Content Scrapers - Not Everyone Plays Fair

Quality unique content is what every legitimate and knowledgeable internet marketer seeks to post on their websites, blogs, and in their articles. You only have to do a quick look to see that there are many people placing content on servers that shouldn't be. It's a sure way to ruin a reputation.

Writing requires talent, not just the ability to punch letter keys on a keyboard. Many fine writers do exist, and they spend long hours researching and putting together information that they want to use to promote their sites or those of their freelance clients.

Content Scrapers - A Separate Breed of Internet Marketer

Another breed of internet marketer thinks it is better to steal the content that others have spent the time and energy to create and use it for their own gain. They feel they are beyond the law when they cut and paste the results of the hard work that belongs to others. The excuses offered when they are caught are about as creative as these people ever get.

It is understandable why content scraping is so popular. A gifted writer has plenty of copy out there usually, and it is so simple to snag it and paste it somewhere else. It is no different than a thief who steals money. It's morally wrong, but thieves have a way of justifying what they do.

Blog Content via Back Linking

Blogs need a great deal of content to keep them going. Even talented bloggers try to find other content to use besides their own. Of course, they go about it the legal way by asking permission and offering back linking. That's the way the system is supposed to work, but it doesn't take as long to steal as it does to seek permission.

A Weakness in the Search Engine System

I was reading where one author had been plagiarized from his blog and the material had been pasted on three other blogs. When he searched for the article title on Google, the copied version ranked higher than his original. Adding to the insult, the copied articles hot linked back to the owner's blog for images so they were stealing from both his resources and bandwidth.

Of course, it is no problem to get the stolen content taken down. It is an easy process to find which came first, at least for now. But it shouldn't be there in the FIRST place.

Internet etiquette says to email the thief and ask nicely that the content be removed, which is saying that you should beg (politely!) for your own material from the person who stole it!

The Lamest Excuses

Content thieves can be arrogant and may wiggle a great deal before they give in and remove what they stole. Many offer lame excuses such as someone who was employed by them must have done the dirty deed, or they didn't know it was there, or they have no clue how it got there. If it happens to you, never fall for these excuses. They knew it was yours all along.

Some thieves attempt to change a little of the content so it is not so easy to catch, but Copyscape is hard to fool. Altering the title or rearranging a few words doesn't make your material undetectable as a copy. Even a poor job of spinning content can be seen for what it is.

Has someone stolen your content? There are steps you can take, so don't sit idly by while thieves profit from your hard work and business investment. Here are two helpful web pages to help you respond to plagiarism and content scrapers:
 
http://copyscape.com/resources.php

http://copyscape.com/respond.php

What you publish should be your own or it should give credit to whom it belongs, and there aren't any gray lines about content scraping. It is stealing, pure and simple. Hopefully in the near future, advanced preventative measures will be introduced to bring online thievery to an end or at least make it more difficult to do.

Algorithms become more advanced all the time, and eventually the search engines will find a way to do justice to the legitimate internet marketers and harshly penalize scrapers and content thieves.