Content Curation!

Banned 12 years ago

I don't use it, myself, so I can answer only two of your four questions.

Originally Posted by aaronjunited

Does Google penalize for it?

Not as far as I'm aware, and I couldn't begin to understand why they might/should/could/would - or would want to? That wouldn't intrinsically make much sense ...

Originally Posted by aaronjunited

Should I be writing my own 100% unique content?

Not necessarily (though I do), but you should certainly be writing some proportion of it. There's nothing at all wrong with using syndicated content, and/or syndicated "partial-content with links", in itself (subject of course to the TOS of wherever you get it from!), but it's a way of adding content to your site, not a way of adding SEO benefits. (Be careful with some of the "information" given here - and elsewhere - about the legalities of this, by the way: I've seen some very questionable theories aired, partly by those with incentives to promote them, with which my lawyer friend doesn't agree at all!).

(I think you're probably going to have to define exactly what you mean by "successful", in your last question, for people's answers to help you much?

).

Thanks
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HD Node

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Not as far as I'm aware, and I couldn't begin to understand why they might/should/could/would - or would want to? That wouldn't intrinsically make much sense ...

Agreed, curated content is actually proving to be quite popular with users, with everyone from Scoop.it to the Huffington Post getting in on the act. So providing the content is good quality and includes some unique elements, I don't think there's a great likelihood of Google penalising it.

Thanks

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aaronjunited

12 years ago

Thanks Alexa, your a star.

What I mean by successful - Is content created by content curation on review sites for affiliate products successful?

I think in my own opinion 100% unique content is better, but I have no idea of what content curation can do for me in terms of creating content and weather it will be of benefit to me.

Thanks
1 reply

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JohnMcCabe

12 years ago

Originally Posted by aaronjunited

Thanks Alexa, your a star.

What I mean by successful - Is content created by content curation on review sites for affiliate products successful?

I think in my own opinion 100% unique content is better, but I have no idea of what content curation can do for me in terms of creating content and weather it will be of benefit to me.

You still haven't defined what you mean by "successful"...

Can it provide content for your site? Yes.

Can it help build authority? Maybe, depending on both your selection of content and your skill in commenting on it.

Will it lead directly to clicks on affiliate links? Possible, but not as likely as your own home-grown content.

Will it boost your search rankings? Maybe, depending on both your selection of content and your skill in commenting on it.

Will using curated content guarantee additional profits? No.

So, again, what do you mean by "successful"?

Thanks
1 reply

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Alexa Smith Banned 12 years ago

It's terribly easy inadvertently to be misled by people's answers to "is it successful for you?", if you don't define really accurately exactly what you mean by successful.

The classic example we see here, so often, relates to all those endless, silly threads about "spinning" articles (:p). They include a few posts from people announcing confidently that it's been helpful to them. And - if you compare it with not having taken any action at all - maybe it even has, arguably, in some sense, been "helpful" to them, but the reality is that if you compare it with "what they could have done instead, with a little less effort, time, work and energy", typically it hasn't actually gained them anything at all. So it's pretty easy to gather "information" (it's actually just "impressions": not really information at all) from people who feel they've been "helped" by things that actually did them no favors at all, in any realistic sense worth talking about. To work out whether they've been successful in a way in which you want to be successful, you need also to assess what outcome they got that was really directly attributable to it and whether - without knowing it - they could actually just as easily (or sometimes even more easily) have achieved exactly the same (or sometimes even a better) outcome without bothering with it at all.

"I do A and B and C and make money from it" can sometimes conceal "I do A and B and make money from it" (C actually being a complete waste of time). And in those cases, if all you ask is "Do you do C and is it successful for you?", you're sometimes going to end up misinformed.

There's a lot of phony logic and misattributed causation about, in internet marketing. And one of the ways to elicit it is by asking, in vague/general terms, "is this activity successful for you?". That can - understandably - lead to replies from people saying "I do it and I make a living".

This doesn't always tell you what you actually needed to know!

Apologies for a long-winded post. Please appreciate that I'm not announcing that content curation is a complete waste of time - I don't know enough about it to announce that.

I'm "just saying".
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aaronjunited

12 years ago

Is it a successful method to rank a website, make an income stream, traffic, authority. Is it a proven method basically or would I be wasting my time by implementing it.

You have slightly answered some of those questions above i would say.

What do you mean by my skill in commenting on it?

Thanks.

Thanks
1 reply

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JohnMcCabe

12 years ago

Originally Posted by aaronjunited

Is it a successful method to rank a website, make an income stream, traffic, authority. Is it a proven method basically or would I be wasting my time by implementing it.

You have slightly answered some of those questions above i would say.

What do you mean by my skill in commenting on it?

Thanks.

True content curation isn't just grabbing some content and posting it with a link to the source. That's closer to aggregation, maybe even autoblogging, which is a whole 'nother animal.

As for your skill in commenting...

Do you have a unique take or point of view on the content you select, and can you articulate that POV in a way that engages readers and motivates them?

Do you have the knowledge to comment on the content you select? If you pick, say, an article to comment on and your comments contain errors obvious to anyone familiar with the subject, you could blow your credibility right out of the water.

As for the success of the method, the answer is a definite maybe. If you asked Matt Drudge or Ariana Huffington, they'd give you a resounding 'yes'. Ask someone who not only didn't get the benefits you list above, but did get served with a summons for infringing on someone's IP rights, and they would tell you that it's a total failure. Most people will fall somewhere in between.

You might want to check this title out. You'll learn a lot more about curation and have a basis for making your own decision on whether it's a wise use of your time or not.

Amazon.com: Curation Nation: How to Win in a...

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Baadier Sydow

12 years ago

Just to confirm my understanding of curation. Curated content will include posts that have a variety of sources for a single subject. For example if your topic was widgets, you would have a post that included widget reviews, videos, pictures and social mentions related to widgets. As opposed to pure automated content that takes blog posts and spins them?

Am I completely off in my thinking on this?

Thanks

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Todd Pedersen

12 years ago

While I have not used content curation myself yet. I am thinking about it. I would of course mix in a good dose of my own unique articles and vids.

One of my favorite sites Bleacher Nation - Chicago Cubs News, Rumors, and Commentary uses content curation. I am a diehard Chicago Cub fan.

Thanks

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mraffiliate

12 years ago

I sent you a PM

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eibhlin

12 years ago

As the author of a best-selling book on content curation for websites, I can probably answer some of your questions.

Is it effective?

Done well, I think it's one of the most valuable things you can add to your website. You're recognizing the value of your readers' time, by sharing only the best-of-the-best of what you've found online, in your niche.

Does Google penalize for it?

As long as you're not just scraping content but adding something of value, no.

That assumes you're also curating intelligently, not just picking related articles, audios & videos, at random.

If your content is valuable enough that your readers don't click "back" almost as soon as they land there, and as long as your content doesn't look suspiciously like content wholly copied from another site, you should be fine.

However, if you're planning to use some plugin that collects the content for you, not only will that disappoint your website visitors (who'd expected something worth reading), there's always the possibility that someone else in your niche is using the same software and it posted identical curated content at that site, too.

Should I be writing my own 100% unique content?

Generally, I recommend a mix of curated content and 100% unique content. It depends on your business model.

Some sites will write editorial comments along with one or several curated links, in each post. Others will post a series of curated links, then write several posts with 100% unique content and no curated links, and so on.

Some sites, such as AllThingsD.com, are clearly separating the curated links. Others, like GigaOM, are integrating the curated links into articles.

Testing is smart, to see what your readers (and the search engines) respond well to.

Do any of you have websites with content on it via this method and is it successful?

I've been using curation at some of my websites since the mid-1990s and it's worked well for me.

"Success" to me means loyal fans who tell their friends about my website articles (including my curated content), rather than simply sharing the links I'd posted at my website.

"Success" means backlinks, incoming social media links, and customers who buy almost everything I create or recommend, in that niche.

So, if that's what you're looking for, the answer is yes.

However, if you just want to add a plugin that scrapes random article titles and videos, and calls it "curated content" ... well, we're talking about two different things.

As you can probably tell, I'm irked when I see people promoting hybrid autobloggers and calling it curation. (Needless to say, they never ask me for a review.)

There is software that can make curating easier. There is no such thing as quality curation that runs on autoblogging plugins.

If you have questions, feel free to PM me.

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aaronjunited

12 years ago

Thanks everyone for the very helpful replies, I will look more into content curation and see if it's right for me.

Thanks again.

Thanks

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Wendy Maki

12 years ago

There certainly is a lot of misunderstanding of what content curation actually is.

The simplest way I distinguish it is to compare it to a "literature review" that you may do in an academic or scholarly setting... except less formal, more fun, and always on-going and never 'done.'

In a "literature review" (whatever the subject), you are basically providing a short summary of other people's works (a paragraph or so usually) to place their work into a context -- how the work fits into the field, what it's about, pros & cons, what's unique about the idea or theory or work, and so forth. Basically, you are organizing other people's work into a context. And always respecting their intellectual property rights and copyrights.

When it's well done, your literature review/content curation becomes the 'go-to' work to see where to go next. It becomes an authority in it's own right.

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PazG

12 years ago

This is the best explanation of 'content curation' that I have heard thus far. Thanks Wendy!

Originally Posted by Wendy Maki

There certainly is a lot of misunderstanding of what content curation actually is.

The simplest way I distinguish it is to compare it to a "literature review" that you may do in an academic or scholarly setting... except less formal, more fun, and always on-going and never 'done.'

In a "literature review" (whatever the subject), you are basically providing a short summary of other people's works (a paragraph or so usually) to place their work into a context -- how the work fits into the field, what it's about, pros & cons, what's unique about the idea or theory or work, and so forth. Basically, you are organizing other people's work into a context. And always respecting their intellectual property rights and copyrights.

When it's well done, your literature review/content curation becomes the 'go-to' work to see where to go next. It becomes an authority in it's own right.

Thanks

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aaronjunited

12 years ago

Nicely described, thank you Wendy. So it's like quoting someone else's article and discussing it in your own opinion. So basically It may be related to a post you made the other day and you wanted to further make some points based on what someone else said.

Hmm, interesting actually.

Thanks

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marketwarrior06

Banned 12 years ago

If you have the time to write your own articles then its the best option. but if you want to outsource it then hire a person who can make good quality unique articles. not only copyscape passed articles. OK? then its cool i think.

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franci8

12 years ago

I use content curation, as well as providing unique content, however I use it in a way that it will take readers to my main content via a news blog set up in a sub directory. Take a look at the "How I get Traffic"post in my signature and you will see what I mean. My traffic has been unbelievable since I have been curating content but I have not distracted readers from what I really want them to see.

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trnz

12 years ago

Originally Posted by franci8

I use content curation, as well as providing unique content, however I use it in a way that it will take readers to my main content via a news blog set up in a sub directory. Take a look at the "How I get Traffic"post in my signature and you will see what I mean. My traffic has been unbelievable since I have been curating content but I have not distracted readers from what I really want them to see.

I linked to the the blog in F's signature and it's really great. A powerful get started intro to curation. I'm interested in whether I should do 2 separate blogs. One for curated content and one for my own stuff.
Is this a good idea? Are there any advantages in doing it? If so, does any one have any good tips?

Thanks

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Lakshmi SEO

12 years ago

I just started to follow content curation method, but is that useful in long run with all these updates?

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eibhlin 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Lakshmi SEO

I just started to follow content curation method, but is that useful in long run with all these updates?

Updates...? You'll need to explain that more.

If you're talking about Google's Penguin & Panda updates, they're practically irrelevant to anyone doing genuine content curation.

For those who are using plugins that are just the latest version of scrapers and spinners... well, that's still scraping and spinning. Sooner or later, updates will catch up with you. And, whether or not updates affect you, scraping and spinning aren't the best way to build an authority site. It's better to choose a site-building method that will increase in value to your visitors, as well as how search engines perceive you.

In terms of real content curation, you have nothing to worry about. People have been curating content since forever, certainly back to the 19th century and probably much earlier.

There will always be more information in any niche than most people have time to sort through. If you filter that information and can provide the best and most important references to busy readers, you'll have a successful website that can weather almost any updates of any kind.
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Tony Humble

Banned 12 years ago

You should also add additional information to your curated content - for example, background information. Just go on google and search for it, find some additional point or a comment someone has made and then rewrite it. This adds additional value to your content.

AFAIK, google doesn't penalize for content curation.

Thanks

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sbucciarel

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by aaronjunited

Been reading a bit about this subject and I'm not so keen on it tbh.

What I'm looking for is advice on weather to use this method for creating content?

Is it effective?
Does Google penalize for it?
Should I be writing my own 100% unique content?
Do any of you have websites with content on it via this method and is it successful?

Thanks in advance
Aaron.

There's a lot of "programs" to scrape content and call it curation that is little more than autoblogging. That's not really curation. I have a curated blog. Each post is a combination of links with excerpts and unique content written by me adding context and opinion to the topic, with the links and excerpts shown as supporting content.

Google does not penalize curation. As for whether or not it's successful, my curated blog is not commercial, so I don't know. The Drudge report and Huffington Post are curated, so I'd say that curation can be successful. As for a review blog, don't know.

Thanks

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SeoKungFu

12 years ago

Yes, I don't like it either, this is the actual modern day way to get around duplicate content - instead of calling it what it is - aggregated - you call it curated. As long as there is nothing personally added, unique - commentary, observation, opinion, it's just this - copied content from other sources.

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D Joseph 12 years ago

I don't like content curation either, but that's probably because most of the sites I've seen using it are basically nothing more than autoblogs. I'm also not so sure that republishing another site's photos without permission (whether you provide a link back or not) is actually considered "fair use".
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WebMeUp 12 years ago

Originally Posted by SeoKungFu

As long as there is nothing personally added, unique - commentary, observation, opinion, it's just this - copied content from other sources.

With content curation, there almost definitely has to be something added, some opinions expressed, comments made, etc.

Content curation is not just creating a website that consists of snippets of other websites (that'd be Google ). It is, for example, reporting hot news and sharing industry posts on Twitter/Facebook, etc.

Or, say, one can make a compilation of top posts on a specific topic, and add own comments. So, true content curation goes beyond just copying stuff from other websites.
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MrMonetize

12 years ago

Isn't HuffingtonPost.com just curated content? I have never done this, but I can see the attraction.

Thanks
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sbucciarel

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by MrMonetize

Isn't HuffingtonPost.com just curated content? I have never done this, but I can see the attraction.

Huffington Post is part curation, but they also have reporters and unique content. Since AOL acquired HP, it is pretty much a low class content farm, writing articles for the hot keywords with little to no value to the actual reader. That's what AOL does to the blogs it acquires. Turns them into low value content farms.

"(G)arbitrage never really goes away, it just becomes more corporate." Is the Huffington Post Google's Favorite Content Farm? | SEO Book.com

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MrMonetize

12 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Huffington Post is part curation, but they also have reporters and unique content. Since AOL acquired HP, it is pretty much a low class content farm, writing articles for the hot keywords with little to no value to the actual reader. That's what AOL does to the blogs it acquires. Turns them into low value content farms.

To what end? Providing the latest news or to generate advertising revenue?

Thanks
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sbucciarel Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by MrMonetize

Isn't HuffingtonPost.com just curated content? I have never done this, but I can see the attraction.

Originally Posted by MrMonetize

To what end? Providing the latest news or to generate advertising revenue?

Ad revenue. They're no longer interested in good content. Just views and ad revenue.
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