Content writers, webmasters and website owners often have to deal with the concept of copy-paste. Moreover, this word is voiced with a clear negative connotation and even apprehension, causing uninformed users to interest in an unknown and mysterious term. So what is copy paste and why is it dangerous?
Copy-paste - theft of other people's texts
Copy-paste is the fastest way to create an article by fully or partially copying other people's texts. This term is derived from the English words: copy - "copy", paste - "paste". Using this method involves searching for one or several articles similar in subject matter by the writer and creating from them the text he needs without changing the source. That is, unlike rewriting (changing the text in order to obtain new unique material), copy-paste is the theft of other people's ideas and texts and giving them away as their own.
The consequences of copy-paste
It would seem that copy-paste is a great method for both beginners in copywriting, and for website owners who want to quickly fill their service with content. Fast, cheap and easy. However, the misappropriation of other people's articles does not go unnoticed on the Internet, which currently makes the most stringent demands on plagiarism lovers. Moreover, the unscrupulous author who decided to outwit the customer cannot be avoided. Novice writers who are not aware of what copy-paste and its consequences are often resorted to this method.
Copy-paste for the author - a cross on a writing career
Many copywriters, starting their way to the top of writing, make a stupid mistake. Desiring to create articles as quickly as possible, they steal materials from other sites and submit them to customers or place them on text exchanges for sale. Even if the unfortunate author succeeds in outwitting the customer, the exchange will surely check the uniqueness of the article for plagiarism and punish him for copy-paste. A program specially created for these purposes determines the uniqueness of the text as a percentage and gives links to sites from which information was stolen.
Strict measures are applied to an unscrupulous author: rating reduction, negative reviews and even account blocking. And with a lot of negative reviews and a low rating, it will be very difficult for him to gain the trust of customers. As you know, reputation is everything for a rider, so those who want to make a successful copywriter career should better not resort to copy paste.
Copy-paste for the site owner - blocking the service
Any site begins life by going through the indexing process (adding a resource to the database of a specific search engine). The goal of any webmaster is to push your service to the top lines of search results. Indexing is carried out by search engine robots , whose task is to check the content of the new site for copy-paste, uniqueness and similarity with other resources. Matches are expressed as a percentage, and if the articles are completely copied from an already indexed site, the content will be considered plagiarism. And, as you know, plagiarism is the theft of material and copyright infringement. Plagiarism is punishable by law, and search engine measures are no less loyal in this regard.
Pages of the site on which copy-paste was found will not be allowed for indexing or the entire resource will fly out of the index of both search engines (Yandex and Google). This means that search queries will ignore this site, and it will never come out in the results of their issuance. It remains only to regret all the efforts to promote the site, the wasted money and the owner himself, who, moreover, can be prosecuted for plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Types of copy paste
As described above, copy-paste is the reprinting of articles from other sites. In this case, copy-paste is white, gray and black.
White copy-paste - link placement
This is the placement of information from another resource, provided that an active link to the source material is indicated. In this case, copying will not be considered a violation. A striking example of sites literally littered with white copy-paste is social networks. All texts, stories and stories that require the user to click the “like”, “share” buttons are placed there with an indication of the source (namely, the page with the material, and not the site itself).
Gray copy-paste - “rule of seven”
This is a reprint of material indicating a link not to a specific web page, but to the resource itself. Gray plagiarism is allowed by search engines, but with one condition: the method is applicable only when there are no more than seven sites in the search results that have copied the same information (the "rule of seven"). If your site using e-copy paste becomes the eighth, it will most likely be blocked, so when using this method, consider all these aspects.
Black copy paste - content theft
Theft of other people's texts without laying out a link to the primary material is called black copy-paste. Algorithms launched by search engines and nicknamed the “Attack of the Clones” rigidly suppress plagiarism, preventing non-unique texts from being indexed. Therefore, webmasters rarely resort to copy-paste, preferring to rewrite or synonymize the original article to obtain new material.
Legal copy-paste. How to make a site on cloned materials?
If you still decide to opt for copy-paste (and with the right approach, it is also able to generate income), you need to familiarize yourself with the rules of the lawful “cloning” of material:
- The owner or the author himself must give you permission to post an indexed link to their site under the articles of your resource.
- It is acceptable to use white (in rare cases gray) copy-paste.
- It is better to create one site with unique texts than 10 sites with cloned articles.
- Copy-paste on a small scale (30 percent) is not dangerous, but this condition applies to sites that have existed for 2-3 years.
- Before creating a site on copy-paste, fill it with 20-25 unique articles, wait for their indexing, and in case of a successful result, dilute the content of the copied information in a dosed manner.
- Of great importance is the frequency of updating information on your site, so as often as possible add new articles.
- In any case, white copy-paste is not as high-quality content as, for example, copywriting. Even if all requirements are met, preference is given to sites with unique materials.
How to deal with plagiarism?
If you yourself became a victim of plagiarism by discovering your articles on other sites, you need to do the following:
1. Notify the owner that the material posted on his resource is stolen, and advise him to place a link to the source text.
2. If the appeal is ignored, you can make a complaint to Google Adsense, which monetizes traffic, Yandex.Webmaster, which fights against spam. Search engines will immediately put filters on non-unique resource information.
3. The most effective way to deal with plagiarism is a complaint to the hosting company that the thief works with. If the fact of black copy-paste is proved, the site will immediately be blocked.
The ultimate goal of every webmaster, blogger and site owner is the position of his "brainchild" in the top lines of search results. The surest way to promote your resource is to fill it with interesting, useful, and most importantly - unique information. And copy-paste is not creativity, but rather its dull copy. But even if you manage to promote such a site, in the forefront it will not last long, as it will surely run into some kind of filter. Therefore, it is better to abandon this idea and try to create something new and original.