The purpose of this guide is to explain the negative impact of plagiarism in SEO, which became a serious problem that affects conversion and marketing success.
Plagiarism in SEO
It is hard to imagine any type of modern content online that would be published without some basic SEO work. Regardless of whether we are dealing with a corporate business website, a small online shop, or a blog of Instagram influencers, the chances are high that we are not dealing with written content alone. There will be a list of keywords, special libraries, and little tricks that help search engines range the website and bring it up when an average person browses the web. It is one of the most competing aspects of being online as there is a constant struggle to remain unique.
Unfortunately, it also introduced the problem of plagiarism related to SEO practices that are not always legal. Starting with the stealing of entire websites to a strategy of meta keywords, SEO plagiarism can take different forms. The problem is that the majority of web developers do not think that such content belongs to someone's intellectual property, which is why we often see SEO strategies copied from website to website. As this type of plagiarism is finally under the radar these days, the purpose of our guide is to provide you with helpful information and the ways how this plagiarism type can be handled.
What is Content Plagiarism?
In simple terms, plagiarism in academic writing, SEO, or any other medium is the improper practice of copying someone else's written content or an idea by passing them as your own. While there are different types of content plagiarism that one can encounter these days, there is also unintentional plagiarism, which is still a violation of intellectual property, which can result in copyright claims. Speaking of SEO plagiarism, it can result in low rankings and even full elimination of the website in question as it works just like the two-way road!
What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable in content writing?
In most cases, anything below 15% is considered safe in most content writing that is meant for education, business websites, or publishing. Remember that there might be some technical information that is common knowledge like Physics, Chemistry, or Engineering rules where originality percentage may vary.
Impacts of Plagiarized Content on SEO Practices
The most evident problem is low ranking and penalties by the search engine systems that see your website as a duplicate. The vital aspect that one must realize is that any plagiarism in SEO might do a thief “good” only for a week until the ranging takes place, yet it will affect not only some website that has been copied but the newly created one. As a rule, SEO plagiarism often results in copyright claims and may affect one’s business in a negative way.
Patchwriting Technique
Patchwriting is also known as a complete rewriting of the content that has been encountered somewhere else. One should remember that this practice is often used by online shops where the descriptions are mostly the same with minor variations. Still, it’s also considered a form of plagiarism, especially if there is little to no original content. At the same time, it will always depend on how good the patchwork is if one does not consider the ethical aspects of this practice. The safer way would be to create original content by being creative or adding multimedia content to keep things unique.
Copying of Entire Code
One of the worst SEO plagiarism scenarios is when the entire code (metadata, keywords, descriptions, titles, etc) has been copied without changes. Unfortunately, such plagiarism practice is quite common in SEO as web developers believe that code writing does not relate to intellectual property content. As the search engine bots scan through newly created websites, they notice code duplicates even if the text of the website is different. This situation is always a “you win or you lose” because one never knows which content will be ranked lower or penalized.
Accidental SEO Plagiarism
Even though SEO plagiarism can be unintentional, it still happens from time to time, especially if we are dealing with the same specialists who may self-plagiarize when dealing with specific subjects. It also relates to code writing when the same list of keywords and sequences are being used based on popularity. Although such cases of unintentional plagiarism are hard to prove, one should be always cautious by adding some variety.
The Problem of Duplicates
This part is quite tricky. Even your website can contain duplicates when you are placing the same content on each page like an advertisement or call-to-action paragraphs. Even though duplicates of web content are not always written with plagiarism concerns in mind, SEO specialists recommend avoiding this practice as the search engine bots will see it as self-copy plagiarism.
How to Prevent Content Plagiarism?
While it might not be always possible to prevent someone else from copying your website without copyright claims and lengthy discussions with Google or other search engines, you can always keep safe from plagiarizing online yourself. Learning the most common safety rules, you learn how to create unique content. Here are some aspects that you must consider when you are dealing with SEO or written content:
Keep Your Content Original.
Remember to keep your content original, particularly in the context of plagiarism in business, by starting from scratch without any pre-written material. It is often the only way to provide Google with something unique that has not been presented before. Even if you are dealing with the same dress that can be found in numerous online shops, provide an original description, talk about why it may fit, or how your pricing scheme is different. Keep things creative and it will always pay off as the scanning takes place. The same relates to your code and meta content where you can alternate the most popular keywords with less common phrases. You never know as it may help!
Adjust Your Web Code.
One of the tricks to prevent plagiarized content from appearing online is adjusting your web code from time to time. It may also help search engine bots as they scan your pages as you hope to keep the thieves off as they try to steal your website. If your code is constantly updated or some current information is added, your SEO originality will always rise. Therefore, adjusting your code is one of the ways to keep your data original in every situation as it works both ways.
Create Original Meta Information.
The creation of unique meta information is often copied from the most popular websites or done by turning to those top keywords. While it may sound like a good practice, web developers often plagiarize in this regard as they avoid being creative. The trick is to focus on readability and being inspiring. One should remember that search engine bots are not only looking for those popular keywords but also they also study the readability factor by turning to AI-based tools. As they compare your metadata with the website text content, an analysis is being performed. When you keep both original and related, you also avoid similarities, thus eliminating possible plagiarism.
Check For Duplicates With Plagiarism Checker.
If there is one thing that you shouldn’t go without is the website plagiarism checker. Using our ad-free plagiarism detector that has no limitations of any kind, you can seek similarities and provide yourself with immediate reports. Every similarity will be highlighted, which is a great way to edit things until everything is perfect. Most importantly, your data is not stored anywhere, which is an important confidentiality factor. Check your SEO and written content as much as required, seek duplicates, and keep things safe before getting anything published online! Just copy and paste your text and avoid plagiarism!
Proofread & Edit Your Text.
Do not forget that there are issues like self-plagiarism and unintentional copying! One of the ways to avoid plagiarism online is by checking your content twice. First of all, start with the editing where you check for readability, repetitions, and the similarities that you may notice. It will help you even more if you read it aloud. The second stage that you must consider is proofreading, which is meant for grammar checking and structure. Keeping things accurate is also the way to provide search engines with grammar-free keywords and word structures.
Was this article helpful?
22 readers found this helpful
