Content is one of the crucial aspects of a website. Whether it is a blog or a web page, there is good probability that the content is being plagiarised because of the worldwide access to the Internet. Expansion of the Internet has led to the easy availability of web pages across the globe.
Plagiarism and plagiarised content
As a regular Internet user, you might have encountered a situation, wherein, you find more or less the same content in two or more different websites. Unless the author is same, or the websites are related, this kind of unofficial usage of the website material like the content, artwork or the product images, without mentioning any information about the original author comes under plagiarism.
The dictionary meaning of ‘plagiarism’ explains it as the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. If anyone steals the ideas or content from a book or a website and publishes it in print or online with their name, it also comes under plagiarism and the text which is copied from the original author, becomes the plagiarised or duplicate content.
Who will copy content?
Plagiarism or using the content from other sites is a common practice. Many business owners may also get tempted to copy another firm’s work due to the ease in copying and pasting the content. If someone commits plagiarism due to ignorance, few others do it intentionally. Whatever the reason may be, they are ignoring the fact that plagiarism is against law.
Replicating material for commercial use not only results in infringing the basic law but also breaches copyright laws. To protect the interest of all the authors, readers and others, international copy right laws have been framed and enacted.
Copyright laws
Copyright is a legal concept which reserves the rights of an author, writer or a creator of an original artistic work such as books, music, sculptures, write-ups, etc., giving exclusive rights to it, for limited time. The term ‘copyright’ infers that the act of making copies of any work should be made only by the author or with his authorization. That is, all others who try to copy and use the work created by another author without his permission or authorization are subjected to copyright laws.
Under the US Copy Right law, any original information, book and whatsoever created after 01 March 1989 is subject to Copyright law. The laws shall be applicable to any creation, invention, write-up, etc., that came into being after that day.
Effect of plagiarised content on your website
Posting duplicate content on your website is not useful. Following are some effects of using duplicate content on your website.
Focus on developing high quality content
The only way to avoid all the above mentioned consequences is to concentrate on creating and developing a website with high quality content. Here are few more guidelines to help you improve your website’s rankings.
Plagiarism has a substantial negative effect to the search engine ranking and credibility of your website. If you need an increase in business traffic to your website and the respect of your target audience, see to it that there is high quality content on your site.