Someone's Copying My Website & My Articles - What To Do? | Warrior Forum - The #1 Digital Marketing Forum & Marketplace

14 years ago

You will notice, all content you add gets ripped automatically by many sites. It does not bother me too much as long as they provide a backlink or some credit, as sometimes its a blessing as the article ranks high on their websites and not your own meaning they are bumping up your traffic.

Regards
Owen

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IndigoJack

14 years ago

Have you tried complaining to Google? If Google concurs they will remove them from their index.

Other than that, stopping your site text content being copied is nigh on impossible so generally you should expect it to happen and try to live with it.

But in the case of copying your entire site I would take it to Google and see what happens.

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Chris Donne

14 years ago

all the above, plus if its your content they are stealing, then take it as a compliment, dont lose sleep over it ,it happens, move forward, Good Luck

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YanKirby

14 years ago

Greg, really happens a lot. This has been pretty unusual with the influx of autoblogs and content scrapers.

Personally, I do think it would serve you well to move on. Ive been there and there really is not much anyone can do.

Hope this helps.

-Yan KIrby

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Fun to Write 14 years ago

Ugh

I've had this happen with someone using my original website content for a PR site. Got those taken down ok. But, the person who put it on a Wordpress blog, got to keep it there, because I got nowhere with that.

I believe this incident contributed to that particular site getting pushed down in the serps. Felt my original site was being penalized somehow for the duplicate content - but no way to prove it.

Anyway, you've done all you can do. Now, just move on and keep working on promoting your original site (I didn't do this), until it becomes a true authority site.

Good Luck
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JMac

14 years ago

I would imagine if you email them and let them know of your intent to follow up with google, the threat of having them drop in the serps would make them at least give you credit for the work and put your links on the content.

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gregbanks

14 years ago

Hey guys thanks for the replies!! I know I can count on Warriors!

@OwenSmith - I actually like that because those sits typically send a link back to my site, which is great!

The actual offending site has taken my posts, copied them and then reworded them slightly. The overall format of the posts is identical but their content is worded slightly differently than mine.

For example, my original would be:
"A black cat sat on the mat"

Their would be:
"On the mat, a black cat sat"

They have done this for a bunch of my posts and when confronted they said they had taken the ezinearticles content and used that - which is also against TOS.

I have talked with their host and have explained how DMCA works. I have provided at least 10 examples of identical or near identical content which has been ripped from my site and am now waiting to see if they will take it down.

Thanks for all the support!

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Asher

14 years ago

Originally Posted by gregbanks

Hi all,

One of my sites is having its content (which we took hours to research) just ripped off. The other site is just copying the content and then rewording it a little - if you put it side by side it looks exactly the same

They are also going through my EzineArticles account and copying as many of my articles as possible for this site.

Having some experiecne with this previously, I submitted a detailed DMCA complaint to the host. They replied with a quote from the offender that they were just "taking ezinearticles and putting them on their site". Considering this is illegal as well, I explained to the host in an email that took my 30 minutes to write, that I wanted the content on their own site taken down because it was just a rip-off of my content. I am going to contact EzineArticles later.

This was yesterday. Now I have checked and the offending site still has a series of my content posted on their site. I connected to live chat to the host to which they replied "There is nothing I can help you with".

What would you do from here? Fight or just kick this site's ass in the SERPS?

Hi there, I can't offer you legal advice but there
are certain things which you certainly can't do
much about.

First of all, since you've put up your content on
EzineArticles, it also means that you've given
permission for your content to be put on other
people's sites.

This is not illegal.

There's a re-publish option in EzineArticles for
others to take content from their site to put
on a different site.

If the site is taking your content and claiming
it to be totally written by them, then you can
get them to give you proper credit.

Otherwise, you can't just call the host and ask
them to shut down their site. If you could do
that, the victim might just decide to take
vengeance, buy a new domain, post all your
existing content but backdate them to maybe a
year earlier and lodge the same complaint.

Hosts can't shut down a site just because
someone complains that their site has been
copied.

At least, that's according to my knowledge.

Asher

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Asher Aw

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gregbanks

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Asher

Hi there, I can't offer you legal advice but there
are certain things which you certainly can't do
much about.

First of all, since you've put up your content on
EzineArticles, it also means that you've given
permission for your content to be put on other
people's sites.

This is not illegal.

There's a re-publish option in EzineArticles for
others to take content from their site to put
on a different site.

If the site is taking your content and claiming
it to be totally written by them, then you can
get them to give you proper credit.

Otherwise, you can't just call the host and ask
them to shut down their site. If you could do
that, the victim might just decide to take
vengeance, buy a new domain, post all your
existing content but backdate them to maybe a
year earlier and lodge the same complaint.

Hosts can't shut down a site just because
someone complains that their site has been
copied.

At least, that's according to my knowledge.

Asher

Thanks for the reply, but it's obvious it's a copy.

I'm just going to focus on making money :-)

Thanks
1 reply

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Asher 14 years ago

Originally Posted by gregbanks

Thanks for the reply, but it's obvious it's a copy.

I'm just going to focus on making money :-)

Good for you, just move on =)

Asher
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Asher Aw
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mbmehmet

14 years ago

Sadly this happens. Just keep building a steady flow of backlinks to your pages and you will be seen as the authoritive source and rank as intended. You shouldn't be worrying so much about him stealing your content, instead start ranking yours.

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Geoff101

14 years ago

Make your website more authoritative and forget about people copying your stuff. Concentrate on making money. Things get copied all the time.

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petelta

14 years ago

I know a guy who takes care of people like this....

He'll be wearing the red blazer...3:00 pm....under the willow tree...

Seriously though, I would not let yourself worry too much about this type of thing. You are going to have your content ripped from you throughout your career.

Ezinearticles is a very popular article directory and many people including myself use it to find and research our competition. Or to find quality niches that other smart marketers have found.

Then of course, there is always that group of people that decide to try and steal content and push the easy button. These people don't become successful in this business. They won't pursue trying to rank that article or push there site to be any better. They couldn't even take the time to write their own article...

do you think they will take the time to backlink that article and create a quality experience for their viewer? No way!

This is why I wouldn't worry about it. Worry about making your website the best website out there in your niche. Once everyone knows your name, they will always come to you for what they want.

Travis

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Colin Palfrey

14 years ago

Parts of what you are saying make sense, but I think you are misrepresenting the purpose of Ezinearticles.

Ezinearticles accepts articles for 'syndication'. By posting your content on Ezinearticles you agree that it is acceptable for others to copy and use this content.

However, they must copy the article exactly as it appears in the Ezinearticles 'publish' box. This includes all of your links pointing to your website.

They are totally within their rights to use your syndicated content, but must leave it unaltered. Obviously this is totally different from your own website, of which you always retain full copyright. Unless of course you have an RSS feed and then things get tricky, as you have again set up a means for syndication. I am not sure about RSS feeds, so maybe someone else has something conclusive there.

I am sure you are aware of this already, but I thought I would clarify it for newbies that could be reading this and missing the point.

Cheers,
Colin

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gregbanks

14 years ago

Hi Colin - I totally love the syndication aspect of EZA, don't get me wrong there.

However, these guys literally took my articles and republished them with some tweaks as their own. And this wasn't just one thing, they were going through all my blog posts and doing the same thing.

The would

#1 Steal my blog post and then just write up a copy on their website which would just have some sentences moved around

#2 Go to Ezinearticles and steal my articles for that topic. They'd then write their own articles following my article as close enough to just get the article accepted

#3 Rinse & Repeat

None of that included any reference to my website, or my resource box. I am all for syndicated EZA's but having them ripped off is not cool.

Originally Posted by Colin Palfrey

Parts of what you are saying make sense, but I think you are misrepresenting the purpose of Ezinearticles.

Ezinearticles accepts articles for 'syndication'. By posting your content on Ezinearticles you agree that it is acceptable for others to copy and use this content.

However, they must copy the article exactly as it appears in the Ezinearticles 'publish' box. This includes all of your links pointing to your website.

They are totally within their rights to use your syndicated content, but must leave it unaltered. Obviously this is totally different from your own website, of which you always retain full copyright. Unless of course you have an RSS feed and then things get tricky, as you have again set up a means for syndication. I am not sure about RSS feeds, so maybe someone else has something conclusive there.

I am sure you are aware of this already, but I thought I would clarify it for newbies that could be reading this and missing the point.

Cheers,
Colin

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customsignsbanner

Banned 14 years ago

Sue them before they steal your identity!

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Colin Palfrey

14 years ago

Yes I totally agree with you Greg.

I just wanted to make sure newbies didn't get the idea that it was wrong to use Ezinearticles for content (provided they use the exact content as-is, which includes your links). Your fans/pirates are clearly not doing that.

To start with I would suggest disabling (temporarily) your RSS feed, and stop people from right clicking on your website. That should put them off, as it will then be a lot more work to copy you than it would someone else.

Next keep pressing their hosting company, and be sure to explain that their client is stealing your content, and that they are not providing attribution, and are removing your links. Also I would suggest you look up the Who-Is info, as this may provide you with further options/info.

What you are experiencing is a determined attempt to steal your work, and business plans. This I certainly don't condone, and just wanted to highlight the proper use of Ezinearticles for newbies.

Hopefully disabling right clicking and the RSS feed should put them off continuing this behavior.

Cheers,
Colin Palfrey

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kindsvater

14 years ago

Let us know if EZA and/or your web host do a take down. Another place to file a complaint is with the perps domain registrar.

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Lauryn

14 years ago

If they're ripping from your personal sites - not article directories - there's a BlogProtector plugin for Wordpress that will prevent that.

As far as ripping your ezine articles and not giving credit, there's not much you can do outside of inform them that you know. Most hosting and larger companies love to pull the "neutrality" card when you approach them. All I can say is keep making stellar content and perhaps "half" your ezine content so that the readers get the "full" explanation or version of your articles on your sites.

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Tinman

14 years ago

Let us know how it turns out. I'd think the biggest threat to the offender would be the possibility of getting de-indexed from Google.

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thomasr 14 years ago

Ezine articles is not that big a deal since the page where the article lives will never out rank the ezine article and Google can probably see it as duplicate.

If they rewrite it though then thats ok....welcome to the world of online business where most ideas are stolen and repackaged

HERE'S WHEN IT REALLY SUCKS

I wrote and article about the Best Gas MIleage SUV....

Well another website scrapped the content word for word the posted it.

And his website was crawled before mine was thus he got the credit for the unique content and I was seen as duplicate.....

So I tracked down the owner of the website through whois.net

Sent an email asking nicely to take down the article and he did

It he neglects not to then I would have threatened legal matters

Getting your content indexed before it is scrapped is a BIG DEAL!
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Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most...
-Mark Twain

Someone stole my mood ring... I don't know how I feel about that.
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mld_publishing

14 years ago

Back in my younger days, I contacted a copyright attorney when a similar situation happened to me. It turned into a huge ordeal.

Sometimes, it's better just to let go of a negative and keep in trucking forward.

I would still contact the individual and let them know I'm aware of what they're doing, and threaten them with a call to my attorney if it were to happen today. It might scare them into taking it down, and it would only take me 3 minutes to send. But once I clicked the "send" button, I'd move right along to my next task.

Karma will get the crook eventually.

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AnniePot

14 years ago

This is EXACTLY why I install the 'WordPress Unique' plugin on all my blogs. It changes all my blog texts to code and who wants to steal something that appears to be nothing more than gibberish when they view the page source. Of course it doesn't protect my Ezine Articles, but it is one small step.

Originally Posted by gregbanks

Hi all,

One of my sites is having its content (which we took hours to research) just ripped off. The other site is just copying the content and then rewording it a little - if you put it side by side it looks exactly the same

They are also going through my EzineArticles account and copying as many of my articles as possible for this site.

Having some experiecne with this previously, I submitted a detailed DMCA complaint to the host. They replied with a quote from the offender that they were just "taking ezinearticles and putting them on their site". Considering this is illegal as well, I explained to the host in an email that took my 30 minutes to write, that I wanted the content on their own site taken down because it was just a rip-off of my content. I am going to contact EzineArticles later.

This was yesterday. Now I have checked and the offending site still has a series of my content posted on their site. I connected to live chat to the host to which they replied "There is nothing I can help you with".

What would you do from here? Fight or just kick this site's ass in the SERPS?

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2 replies

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thomasr 14 years ago

Originally Posted by AnniePot

This is EXACTLY why I install the 'WordPress Unique' plugin on all my blogs.

where can i find this plugin? you have a URL by any chance? I found a plugin called wordpress unique but it is geared towards spinning
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Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most...
-Mark Twain

Someone stole my mood ring... I don't know how I feel about that.
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- bretski 14 years ago
  
  I haven't read anywhere in here whether or not the OP is getting a backlink. If you content is on EZA and you are getting the backlink from your resource box then I'm not sure what you're complaining about. Your content is posted to a site that syndicates content.
  
  As far as another site posting your content and they got indexed with google first and thinking that you got some sort of duplicate content penalty....this is a wives tale. Syndication does not invoke any sort of duplicate content penalty.
  
  It could be that the other site had higher PR or be older than yours with more content and more authority in your niche.
  
  Keep on plugging along...create great content and you'll rise to the top. Hiring a lawyer who's worth a damn for $350 an hour to try to prove that you have sustained damage? How much do you think you're going to get in damages? Sure it sucks but how much is your time worth?
  
  I would also suggest that you do turn off your RSS feed as was suggested above. A lot of these autobloggers pull your content from the RSS feed if that is indeed where they're snagging your content...
  
  Good luck and keep on plugging along...
  
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AFI

14 years ago

Originally Posted by AnniePot

This is EXACTLY why I install the 'WordPress Unique' plugin on all my blogs. It changes all my blog texts to code and who wants to steal something that appears to be nothing more than gibberish when they view the page source. Of course it doesn't protect my Ezine Articles, but it is one small step.

No offense at all, but you don't have to view the page source to steal text on your site. You just highlight the text in the web browser and copy.

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freedumb

14 years ago

Get their whois info and visit their house - scare them the old school way...

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thomasr 14 years ago

Originally Posted by freedumb

Get their whois info and visit their house - scare them the old school way...

Nice keep it simple....but if they live on MARS can I pay you to do it?
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Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most...
-Mark Twain

Someone stole my mood ring... I don't know how I feel about that.
-Tracey Morgan 30 Rock
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- freedumb 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by thomasr
  
  Nice keep it simple....but if they live on MARS can I pay you to do it?
  
  In that case, I'll do it for free
  
  Thanks
  
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WD Mino

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Victoria B

First of all talk with EzineArticles, secondly, be sure nothing can be copied/pasted from your site.

Good Luck!

Unfortunately even if steps are taken to protect the source code people can simply work around it.

I would just issue a DMCA notice report it to EZA and google
-WD

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aspiepower

14 years ago

This is the one you really want. Date stamped and timed by Google. Proof you were first:
WordPress › WP to GHTime « WordPress Plugins

Or, blog protector to stop copying/pasting or right-clicking: WordPress › Blog Protector - Protect Your Content « WordPress Plugins

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sarahberra

14 years ago

Contact the web master first and then contact google if they don't remove your content quickly.

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DeborahDera

14 years ago

Have you reported this person to Ezine? They might take action. Publishers are only allowed to take x-# of Ezine articles per year and if you can show them where the articles are going, how many, and whether or not they are removing your credits, they may help.

Originally Posted by gregbanks

Hi all,

One of my sites is having its content (which we took hours to research) just ripped off. The other site is just copying the content and then rewording it a little - if you put it side by side it looks exactly the same

They are also going through my EzineArticles account and copying as many of my articles as possible for this site.

Having some experiecne with this previously, I submitted a detailed DMCA complaint to the host. They replied with a quote from the offender that they were just "taking ezinearticles and putting them on their site". Considering this is illegal as well, I explained to the host in an email that took my 30 minutes to write, that I wanted the content on their own site taken down because it was just a rip-off of my content. I am going to contact EzineArticles later.

This was yesterday. Now I have checked and the offending site still has a series of my content posted on their site. I connected to live chat to the host to which they replied "There is nothing I can help you with".

What would you do from here? Fight or just kick this site's ass in the SERPS?

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steveshills 14 years ago

Best thing to do is set up a new ezine article account, because the loser will only do it again when you find other niches, and move on, people rip off people everyday and like i always say, what go's around comes around
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Someone's Copying My Website & My Articles - What To Do?

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