uploading them to your server to avoid hotlinking. CyberSyn can also translate content automatically using Yandex Translate or Google Translate. However beware, as adding poorly translated content to your website is never a good idea.
To use the plugin, install and activate it. A newΒ CyberSynΒ tab will appear on your WordPress dashboard. Clicking on it will send you to the pluginβs main settings screen, where you can configure how often the tool will pull new content from each feed. The default time is set to ten minutes, which is too short in our opinion (though this is a matter of preference):
Below, youβll find a setting calledΒ Link to source, which should remain disabled. Otherwise, the plugin will just link out to each postβs source instead of pulling the content to your blog:
Click on theΒ Update OptionsΒ button now and move on to theΒ Cybersyn > RSS/Atom SyndicatorΒ tab now. Here, scroll down until you find theΒ New Feed URLΒ field. Inside, you can paste the RSS URL for the feed you want to pull and click onΒ Syndicate. Hereβs an example of a feed from Ars Technica:
After clicking on theΒ SyndicateΒ button, the plugin will show you a preview of the latest piece thatβs available for syndication:
If you scroll down, you can modify the feedβs title and assign its articles to a specific category:
Below, thereβs an option to extract the full content of each piece from its parentβs RSS feed. Youβre free to publish only article excerpts, but this approach defeats the purpose of syndicating content:
Further on, youβll find a list of blog authors you can attribute the content to. Itβs a βfaux pasβΒ to attribute the content to yourself or one of your blogβs other authors, so youβll probably want to set up an account just for syndicated content. Something such asΒ Guest WriterΒ will do, for example:
Moving on, there are two critical settings right below the authorβs list. TheΒ Check this feed for updates everyΒ setting enables you to configure specific update times for each feed. Right below that, thereβs an option to configure how many posts the plugin can pull from a feed simultaneously:
By default, the plugin will only pull a post at once, which is fine, although you may want to tweak the wait between updates to suit your schedule better. Next on, weβve got the media attachment configurations. The plugin enables you to choose which graphics it should use as featured images for the content it pulls from each feed. Our suggestion is to use each articleβs own thumbnail, Β which you can do with theΒ Generate from media attachment thumbnailΒ setting. A couple of options below that, youβll find theΒ Store images locally setting. Enabling it is a great idea since it will prevent image βhotlinkingβ:
Finally, scroll down until you reach theΒ Post footerΒ field. Inside, you can type HTML code, which will go at the bottom of each syndicated post. TypingΒ ####post_link ####Β here will add a link to the original article at the bottom of each post:
Now click on theΒ Syndicate this feedΒ button at the bottom of the page and youβre good to go. The plugin will automatically pull the latest post from the feed when the timer you configured reaches zero:
Once the plugin imports the syndicated content, you can edit it as you would any other post. Youβll probably want to customize the design for your syndicated content using the Divi Builder, for example. One thing you donβt have to worry about is adding theΒ rel=canonicalΒ tag to your content. The plugin takes care of that for you!
Method #2: Through the FeedWordPress Plugin
The FeedWordPress plugin is an excellent solution if you want to pull entire feeds of syndicated content at once. Moreover, it provides you with a lot more customization options than our previous pick. However, if youβre looking for a plug-and-play solution, this is not it.
Like CyberSyn, FeedWordPress works by enabling you to pull content from Atom and RSS feeds. After activating the plugin, youβll be able to add new feeds from theΒ Syndication > Syndicated SitesΒ tab. Simply paste the URL of the feed you want to target within theΒ New sourceΒ field and clickΒ Add:
The plugin will now show you a preview of the content of your feed. Right below, youβll see a list of all your syndicated pages and when theyβll update next. Keep in mind β you can always force the plugin to pull content by checking a feed and clicking on theΒ Update CheckedΒ button at the bottom of the screen:
Before you do that though, we recommend configuring the pluginβs settings. There are dozens of settings to tinker with, so letβs focus on the most important ones. First off, jump toΒ Syndication > Posts & LinksΒ and look for theΒ New PostsΒ andΒ Updated PostsΒ settings. Set the first so it adds all new posts asΒ PendingΒ until you approve them. Then set the plugin to automatically update syndicated content if its source changes. This simple change will prevent you from ending with outdated content:
Marking new content asΒ PendingΒ will add a bit of work to your plate. By not checking this, the plugin will pullΒ all ofΒ the articles it finds at once, which can be overwhelming. This way, you have more control over the pieces that do make it onto your website.
Finally, scroll down to theΒ LinksΒ section and look for theΒ Permalinks point toΒ setting. There, chooseΒ The local copy on this websiteΒ option. ThisΒ way, your website will display the syndicated content instead of linking to its source by default:
Now youβre ready to update your feedβs content and get to approving new pieces for your blog. Do keep in mind, though β this plugin doesnβt add theΒ rel=canonicalΒ tag automatically to your syndicated content. This means youβll need to add the tag on your own, which is a bit annoying, but doable.
Conclusion
A lot of popular blogs engage in content syndication. Whether itβs syndicating their content for more exposure or featuring articles from up and coming websites and authors. Syndicating your own piecesΒ can be complicated, but adding content to your blog using the practice is rather simple.
If youβre using WordPress, either of these plugins is a great option to start adding syndicated content to your website:
- CyberSyn:Β A straightforward RSS aggregator that follows good SEO practices.
- FeedWordPress:Β This aggregator provides you with a lot of customization options, but itβs not beginner-friendly.
Do you have any questions about how to add syndicated content to your WordPress website? Ask away in the comments section below!
Article image thumbnail by Nataletado / shutterstock.com.
Hi John,
Great post. I will try to use these into my blog. Really appreciate. Keep bringing good stuff…
Hi Jawad. You’re very welcome. Will do. π
Content syndication, while legal, is a slippery slope. It’s ALWAYS better to get permission before publishing someones content. Even if you pull in content, you don’t necessarily have permission to pull in images. Plus, maybe you are, but I’m not willing to risk the idea of not knowing if THEY had permission to use the image.
You’re really better off asking. I’ve contacted bigger blogs like “The Spruce” and simply asked, offered proper credit and to give them a preview before going live. They had zero problem with that. Had I just stolen it (even with proper credit or linking) there is no guarantee they would have overlooked it.
That’s an important point. It’s always best to gain permission first. Thanks for your comment!
So, I’ve setup CyberSyn – however, once i’ve setup the RSS feed syndications and I select to pull them, nothing happens. Nothing is added into my posts as a draft.
The page just seems to refresh after clicking “pull selected feeds now”, and then just nothing.
What could be the issue?
Thanks!
Hello Myke.
In this instance, you should lodge your query on the CyberSyn support forum. You can access it via this link:
https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/cybersyn
Hope this helps.
Hey John, thanks – as an update I figured out my problem. Turns out the feed I was pulling from did not have “post thumbnails” therefore it would not syndicate. The fix was simply to uncheck the “post thumbnail” option. As soon as I figured that out it began working!
Curious how we know what blogs are available for syndication and which would take offense?
Also, is this one available?
Me too. John you’ve responded to everyone’s elses statement comments but haven’t answered this actually question yet.
You basically described an amazing vacation and went in depth on what to do there but didn’t tell us WHERE it is.
Andrea, you can find this information if you follow the link at the begging of this article = “available for republishing”.
Here are the addresses:
https://neilpatel.com/blog/the-step-by-step-guide-to-syndicating-content-without-screwing-up-your-seo/
https://blog.bufferapp.com/how-to-become-a-columnist-guest-posting-syndication
Good luck!
Any answer to this question? I’m also curious where to find syndicated content.
Unfortunately, those links are referring to articles that are speaking about the “other side” of content syndication – aka: getting your blogs original posts syndicated to bigger blogs.
I believe the people above are asking about the opposite – how do you get the thumbs up from bigger blogs to syndicate *their* content onto your own blog? What are the guidelines or best practices for sharing other blog’s content on your blog?
I believe this is the question at hand.
Great article but Iβd like to know this too. Would be great if the post can be updated with a section on this or even another post.
I’d like to know this too. We’d like to add syndicated content to our site but don’t know where to find it.
Count me in. I’d like to know where to find syndicated content too.
Me too.Would like to know how and where to find syndicated content.
And yes, great article!
Thanks for the great review of these 2 syndication plugins. I am going to try the FeedWordPress one as I want to customize my post before it gets published.
Hi Dade. No problem. Happy customizing π
Hi John,
This is a great post. I heard about content syndication but not both the plugins. I’m definitely trying out the second one as I love complicated ones (and MORE control).
Keep on sharing!
Thanks Reginald. π