Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2010. It is a news piece from 3 December 2010 (“announced just today”); Google’s policies on copied content, its search algorithm and AdSense rules have changed many times since.
I was delighted to see this news, because for a long time many blog authors had been suffering from content theft, duplicate content, article copying, plagiarism, call it what you will, and it was something nobody was happy about. Because of the notable rise in complaints Google has received about these practices, it has decided to improve its algorithm and the process for reviewing reported pages.
The news was announced just today on TechCrunch, since they were the first to complain about this content theft. I have to admit that finding one of your articles on another site, where they haven’t even bothered to link back to your blog to credit the original source, isn’t a very pleasant feeling.
TechCrunch calls these bloggers “bad apples”; I’d rather call them “ticks”, since they feed on other people’s work.
In fact, they had been warned for a long time, so anyone who ignored the warnings and kept up this sad, pathetic practice of copying content without even citing who wrote it may find their articles dropped from the search engine, their blog penalised and their AdSense account closed.
Then the complaints against Google will come, but I’ll say it again: they knew they weren’t doing things right, and they’ll have to face the consequences unless they hurry up and put things right.
This is undoubtedly great news, because from what I’d heard from other authors, the situation was driving them to despair, and when they reported it, Google seemed rather passive about the matter. Now it seems that, for the good of the search engine and to clear junk off the web, they’ll take it more seriously.
So if you’re a blog author and have this problem, Google invites you to file a report. And if you’re one of those who have been doing this, there’s still time to fix it.
Personal note: When you succeed by playing fair, victory tastes sweeter. When you succeed by playing dirty, victory only lasts until someone catches you cheating. Always be honest, in business and in life in general.
Original story: TechCrunch
Featured image: Belbury, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
