Worried about syndicated content overtaking your news content?
Google strengthened its long-standing recommendation that publishers require syndication partners not to index syndicated news content.
The Twitter discussion started with the data collected by John Shehata, CEO of Newzdash.
Here’s a full data analysis of the impact of content syndication on Google Search for News publishers with a list of the most affected sites and the estimated share of traffic going to syndicated content from Yahoo compared to original content NewzDash data based on millions of… pic.twitter.com/d4aFlaQMJ2
— John Shehata (@JShehata) July 7, 2023
The main finding: Yahoo News consistently gets a high share of syndicated news content traffic compared to original publisher sites.
When Yahoo syndicates content from publishers, that syndicated version often outranks or ranks similarly to the original content in Google’s search and news results.
Therefore, Yahoo News likely receives a significant portion of the traffic that could have gone to the original publisher’s sites.
Google confirms: syndicated content from Noindex
Google SearchLiasion jumped into the discussion, tweeting several responses with slides from a recent event discussing updates with tips on syndication, canonicals, and noindex.
I spoke in May at an AOP event in London and reviewed our guide to syndication, so maybe these slides I used there will help. Our main change to the help page was to focus on your goal with syndicated content rather than the mechanism… pic.twitter.com/FFhA7doHTS
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 7, 2023
Here you can see the precise recommendation for syndication partners to use not index tag, which could help Google’s automated systems better recognize the original article.
For Google News, our advice about syndicated content outside your network has not changed. Use noindex. Canonical was not used before. Noindex was used. And since it’s your syndication deal, asking for it is totally possible.
Some publishers… pic.twitter.com/N5HIHnUqHC
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 7, 2023
Google maintains that it only recommends noindex, not canonicals.
We’ve also updated the guide so that those using syndicated content should consider recommending noindex only. Of course, if the agreement the partners have requires it, they should follow the agreement. We’ve made the change to make this advice fully consistent with editors… pic.twitter.com/rtTyQTG2xI
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 7, 2023
Ultimately, Google does not blame its guidelines syndication partners for overriding original publisher content.
We’ve also changed our guide for Google Search to match what was long for Google News, use noindex. Of course, if publishers had fully required noindex as part of the agreements, they would have already done so. But it makes everything consistent pic.twitter.com/pTYG773ACY
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 7, 2023
This recommendation does not mean that Google cannot tell which content is original and which is duplicate.
At this point, there is sometimes a “What? Google thinks everyone in the world needs to not index the content because they can’t figure out the original content!” reaction No. We discover original content all the time. But when content is deliberately allowed to be published by another… pic.twitter.com/jUhAF01UWz
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 7, 2023
Canonical tags don’t work because the content on a syndication publisher’s website can differ from the original content, thanks to the unique templates of the website and the surrounding related content.
Syndicated content, in particular, may differ from the original content with many other materials on the page. Canonical is primarily designed to deal with near-duplicate pages. That’s why we don’t recommend it for syndication within a network (such as two newspapers owned by… pic.twitter.com/9Jqo8u4jmT
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 7, 2023
Some Twitter users misinterpreted the advice, leading to the following clarification:
We are not saying that we stop unionizing. We’re saying that if you care about the content you allow to be published voluntarily, perhaps overriding your own, get the partner to use noindex, which has been our advice for a long time. pic.twitter.com/j6O8LowWnL
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 10, 2023
Google also offered three options for publishers using syndicated content partners.
There are basically three options if someone is unionizing through a partner agreement. Do nothing, wait to compete with your partner in the leaderboard. Use noindex and guarantee that the partner will not compete. Canonical proof, effectively the same goal as noindex, prevents the pair from competing…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 10, 2023
SEO professionals advised publishers to help ensure that original content rose above the rest.
Something people would like to remember…
(as it seems it’s still confusing for some)#SEO #Syndication #Remember #DarthAutocrat pic.twitter.com/KGTPlbrNUQ
— Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA) (@darth_na) July 10, 2023
The editors have to decide
The complex issue of syndicated content that can outperform original content has received renewed attention.
Despite some confusion and misinterpretation, Google remains consistent in its longstanding advice, stressing that publishers should require their syndication partners to use the noindex tag.
Ultimately, Google leaves it up to news publishers and syndication partners to determine how best to manage content to ensure both meet their publishing goals.
Featured image: dennizn/Shutterstock
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