The AOP has developed a set of Good Practice Principles for Content Licensing and Syndication to provide guidance for publisher member companies on how to license and syndicate their content effectively. The Principles are advisory and are designed to help publishers navigate the opportunities and risks of content syndication.

Key Principles outlined in the paper include:

• Designating a Content Licensing & Syndication Lead (CLSL): Publishers should consider appointing an internal Content Licensing and Syndication Lead (CLSL) to oversee their content syndication strategy, acting as a central point of contact between different teams like legal, commercial, and editorial. This role aims to help to mitigate risks and maintain consistency in partner negotiations.
• Optimising Content Selection: Not all publisher content is suitable for syndication. Publishers should consider prioritising high-quality, long-form content with broad themes, while avoiding time-sensitive news. Content that already performs well on the publisher's own site and follows SEO best practices is often a good choice for licensing.
• Ensuring Partner Alignment: Before licensing content, publishers should consider ensuring that a partner's audience and brand values align with their own. This helps to prevent a dilution of the publisher's message and avoids attracting irrelevant traffic.
• Balancing Flexibility with Content Protection: Agreements should clearly define content usage rights to prevent misuse. Publishers should consider requiring partners to provide performance metrics to measure ROI and maintain flexibility to adjust terms as needed.
• Exerting Search Engine Control: To prevent syndicated content from outranking the original source in search results, publishers might consider using 'noindex' tags, which tell search engines not to index a page. While 'canonical' tags can also be used, they are only advisory and may be ignored.
• Optimising Content Licensing & Syndication: Publishers should consider developing a nuanced approach rather than a 'one-size-fits-all' solution. This can involve tactics such as withholding content, delaying syndication, altering or modifying content, and including 'backlinks'.
• Tracking Performance & Evaluating Strategy: Publishers should consider regularly monitoring the performance of their syndicated content and evaluate the financial impact of their partnerships. This helps them to identify optimal approaches for different content types and ensure their syndication efforts align with overall commercial objectives.

Richard Reeves, AOP Managing Director, says: "This document highlights that while content licensing and syndication can expand audience reach and boost ad revenue, it also introduces risks such as syndicated content outranking original sources in search results. These Principles are intended to help publishers carefully weigh up these trade-offs."

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