Duplicate Content and You: Three Ways to Avoid Getting Penalized
You may have come across an article or a few paragraphs on content that you think would really suit your website. It’s important that you remember not to copy and paste the text exactly as it appears, as besides breaking copyright laws it also won’t serve much benefit to you. The search engines, or at least Google specifically, penalize websites that have been flagged for having duplicate content. This means that your rankings may actually suffer after you add more content (if that content is duplicated).
That doesn’t mean that you can’t draw on others for inspiration, however, and this is when the skill of rewriting becomes absolutely invaluable. When you find content that you want to use, rewrite it so that it meets the following requirements:
- It has been reworded and rephrased - This is important for the search engines as they link sentences, keywords, and phrases together. Changing the order of things causes the search engines to change how they view the content, hence preventing any penalty for duplicate content.
For example:
The Coca-Cola can has once again changed its appearance, dropping the arguably more attractive modern design for a simpler, more traditional one. Though brand purists may applaud Coke’s decision to revert back, many see it as a blast from the past and don’t appreciate the novelty.Rewritten, it could be:
Fans of the classic Coca-Cola brand rejoice: Coke has answered your prayers and has redesigned the Coca-Cola can (and bottles) to resemble labels from years past. Gone is the recent busyness and complexity of the label, and instead we are given a return of a much simpler, somewhat understated design.
- It is not stolen or simply cut and pasted together - Search engines will see right through this, as the keywords and phrases will match with other websites. If the other website had it online before you did, you lose. Make sure that you take the time to actually rewrite it to avoid any issues.
- Modify the length - If the article that you are rewriting is 400 words, make sure that yours is 500 words. This, combined with changing the phrases around and modifying the keywords, is very effective at ensuring that it is not flagged for duplicate content.
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