MARKETING
How Stacker.com Earned 1M+ Organic Monthly Visits Through Content Syndication [Case Study]
![How Stacker.com Earned 1M+ Organic Monthly Visits Through Content Syndication [Case Study]](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/How-Stackercom-Earned-1M-Organic-Monthly-Visits-Through-Content-Syndication.jpg "How Stacker.com Earned 1M+ Organic Monthly Visits Through Content Syndication [Case Study]")
The author’s views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
Note: Amanda Milligan collaborated with Stacker’s SEO specialist, Sam Kaye, to create this case study.
When a marketer is asked about the value of content syndication, they’ll typically list two main benefits:
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Increased brand awareness, as you’re reaching a wider audience.
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Improved engagement, as people can share and comment across multiple versions of the story.
But one benefit of content syndication that marketers frequently overlook is the potential to improve a site’s SEO performance.
While paid syndication (like press release distribution) can’t carry SEO value, developing strong content that’s appealing to publishers and their readers can generate massive amounts of link authority back to a publishing domain, and drive significant organic growth.
But it’s difficult to test and implement a comprehensive syndication strategy, so there aren’t many resources about its SEO impact.
In this case study, we:
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Outline the processes used by Stacker to syndicate content.
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Look into organic results on Stacker.com as a result of content syndication efforts.
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Discuss how content syndication can be used as part of a long-term organic growth strategy.
The content creation and distribution methods used for Stacker.com are the same as those used for Stacker Studio brand partners, making Stacker.com’s organic success an excellent case study for the long-term effectiveness for content syndication strategies.
The evidence of syndication’s impact
Before digging into how syndication works for SEO, let’s begin by proving that content syndication works.
Stacker.com has no proactive digital PR or backlinking strategies. Our growth strategy has been utilizing content syndication as a model to reach new audiences and drive valuable domain authority. The result has been Stacker accumulating 20K “dofollowed” referring domains and over one million unique backlinks over the last four years.
Organic traffic growth
Organic traffic: Google Search Console
Over a period of 16 months, Stacker.com saw a significant acceleration in organic growth, increasing by approximately 500% — from fewer than 10K organic entries per day to more than 50K entries per day. (Our site used to be TheStacker.com, and you can see the exponential growth on that domain as well before migrating to Stacker.com.)
Backlinks
Backlinks: Google Search Console
Backlinks that appear on pages including rel=canonical tags are processed and valued by search engines, as evidenced by the 8M+ links created by this method & identified in Search Console. The majority of these links are in-text dofollows from syndicated article pickups with rel=canonical tags. This is an excellent indicator that Google is crawling and valuing these links.
Backlinks: Moz Pro (domain-wide)
Backlinks created via content syndication are also being picked up by Moz Pro and other third-party reporting tools.
Moz Pro reports a steady growth in the number of referring domains that correlates well with GSC link reporting metrics:
Moz: individual links
In addition to tracking account-wide backlinking growth, Moz also picks up individual instances of links created via content syndication, such as these syndicated SFGate pickups.
Domain Authority: Moz Pro
This accumulation of link authority over time has allowed Stacker to increase our Moz Pro Domain Authority score from 56 to 59 over the past year:
Organic performance: Summary
In 2021 alone, Stacker.com saw a 500% increase in referring domains, a 380% increase in organic traffic, and an improvement in domain authority from 56 to 59 due in large part to our content syndication efforts.
These long-term trends of organic growth, paired with the fact that syndicated links are being picked up by both Google Search Console and Moz Pro, are a clear indication that content syndication is an effective way to drive organic traffic.
How content syndication improves SEO authority
Stacker’s syndication approach provides link authority in two ways: in-text dofollow backlinks and rel=canonical tags.
An in-text backlink acts as a signal of source attribution, telling search engines that a particular piece of data or content has been taken from another source. A canonical tag does the same thing, except that it attributes the entire article, not just a piece of it, back to the original publisher. Both are signals of source attribution, and both indicate that a publisher trusts your content enough to feature and share the article on their website.
When a piece of Stacker content is syndicated (re-published in its original form on another publisher’s site), the syndicated version includes a rel=canonical tag back to the publishers’ hosted version, as well as an in-text dofollow backlink in the content intro:
When a Stacker article is rewritten instead of syndicated, (e.g., a publisher creates a locally-focused variant using Stacker source data), we request a backlink citing us as the original provider of the study.
Owned syndication vs. earned syndication
In the same way the industry talks about owned and earned media, you can think of two types of syndication as “owned syndication” and “earned syndication.”
Owned syndication involves reposting an article on multiple platforms by you. An example of this would be publishing an article on your blog and then republishing it on Medium, LinkedIn, and other accounts you run. While this might increase the number of people that see your article, the likelihood of driving organic traffic from these strategies reliably or at scale is virtually nil.
Earned syndication involves the approval from another publisher that your content is valuable to their audience, so this type of syndication is harder to achieve. However, in addition to reaching a wider audience than with owned syndication, you get the authority signal of having your content hosted on another publisher’s domain. (Someone decided your content was worth republishing in full, and what’s a greater sign of trust than that?)
Why isn’t everyone doing this?
Because it’s not easy. For the first few years of our existence, Stacker did nothing but build publisher relationships and master the art of newsworthy content. Getting content pickups at scale requires building trust with large news publishers, as well as a large volume of content news publishers find uniquely interesting and relevant. Content syndication is built upon a foundation of content quality, publisher trust, and the technical capability to share content at scale, and these three components can take years to develop.
Stacker journalists are committed to understanding the coverage needs of local news organizations and investing in stories that can drive meaningful value for their audiences. After five years of working with publishing partners, we’ve studied the data on pickups and audience reach to uncover insights into what stories can be most useful.
We landed on some key earned syndication tenets:
Contextualization is key
Any type of publisher you come across will have their core editorial calendar established with key topics they know their audience cares about. They’re not looking for outsiders to contribute to the heart of their publication, so don’t approach it that way. Instead, explore topics they typically cover and perhaps even particular stories they’ve run and ask yourself: What other perspective can I add to this story to contextualize it? Perhaps a historical angle or other comparison
Data always helps
Some publishers don’t have access to data analysts, or if they do, they’re working on a ton of other projects and it’s hard to scale data-focused content. If you’re able to provide stories based on data that’s been distilled and presented with clear insights, many publishers would appreciate that. Additionally, just knowing your content is backed by data rather than opinion makes it easier to vet (and trust).
Help publishers reach their goals
Our direct line of communication with multiple publishers, both local and national, has led to fascinating conversations around their goals. To sum it up, every publisher has unique focus areas when it comes to audience acquisition and engagement. Some are focused on converting users to subscription while others are focused on pageviews or time on site. Explore their site, see how they monetize, and consider how your content can help them meet these goals.
Let’s look at an example story Stacker created.
This piece uses Major League Baseball data to determine the most successful postseason teams. With data being the basis for the ranking, publishers don’t have to worry about the validity of the order, which is a major advantage in vetting.
This story offers original analysis in a way that can complement the local coverage of news organizations. While a sports beat writer might focus on the area team’s history, current team performance, or other local and newsy aspects of the story—this story offers contextual data analysis that can work for a variety of news organizations to augment their boots-on-the-ground reporting.
All in all, the article earned more than 300 publisher pickups and more than 100,000 story impressions. That’s an incredible amount of payoff for one piece of content, and earned syndication is the vehicle that made it possible.
The syndication takeaway
Like so many other SEO tactics, not all syndication is created equal. Potential clients have often asked me how Stacker is different from services like press release distribution platforms, with which they didn’t see SEO results.
Well, when you have sponsored or nofollow links, it’s never going to be the same as earned syndication. Getting white hat content pickups with consistency is difficult — it requires both top-tier content and the attention of journalists.
So my advice? Consider whether there are high-authority publications in your niche. Study what they publish and ask yourself:
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Do you already publish content that they’d love?
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Can you make some tweaks to already existing content to better fit their editorial style?
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Can you create original research/reports that would interest their audience?
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Would getting brand awareness with their audience help us improve your brand reach?
If the answer is yes to at least two of these questions, consider content syndication as a strategy.
MARKETING
3 Contextual Link-Building Strategies That Actually Work
Quality content can get your web pages ranking higher in Google search results. But contextual links can help, too.
Google says the inclusion of relevant, high-quality links signals the content that includes them may be quality content, too.
So, how can you earn contextual links to give your content an edge over the competition? Adopt one, two, or all three of the strategies detailed in this article.
But first, let’s understand what contextual links are.
What are contextual links?
A contextual link appears in the body of a web page’s content. A hyperlink is added to a relevant word or phrase. They:
- Link to other pages on the site.
- Cite the source of a claim or statistic.
- Indicate other relevant pages.
- Provide readers with more in-depth information on the topic.
- Guide readers to a product or service.
In this screenshot of an article with the header, Challenges of Productivity Tracking in Remote Workplaces, three phrases are hyperlinked — measure productivity, Microsoft, and research by Gartner.
Each contextual link serves a purpose:
- “Measure productivity” goes to a Slack article about how to measure employee productivity.
- “Microsoft” directs the reader to the original research for the cited statistic.
- “Research by Gartner” links to the native source for the research cited in that paragraph.
With a contextual link-building strategy, you not only boost your content in the eyes of Google but also encourage other sites to use your valuable content to provide their readers with additional information or context.
Now, let me show you three strategies to grow your contextual links and improve your content’s rankings.
1. Help sites fix their broken links
Broken link building involves contacting a website, pointing out a broken external link on a page, and suggesting your content as its replacement.
Broken links could result from a 404 error, a blank page, or a redirect to an irrelevant page — any alteration that ruins the original link’s purpose.
Since broken links negatively affect the visitor experience, removing them is in the site’s best interest. Your replacement offer gives them a quick solution to their problem. Plus, people are more willing to help you after you’ve helped them.
To find broken links, use a tool like Free Backlink Checker extension. I also like to inspect links manually since most tools only pick up 404 errors. Rely solely on them, and you will miss relevant broken-link opportunities.
Ahrefs also has tools for finding broken links. Its free broken link checker is helpful, but the paid version is more robust.
Paid subscribers can go to Site Explorer, go to the Outgoing Links report, and click on “Broken Links” from the dropdown menu.
The report identifies the total number of broken links (3,136 in the example below), the referring pages (the URL for the content including the broken link), the anchor (the words hyperlinked in the content), and the link (the URL that no longer directs to a viable page).
Ahrefs subscribers can also compile a Best by Links report under the Pages option in the Site Explorer tool.
In this example, the report lists pages with 404 page-not-found errors for TheMuse.com. It has 6,230 pages with broken external links. Each page URL listed is accompanied by the number of referring domains and a number of links to the page.
This research can identify the topics with the biggest potential to become the fixes for a broken link. You can create content to address them or identify content you already published. Just make sure the content closely matches the intent of the anchor text’s original link.
For example, the same research report, which is now a broken link, is cited in articles from Oyster and TINYpulse. On Oyster, the anchor text reads, “44% of companies did not allow remote work.” On TINYpulse, the anchor text says, “only 33% are very satisfied with the level of trust in their organization.”
For a single article link to replace the broken link on Oyster and TINYpulse, the content would need to cite both a statistic about remote work and another stat about trust in organizations.
2. Guest posting
Like the broken-link replacement strategy, guest posting benefits both your and the recipient’s sites. You reach out to sites and offer to write content about a topic relevant to their audience that relates to your content subjects and includes a link to your site. This technique works well because you typically control where and how to add your link to make it as relevant as possible.
You can take multiple approaches to win guest-posting opportunities. No matter which tactics you use, track the sites and verify the site’s quality using Ahrefs, another tool, or a direct visit to the site.
First, you can use Ahrefs (or a similar tool) to examine your competitors’ backlinks and identify any links that come from guest posts. The anchor or surrounding text might hint at its status with phrases such as “contributed by,” “guest post by,” or the name of the brand or author. You also can check links manually to see if they’re contributed content.
In this example from Collegiate Parent, the headline reads “EFC Too High? Tips for Successful Aid Appeals” and includes a byline for “Billie Jo Weis.” At this point, you don’t know if it is a contributed article.
But scroll down to the end, and you can see the author’s bio. It confirms the article is a guest post because her bio says she is a client services advisor for My College Planning Team, not the publisher (Collegiate Parent).
You can also use Google search operators to identify sites open to guest contributions. You’ll want to do several searches using variations of your target keywords and topic accompanied by phrases, such as “guest post,” “contributed by,” “guest post by,” and “guest posting guidelines.”
The example in the screenshot below works for a brand targeting college prep topics. The search is “’college prep’ ‘guest post by’ -site.pinterest.com.” The results reveal four articles from four sites that use the words “college prep” and “guest post by.” You can add those sites to your outreach tracker.
Finally, you can list sites relevant to your niche that didn’t appear in the earlier searches.
TIP: Not all sites that accept guest articles say so on their website.
3. Niche edits
A niche edit, sometimes referred to as a link insert, is a technique that adds a link to existing content. The key to success is finding relevant articles on high-quality sites and pitching your content as a valuable addition to those articles.
You can use a similar process to the Google guest post search. Input a broad keyword for your targeted keyword, then tell it you don’t want the targeted keyword in the title. If the entire article is about your targeted keyword, your chances of getting the publisher to include a link to a similar article are low.
Here’s an example from one of our client’s that sought to make niche edits for the keyword “soft skills.”
The Google search included these phrases:
- “Organizational development” soft skills -intitle:”soft skills”
- “Organizational development” soft skills employee training -intitle:”soft skills”
- Soft skills employee training -intitle:”soft skills” organizations
It led to an added link for “soft skills” in this article — “Employee Development,” which includes the header, “What are the benefits of employee development for an organization?”
You can do several searches, modifying your search operators each time to see what sites and content appears. Think of multiple angles to broaden the potential sites that publish content with your targeted or a related keyword.
After you’ve crafted a list of high-quality prospects, it’s time for outreach.
Niche edits might be the hardest of the three strategies to achieve because they’re not as clear of a win-win situation as the other two (repairing broken links and publishing new content).
Your email pitch can make or break your niche-edit campaign. It must convince the publisher that your content provides so much value that they will want to take an extra step with content they’ve already completed.
Here are some tips to craft a link-earning email pitch:
- Start by mentioning something about them. It could be something you like about their website or the article you’re targeting. You want them to know you’ve explored their site and read the article. But don’t overdo it. A simple compliment or sentence about how you found the article helpful should suffice.
- Introduce your content and mention how it can help their audience. Be concise and convincing, but don’t oversell it.
- Go one step further and point to a section or sentence where you think your content might be a good fit. This will help them see where your content can add value and link to it.
Get linking
Though contextual link building may seem challenging to execute, it can bring great rewards. Follow these tips and strategies, and your valuable content will get more attention from external sites and eventually Google rankings where it deserves to be.
All tools mentioned in this article are identified by the author. If you have a tool to suggest, please tag CMI on social.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
Google’s Surgical Strike on Reputation Abuse
These aren’t easy questions. On the one hand, many of these sites do clearly fit Google’s warning and were using their authority and reputation to rank content that is low-relevance to the main site and its visitors. With any punitive action, though, the problem is that the sites ranking below the penalized sites may not be of any higher quality. Is USA Today’s coupon section less useful than the dedicated coupon sites that will take its place from the perspective of searchers? Probably not, especially since the data comes from similar sources.
There is a legitimate question of trust here — searchers are more likely to trust this content if it’s attached to a major brand. If a site is hosting third-party content, such as a coupon marketplace, then they’re essentially lending their brand and credibility to content that they haven’t vetted. This could be seen as an abuse of trust.
In Google’s eyes, I suspect the problem is that this tactic has just spread too far, and they couldn’t continue to ignore it. Unfortunately for the sites that were hit, the penalties were severe and wiped out impacted content. Regardless of how we feel about the outcome, this was not an empty threat, and SEOs need to take Google’s new guidelines seriously.
MARKETING
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