Reasons for avoiding duplicate blog content
Note: The context of this article applies to business blog content, slightly different standards would apply for duplicate content within general website copy, online archives of articles etc. Business blogging is about strategy and every post counts, so there’s no point in risking a post that won’t fare as successfully when it hits the search engines!
Since you got an idea last week of how to produce original content and avoid plagiarism, this post will focus on why (besides the risk of getting sued) you really should listen to that advice. It’s not just about your credibility and the financial risk of duplicating content, there are a few reasons why it won’t have any benefit to you when your post hits the search engines.
- Search engines might blacklist you – Google and other search engines filter for duplicate content and if your site content meets the bad criteria, your rankings will be hurt. In extreme cases, you may be exiled from making the cut at all.
- You may not be the highest ranking site – if you’re taking content from another site that is clearly more popular or renowned, your blog won’t benefit in the slightest. When people are searching for keywords that appear in your article, the site you took the content from in the first place will appear higher in the rankings and you won’t get any traffic
- Your credibility will be hurt – this has nothing to do with search engines and probably speaks for itself. If people are visiting your site only to find that you’ve constantly used someone else’s content; you’ve got nothing to provide them. You’ve got to give them something to make a visit to your blog worthwhile.
Keep in mind that when I talk about duplicate content in this context; I’m referring to using all or most of an article that you’ve copied and pasted from another site and done so on the regular. There are circumstances where it’s just not always bad!
I will admit and not everyone agrees with this perception either. Read this article on the Search Engine Journal for another perspective and ways to get around the duplicate content filters if it’s worth the risk to you!
Beth Graddon-Hodgson is a professional writer/blogger and the founder of WriteSourcing a professional blogging, writing and editing service. You can read her posts on blogging for business here at the Wax blog every Tuesday.
June 8th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Yeah, there are differing opinions on this, but overall I agree that duplicate content is a problem. What I tend to do is post the main content in one place and then write summaries that link to that post in all the other places. Each blog I have houses a different audience anyways, so I need to customize it anyways.
One exception – when I post to Posterous (on the go), I do have that tool push that content to other places, but that is nothing that Google is going to care about too much.
Bob Stanke
June 8th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
The duplicate content penalty is a myth. I think I know what you’re driving at: an argument against aggregated content, autoblogs and so forth… but there are uses for such content and while using it may not help your search engine rankings, it is unlikely to harm them either.
If it were true that Google and other engines would penalize your site for duplicate content, competitors would post your stuff all over the place to drive your websites off the search engines.
Not all backlinks are equal, but duplicate content won’t hurt you as far as SEO is concerned. The arguments for a the shadowy existence of the duplicate content penalty don’t stack up.
With regard to “though leadership”, originality counts.
June 8th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
As far as I’m concerned Bob, what you outline is exactly how I think “duplicate content” (if you can even call it that) is done right! Summaries, exerpts, direct quotes etc, I am all for! And definitely, it’s a topic that you will see many different opinions on – but at the same time, when Google makes it difficult to push through duplicate content in many cases, at the same time, I find it easier to choose a stand!
June 8th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
I’ve written a few posts for the Search Engine Journal and what I’m always amazed at is how quickly other sources pick up the content and post it as their own. Thankfully it’s getting cracked down on. If they at least gave credit to the original publication I might not be upset with it. People are either too lazy or can’t come up with any thing original.
June 9th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
That’s an interesting article, Beth. I think the best way to avoid ramifications for posting duplicate content is just not to do it and keep the content original and un-plagurised in the first place.
June 9th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
I know, Josh. One site I write for personally, gets stolen directly from on the regular. Very frustrating to see your exact work, not even rephrased, and with no mention of the original author. And that’s why I personally believe the biggest issue with duplicate content is credibility. People aren’t going to return to read if they realize you’re taking things from other sites. And then, what’s the point!
Paul – agreed. While there may be no new ideas it doesn’t mean that you can’t put your stamp on everything written in some way, shape or form. Otherwise, what have you really got to give?
June 10th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
What you are really talking about is forgery which is a different thing than duplicate content. While Google can’t really tell the difference, it tries to pick the one with the most authority for its index. Chances are, if you copied someone’s article you don’t have much authority anyway. I don’t think there is a penalty though because there are so many good reasons why content might be duplicated. A couple of examples. Press releases, lots of websites archive press releases for their readers. Some site archive document versions for historical reference.
I’ve had my site content ripped off before, but those sites that do that don’t last very long anyway. As a SEO R&D project, I have duplicated my own websites to see if I could trip out Google. And no it didn’t work.
June 12th, 2010 at 6:53 am
The comments on this post are really really helpful. Thanks for posting this and for those who provided and will provide more information.. Thanks!
June 13th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Donnie – I didn’t mean to indicate that there would be a penalty exactly in that context, but the fact that you can’t post the same stuff on two sites without Google catching on, goes to show you that there’s no benefit in trying to do it! Really, we’re referring to both plaigarism and duplicate content – Google uses the term “duplicate content” for their filter. Whether you’ve got the right to use it or you’ve stolen it, really renders the same result – it hurts your rankings eventually..so both terms fall under the same umbrella. From a blogging perspective, any time you rip off someone’s article, you’re taking the risk that you’ve wasted your time. Each blog post you write for a business should be strategic, and if you’re not handling the content in the right way your blog isn’t doing too much for you! They touch on treposting exerpts etc. The PR element doesn’t really come into play too often in this context, because we’re talking about business blogging. Rarely, would I post more than an intro and a link to a press release, and usually on a biz blogI would recreate a complete post around the topic and create a link to the complete PR (industry of course plays a role)
This article is actually also part of a series that generally focuses on duplicate content, plaigarism and crediting. Check out last week’s post as well, which this ties into and stay tuned for more in the upcoming weeks! Thanks for your comment!
June 13th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Pardon the slightly messed up verbiage at the end of the first paragraph. Dog jumped on keyboard and managed to realign a couple of things just as I hit submit. “they touch upon reposting exerpts etc” was actually meant to be in the last paragraph in reference to the rest of the blog series.
June 13th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Great piece – also great that you linked to another site for a different viewpoint. Way to be ‘fair & balanced’ there lady!
d.
June 13th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Hi,
First time stopping by. I just wanted to add that this is also key information when article marketing. Article spinning – or even taking a blog post and turning it into an article for distribution – is a popular technique, but what people don’t realize is that the first (meaning, the earliest) indexed entry will take precedence over the second if it’s really a duplicate. So, unknowingly, people can actually end up outranking their own site with articles. It’s best to wait a few days or even a week before republishing content.
June 13th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Tia – that’s an excellent point about waiting a few days or a week before republishing content. Also, I checked out your site. http://www.bizchickblogs.com is certainly another great resource if anyone is looking for more tips on blogging for business and profit.
June 14th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Thanks, Bonnie! I really appreciate that!
June 15th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I distribute my articles frequently and generally wait until the Pagerank has been assigned before I let them go. I wouldn’t mind people referencing my work if they bothered to give me credit. The worst part is I sometimes find that the other guys even stole my image with the article. It makes me seriously consider paying more for rights to the images.
June 17th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Thanks, Diane! I figured if it’s worth the risk to some, they might as well learn how to do it “right” to stay safe!
Tia – great tip! Absolutely. And I’ve checked out your site now too, and definitely an awesome resource!
ND – yep, I’ve seen my articles republished without permission with everything, including once, my byline which I’m sure was an oversight because there was no link or reference to the original site where it was posted. There is NOTHING more frustrating!
June 21st, 2010 at 4:37 am
I never made a newsletter for my blog yet. But thanks for this. I’ll definitely use them. It will be good though if you’ll post more tips on this so I can regularly visit your site.
July 30th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
It is true that original content is the best thing to post on the web. These days, plagiarism is obvious.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:34 am
I really enjoyed the site. For me it is really helpful for me and I am sure to all the followers here!
February 17th, 2011 at 10:15 am
Nothing is more annoying than to see one’s time and effort being stolen by another. With Google always improving their systems to recognize duplicate content, it is just another reason why it does not pay to take.