Does Google always penalize you for duplicate content?Chitradurga
When my clients approach me for my content writing services it’s obvious that they are looking for original content. In fact, they specifically say, “I’m looking for original content because Google can penalize me for duplicate content.”
It goes to prove that they want original content because Google can penalize them if they copy content from other websites and blogs and otherwise, they wouldn’t mind picking some nuggets from here and there, sometimes complete web pages and blog posts.
Without going into the ethics of whether you should pick portions from other websites or not, here is a link I came across that quotes an interview from Google’s John Mueller in which he explains how Google decides whether a particular piece of content is original or copied.
Here is a video to the entire interaction:
John says that even for Google it is difficult to decide sometimes what is the original source of a particular piece of content. All Google knows is, if it finds multiple instances of text strings on multiple blogs and websites, then that content is not original.
This problem can be solved to a great extent by the canonical meta tag but right now, I don’t need to go into the technicalities of how to make sure that your content is not reused by someone else. The point that I intend to discuss here is, whether it is fine to use duplicate content on your website.
There are 2 reasons why clients approach me for content writing whether they are looking for content for their websites or blogs:
- They want to improve their conversion rate.
- They want to improve their search engine rankings.
Your conversion rate has got nothing to do with what Google thinks of your content. You can declare at the top of your web page that you have copied the content from another website and at the most what Google can do is, stop your website from appearing in search results. If you are fine with that, beyond that Google cannot do much.
Yes, there can be ethical issues, even legal issues if someone sues you for copyright violation, but beyond that, you’re completely fine. If it is very good content, the copied content even does wonders to your conversion rate.
John in the video himself says that sometimes the blog post that quotes the original blog post ranks higher than the original blog post. How come?
Many factors are taken into consideration, including relevance.
You must have come across many blogs that simply aggregate content from other blogs and websites. What do they do?
They even use the same title. They pick up a big portion of the original blog post and copy/paste it, along with the original link and sometimes, they add a few lines of their own, probably introducing the original source or expressing their own opinion.
I have done that too. I have also experienced that my blog post ranked higher than the original blog post. I have seen this happening multiple times.
Google’s ranking algorithm is quite advanced. It can make out whether you’re simply copy/pasting content from other websites and blogs or you are quoting them with your own take on the subject.
When you quote the original source and give a fresh perspective, Google can make out if your perspective is relevant to the search being done by the user. Maybe the original source does not have the information the user is looking for and your link has, despite the fact that you have picked a major chunk of your piece from another blog post.
Here is what I think about the whole issue: it does not look professional if what you have on your website is present on multiple websites. Every business is unique and hence deserves to have a unique voice and a unique message. If your visitors cannot distinguish you from other websites, it will be hard for them to do business with you.
By the end of the day, original content writing matters. It helps you stand out. It presents a unique perspective. It distinguishes you. It makes you, you.
If you want to be an aggregator then sure, go ahead and copy content from other websites. Google may punish you or may not – right now it’s quite random. But you cannot build your brand over copied content.