FaceOFF - Duplicate vs. Curated Content (ie. What's the Diff?)

Addressing the Issue of Duplicating Content... It's not really worth fighting about.

Hey Everyone! After spending time getting to understand the way Google works over the years, I think it's safe to say that not all duplicated content is a bad thing. Now hear me out...Is it really worth fighting over? Blatantly and maliciously duplicating another's entire page or article content is certainly grounds for copyright infringement, however, it's high time we consider what might actually be happening when someone duplicates or "curates" content.

Look at it this way, if another blogger finds that your article is an outstanding addition to the niche (market segment) they are involved in, they may want to show your content to others. The questions is, what would be the appropriate way to do that? Rather than just copy the entire page, or place a rather boring hyperlink within the article, someone may decide to do what many people don't fully understand, and even others think is completely inexcusable.... they may just curate your content.

What that means is that your content may be duplicated (say up to no more than 40% verbatim). To do so, the blogger should make the effort to write an original article or post that begins with their own words, makes introduction to your content, then explains why they feel the information is so important for them to partake of.

Example: Jack is a Dog Trainer and he runs a dog training site. Jill runs a dog grooming site. Jack has lots of fans that would be interested in dog grooming, so one day Jack climbs over the hill to get to Jill's site and finds a great pail full of articles his viewers would be interested in. He takes note of one particular article with significant importance and copies out the first say 30-40% of the lead in text to his article and saves it for later use. Then What?

Introduction - Jack's own words (50-200 words max.)
[Jill's content with full credits] ending with an open-ended sentence; (ie. This way, when the groomer...)
Followed by a referral statement (ie. For more of Jill's wonderful information about dog grooming you can read the "Entire Article" (using the words "Entire Article" in a link back to Jill's site.)
Jack's closing remarks including his thanks to Jill for writing such an awesome article.

Is There any Benefit to Curating Content?

You have to understand, this is totally legal under "fair use" standards and actually very beneficial to BOTH authors! News writers do this daily when they curate content from the larger news agencies (such as API). They normally write shorter (or longer) articles related to the original content and encapsulate the content within their own articles. Not only is this good business, it's gives authority to the original author's content. I've even seen folks give kudos to curators and thank them for using their content to enhance the learning experience for their audience. Both writers gain some well-deserved backlinks and normally (when done right) Google uses this "curation" process as a means to actually identify the authoritative content.

How Does Google Feel About Duplicated or Curated Content?

"Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. If your site suffers from duplicate content issues, and you don't follow the advice listed above, we do a good job of choosing a version of the content to show in our search results. However, if our review indicated that you engaged in deceptive practices and your site has been removed from our search results, review your site carefully." ~Google

Shouldn't I be Upset and Put up a Fight, if People Copy my Content?

Of course there are those that are just out to steal other people's works, everyone is aware of that. But for all intents and purposes, you should be honored that someone felt your content was worthy enough that they believed they should share it with their respective audience. You've just been syndicated!

I certainly recommend using Copyscape.com if you feel people are trying to steal your ideas and make them their own; however, I've never made any noise by complaining over people using my content. It only shows the world (and myself) that my stuff was so good that everyone wants to use it! It's one thing if people are stealing your trade secrets, images or verbatim content and calling them their own, it's entirely another if they are duplicating your content to show you are an authority in your niche. Why? Because as far as I'm concerned, I can always find some more stuff to write about! I figure as a follow-up sometime this week I'll discuss the 5 different types of curated content. Stay Tuned!

Ciao, for Now!