This is something not many people will cover with you. I was recently completely hosed by some PLR that was on my site. Now for those of us not in the know PLR is simply private label rights material. Whether it be an ebook or a whole sales copy package also including blog posts. Honestly it is work written by someone else with expressed rights for you to reuse it as your own. It may or may not have stipulations attached to it. In my case I hired someone to write some material for me 2 posts as a test for some internet marketing stuff I needed taken care of. Little did I know that this person had just cut and pasted a private label rights article and sent it to me.
Now this may or may not be common practice in the blogging world I know I deleted them as soon as I found out. The reason being that duplicate content will be penalized by google. Also it just does not do much for you for people in the know. I have not used any PLR since these articles and even at the time I was unaware that is was not 100% original. I also have not had anyone else besides a guest post or two that are noted as such on this blog.
This could be a pricey lesson for me but free for you. Google does not think highly of sites when handing out PR that have duplicate content, much less something along the lines as this that was doled out all across the plr nets and blogs that were start up’s that needed random content before a flip. This is also something I suggest you research if your buying a flipped site.
Not only can this affect your standing with google, it can basicly make you look like quite the jackass to your peers as well. While I only had two culprit articles if you have used anyone else to guest post I suggest you take a look at the content. While they will get the traffic to their site, you will suffer the slap in the end.
I apologize to everyone about this and I hope my hicuup in the matter will show everyone else to be prepared.
Just for those that are curious the main article that I discovered this by was the “3 Reasons Why Adsense Is Essential For Content Sites” As you will see the title remains as a placeholder but the content has been deleted. Think twice before posting similar content!
Wow,
I can believe someone actually stooged you and just copy and pasted content. That is a horrible thing to do. People are just looking for a quick buck I guess and they don’t care about anyone else. Did you get your money back?
Ouch Big Ben!
I feel for you man.
You have to get going with that Copyscape bro.
Or better yet, something that’s free, GOOGLE!
Next time you get a guest blogger or purchase any articles, simply copy 4 to 5 sentences and paste them in Google’s search bar and hit enter.
If it’s already been published, you should see a ton of results for it.
However, this alone I wouldn’t recommend. Using Copyscape as well I do recommend.
Thanks for the warning and for sharing with us Big Ben! Most people won’t.
Thanks again!
Yea, I always copy a sentence or 2 into Google to see if content is duplicate or not – I put it into “…” as well for refined search
U have to be unlucky to be hit with that though man…
Ben,
I was under the impression that the duplicate content thing is more of an old wives tale… I have seen many people with identical content that have still had good PR. Also, forgive the mention, but there is a site called share a post [dot] com that focuses on this exact point. I mean, in adult it rarely matters because everyone is recycling the same things for the most part, but I just assumed it was the same with mainstream.
Thanks for the heads up, and I am sorry to hear of your misfortune. But learning from your mistakes is always a plus. I haven used cheap freelance article writes because I just can’t trust people that are selling writing for $.05 per article. I have to believe it is either garbage or copy.
You hear horror stories about plagiarizing and what it can do to you and against you, but I guess some people dont give a s*** what it can do to someone else…sorry to hear you went through a hiccup with that.
I’m just glad you were able to catch it. There are (I’m sure) people out their that have complete trust in everyone and dont bother checking their sources…
Hey Ben, sorry to hear that.
Luis is right. It’s commonplace to run articles through Copyscape when you didn’t write them yourself. Heck, sometimes I still run my own through when I’m using a lot of “fact-based” articles on niche content sites or flips.
I only use PLR for eBooks (and sometimes the landing pages). I don’t bother using PLR for actual articles on flips (or niche sites that are keepers). It’s much better to just go unique. Plus, I find it just as fast to write a unique article than “rewrite a PLR”.
Also, once you find a “good writer”, hold on to him/her. Don’t try to find someone new every time. They’re a dime a dozen, but unfortunately, the keyword there is dime (that’s what their articles are worth).
Sometimes they’ll have killer portfolios that will be misleading, and still deliver doo doo as well. So, hunt down the reputable ones and buy in bulk for the best deal (if you can).
Cheers!
Jay
I used to be offended when clients told me that they check all work for plagiarism, but not anymore. That kind of thing is rampant online, and most of that is due to clients who want to get the cheapest work they can. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen someone say they will “only pay $2 and article.” What do you think you’ll get for $2?
But like someone said, always CopyScape it. It’s only .05 per search and it can save you a lot of headaches later.
Yeah man, I remember watching this unfold, and it sucked! I can’t believe it dude, some people have no shame when it comes to making money.
What’s worse is this dude was supposed to be helping you out! Ahh well man, keep it movin! We know you got the goods, so just keep putting it out there.
Wow Ben, that’s crazy awful. I’m glad you caught it in time and let us know about this. There’s a lot out there for those of us new to this whole blogging business that wouldn’t have ever known.
Thanks for sharing this valuable (if painful) lesson!
Thanks for the lesson, Ben. It is a good one. Sorry to hear that you got bite, but we live and learn.
Only one way to go from here, up!
I can’t believe it dude, some people have no shame when it comes to making money
Sorry that happened Ben. Glad you caught it now rather than later. I hate scammers!
I am not sure yet most folks understand what “duplicate content” really is.
Maybe we should ask your blog readers about that?
You can’t really think that if you take an article from ezinearticles.com and you put it on your site or blog is duplicate content, do you?
Thousands other folks might have the same article on their blog/site… Google won’t consider this duplicate content.
I ve never used PLR articles , it pays to be original on the web
I understand not wanting to have something thats been handed out to hundreds of newbies on your site as a feature article but i have heard conflicting reports about the real effects of duplicate content.
isnt the worst that can happen is that specific page is effected and the ‘penalty’ does not spread across for the google rank of the entire domain?
Justin brooke of siteflip academy has been calling pagerank penalties a complete myth.
im not sure i actually believe him, and really have no reason to rely heavily on duplicate content.
In my sites i have sometimes used duplicate content of my own content, just to make navigating to an important page easier. who cares if google only indexes ONE of my pages on the subject?
maybe Im confused, and please educate me if I am, but I dont see it as such a big deal.
thanks and take care
bryan
Nice article. Now I am aware about content duplicating. If google knows this then its surely dangerous for us. Otherwise many people adopting this for making money.
It may sound like I’m being picky, but Google recently posted on there blog demystifying the duplicate content penalty, I’ll try and find you a link.
Yupz,. Nice lesson Ben.
Thanks for sharing with us.
I never used PLR articles. It bring lots of trouble.
That’s an unfair statement, and uneducated. PLR doesn’t “bring a lot of trouble” for most people. Actually, this is the only time I’ve heard of it being trouble. And, the PLR itself wasn’t the trouble, it was the cheap writer who sent it as test material- the PLR writer himself did nothing wrong.
I’m sorry to hear that Ben, at least you got the chance to remove it before you got de-ranked.