Hi Reader,
So apparently last week's newsletter was an unintentional part 1 of the duplicate content conversation LOLOL I thought I said all I had to say about it, but I WAS WRONG I GOT MORE YAPPING TO DO....
โ(If you missed last week's email, you can find all previous versions of my newsletter here)โ
After last week's newsletter, I got this follow-up question from another member inside Search Club...
"I don't have anything duplicate on my site, but I'm wondering if you don't want duplicate content on different mediums too? For example, a blog that's the exact same as a Medium article? Or a podcast that's the exact same as a YouTube episode?"
SUCH a good question. And the best way I can think to explain it is with a pasta recipe lol.
Imagine you have the BEST pasta recipe. It's your great great grandma Jan's. And you're ready to share this shit with the world because you know once you do, everyone is gonna love you.
So you post the pasta recipe to your blog.
Then you film yourself making it for your YouTube channel.
You use the audio from the YouTube channel & put it on your podcast (kinda weird for a recipe lmao but stick with me!)
You take clips from that YouTube video and turn it into a TikTok & IG Reel.
YOU ARE BASICALLY A REPURPOSING PASTA QUEEN.
But isn't all of that *technically* duplicate content?!?!?!
I mean, technically, in the VERY literal sense of the word, yes.
But for SEO and how the internet works; NOPE ๐ฅ
All of those examples are DIFFERENT MEDIA FORMATS that serve different people who want to consume content in different ways. Annnnnnnd they each have their own separate algorithms too.
Utilizing different formats, even if it's the *same* content = DELICIOUS SEO JUICE.
Why?
- If you embed a YouTube video or a podcast episode INSIDE of a blog post about the same topic, it'll acutally help the blog post rank BETTER because now you've got a more well-rounded, useful resource that serves multiple kinds of learners.
- Your SAME content (in different formats) can show up in different sections of the SAME search results (YouTube video results + written blog post + short form video), which CLEARLY positions YOU as the expert.
I did a LESS intense pasta repurposing situation with a previous YouTube video of mine; how to use Semrush's free plan. Repurposed it into a blog post on my website, and embedded the video. The YouTube video has 3.4k views since publishing. And the blog post ALONE has gotten 230 clicks *just* from Google since publishing.
ONE content idea + repurposed intentionally = pulling in traffic from two completely separate places.
*chef's kiss*
When *DOES* this become a problem tho?
When you're taking the exact same written content & publishing it word for word IN THE SAME FORMAT on multiple platforms. (Like copy-pasting your blog post onto Medium, Substack, or LinkedIn articles).
Because it's ALL written content, on separate domains, saying the exact same thing.
Google & AI tools operate like a buffet. They like to show variety and OPTIONS of some sort.
Not the same exact thing over and over.
So it's likely only going to pick ONE of those written options, and usually it's the option with the higher domain authority; which is prob NOT your website.
Which means you did all the work and sent the traffic AWAY from your website. Not ideal lol.
THIS CAN BE WORTH IT IN THE SHORT-TERM.
I don't wanna say it's a completely trash strategy lmao there ARE nuances. But if you ARE gonna use the credibility & authority of a bigger platform (like Medium, Substack, LinkedIn, etc), you HAVE TO BE INTENTIONAL about linking people back to your website from within that article AND make your profile on that platform SO DAMN CLEAR about what you do/who you help, etc.
Because we don't want you relying on these platforms for visibility forever.
WE WANT YOUR WEBSITE TO BE YOUR FOUNDATIONAL AUTHORITATIVE ONLINE HOME FOR YOUR BRAND.
NEWSLETTER SPONSOR -- This newsletter is sponsored by Kate Scott, creator of Scale with Templatesยฎ, a program that teaches designers how to build and sell Squarespace website templates.
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Action step for this week:
This one depends on where you're at right now, so pick the one that applies to you...
๐ If you're currently cross-posting written content to Medium, Substack, LinkedIn articles, or anywhere else:
Go check that article right meow.
Is there a clear link inside sending people back to your website? A freebie, a related blog post, a service page โ anything that gives people a reason to come find you on your OWN WEBSITE.
If not, add one. Now.
And if you wanna go a step further, look into whether that platform has a canonical tag option. I'm 99% sure Medium does, idk about the other ones tho.
It's a lil' piece of code that tells Google your website is the original source. Google "[platform name] canonical tag" and you should find instructions pretty quickly.
๐ค If you're repurposing content across different formats (YouTube, podcast, blog, social):
You're good.
Keep doing that. But if you're NOT already embedding your YouTube videos or podcast episodes into your related blog posts, that can totalllllly be your easy win this week.
Pick one blog post, find the related video or episode, and embed that bad boyyyyyy.
If writing blog posts that actually help your SEO still feels like a guessing game...
My Blog Post SEO Outline Template is $27 and it'll change how you approach this entirely.
It walks you through how to plan an SEO-optimized blog post from the very start, before you write a single word, so you're not just publishing and praying something *clicks* for search engines.
You get a fill-in-the-blank planning framework, keyword placement reminders, formatting best practices, copy-paste AI prompts to speed things up, AND examples so you can see exactly how it works in real life.
Buy it once, duplicate the template as many times as you want.
โ