It shouldn’t be a surprise that content has become a very popular form of marketing for just about any business out there. Businesses also know that writing good content takes quite a bit of time and resource and many like to cut corners when it comes to getting content and distributing it. The Bing Webmaster Blog recently wrote an interesting article when it comes to content syndication.

“As the author of the content, you don’t have much to worry about.  Your deal is to write and then be seen across a range of websites.  The websites, however, have some cause for concern, as the engines are unlikely to simply rank the same article highly over and over, just because that article appears on a different domain.”

The trend I see growing in content marketing is the same thing that happens in many industries, a few bad apples ruin it for everyone. Prime example is Google’s recent Panda updates which really put a spear through many content farms that used to syndicate content or accept sub-par quality articles simply for the sake of ranking.

“Now, the idea of using articles as content on a website has exploded over the last few years in popularity.  Article sources are seemingly everywhere and are viewed as a quick way to get content to build out a site on an almost endless number of topics.  Prices vary for the content, and in most case, the old axiom of “you get what you pay for” seems to hold true.  The article sites often allude to their articles being able to “help with your SEO”, and some even make the claims outright.  They are playing off the idea that depth of content matters to the search engines, and while depth of content certainly can play a role in determining your value to a searcher, it’s not the only signal.”

Here are some tips when trying to write your own content:

• Don’t filter through an article directory and copy other articles (it happens)
• Always write unique content
• Form strategic relationships where you can position content
• Chose topics which haven’t been beat into the ground
• Stray from cutting corners on writing
• Implement a unique writing style

Duplicate Content Issues

“To a search engine, duplicate content simply shows there is an issue somewhere.  It could mean the CMS needs to be tweaked to cure a duplicate URL issue.  It could mean a lack of interest in producing unique content, instead thinking that buying content from other sources will work and the engines won’t notice.”

Duplicate content is something that search engines really do not like. There is nothing worse than looking for information on a specific topic and bumping into 7 websites showcasing the same exact article or information. Duplicate content on a website can even mean search penalties leaving rankings crippled.

Don’t Forget About User Experience

If you ever want to build a brand or a following with your website you have to stop and think about the user experience for your readers. That article you paid $1 dollar for do you really think it is going to grasp the attention of readers or even editors? Not a chance in hell.

“Setting aside the duplicate content issue, you’ll often find that articles from services lack basic things like proper punctuation, proper grammar and even, sometimes, the proper syntax, leaving the item nearly unreadable.  Publishing something like this on your website raises quality flags for the engines.  Worse, if visitors to your website see lack luster content, thin content or unreadable content, they’ll signal their displeasure by simply leaving you for another website.”