As you probably heard many times throughout high school and college, plagiarism is the act of copying someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. However, plagiarism isn’t just an academic issue; it’s also a problem in the digital marketing world. With so much web content being published online every minute of every day, some bad actors may turn to dishonest techniques in an attempt to improve their rankings.
While SEO plagiarism can also include videos, images, and data, in this blog post, we’ll focus on written content. Keep reading to learn what constitutes plagiarism in the world of SEO, how it can affect your site’s rankings, and how to avoid accidentally plagiarizing content.
What Counts as Plagiarism in SEO?
SEO plagiarism involves copying content from other sources in an effort to boost search engine rankings. For example, someone might copy part of a highly ranked blog post and publish it on their own site to compete for the same keywords.
Not all plagiarism happens on purpose, though. Generative AI tools can plagiarize content, especially if they have been trained on existing web content. You may accidentally write the same phrase or sentence as someone else. You can also self-plagiarize when you duplicate your content across more than one domain – although the content belongs to you, it can still cause SEO penalties.
How Does Plagiarism Affect SEO?
Speaking of SEO penalties, if Google or another search engine believes you are plagiarizing content, they can lower your search rankings or even completely remove your website from their index. This means your organic traffic will take a major hit, making it hard to compete with other sites. You may also find yourself in legal trouble if the content owner decides to sue you for copyright infringement.
In addition to direct consequences, plagiarized content creates a subpar user experience. To build your brand and develop a recognizable style, you need high-quality content with a unique voice. Since plagiarized content is not tailored to your specific audience and doesn’t account for your brand identity, users will find it less engaging and persuasive, causing them to click away.
How to Avoid Plagiarized Content
Don’t fall into the trap of plagiarism. It may seem like the easiest way to build out your website, but it actually causes much more trouble in the long run, harming your rankings in ways that will take extensive time and money to repair.
Here are some tips to avoid plagiarism on your site:
Hiring Reputable Content Writers
While the upfront costs may be higher, paying for original content will almost always result in a significant SEO boost. With more eyes on your site, your rankings will continue to increase, helping more and more people find your company.
At Performance Driven Marketing, our content writers are trained to create web pages, blog posts, and city pages that are tailored to your needs and target your specific audience. We guarantee that the content we create is professional, original, and will help your company build a reliable reputation.
Copyscape
The best way to avoid putting accidentally plagiarized content on your website is by using specialized software. At Performance Driven Marketing, we use a service called Copyscape to ensure our content is unique.
It’s incredibly simple to use — all you have to do is copy and paste your content into the text area, and Copyscape searches the internet for close matches. If similar content is found, Copyscape shows you exactly which passages may be plagiarized, allowing you to rewrite them to avoid any issues.
Copyscape is also a great tool for detecting whether someone has copied your content on their own site. If someone has plagiarized your content, you can contact the publisher, submit a formal request through Google, or file a DMCA notice to remedy the issue.
Get Help From the SEO Experts
The world of SEO can be difficult to navigate on your own. If you’re looking to boost your rankings and get more sales, you need help from the experts at Performance Driven Marketing. We have helped countless small businesses achieve new heights with our comprehensive digital marketing services. Content writing, web design, social media, call tracking, paid ads — you name it, we do it!
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, contact us today for a free consultation. We would be honored to help you achieve your goals!
