Stolen content is outranking me, maybe it's okay?

Banned 8 years ago

Originally Posted by bleu

I created some free downloadable content. My terms say that if you want to share it, link to it. Do not take it and host it on your own site and let people download it from you instead of from me.

Anyway, people are taking it and letting people download it from them anyway and several of them are outranking me in Google for the keywords that describe the content.

The thing is that the content is obviously from me, it has my name and url all over it.

So, do I let them keep the content because it's good advertising for me if people are downloading from them, or do I have it taken down so that I can hopefully show up in search?

(I made several of these, so some from my site show up and some from other sites also show up.)

This same thing happened to me a few years ago, I created downloadable content (zip files) and some yahoo started hot linking to my files on his own site.

I went back and added internet shortcut links inside all my files, I still had control over the content/files the other guy was stealing. I was advertising my own site inside the files that he was promoting.

If the other sites are giving you free advertising I'd leave it alone, easy traffic.

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Gambino

8 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

This same thing happened to me a few years ago, I created downloadable content (zip files) and some yahoo started hot linking to my files on his own site.

I went back and added internet shortcut links inside all my files, I still had control over the content/files the other guy was stealing. I was advertising my own site inside the files that he was promoting.

If the other sites are giving you free advertising I'd leave it alone, easy traffic.

Agreed with Yukon. If the material was meant to bring in traffic and generate leads, and you're accomplishing that, I'd let other people promote the heck out of it.

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Gallag97

8 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

This same thing happened to me a few years ago, I created downloadable content (zip files) and some yahoo started hot linking to my files on his own site.

I went back and added internet shortcut links inside all my files, I still had control over the content/files the other guy was stealing. I was advertising my own site inside the files that he was promoting.

If the other sites are giving you free advertising I'd leave it alone, easy traffic.

smart, very good business strategy

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dp40oz

8 years ago

If the files are still promoting you than i'd say thats great free advertising!

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bleu

8 years ago

lol thanks guys, my first instinct was to start sending dmcas but I guess sometimes it's good to be stolen, maybe I will make more of these...

Thanks

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gingerninjas

8 years ago

This sucks, but at the same time imitation is a sign of flattery... I posted a thread about a similar thing and I have come to the conclusion that the WWW is too huge for me and I will just roll with it.

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jaintechnosoft

8 years ago

You can try securing your website and create copyrights for the file.

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moss

8 years ago

What's the purpose of the article? Sounds like you're getting free marketing done for you, if that is the case kick back and relax! Do you think you'd get more value by being the sole provider of that content? Or do you think you're getting more value by having a it work as a traffic router for you? If it's the former probably want to start looking at this Creating a Takedown case using DMCA.com - DMCA.com

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paulgl

8 years ago

The majority of the world could care less about your DMCA. It does not apply to them.

Good luck with it in the US.

Google loves stolen stuff. Can you say, "wikileaks"?

Makes no difference if they download it from your site or theirs.
Why clog your resources?

Stolen is probably not the correct word anyway. Unauthorized reuse would be more like it. Google is full of unauthorized reuse. It's what makes the internet beautiful.

Paul

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Arjen231

8 years ago

I would agree with the folks here. Sounds like you've got a nice promotion at no extra cost.

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Jay02

8 years ago

If it does not affect your website's performance, then it's fine. But with Google's strict algorithm, you can no longer tell if this will be beneficial for you in the long run. Anyway, you can easily report plagiarized content to DMCA for take down. Good luck.

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Hunter MI 8 years ago

I would monitor the traffic on you website closely to see if the next step you would like them to take after downloading this content is seeing a spike in traffic.

If so, then they are helping you.
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kazimuhith

8 years ago

If it is working, keep it on...

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Marcus W K Wong

8 years ago

trick question: Was is stolen or were they merely "enhancing their services through syndication" ?

Overall, it's great that your content is shared and at the least - you've done due diligence of back-linking in your content to ensure this is the case. Just be weary and keep an eye on them. The last thing you want is for this to go into negative light due to a 3rd party

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Ivanmediagroup

8 years ago

Well, you are not profiting that much, but it is okay, like any other file, music, pistures etc that are being stolen and posted. So don't worry, as long as you are earning, relax!

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netbull

8 years ago

You should absolutely stay away from copy paste or duplicate content it is one of the strong blackhat technique according search engines. If done and detected you will not only outranked by competitors but you may also be total de-indexed or removed from search engine results

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KylieSweet

8 years ago

Let the stolen content move around the web and also let them link to you because its for your own benefit especially for the users and not for the stealer.

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Stolen content is outranking me, maybe it's okay?

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