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So what's the harm in.....

by mrcouchpotato
16 replies
...using articles from EzineArticles or GoArticles for content on your blog or website as long as you include the author's bio box and website link?

I've heard both sides of the argument about duplicate content. Some say that Google doesn't like duplicate content and others say that Google doesn't care about duplicate content. So the jury is still out on that one.

But let's assume Google is OK with duplicate content.

Is it so bad to grab some articles from article directories and use them in your blogs? You can make it slightly unique by giving the author some credit in the begining of your post like "Check out this idea from Joe Blow over at www.jobeblow.com". Then add his article to your post.

Wouldn't this be a fast way to get indexed on keywords that you find in other people's articles?

Now remember. I'm not talking about articles you submit to directories...those do need to be unique. I'm just talking about some that you may add to your site if you're in a bind.

Just curious.

Mike
#harm
  • Profile picture of the author miawallace
    I was curious about this too. I have a site idea that I want to put together quickly, but I don't have the time to write content (or money to pay someone). There are plenty of article directories that allow use of articles as long as you give credit and a link, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if this is ultimately a bad move.
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    • Profile picture of the author Benguy
      Using articles from ezine articles and goarticles is perfectly fine.
      The meaning of duplicate content is often misunderstood. It doesn't refer to content being reused on the internet, it refers to content being reused on the same site. This means that you cannot post one article a million times on your site to get content and target a keyword. Articles are syndicated and treated as so (I don't have a link but google has stated this themselves). As evidence, search a recent a news story and find how many blogs have taken the same exact article and posted it, sometimes without even the author box!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      There nothing wrong with it at all - easy way to expand your site with relevant content. I use a lot of syndicated articles on my sites - but also add unique content as well.

      I like using articles from directories on a new site - gives me more pages without having to write everything before hand. Then I can concentrate on adding more unique content as I go and the site is getting indexed and ranked rather than waiting till my ducks are all in a row content-wise.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    This is fine to do, and encouraged by authors who want their articles published on other sites.

    Lee
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    • Profile picture of the author Defunct
      What is your purpose for adding the content?

      Is it to rank, to have new content or just for your readers?
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    • Profile picture of the author chrisscott
      Same news stories on almost every site or blog but how many actually telling truth that they've taken this from abc site or the writer of this story is xyz.

      My point is yes do use already available content but with the permission of the actual author because sooner or later Google will also develop an algorithm to check the actual content origin and whether the user of that content has given credit to the actual author or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shane N
    No harm whatsoever... It's a win-win for both parties involved. You get fresh, relevant content for your site; and the article author gets more clicks on their link. It becomes a problem when you remove the original author bio box obviously...

    The only thing you would have to worry about is people clicking on the link(s) in the author bio boxes more often than they click on the AdSense or affiliate links that you have on your site. While the content is relevant to your site, it can also be competition!

    Best,
    Shane
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
    Wouldn't this be a fast way to get indexed on keywords that you find in other people's articles?
    It might get you indexed for those keywords but unless your overall site has a better ranking than the sites you are taking the content from, you are not going to get much rank.

    So what is the point of getting indexed? Why is it important to get on page 26 of the results quickly?

    Before all of the "I tested this" people start running in here, yes you can sometimes get a good rank quickly but after a couple of Google adjustments you will drop fast.

    So my question is, if you are going to use a pre-written article and then have to spend time and or money creating backlinks to out rank the site where the original articles came from, wouldn't you be better off starting with unique articles that you produce yourself?

    In other words, it takes less effort to create original content than it does to come up with enough backlinks to support a syndicated article.

    You also get the credit for being an "authority" on the subject too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    There's nothing wrong with it, it's merely syndicating the articles. To a certain extent that's what article directories are for. It depends on what your goal is though. If you are just trying to flesh out your site with relevant content then it is beneficial but if you are worried about SERP rankings unique content will always be more prized in Google's eyes.
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  • Profile picture of the author culpetm
    I usually post two articles on any given page, an ezinearticle AND a spun version of one of my own articles. I put the EZA at the top of the page (maintaining all attribution and links, of course) and my spun article at the bottom of the page. The EZA provides high quality content for human readers. And the spun article on the bottom of the page provides uniqueness of 50% or more for the page.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You can do it of course. Google indexes tons of duplicate content. However, the purpose of blogging IMHO is to create a blog that is interesting enough that people want to read it. The most successful blogs are "spoken" in the author's own tone and have unique and interesting content. You won't achieve that just dumping a bunch of duplicate articles into it.
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    • Profile picture of the author mclauchlan
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      You can do it of course. Google indexes tons of duplicate content. However, the purpose of blogging IMHO is to create a blog that is interesting enough that people want to read it. The most successful blogs are "spoken" in the author's own tone and have unique and interesting content. You won't achieve that just dumping a bunch of duplicate articles into it.
      This is the best advice to take by far, the internet is full of the same generic content, so stand out from the crowd and write your own articles in your own style.

      Your reader will identify with your own writing style, and use other peoples work to corroborate a point you raised.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    Absolutely no harm at all. The chances of a surfer having seen it already are almost 0.

    I ran into a health related article from someone who had a problem with the health issue. It fit in extremely well with a site I have on the topic. The writer wanted a link back to his cordless drill site and I was happy to supply it.

    If it adds information or is even on topic and entertaining, it is a great addition as far as I am concerned. I also really don't mind supplying a link back. It might possibly impact my sites a bit negatively (but how can you go down from pr0 ) but I haven't seen that.

    On the positive side, you might make a friend. I read about someone who published and credited an article. One day the person googled his name (bored, lonely, absolutely nothing better to do I suppose) and found the article. He used the contact form to say thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author thinkahead
    As far as I know it's fine, but I'm sure EZA asks that you reference the source. Including references to other articles or videos on a blog is perfectly fine and a good way to find good content, but I would always prefer to try and use original content.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
      Originally Posted by thinkahead View Post

      I'm sure EZA asks that you reference the source.
      Yes, Eza and most article directories require that you do include the author's bio (with links) and link back to the source directory. A lot of people seem reluctant to do that but I really do not understand why. What is the problem? Mom wouldn't believe I wrote it anyway
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  • Profile picture of the author LetsGoViral
    I believe there is no harm really as long as you include the backlink to the authors' page. He gets more publicity and visits - what's not to love?
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