Is it Wise To Copy Top Ranking Sites In My Industry? Semalt Knows The Answer

1. Introduction

2. What is Plagiarism

3. Repercussion of Plagiarism

4. How to Have Original Content on Your Website

5. Conclusion

In the last few decades, particularly since the rise of the internet and its widespread use, there has been an explosion of plagiarism on the web. The ever-growing demand for content and the inability to instantly differentiate between plagiarized content and genuine content, has made it possible for plagiarized content to be dumped on the internet in large quantities. However, this doesn't mean that plagiarizing web content does not have negative effects; in fact, it has dire consequences. 

You might see high-quality, relevant, and traffic-generating content on top-ranking sites and feel you can copy them since they most likely won't notice your site or be aware that you copied them but don't do it. Your website will have to bear the brunt if you do. Here is a look at plagiarism and how copying other sites, top-ranking or not, in your industry can be detrimental to your site.

There's been a lot of buzz about plagiarism on the internet these days and what it means. Plagiarism is the act of passing another person's written brain work as someone's own. It is a wrong act because it is stealing intellectual property. Sadly, this practice is now terribly common, especially on the internet. When people get caught plagiarizing articles on the internet, it is often because they are too lazy to create their own quality work. 

They either don't have the ability to create their own unique content or just don't feel like creating a unique piece. While plagiarism may seem like a simple thing, it's an extremely serious issue. Since copying another site or source's content, whether knowingly or unknowingly, can affect your reputation, your credibility as well as your site's performance, it is crucial that you abstain from plagiarism. 

Thankfully, there are now diverse tools you can use to sniff out full or partial plagiarism within your content creation. The likes of Grammarly, Copyscape, and Semalt are available for you to detect forms of copying or plagiarism within your content and clear them out.  

A lot of people are yet to realize the dangers of copying from top-ranking sites. Copying and plagiarizing people's content for your site can land you and your brand in serious trouble. Here are some of the implications of copying from other sites.

You could be subject to criminal penalties when you copy other sites' content for your site if the owners discover. When dealing with blogs, it is important to keep in mind that if your content was plagiarized, you could get sued, particularly if the content was an exclusive one. If the person you are copying content from is a company, you may have to face legal action for the information you stole. 

If you choose to copy someone else's content, then you could be sued and forced to pay damages or costs that can put a serious dent in your financial situation. A case in point is the case of a website called MySpace. It was recently reported that a judge ruled that the site violated copyright laws by allowing copyrighted material on its pages without using a license. The website was forced to pay for damages, which ended up ruining the firm's financial records. 

Your case of content copying might go undetected for a while, but what if you get discovered later on? Can you bear the risks? If you can't, then it's better you painstakingly create your own content or hire someone else to do. Also, endeavor to credit all sources that provided the information you used to avoid a scenario where it would be assumed that you presented a piece of information that isn't yours.

This is the major consequence of copying another site for use on your own site. Topnotch Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Results Page (SERP) can only occur if your website has engaging, quality, and original content. This can't be the case if you are using plagiarised content for your website. Google does not take kindly to plagiarism, so if the content published on your website is plagiarized, intentionally or not, your website would bear the brunt. 

Search engines have algorithms that help them tell them original content and the copies apart and they usually place duplicated content far down in search results. This way, people who search for information on the internet can access original and informative content, not plagiarised repetitions that add no value. This means that once Google deranks your website, it automatically reduces your website's online visibility and user traffic. This surely can't do your business good because people can only patronize websites; they access not the ones they can't see. 

There are some cases where top-ranking websites also copy content from smaller sites with minor reputation. These sites might think that since they are huge, their copied content would seem more credible than the original content from the smaller sites. Still, Google algorithm has its way of figuring out the plagiarist site. And of course, sites like that would also suffer the backlash from Google. 

The effect of plagiarising web content for your website is that you will end up losing your credibility and reputation as a whole. If your customers and clients find out that your content is plagiarized, you might lose your credibility and relevance with them. Many people who don't have a good reputation on the internet are able to make a name for themselves by stealing the work of others, but this can also hurt your website in the long run.

Besides, many people have gotten into trouble because of what they have posted on their websites. Imagine posting content that turns out to be fake or misinformative; your audience would lose their trust in you. This could result in a loss of clients or business, which is not something you want. It can become difficult to get potential customers to trust your product or service when they find out that you are using somebody else's work without giving proper credit to the original creator. 

Rather than plagiarizing other people's works, you should try writing articles about topics you know and are familiar with. By doing so, it is possible that your reputation begins to improve, and you can start building a reputation that people with proud to associate with as a genuine one.

Before you start writing on any topic for your site, you should first read and research the topic thoroughly. It helps to write about topics you are familiar with, but if you are writing about an unfamiliar topic, you should study even more before writing or typing so as not to misinform people. You could also ask someone else vast in that particular field to proofread the content before you post it.

People frequently make the mistake of just jumping into content creation without outlining what their content is to contain. This is a sure way to create sub-par content. You could get tired along the way or lose inspiration and just decide to copy content off some other website. But when you first outline your content, the inspiration has a higher chance of flowing continually until you are done writing on the topic.

As had been said in point one, you should carry out thorough research before writing on any topic. Before and after creating your content, you should still verify your facts to be sure nothing is amiss concerning the information you provide in your content.

It is not enough for you to use verified sources to glean the information to create your content; you should also credit those sources by referencing them wherever they are mentioned within your content or at the end of the write-up.       

            

Whatever topic you are writing about, you should throw in your creativity to truly own your write-up. The content should bear your writing style and voice. This would endear you to your web visitors.     

       

You should always be informative with your posts by including relevant information, facts, and figures in your content. This way, it would be easy to tell your genuine work apart from copied content.

If you need to post about unfamiliar topics or you don't have the time to create your content, you should consider outsourcing the task. Endeavor to hire only good writers with vast knowledge and credibility to write your content. It is also important that you pay them well according to the industry's standards; you get what you pay for. You can consult Semalt for high-quality content on diverse content; they are among the best in the industry. 

Endeavor to run your content through plagiarism checkers to ascertain their originality and fix all seemingly duplicated phrases and sentences. Grammarly and Copyscape are the most common and effective plagiarism checkers. You can also use Semalt's content uniqueness tools to check your website's content uniqueness.

The impact of having using plagiarized or copied content on your website is too grave that it should never be ignored. Google can penalize you for it; you might get sued for it. Not to mention, you'd lose your reputation and credibility with your existing and potential audience. However, creating unique content can help your brand and site tremendously. It creates trust and credibility, boosts brand and site visibility, and you also get to be on the right page with Google.