Effective Writing

How to use Copyscape and Google to track duplicate content

Following up on the last article, a great tool that that allows you to check if your content has been scraped off your site and used elsewhere is Copyscape.com.

You can also pick strings of words at random from several sections of your content and type them into Google (make sure you put them in quotes). This is another great way to track your material.

If your content has been taken and you’ve been penalized, or think you might be, write and ask the owners to remove the content. If they don’t, lodge a formal complaint with Google through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. You can use it to threaten legal action and apply pressure to both the website owner and host to take the website down.

This also gives web hosts and Internet service providers a measure of protection from false copyright claims. As long as they outline certain notices and take-down procedures in their terms of service and implement them when there is a problem, they are covered in case they are unfairly accused of copyright infringement.

Originality is integral to good content creation. There are penalties for content that repeats other content, and numerous copyright laws. The easiest way to avoid this is ensure your content is original.

If you do use someone else’s work, even if you have their permission, you may still get penalized because of a duplicate content penalty. A duplicate content penalty is given to websites that Google thinks have copied original content from another source.

Unfortunately, duplicate content penalties don’t distinguish between the original content and the copied content, so be careful about letting other people use your content without changing it at least twenty percent. Google could give you the penalty even though you’re the original producer. This has to do with PageRank, and is too complicated to get into here.

Many believe that the search engines are changing this policy so that the original source is considered the site that published the content first, regardless of anything else. but until this becomes fact, don’t allow anybody to publish your content until after it has been available on your website for at least 2-3 weeks or until it has been spidered and indexed by the search engines.

There are many people who steal content and use it word for word; there’s not much you can do to avoid this, but you can track it with certain tools and take the proper action if you find someone is stealing your content. Also, put a copyright tagline at the bottom of anything you create; it can be an effective deterrent for prospective copyright violators.

A common disease that plagues most writing, “fluff” refers to using many words to say little or nothing at all. It is also referred to as “filler.”

Fluff is found in a lot of writing, and is especially rampant on the internet. Take a minute and read any random article, piece of copy, or content and you’ll probably notice that half the stuff you’re reading doesn’t actually say anything. Kind of like this post. Annoying, huh?

A three hundred word article packed with good information is better than a five hundred word article that pads the information, or lack thereof, in a bunch of useless rubbish. It is about quality over quantity.

Today’s topic centers on the use of overly complicated language. It is directed, of course towards the archaic musings of academic journals and the elitist drivel of snobbish websites.

Using big words and complicated prose is unnecessary and potentially alienating to your readers. In the same vein, grandiose, mellifluous sentences and excess verbiage expounding on the merits of your indelibly unique product and the synergistic experience of using it are damaging to your writing and to your content.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and descriptive. Look at books like Jesus’ Son or marketing geniuses like Seth Godin. Better yet, read the Clue Train Manifesto.

In short, avoid long words that are hard to read and harder to say. They don’t make you sound more intelligent; on the contrary, they make you sound like you’re trying too hard.

To recap: ensure your writing is clear, strong and concise. Writing that appears lofty, hokey, or over your readers’ heads is sure to drive them away.

Bad grammar is yet another pitfall that is common in writing, and the internet happens to be an effective sink hole. Not only is it unpleasant to see, but it can create a feeling of carelessness that isn’t lost on a reader. Bad grammar can dilute your customers’ confidence in your product or service because it shows a lack of professionalism.

Luckily, there is an easy solution to bad grammar: repetitive proofreading. For most people, once is not enough. Lather, rinse and repeat. In addition, have at least two other people proof your work for you.