Can Content CROOKS Out Rank Original Content?

by 3000
12 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Today I was just randomly checking my competitors for one of my niches that I'm ranked #1 for.

I noticed that one competitor that came out of nowhere is basically using my content.

The only difference is he/she has poorly spun the content.

I'm just worried because I saw that the site has more backlinks then I do.

So like the title says, can this site outrank mine?
#content #crooks #original #rank
  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Short answer, Yes.

    Google is a big and fancy machine but it has flaws. Thats why some crazy **** happens everynow and then...
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  • Profile picture of the author kalens99
    Unfortunately, yes. The problem is that Google can't know for certain who's content was published first either. One with more backlinks could be indexed faster and it may appear they were the first to publish the post. If it is really important to you then you can report them to their ISP. If that doesn't work then you can take legal action. Personally, it wouldn't be worth my time doing that. I just cut my losses. I once found a site in India that was publishing my Ezine articles without my link or bio. I told them to add the link or take it down which they never did. I wasn't about to take time out of my life reporting them to the ISP, collecting evidence or hiring a lawyer to go to the other side of the world to track them down (assuming they even used their real name when registering the site).

    The good thing is that over time Google could recognize that they just have poorly spun article and eventually take it off. No guarantee of that though. People who use shady spinners and tricks may rank well for a while then lose their rankings. Other times they stay on the front page. Justice is never certain I'm afraid.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      Yeah it certainly can, content isn't that very important when trying to rank, backlinks are though.
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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    File a DMCA request. It works with obviously spun content too.
    https://www.google.com/webmasters/to...a-notice?hl=en

    If he's using Adsense, file it with them as well to make him sweat.
    https://support.google.com/adsense/b...complaint&rd=1

    I've filed hundreds of these and I've probably gotten about a half dozen or so adsense accounts banned because they dared to copy my content. In most cases though, they just disable ads on that particular page and alert the account holder. Once people get a message from Adsense, they usually fix the problem quick.
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    • Profile picture of the author 3000
      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      File a DMCA request. It works with obviously spun content too.
      https://www.google.com/webmasters/to...a-notice?hl=en

      If he's using Adsense, file it with them as well to make him sweat.
      https://support.google.com/adsense/b...complaint&rd=1

      I've filed hundreds of these and I've probably gotten about a half dozen or so adsense accounts banned because they dared to copy my content. In most cases though, they just disable ads on that particular page and alert the account holder. Once people get a message from Adsense, they usually fix the problem quick.
      Very cool thanks for the response!

      How long does it usually take for Google to get back to you?
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      • Profile picture of the author nik0
        Banned
        Originally Posted by 3000 View Post

        Very cool thanks for the response!

        How long does it usually take for Google to get back to you?
        You could also ask him to use the original piece of content instead of the spun version and include a link back to your site. Then it's not stealing but article syndication.
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        • Profile picture of the author 3000
          Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

          You could also ask him to use the original piece of content instead of the spun version and include a link back to your site. Then it's not stealing but article syndication.
          No, I believe he/she has no intent of "playing fair". His site is set up in almost the same way as mine. ALL of the pages are copied and spun content from my site.

          Also his contact information is nonexistent.
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          • Profile picture of the author retsek
            Originally Posted by 3000 View Post

            No, I believe he/she has no intent of "playing fair". His site is set up in almost the same way as mine. ALL of the pages are copied and spun content from my site.

            Also his contact information is nonexistent.
            Haha, I love types of those. When you send the DMCA. He'll probably contact YOU. I've dealt with some who threaten to "click-bomb", and threaten to hack after Google took action on them. But most of these types just move to a next dead end project.

            When you have a successful site, you don't want to be wasting time trying to contact people who blatantly copy your content. 8 out of 10 times, you'll get nowhere doing that. Just send the DMCAs.

            Even if they leave backlinks intact, a site that scraps content is not likely to give you any link juice. As you allow more copies to slide by, your site will be hurt in the long run.

            Other great resources to automate your content protection are:
            DMCA.com ($10 per month)
            tynt.com (FREE)
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            • Profile picture of the author nik0
              Banned
              Originally Posted by retsek View Post

              When you have a successful site, you don't want to be wasting time trying to contact people who blatantly copy your content. 8 out of 10 times, you'll get nowhere doing that. Just send the DMCAs.

              Even if they leave backlinks intact, a site that scraps content is not likely to give you any link juice. As you allow more copies to slide by, your site will be hurt in the long run.
              Yeah you got a good point there.
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      • Profile picture of the author retsek
        Originally Posted by 3000 View Post

        Very cool thanks for the response!

        How long does it usually take for Google to get back to you?
        My shortest turnaround time for a reply was 4 hours. Longest was never more than 1 week.
        So it obviously depends on their volume of pending requests.
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        • Profile picture of the author 3000
          Originally Posted by retsek View Post

          My shortest turnaround time for a reply was 4 hours. Longest was never more than 1 week.
          So it obviously depends on their volume of pending requests.
          That's not bad.

          I just got finished filing my complaints with Webmasters and Adsense. It wasn't that bad at all. Pretty easy in fact.

          Thanks again!

          By the way, how do you know that the crooks that were stealing your content had their accounts banned? Does Adsense send you an email stating that they've disabled the Adsense account of the crooks?
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          • Profile picture of the author retsek
            Originally Posted by 3000 View Post

            That's not bad.

            By the way, how do you know that the crooks that were stealing your content had their accounts banned? Does Adsense send you an email stating that they've disabled the Adsense account of the crooks?
            When you get a positive response from the DMCA - You'll see that within 24 hours, ads are not being served on the pages you reported or their entire account was banned (ie. no ads are being served, even on pages you didn't report). You just see a blank yellow box.
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