Anonymous Content: Definition, Types & Best Practices For 2022

Content determines where web traffic goes.

There’s no secret about how content creation generates impressions and sales for businesses.

However, content cannot always refer back to single individuals, whether for privacy, security, or legal reasons.

That is where the idea of anonymous content comes from.

Let’s look at what makes this type of web content private and how a business or writer can use anonymous content to their advantage.

What is Anonymous Content?

Anonymous content refers to content that doesn’t have a known author or creator behind it.

The distinction comes from the fact that most content online has the author’s name attached to it, even if it is just a username or pseudonym.

Thus, anonymous content stays true to the definition of anonymous and doesn’t attribute anything to a specific identifier.

Differences Between Anonymous Content and Normal Content

As mentioned earlier, normal content refers to the types of blog content with attribution or known authorship.

Many authors and content creators seek to have their names attached to their work, making anonymous content more of a rarity than normal content.

What is the Purpose of Anonymous Content?

Anonymous content allows someone to post without having the content traced back to them.

This feature allows someone covering sensitive material to stay safe while writing about the subject.

It also helps businesses keep consistent branding by attributing everything to the organization instead of one person on the team.

Why is Anonymous Content Important?

Anonymous content can help a business stay consistent with its branding.

Not all companies can afford to keep a consistent writer or content creator for their websites.

In those cases, businesses rely on different creators to help with their content strategy.

Individuals may also wish to stay anonymous when covering sensitive subjects.

So-called Internet witch hunts can lead to innocent people getting hurt because of a disagreement over an opinion.

To prevent these from happening, some writers decide to stay anonymous.

Benefits of Anonymous Content

Here is a general overview of why someone might want to rely on anonymous content

• Allows them to keep consistent branding across a team of outsourced creators
• Hide their real names for exposé and whistleblowing ventures
• Attribute ghostwrote work to the intended business or organization

Common Types of Anonymous Content

Not all anonymous content exists for the same reason.

Different types of anonymous content exist for the different platforms and types of content out there.

These are some of the common kinds of anonymous content and why they exist:

• Anonymous writer content: Writers can submit unattributed work for a variety of reasons, such as privacy or safety concern
• Ghost-written content: Ghostwriters write anonymously and give the work to a business or individual to publish as their own as part of the contract work
• Anonymous social media content: Some social media platforms allow users to submit content without a username or identifier, making it easier to share their true opinions
• Anonymous graphics and visuals: Unattributed graphics and visuals can be the result of anonymous studies or data collection tactics done to expose current events

What Types of Anonymous Content Are Most Popular?

Overall, anonymous writer or ghostwriter content tends to be the most common kind of anonymous content.

The fact is that, for any website, content is king.

Generating or hosting content on a website increases the potential traffic of that website, allowing the business to attract potential customers or readers for blogs.

Anonymous content tends to come about as part of a work contract between the website owner and the writer.

This agreement allows the business owner to receive content for their website without revealing the outsourced nature of the content and allows the writer to receive payment for their work.

Examples of Anonymous Content

To drive home how diverse anonymous content can be, here are some examples of prominent campaigns and works relying on anonymous content to drive their point:

Zelle x Vox Media: The Science Behind Scams

Partnering together, Zell and Vox Media create a series of articles and videos describing the psychology behind scams.

Each piece, whether written or created as a video, received a high degree of polish and depth to help stop the increasing rate of online scams trapping victims.

Robert Ludlum: The Bourne Series

The famous author of the Bourne books series, Robert Ludlum, passed away in 2001.

However, the book series continued until 2017, thanks to the efforts of a ghostwriter and editor working together to create something akin to Ludlum’s style and legacy.

Ludlum’s biography mentioned this fact directly but didn’t list the name of the ghostwriter or editor to protect their identities and allow readers to stay immersed in the stories.

Dove: #ShowUs Campaign

As part of its diversity advertising goals, Dove put out an ad campaign focusing on a wide range of appearances targeting women and non-binary people.

Doing this allows the brand to reach these groups in a comforting way, all while encouraging these folks to explore Dove’s products.

Where to Find Inspiration & Ideas for Anonymous Content

The first place to start with the inspiration for anonymous content is to learn how to properly write a blog post.

Learning about the different kinds of content you can craft for a blog will give you the foundation you need to get content going for your website.

From there, look around at the various big brands and websites out there to see how they craft their content.

The key to anonymous content is to ensure nothing you craft can come back to one individual.

How Do I Get Anonymous Content?

If you know how to craft content, you can create anonymous content for your brand or blog. All you need to do is to list the content as attributed to the business or blog.

However, if you need help, connecting with a freelance writer could help generate some anonymous content without you having to take the time to do so yourself.

How to Create Anonymous Content

These are the steps to create anonymous content in a little more detail:

1. Use an Alias

An alias while working can help prevent your name from leaking while using any online tools needed to craft the content.

This can include email, online multimedia apps, and cloud storage tools.

2. Encrypt or Distance Your Connection

Using a tool to encrypt your connection or add more degrees of separation between you and the website can make it harder for others to track your connection.

This practice makes it harder for curious folks to try and look you up based on web traffic history.

3. Keep Identifiers to a Minimum During Content Creation

The content you create needs to be worthwhile to readers.

But, when trying to connect with the reader, some content creators add details from their locations or personal lives.

Avoid this practice to create true anonymous content.

4. Attribute the Work to Your Brand/Business

Finally, when the content goes up, set up automatic attribution to the website or blog, not yourself.

Since the authorship will be the brand itself, readers won’t know who at the company, if anyone, crafted the content.

Best Practices for Anonymous Content

In addition to the steps above, you’ll want to consider some of these practices when implementing anonymous content:

1. Decide if Anonymous Makes Sense

Before delving into anonymous content, you should decide if going the anonymous route makes sense.

The expectation today is that certain kinds of content cannot be anonymous, such as most forms of journalism.

This fact won’t affect most businesses but still needs to be considered.

2. Use Anonymous Principles

In addition to avoiding identifiers, going fully anonymous requires certain practices and principles not necessary for creating other forms of content.

For example, you might want to limit your time online with your alias accounts to prevent a history of web traffic data from building up.

3. Avoid Plugins for Your Website

Finally, business owners hosting their websites on something like WordPress should avoid plugins.

While plugins offer functionality to a website, they can introduce security flaws or track website data that others can pull.

These breaches would allow someone to identify you or the content creator.

Anonymous Content Tools to Save Time and Money

Access to blogging tools can help you generate anonymous content without wasting time and money.

What is an Anonymous Content Tool?

An anonymous content tool is a tool used to help generate anonymous content.

Part of starting an anonymous blog will be learning about these tools and how to use them.

Our Favorite Anonymous Content Tools

Among the anonymous content tools out there, these categories of tools are our favorites for creating and refining the content:

• AI Writing Software: AI writing software is an application that uses AI to generate articles and other written content for your website. Since the content comes from an AI, you would attribute the content to your business or website over to an author. These tools work by selecting topics to write about and reviewing the content the AI generates.
• Writing Helpers: If you write the content yourself, using writing helpers can help you stay productive. Writing helpers are applications designed to help writers organize and edit content.
• Plagiarism Checkers: Finally, to ensure that you maintain your voice and don’t take other sources too much, you can use plagiarism checkers to check for similarities between your content and the rest of the content on the Web.

Other Related Content Types to Check Out

In addition to this guide on anonymous content, we think there are some other varieties of content you will want to know about for your website.

1. Ultimate Guides

Many articles online refer to themselves as ultimate guides, which try to present everything there is to know about a topic.

Writing an ultimate guide can help draw traffic to a website since readers enjoy the convenience of looking over one detailed guide over several articles scattered across the Internet.

2. Branded Content

Businesses looking to build their brand will rely on branded content.

This content exists to explain how the brand works and why they are the right choice as the solution for a particular problem.

While providing educational content is great for your website, brand content shows why your services or products are the best choices.

3. Evergreen Content

Content doesn’t always have a long lifespan online.

That’s why learning about developing evergreen content, or content that remains relevant for years, is necessary for a business.

This content reduces the total number of pieces you need each year since the evergreen content can be an easy reference to provide later if crafted well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some of the other common questions out there about anonymous content and privacy:

Wrapping Up

Anonymous content allows a business or writer to create content in a way that doesn’t identify a single author.

This practice allows these entities to protect the individual writer’s identity while generating helpful or educational content.

Learning when the best time to implement anonymous content will be the biggest lesson you need to learn about anonymous content.

A lot of work goes into creating something anonymously, meaning it might not be worth the effort, depending on the circumstances.