Thoughts on using PLR articles on a content site?

by Dayne Dylan Banned
14 replies
I'm thinking about "beefing up" a new content site with some PLR articles in a niche. But I don't want it to ruin my SE rankings, etc.

Is PLR good or bad to use on a content site as far as SEO goes?
#articles #content #plr #site #thoughts
  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Write original stuff.

    Why risk it???
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  • Profile picture of the author TegaD
    PLR is good if you are one on the people that have difficulty working with a blank page, provided you can edit it and make it relevant. However your are knowledge able in your niche and you have the time it is always best to write the content yourself because it gives you the chance to imprint your unique style all over that shizz pardon my french.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Alves
    It is not bad to use PLR content occasionally, but I would avoid using it for the whole site. I have tested using sites only with PLR, and it seems more difficult to rank a site with PLR content because many other people are using it. Google tends to like sites that have high quality unique content. High quality articles can be written at an affordable price. You're better off getting the content that will rank well in the search engines without any problems.
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  • Profile picture of the author mickel222
    In my opinion PLR articles are good if you want to get some ideas of what to write about. Personally I would never just publish it on my site, not only because this can be bad with search rankings, but also because these are not my articles they don't have my own personal touch. Remember you are unique, and you can write in a way only you can, with PLR you have little options to differentiate yourself from other similar sites.

    Long story short, use PLR articles to get some ideas, but always try to give your articles something personal like only you can to stand out. But that's just my opinion.

    Maikel Michiels
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Dayne Dylan View Post

    Is PLR good or bad to use on a content site as far as SEO goes?
    Un-rewritten, it's neither.

    If you want to gain SEO traffic from the additional content, you'll need to re-write it.

    It isn't "duplicate content", anyway, of course - even if you don't re-write it. "Duplicate content" refers to multiple copies of the same text-file within one domain. Explained here: Article Marketers - Lay the Duplicate Content Myth To Rest Once and For All - Internet Marketing and Publishing Blog

    This would be "syndicated content" (if already published elsewhere).

    There are no "penalties" at all for that, but there's very little "credit" either, so if wanting the additional content to rank, it's not much good (possibly a tiny bit, only). You can avoid that problem by re-writing it, of course.

    (Some PLR requires you, in its terms of sale, to re-write it anyway - though that doesn't always mean that all the other purchasers have necessarily done so, of course!).

    If it makes the site better for readers, just do it. Thousands of people syndicate content every day of the week (including many of the world's leading news and sports websites) because it improves their visitor-experience. You certainly certainly won't be penalized for that. There isn't a duplicate content penalty from Google. They say so openly, loudly, clearly, repeatedly, consistently and in every way they can, on their sites and blogs, on videos, in interviews (Matt Cutts) and so on.

    But of course this isn't "duplicate content" anyway!

    However, if you're doing it specifically in an attempt "to rank better", it's pretty unlikely to help much.

    People who syndicate content are not doing so for SEO benefits but because it's content they want to share with their visitors.
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    • Profile picture of the author agmccall
      If used correctly PLR can be quite beneficial

      I strictly use PLR for "Article Starters" What I mean is. If I am at a loss for what to write about then I go to a PLR site select my niche and see what the titles of the articles are, then I use that and write my own article.

      If I need some real fresh content, then I outsource. I use elance almost exclusively because I can really refine my search when it comes to finding writers

      al
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    The way I see it, here's what it boils down to:

    1. Use PLR (can be risky)

    2. Rewrite PLR (low risk if you really rewrite it)

    3. Write original content (no risk)

    Pick one!
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      The biggest problem with (almost all) PLR has nothing to do with spiders of any flavor. The biggest problem is that the human readers you are trying to impress the spiders in order to reach will find most run-of-the-mill PLR articles boring, fluffy, ill-written, badly spelled, keyword-stuffed, factually challenged, and generally useless.

      It's usually less work to write something original - and often more effective.
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      • Profile picture of the author writeaway
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        The biggest problem with (almost all) PLR has nothing to do with spiders of any flavor. The biggest problem is that the human readers you are trying to impress the spiders in order to reach will find most run-of-the-mill PLR articles boring, fluffy, ill-written, badly spelled, keyword-stuffed, factually challenged, and generally useless.

        It's usually less work to write something original - and often more effective.
        Exactly, John. And you can tailor the article more closely to the specific 'atmosphere' for the site to maximize selling/lead generation opportunities.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I think you should create original brand new articles. It doesn't take much to write a 500 word article. Even if you have to start with 1 article per day, then do that. Then gradually, see if you can write 5, 500 word articles per day. The more content the better. Think of them as "money pages"... the more of them you have out there, the higher the chances of people coming back to your, clicking on your links, and buying from you. But PLR articles? Nah... dont roll with that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Beverley Boorer
    Thank you writeaway that you actually said MOST plr articles are boring, fluffy, ill-written, badly spelled, keyword-stuffed, factually challenged, and generally useless.

    Please NOTE EVERYONE. Only most. Not all. Yay!!! Someone realises that there are SOME plr articles out there that are excellent, well-written, contain good information on the topic, have no mis-spelled words or typos, have perfect grammar, contain only three keyword/phrase repetitions and are generally very worthwhile. It is nice to know that life is sometimes quite fair. You have made my day!
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    • Profile picture of the author samanthamilner
      Banned
      Remember Google hates duplicate content so its an absolute no-no if you are planning on doing seo. But if you dont have plans to do SEO then it wouldn't matter.

      Just think do you want Google?
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  • Profile picture of the author dbrwn
    Like some people ha ve said already, I would use the PLR content as a way to create your own content for the site. Using PLR directly without modifying it is asking for trouble if you know what I mean.

    It is best to add original content even if the content is based off of PLR content. Depending upon how good the content was written should tell you whether or not you you should use it.

    If the content is very poorly written, then by all means don't use it at all on your site. However, if the content is good and is relevant, then by all means use it on your site.
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