SUBMIT 2.0

There are many articles and blogs about the content theft and duplicate content problem and large number of SEO guys especially amateurs search for them as it is an important issue to be dealt with. Content related issues are quite important and become more significant when they are being discussed in the perspective of search engine optimization as we often hear that, “Content is King” in search engine optimization.

Well established webmasters create unique content for their visitors so that they can win the plaudits for providing something useful. On the other hand, few webmasters, bloggers, writers are adamant in stealing the content and modifying it rather than creating a unique content based on their knowledge or experience level. They either use article spinning software or manually edit the original piece to make one. This kind of practice is unethical and is always criticized by the online community.

When we talk of content in the light of search engine optimization, it becomes the most important factor because of the two reasons:

1) If well written, it will entice the readers. Moreover, a well written content will send the desired message and will prove of great help in marketing activities.
2) Content is the best feed for the search engines. The better the content, the higher the rankings of your website.

The problem of duplicate content mostly arises when someone steals the content from your website although there are other reasons for duplicate content but the content theft is the most rampant and serious issue. Webmasters who give their best to create good and unique content are often appalled to know that their hard work has been stolen and is being used without their permission. Additionally, if the webmaster is involved in search engine optimization then one more fear creeps inside him and that is of search engines penalizing his website due to content duplication and this is the kernel of this article.

First of all make one thing absolutely clear that there is nothing like penalization due to content duplication. Suppose Mr. ‘X’ who is a good netizen, owns a blog and has a very nice post about the latest trend in Website Design. Another person Mr. ‘Y’ also owns a blog but has a bad habit of stealing the content from other blogs and sites and posting them on his blog. Now, one fine day Mr. ‘X’ come across his article, this has been copied word by word on Mr. ‘Y’s’ blog. On seeing it Mr. ‘X’ gets restless and starts feeling insecure and the fear of search engine penalization creeps within him.

This fear is completely fictitious provided the content on his blog is crawled first. If it is, then there is nothing to fear for Mr. ‘X’. For search engines he is the owner of that content and all the benefits associated with that content will be duly passed on to him. As far as Mr. ‘Y’ is concerned, he too will not be penalized but search engines will simply ignore the content on his blog as they have already indexed the same content and there is no point in indexing the same. Hence, Mr. ‘X’ will reap all the benefits and not Mr. ‘Y’.

Additionally, if the same content is being used by Mr. ‘X’ or any other person on this planet but in some other language on a different domain, the content will not be treated as duplicate and will be legitimately crawled and indexed and will be treated as unique if it is not already indexed.

Hence, as a good online user and provider we should refrain ourselves from copying someone else’s work and if we have to, then we must always pass on the credit for its creation to the person responsible for it.

Source: EzineArticles

Filed under: Web-Site-SEO