29 replies to this topic

[corsicanu46]

I've been using stolen content since more than 1 year.

A freelance copywriter sold it to me as original content and I was dumb enough to not check it online for autenticity. I have 10 articles like this on my website, Copyscape see 50% of the content in each article as stolen. They are all optimized for my targetted keyword.

What can I do now? I'm affraid to simply remove the pages because they are all being ranked by google and that will leave me with almost no content.

What should I do now?

1) Pay a copywriter to write original content but keep the titles and keyword density?

2) I have no idea

3) Please help.


I really appreciate your help guys as this site is my only source of income and I spent thousands of hours working on it (((

Thank you,
Adrian

[Jill]

You need to remove those stolen pages as quickly as possible. Like right now.

What you do after is up to you.

[page1ranking]

Personally, I would re-write the articles and pages with the same keywords, but different text otherwise. Your thesaurus will be a good friend to you now. If you don't feel that you are able to rewrite these pages in a coherent, entertaining way without loosing your keyword optimization, you should probably consider hiring a copywriter to do this.

It might be worth your time and money to invest in Karon Thackston's Copywriting Course. For just around $100 (way cheaper than a quality copywriter), you could learn to do a job that's possibly even better than the original one. I've taken the course and have drawn on the lessons learned on numerous occassions.

But I agree with Jill - something should be done really soon!

[St0n3y]

Yep, pull the pages down. From there you might want to develop content yourself and then pay a copywriter to improve it. This way you're likely to come out with something that you know isn't stolen.

[bermuda]

Creating fresh original content is not that difficult and since Google already knows about the original contents urls and dates, deleting the duplicates is the first and the best choice for now.

[Ron Carnell]

I don't think you should necessarily jump to the conclusion that your copy isn't original. Isn't it just as possible that the content on the other sites was stolen from YOUR site? You might want to try to determine publication dates (static pages usually have a date stamp, for example, or archive.org might help) and see who was published first. Or confront your original copyrighter to see if he confesses. I agree with everyone else that you should get rid of any plagiarized material immediately, but I also think you should make sure it IS actually plagiarized before you panic. The Internet is a bit like that old audio tape commercial ("Is it live or is it Memorex?") in that the line between original and copy can easily become blurred.

[Nicky]

I would go along with Ron there - why do you think the content on your site is stolen and not the content on the other sites?

If, however you do find that the content on your site is stolen, then take note of how the pages have been optimised and try to copy that and write different content around the keywords.

I wouldn't just take the content down without having other content to replace it personally unless I had someone breathing down my neck

[Big Bill]

Just rewrite it to the point where Copyscape doesn't recognise it as being the same as the other copy. Change persons (I we, someone, etc.) and change tenses (is, was etc.) and change the word order in sentences. It's tedious but it's perfectly feasible.

BB

[St0n3y]

Stolen copy is still stolen copy no matter how you "dress it up" by changing tenses. If it is stolen scrap it and rewrite.

[Jill]

Just rewrite it to the point where Copyscape doesn't recognise it as being the same as the other copy. 

IMO, that is not good advice.

Start over from scratch without taking other people's words, ideas, thoughts and creativity.

[torka]

Assuming, of course (as Ron pointed out) that your copy is stolen in the first place, and not that it's the OTHER guys stealing YOUR stuff...

--Torka

[Big Bill]

IMO, that is not good advice.

Start over from scratch without taking other people's words, ideas, thoughts and creativity.

If I may, the OP did say that the site was his only source of income. If he dumps the content altogether, he's out of a job and I rather gather he came to this forum asking for constructive help, not instruction in morality. I also notice it doesn't seem like you're averse to using other people's words, ideas, thoughts and creativety when it comes to populating this forum with content, this forum which I notice is on your site and no doubt contributes to the rankings it maintains.

BB

[Jill]

I also notice it doesn't seem like you're averse to using other people's words, ideas, thoughts and creativety when it comes to populating this forum with content, this forum which I notice is on your site and no doubt contributes to the rankings it maintains.

'cept those ideas and thoughts aren't stolen...sheesh

[jehochman]

You can use other peoples' ideas as long as you provide proper citations (and links). Nobody is expected to invent everything from scratch. New ideas can build upon the good work of others.

This forum allows members to post their own ideas, which remain their own properly, and are fully attributed to the member.

If I may, the OP did say that the site was his only source of income. If he dumps the content altogether, he's out of a job

If somebody makes a living through an illegal activity, that's no excuse.

[Big Bill]

'cept those ideas and thoughts aren't stolen...sheesh 

Neither is something informational that's simply re-written. It's the same stuff just presented in a different manner. If I was suggesting to this guy that he re-write a book or a movie script and present it as his own, that'd be plagiarism and IMHO a Bad Thing. But a bought in set of articles are likely going to be thrown together stuff that's cobbled together from a bunch of other sources anyway. I doubt he'll be stealing other people's ceativity in any way there.
Anyway, stealing from or profiting by (I imagine) unbeknownst to the original authors, not the biggest of differences there, eh? You profit from this forum in that it helps your site rank - how many people, coming here for advice like the OP, are going to realise that?

BB