CAUTION: Lazy Duplicate Content Can Backfire!

Not only is use of duplicate content bad for your user’s experience, not to mention amoral, it’s also downright lazy.

Unfortunately, duplicate content rears its ugly head in all media formats. Take, for example the case recently reported by the BBC, of the Bangladeshi newspapers which mistakenly reproduced an article from satirical online US newspaper The Onion.

The original article claimed that the US moon landings were faked, and included farcical quotes from Neil Armstrong, in which the former astronaut claimed that he now knew for certain that the moon landings had all been part of an “elaborate hoax”.

Neither The New Nation nor The Daily Manab Zamin, the two Bangladeshi newspapers who reported the story, bothered to check its validity.

The Information Age

The internet is a massive resource, and search engines provide us with quick and easy access to the information we want. With these facts in mind, it’s not surprising that rather than painstakingly researching the details of a story, journalists and content creators are tempted to just nick the text from a person who’s already done the work.

A further example of said laziness occurred a couple of years ago, to the embarrassment of several major British newspapers. I refer of course, to the obituary of BBC TV composer Ronnie Hazelhurst.

A veteran composer, Hazelhurst was responsible for the composition of many iconic TV themes including Last of the Summer Wine, Yes, Minister and To The Manor Born. What he was not responsible for however, was S Club 7’s 'Reach', the infamous song so beloved of hopeless TV talent show contestants.

Unfortunately for obituary writers at The Times, The Independent and, most shockingly, BBC News themselves, some Wikipedia prankster had added it to the composer’s article.

Cue a host of obituaries mourning the death of this most famous of British TV composers, the brains behind numerous iconic themes and, of course, that most annoying and catchy of bubble pop hits.

Write it Yourself!

Duplicating content from other websites can have serious repercussions, with the likes of Google potentially kicking you off their listings when your ruse is discovered (and it will be). It’s also worth considering the fact that content from other websites won’t have been optimised for the search terms you want to be found for and, because it hasn’t been created specifically for your site, will probably be a bit vague and, well, a bit rubbish, putting off potential clients by the bucketload.

If you need content for your website you have three options – either write it yourself, snare an obliging family member or friend or pay a company or individual to write it for you. Creating your own content really is the best route to online success.