A Comprehensive Guide to Crossposting on WordPress Multisites

Creating a multisite in WordPress can be very useful for many different types of organizations. Whether you’re a franchise owner, an educational institution, or just an eCommerce site that wants to have multilingual options on different domains, the WordPress multisite feature can give you just that and more. 

A unique part of having a multisite is crossposting content to different domains and making sure that everything is fully synced and consistent across sites. In this article, we’ll examine what WordPress multisite actually is, some interesting use cases, and high-quality plugins to help you get started. 

Let’s begin! 

What is WordPress Multisite

WordPress Multisite is a feature that allows you to create and manage a network of multiple websites from a single WordPress installation. This setup is especially useful for organizations, businesses, and individuals who need to oversee several sites with similar functionalities, themes, or content, all from one dashboard.

Here’s how it’s usually structured: 

• Network Administration: At the top of the hierarchy is the Network Admin, a central dashboard that gives the Super Admin the ability to manage and configure the entire network of sites. This includes creating new sites and managing network-wide settings, themes, plugins, and users.
• Individual Sites: Each site within the network operates almost like a standalone WordPress site, with its own URL, content (posts, pages, media), themes, and some site-specific plugins. However, these sites are connected under the multisite network, sharing the same WordPress core files, database, and user base.
• Shared Database: A WordPress Multisite network uses a single database to store data for all sites. However, it keeps each site’s data separate using different table prefixes. For example, while the wp_options table might store options for the main site, wp_2_options would store options for the site with the ID 2 in the network.
• Users: They are shared across the network but can have different roles and permissions on different sites. A user added to the network can be assigned as an administrator on one site, an editor on another, and a subscriber on yet another, all using the same login credentials.
• Themes and Plugins: Unlike a standard WordPress installation, themes and plugins in a Multisite network are installed and updated from the Network Admin dashboard. While the network administrator can enable themes and plugins for use across the network, the activation of specific plugins and the switching of themes can be controlled at the site level, depending on the network settings.

Understanding WordPress Multisite Crossposting

Crossposting is a technique used to publish the same content across multiple websites within a WordPress Multisite network. This strategy can be incredibly effective for spreading your message, sharing resources, and maintaining consistency across various sites managed by a single entity or organization.

It brings many benefits, such as: 

• Time and Resource Efficiency: Crossposting dramatically reduces the time and effort required to publish content on multiple websites. Instead of manually updating each site, you can distribute your content network-wide with just a few clicks. This efficiency frees up valuable resources that can be redirected toward content creation, strategy refinement, or other operational needs.
• Consistent Branding and Messaging: For businesses and organizations aiming to maintain a cohesive brand identity across multiple online platforms, crossposting ensures that all their sites reflect the same messaging, style, and values. This consistency strengthens the brand, making it more recognizable and trustworthy to its audience.
• Improved SEO through Content Syndication: Crossposting can also contribute to your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. With the right tools and techniques, you can syndicate content for SEO across your network in a way that search engines recognize as legitimate sharing rather than duplicating content. This can help increase your visibility and drive more traffic to your sites.
• Enhanced User Experience: Users visiting different sites within your network will encounter a familiar environment and consistent quality of content, which can enhance their overall experience. Whether they’re reading a blog post, looking up event details, or browsing a product catalog, they’ll appreciate the seamless integration across your network.
• Strategic Content Distribution: Crossposting enables strategic content distribution across your network. You can target specific sites within your network for particular pieces of content, ensuring that the right audience sees the right messages. This targeted approach can amplify your content, increase engagement and relevance, encouraging more interaction from your visitors.
• Simplified Content Management: Crossposting makes content updates, revisions, and deletions much easier. All changes you make to the original post will be automatically applied across all instances where the content has been shared, ensuring your entire network stays up-to-date with minimal effort.

Content sharing in a multisite: Use cases

1. Educational Institutions

Universities and colleges often operate multiple sites to represent different departments, campuses, or student organizations. For example, this is the website of Oxford University with the URL – https://www.ox.ac.uk/, which is the main one. Each separate college, however, has its own site with domains like http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/ for Lady Margaret Hall and http://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/ for Merton College. 

Universities often use crossposting for important announcements, policy updates, research publications, or event information like graduations, ensuring that all students and interested parties receive consistent and timely information.

2. Corporate Communications

For businesses with multiple product lines or regional offices, crossposting can unify messaging across diverse units. For example, a company-wide initiative or sustainability report can be shared across all regional sites, reinforcing the corporate identity and values across geographical boundaries.

The Walt Disney Company is one of the more famous examples of WordPress websites. They have one primary domain – https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/, and then separate ones for their Careers page – https://jobs.disneycareers.com/ and their Social responsibility page – https://impact.disney.com/. 

3. News Networks

Media organizations with a network of niche sites catering to different interests or regions can use crossposting to distribute breaking news, feature stories, or editorials. This ensures critical information reaches a broad audience, maximizing impact and engagement.

The New York Times’ main domain is https://www.nytimes.com/ but their cooking subsection goes under https://cooking.nytimes.com/. 

4. Franchise Businesses

Franchises benefit from a uniform brand presence while allowing for some local customization. Crossposting promotional content, branding materials, or operational guidelines ensures franchisees stay aligned with the overall brand strategy while tailoring their messaging to local audiences.

How to share content across WordPress multisite

Crossposting is an essential strategy for managing content across a WordPress Multisite network. It enables you to share posts, pages, and media efficiently between sites, enhancing your content strategy and audience engagement. Here’s how to implement and troubleshoot common crossposting methods:

1. Manual Crossposting Between Sites

Manual crossposting involves copying content from one site and posting it to another within your network. It’s straightforward but can be time-consuming for large networks. To ensure consistency, always double-check the formatting and links after copying. This method is best for occasional crossposting needs where precise control over each post’s adaptation is required.

2. Automated Crossposting with Plugins

For a more efficient approach, consider automated crossposting. Plugins like Multisite Content Copier or Broadcast automate the process, allowing you to share content network-wide with just a few clicks. These tools can save time and ensure consistent content distribution across your sites.

3. Plugin Recommendations

Finding a WordPress plugin that works within your multisite and makes every single site work better within the entire network is invaluable. There are different plugin types depending on the use case. Let’s take a look. 

For Multisite Network Management

• User Switching: This lets you quickly log in and out as different users within the network of websites. It’s great for testing new installations across the network and is designed for superadmins and admins.
• InfiniteWP Client: Allows you to easily manage multiple WordPress sites within your server. It has a single master login, one-click updates, and a robust set of backup and restore features to protect your websites.
• Beyond Multisite: Gives Superadmins more power when managing their multisite network. It allows them to perform actions like hiding plugins, disabling them for different users, and even targeting sites for plugins by ID.
• Individual Multisite Author: This helps distinguish between authors on different websites. You simply enter the author bio into your site’s dashboard, and then you can enable it on your blog if needed.

For Syndicating Content Across the Network

Content syndication is a beneficial strategy that involves sharing your content across different websites to reach a wider audience. Utilize RSS feeds or specialized syndication plugins to automate this process, ensuring your content is consistently presented and attributed correctly across your network.

WP RSS Aggregator is the best RSS feed plugin for WordPress.

It allows you to import content from an unlimited number of websites, regardless of whether they are on your multisite network. You can select what kind of media it is, categorize it, and enable formatting to ensure it displays correctly. There are loads of fantastic features that can make sharing content across your websites a lot easier. 

Manually managing content across several different websites is difficult and wastes a lot of time. Using a reliable autoblogging plugin like WP RSS Aggregator simplifies this process and makes it simple and manageable for everyone.

For Multisite Security

• Wordfence Security: This is an endpoint firewall plugin supported by a dedicated team of security analysts, researchers, and engineers. Their focus is on enterprise security for WordPress users. 
• WP Activity Log: This plugin helps you keep a real-time activity log of everything that happens on your website. It’s so you know exactly what happens on your websites, at what time, and from whom. 

After choosing a plugin, configure it to fit your network’s needs. This might include setting which user roles can crosspost, determining how content is linked between sites, and specifying how media is handled. Regularly update these settings to adapt to your evolving content strategy.

Troubleshooting Common Multisite Crossposting Issues

1. Addressing Crossposting Errors

If you encounter errors during crossposting, check your plugin settings and ensure your WordPress installation and all plugins are up to date. Sometimes, plugin conflicts can cause issues, so try disabling other plugins temporarily to identify the culprit.

2. Managing Broken Links or Missing Media

Broken links or missing media can occur when URLs change or media isn’t correctly copied across sites. Use plugins like Broken Link Checker to identify and fix broken links. Ensure media files are either copied to the destination site or stored in a central location accessible by all sites in the network.

3. Updating Crossposted Content

Keeping crossposted content up-to-date can be challenging. Consider using plugins that link posts across sites so updates to the original post are automatically reflected in its crossposted versions. Regularly review your crossposted content to ensure it remains accurate and relevant.

How to Install WordPress Multisite Plugins

When installing WordPress multisite plugins, you only need to have them on a single storage drive. This helps you save a lot of time when creating new websites, makes it a lot easier to keep them updated, and helps you organize all of your plugins.

But there are a few restrictions in place to prevent features from being abused. For example, only the superadmin role can install themes. This can be changed if you want admins to be able to change the themes of the websites that they are managing.

1. To install a WordPress multisite plugin, you simply click on My Sites > Network Admin > Plugins > Add New.
2. From here, search for the plugin that you’re looking for.
3. Click the Install button, then Activate to network activate them.
4. Configure the plugin according to your preferences and the instructions.
5. You can now access these plugins from any website on your multisite network via the Plugins menu.

It’s worth mentioning that while admins can use the features of these plugins, they cannot disable them. They’ll need to speak to someone with the correct permissions in order to turn off plugins.

Common WordPress Multisite Questions 

1. Does WordPress Multisite Have the Same Content?

No, WordPress Multisite does not automatically have the same content across all sites. Each site within the network can have unique content, themes, and plugins. However, administrators have the option to share or crosspost content between sites using various methods, including plugins, to meet specific needs.

2. Is Multisite Bad for SEO?

Not inherently. When managed properly, a WordPress Multisite can be just as effective for SEO as separate installations. The key is to ensure that each site has unique content, proper SEO configurations, and clear distinctions to avoid duplicate content issues. Cross-site linking should be done carefully to maintain site integrity and relevance.

3. Does WordPress Multisite Share Users?

Yes, WordPress Multisite allows for shared users across the network. Users can be added to multiple sites with different roles and permissions for each site. This makes it easier to manage access for users who need to interact with several sites within the network.

4. When Not to Use WordPress Multisite?

WordPress Multisite is not suitable for every project. It’s less ideal for networks of sites that have vastly different functionalities, require heavy customization, or when each site’s database needs to remain completely isolated for security or privacy reasons. Additionally, if site owners require full control over their site’s plugins and themes, a single-site installation might be a better fit.

Improve Your Crossposting Content Strategy with WordPress Multisite and WP RSS Aggregator

For WordPress Multisite crossposting to work, you need to make some strategic choices and get the right tools. Some businesses and sites can easily do everything manually, but if you’re planning on branching out to more than two or three websites or you don’t have the time to maintain separate domains, then embracing automation is your best bet. For those considering content syndication, WP RSS stands out as a top-notch choice, offering seamless integration and distribution capabilities. Armed with these insights and recommendations, you’re now equipped to enhance your network’s content strategy, engage your audience more effectively, and streamline your operations.