Are you worried about syndicated content overshadowing your news content? Google has reiterated its recommendation that publishers should require their syndication partners to mark syndicated news content as noindex. This comes as a response to a Twitter discussion started by John Shehata, CEO of Newzdash, who compiled data showing that Yahoo News consistently receives a significant portion of the traffic that could have gone to the original publisher sites. In light of this, news publishers who syndicate through Yahoo should check their Google News traffic.
Google confirmed its stance on the issue, stating that syndication partners should use the noindex tag to help the search engine recognize the original content. Canonical tags are not recommended due to the potential differences in content between the syndication publisher’s website and the original content. Google emphasizes that the ability to differentiate between original and duplicate content is not a problem, but it is up to publishers and their syndication partners to decide how to handle their content appropriately. Google offers three options for publishers using syndicated content partners: do nothing and compete in ranking, use noindex to prevent competition, or use canonical for a similar effect.
In conclusion, SEO is not a magic fix for ranking issues related to syndicated content. It is important for news publishers to understand and follow Google’s advice, particularly regarding the use of the noindex tag. Ultimately, publishers and syndication partners must work together to align their publishing goals.
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