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Immediate duplicate content - Who gets to keep the SEO value?

by squeebo
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have had people steal content from me and outrank me for it. So I'm curious how it works.

Let's say site A publishes an article. The owner of site B finds out about it right away, say through a push notification or email. He copies the article to his own website. Maybe even sets the publish date as yesterday.

Would Google know which one came first?

Even if Google could tell which one was first, would they care? If site B has better onsite or offsite SEO, would Google say, "You know what, site B stole it, but he's doing better with it, screw site A" ??
#content #duplicate #seo
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Originally Posted by squeebo View Post

    I have had people steal content from me and outrank me for it. So I'm curious how it works.

    Let's say site A publishes an article. The owner of site B finds out about it right away, say through a push notification or email. He copies the article to his own website. Maybe even sets the publish date as yesterday.

    Would Google know which one came first?

    Even if Google could tell which one was first, would they care? If site B has better onsite or offsite SEO, would Google say, "You know what, site B stole it, but he's doing better with it, screw site A" ??



    Doesn't matter which one came first. Google can't prove the original source.

    The one with better SEO wins. End of story.
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    • Profile picture of the author THEroyseo
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Doesn't matter which one came first. Google can't prove the original source.

      The one with better SEO wins. End of story.
      This is true. However, if it's a lot of quality content like a "skyscraper article" that took a lot of time, energy and money to produce, you could try something.

      If the competitor put the publish date, it helps with this. Go to a site like https://web.archive.org/ or Wayback Machine and take a screenshot to prove that your website published the content before your competitor and report it to Google.

      I'm not sure if it will work but if you invested a lot of resources in that content production, it's worth trying it.
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      Nicolas Roy
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by THEroyseo View Post

        This is true. However, if it's a lot of quality content like a "skyscraper article" that took a lot of time, energy and money to produce, you could try something.

        If the competitor put the publish date, it helps with this. Go to a site like https://web.archive.org/ or Wayback Machine and take a screenshot to prove that your website published the content before your competitor and report it to Google.

        I'm not sure if it will work but if you invested a lot of resources in that content production, it's worth trying it.
        That is a total waste of time. Google does not care who published something first and dates are meaningless. I can put any date I want on a piece of content I publish.

        Google is going to rank the one that has stronger ranking signals. Period. End of story.

        If someone stole your content, submit a DMCA complaint with them and their web host to get the content taken down.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by THEroyseo View Post

        This is true. However, if it's a lot of quality content like a "skyscraper article" that took a lot of time, energy and money to produce, you could try something.

        If the competitor put the publish date, it helps with this. Go to a site like https://web.archive.org/ or Wayback Machine and take a screenshot to prove that your website published the content before your competitor and report it to Google.

        I'm not sure if it will work but if you invested a lot of resources in that content production, it's worth trying it.


        Wrong.

        You could scrape a site/page and change the date to 1987 or whatever, or not even have a date.

        Googlebot isn't the internet police.
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  • Profile picture of the author expmrb
    Exactly copied or re-writing version?
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    LIG; Let It Go.

    Feel the fear of loss/thieving and release it. Good exercise for scale. Because as your presence grows you physically cannot prevent it. Trying to do so kills your scale and keeps you playing small.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ryanbiddulph View Post

      LIG; Let It Go.

      Feel the fear of loss/thieving and release it. Good exercise for scale. Because as your presence grows you physically cannot prevent it. Trying to do so kills your scale and keeps you playing small.


      Ignore your problems and they go away?
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      • Profile picture of the author Blakers1
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        Ignore your problems and they go away?

        I don't think he's saying ignore the problem so much as you should look at it from a time management perspective.

        Would it be a better use of your time to try to build up the authority of your site, or should you start trouble with your competition. I know the competition is in the wrong here, but is it worth the time and energy?

        If you go after a competitor that's time you could be spending outranking him by doing your own SEO and content work.
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        Blake Akers
        Webology

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        • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
          Originally Posted by Blakers1 View Post

          I don't think he's saying ignore the problem so much as you should look at it from a time management perspective.

          Would it be a better use of your time to try to build up the authority of your site, or should you start trouble with your competition. I know the competition is in the wrong here, but is it worth the time and energy?

          If you go after a competitor that's time you could be spending outranking him by doing your own SEO and content work.
          Hell yes it is worth the time and energy. I cannot believe anyone would suggest otherwise.

          Unless you are publishing garbage that only takes you 5 minutes to write that you can churn out over and over again. It's YOUR content that I would hope you either spent some serious time in developing or paid someone to do for you.

          Ryan is completely wrong in his advice. He gives some terrible advice on SEO and this is a perfect example of it.

          If a competitor steals your content, you should not just ignore it. You know what they are going to do the next time you publish something? Steal that too. They are undermining your efforts.

          It doesn't take very long to file a DMCA complaint.
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  • Profile picture of the author JBambu
    Google has gotten better at identifying the original source of content. But it's important that your website has some authority and, ideally, your social media pages too. Consistently good content, real backlinks, and good social signals all help build that authority.

    BTW, any time you publish new content to your site, immediately post links to it on your Google+, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Google will know that it's yours.
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  • Profile picture of the author strategic seo services
    Originally Posted by squeebo View Post

    I have had people steal content from me and outrank me for it. So I'm curious how it works.

    Let's say site A publishes an article. The owner of site B finds out about it right away, say through a push notification or email. He copies the article to his own website. Maybe even sets the publish date as yesterday.

    Would Google know which one came first?

    Even if Google could tell which one was first, would they care? If site B has better onsite or offsite SEO, would Google say, "You know what, site B stole it, but he's doing better with it, screw site A" ??
    Google can tell which piece of content was first. You can file a DMCA request with Google so that they remove your stolen content from its index. Here is a guide that will help:
    Report Duplicate Content to Google - Filling a DMCA Request
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    Click Here ► $15 NEW! Backlink Packages Added! Special Discounts. High DA, PA Relevant, Contextual, DoFollow Backlinks. Rank Your Site on Page 1 of Google! ◄Click Here to find out how
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