Signals refer to various factors that search engines like Google use to assess the relevance, authority, and quality of web content. These signals can include factors such as backlinks, user experience metrics, social media engagement, and many others.
Syndicated content is content that is published on multiple websites or platforms, often with the permission of the original content creator. This can include articles, blog posts, videos, and other types of content. The syndication process involves distributing content to reach a larger audience or to provide additional value to readers on different platforms.
In the context of SEO and content distribution, signals associated with syndicated content may include factors like how search engines interpret duplicate content across different websites, how they attribute authority and relevance to the original source versus syndication partners, and how they handle indexing and ranking of syndicated content.
John Mueller from Google addressed a query concerning the fate of signals linked with syndicated content when Google designates the partner as the canonical source instead of the original content publisher. John’s response provided valuable insights into the ambiguous realm of ranking and syndicated content.
The inquiry was posed by Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc) on X (previously known as Twitter).
She posted her question on the platform.
“If an article is syndicated across partner websites, and Google chooses the partner as canonical (even if canonical on partner site to original source), does this mean all SEO value is consolidated to partner URL?
E.g. link signals, UX signals, social media signals etc. from the group would be consolidated into Google’s chosen canonical?
& each time this happens, does that represent an “opportunity cost” from the original site, in the sense that they lose out on that SEO value?”
Lily inquired about cross-domain canonicals and the following aspects:
- Link signals
- UX signals
- Social media signals
John Mueller posted a tweet in response.
“Hi Lily! It’s complicated, and not all the things you’re asking about are things we necessarily even use.
In general, if we recognize a page as canonical, that’s going to be the page most likely rewarded by our ranking systems.”
John Mueller responded by indicating that Google does not use all the elements on Lily’s list, although he did not specify which ones. Concerning canonicals, Google has a policy regarding the implementation of cross-domain canonicals for syndicated content.
Last year, Google announced a change in recommendation, advising against the use of cross-domain canonicals for syndicated content. Instead, it suggests using the meta noindex tag on the partner site to prevent Google from indexing the site entirely. This ensures that link signals for the content are attributed to the original publisher rather than the syndication partner.
Here is Google’s present recommendation regarding cross-domain canonicals:
“Tip: If you want to avoid duplication by syndication partners, the canonical link element is not recommended because syndicated articles are often very different in overall content from original articles. Instead, partners should use meta tags to block the indexing of your content.”
John Mueller didn’t discuss the fate of the link signals. However, he emphasized that the site acknowledged as the canonical source receives rewards from Google’s ranking systems, highlighting this as the most crucial aspect.
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