Duplicate Content vs Syndication
I have an issue with Wealthy Affiliate.
Nothing really serious and in no way am I bad-mouthing this awesome community. But I recently went through an experience with the administrators that I want to share with everyone to keep them from making the same mistake I did. I also want to open this topic up for discussion and debate so any comments you have on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
I had a blog post removed this morning. I subsequently received a personal message from Kyle stating that the reason he removed the post was because WA does not allow for duplicate content and that in the future I should refrain from this practice.
For those who don't know, duplicate content is a nice way of defining plagiarism. In essence, you have taken someone else's work and posted it as your own with the purpose of manipulating the search engines to get more traffic. Google takes this very seriously and if Google catches you doing this, they can, and often do, de-index your site.So it is obvious why the post was taken down by the administrators.
What's not obvious is the reason I posted the article. So let me be clear - I do not plagiarize articles. Everything I have ever written has been from my own 'hand' as a result of the hours, day, weeks, and months, of improving my writing skill. Proficiency in writing is an essential skill for Internet marketers because it is the primary means to convey your message. Without original, engaging content, your chances of running a successful blog are next to none.
The article in question was actually a re-post of an article I'd written previously on another site. As stated in previous posts, I am a paid member of several Internet marketing communities and have purchased thousands of dollars in courses. What I did was take my original article for one audience and presented it here for an entirely different audience because I felt that this community could benefit from the post as well.
They have a term for this and it's called syndication. As the author of said post, I should have the right to distribute that article across as many platforms as I choose. Press releases are a great example of this. There are exact word-for-word press releases that get distributed across thousands of sites daily. Companies pay big money to have their articles syndicated in order to reach larger audiences. Google does not penalize sites for this and the practice is actually encouraged in other internet marketing courses.
Regardless of how I feel, the rules are the rules so I must oblige. So I apologize to the WA community for posting duplicate content according to Kyle's interpretation. I just wanted to explain my reasoning and rationale and I promise that this will not happen again.
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I am trying to make sense of everyone's comments and Kyle's post (The Open Education) that has been referred to. I don't think that your posting of one of your blogs from say, a website of yours to Ezine articles, is duplicate from the point of it being yours.
But from what I'm understanding from Kyle's post, the search engines view it as duplicate content. So the search engines allow duplicate content, but they just won't rank it and will penalize all but one place it is posted to, by only ranking it once? That and the fact that it easier to have just one rule, that of no duplication of any kind are the reasons for your blog being pulled down, yes? So if you post the same content here as elsewhere, then the search engines treat that as duplicate content. Could that penalize WA?
Ezine Articles were hit by one or two of the google updates. Does this have anything to do with duplicate content on their site?
Sorry for the questions, but I understand why Kyle is writing, no duplicate content regardless, and I understand your point of view too! Thanks Ithamar for the info, and any answers to my befuddled thinking!
Here's the deal. Duplicate content is deceptive in nature because not only is it plagiarism, but it is also an attempt to manipulate the search engines. Let's say there is a review article on the latest iphone that gets millions of views a day based on the keyword "latest iphone review". I want some of that traffic so I copy the article, paste it on my blog, enter those keywords, and now when people enter the search phrase, "latest iphone review", my site should now popup in the first pages of Google.
Google has strict penalties for sites that practice this and the most severe being de-indexing you from Google altogether. Keep in mind this is usually for small fries like us that want the exposure. Big sites with big brand names like Wal-mart, Target, news agencies, etc. don't even worry about Google because they don't need Google to get traffic. So yes, you can practice the art of duplicate content, but you won't get exposure from Google if you do.
That's why Kyle & Carson have adopted a zero-tolerance policy across the board. If they don't allow any type of duplicate content, then they don't have to worry about WA being penalized for it.
While Ezine articles has been hit, it was only to their Page Rank, which has dropped to a 6 from being an 8. They still rank number 4 of the top 50 article directories (BTW Street Articles doesn't even rank, but that's because they are still relatively new when compared to these other article directory sites). They will never be de-indexed and they get so much traffic that they really don't need to follow Google's rules if they don't want to.
You can syndicate your blog articles and Google encourages you to do so. Just follow their guidelines and you can spread your posts all over the internet.
You just can't do it here.
Thanks for this valuable post. From your post, I am assuming that other communities allow this and Google itself doesn't penalize you.
Although I am new here at WA, I am not new to internet marketing. Generally, if you are the author of a piece of content, you can distribute your content on as many platforms as you can. That's called syndication and Google doesn't penalize for that.
However, since duplicate content is such a prevalent problem, Kyle and Carson decided to adopt a zero tolerance duplicate content rule, and the some people just get caught in the crossfire.
Hi, I just need a little bit of advice here. I wrote a blog in WA called BOSS is a 4-letter word, then I shared it to the Facebook Page which I use for advertising my Make Money Honestly (.com) website. We are encouraged to share content from Wealthy Affiliate with our affiliate link. Now (as I explained in my latest blog) the Facebook Page is ranked on page 1 for the keyword 'Make Money Honestly' so I have inadvertently got duplicate content as I never expected a mere Facebook Page to be ranked.
So I'm sharing certain posts from WA to my Facebook Page & group with my affiliate link, but if the Page is getting ranked is the blog now actually duplicate content, as I shared the original article written for WA members to my Facebook page for my friends/page likers there?
I'm a little confused.
If you're sharing a link to view the content here, there's no issue. If the content that was published here has been copied elsewhere, that's different, see #2 and #3 here:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/wealthy-affiliate-the-open-education-project/spam-is-a-no-no Rich.
You're fine. You are encouraged to paste affiliate links to your FB page as this brings in new members and you get a commission from everyone you bring in to WA.
What you cannot do is write a blog post here in WA, then put that same post somewhere else on the internet. Neither can you write an article somewhere else, then repost it here in WA. Even if you wrote the article.
So as long as you are just pasting links so they can view the article here on the WA site, you are ok.
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the fast replies and I understand now. Yes, I posted on my FB page the article's affiliate link so that my readers there could view the blog here at WA, so my blog only appears in one place, here, and anyone viewing the blog has to come here via my affiliate link to view it. Thanks so much - Dave :)
Can I ask a question? If I have a blog on my website and I want to submit to some article directory like Ezine, I am not suppose to do so, is that correct?
Yes you can! In fact they have a Wordpress plugin that allows your posts to be automatically submitted to ezine articles. But we are talking about WA rules as far as duplicate content. You cannot post any article on this site that is somewhere else on the internet. By the same token, you cannot post an article on this site, then post it somewhere else. The same goes for Street Articles.
But Ezine articles allows you to post your own content from your blog.
It's pretty simple. WA and K&C themselves have neither the time nor the inclination to "police" duplicate content, whether it's just stolen or distributed by the author. The system deletes duplicate content as spam and notifies K&C. All content at WA has to be original, ie. not published elsewhere, likewise you are not permitted to publish content here and then reuse it elsewhere. Street Articles has the same policy. The No-No rules are here:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/wealthy-affiliate-the-open-education-project/spam-is-a-no-no :) Rich.
I read them, but I read them implicitly as well as explicitly. The purpose of the rule is to protect the community from spam and self promotion, which I get. I am fine with the rule, just also stating that I wasn't promoting anything, just gave good content.
Yup, but it was copied from elsewhere, which is a "No-No", otherwise WA would be awash with stolen content, potentially nicked from sources who might well defend their copyright, etc. It's why a repeat violation can trigger a write ban. There's no way to police content unless Kyle & Carson were willing to manually check each piece themselves. I rather think they've got far better things to do, hence the blanket rule. :) Rich.
I get that and I have no problem with that. I wrote this post for the sole purpose of getting clarification, which you have generously supplied, so I thank you.
Just a note to add here. There are many e-zine articles that want you to re-post their material. As long as you have permission from them to do so its ok to use on your blog. One must give the author credit for his.her writing and link back to their post. I have used this method to provide helpfull information on my blog.
You are absolutely correct. But what's the procedure for giving yourself permission to re-post your own article? LOL
If you want others to publish your posts, then you should create your RSS feed and share that link on your blog. If you wish to share your personal blog post with WA members and/or readers, then you can write a short post here on WA explaining about your post but without using a live link or self-promotional language.
I've seen other members who have written about a recent post they want to share. You can share live links on "Share your beautiful content" and the "Give and Take" pages, but if you're not asking for comments or feedback, then you can just explain the gist of your article and invite readers to visit your blog - again - without using live links.
Although I have seen members using live links in WA posts, I am not familiar with what happens when they do.
~MMH
Ithamar. I had something a little different happen when I wrote an article for Street Articles. I was not allowed to publish it because of duplicate content. I quoted and gave reference to an author of a book. It so happened that someone else wrote a blog that used the same quote by the same author, thus I couldn't publish it. I understand why the rules are there and it certainly must be frustrating when you want to reference your own work. I hope this can be worked out in the system, but keep moving forward because you bring value to our community.
Thanks for the input. I've been doing this too long to let it set me back...lol. Looks like I have to dust off the old school article spinner..lol!
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Hi, Just to throw my two cents in... and to help clarify the "issue." Copying and pasting any content, including your own from a different site would be considered duplicate content - yes. So, yes, I agree with Kyle when he asked you to remove it.
While you state that it is your content, etc., yes, that is likely true, but, and it's a BIG BUT, there's a difference between duplicate content and syndication - which you mention.
Cutting and pasting duplicate or original content is being read by the search engines (SE). The SEs do not make any distinction, use reasoning powers, or decipher possible justification to determine the whys or wherefores of someone posting duplicate content. It's a robot. They have no way of caring about what you would consider "reasonable" or justified when posting such content. All they know is that "hmm.. this content is the same as that content." That's it.
As for syndication, there are specific ways to syndicate content and in doing so, you are allowing others to use your syndicated posts - on purpose - by creating the RSS feed. The SEs know the difference which is why they do not penalize the site who is offering and posting syndicated content. Side-note: I think I read somewhere that all the content on Huffington Post is now syndicated... ...food for thought.
The reason why I know a little bit about this is because I have been sidetracked - once again - from my blogs and WA... I am in the middle of clearing out an attic full of "stuff" that has accumulated for a very long time... and yes, I would recommend people should do this more often than not ...because we have a lot of "stuff!" ...lol... Anyway, my point is that I have recently added other people's syndicated content on my main blog.
The question is - will it "hurt" my blog? I don't know.... All I know is that I feel incredibly guilty for not posting and writing content while I'm being distracted elsewhere...
So, long story short - No, you should not post duplicate content even if it's your own. Otherwise, the site that is hosting it is very likely to be penalized. Conversely, yes, you can syndicate content using the RSS feed. This will add content to your site and you will not - or "should not" - be penalized because the SEs know it's syndicated content via RSS.
The plug-in I'm using is called "FeedWordPress," but, once again, I am not sure whether this will help or harm my blog. I imagine that it will help traffic, but I could lose readers to the other blogs that I have syndicated simply because I am showcasing their work and their content. ...But, then again, my time away will also lose readers.... So, for me, it's a trade-off. I have also thought of using PLR, but that "should" also be tweaked here and there to provide original and not duplicate content simply because other people do buy PLR as well. But, right now, I just don't have time.
So, I'm using syndicated content in hopes of remaining somewhat relevant until I can get back to writing.
That's it - that's my two cents....
Good Luck!
~MMH