Content creation is time-consuming and takes a lot of thinking, research, and writing skills. Once you have created an original piece of content, you get 100% right of ownership and you can publish it with confidence.
Some website owners don’t want to do the hard work of creating content. They wait for others to create their original content and they copy it to use on their sites. As a creator, the thief might be miles away in another country and you might not have a lot of control. However, there are actions you can take to protect your online content from theft.
What is content copying?
Content copying means someone uses your original content without your permission. It could be your written texts, images, videos, voice, photos, or graphics. As long as they have accessed it and used it as their own, they have copied it and it is illegal. The official word used for copied content is plagiarism.
Plagiarism has different components regardless of the type of content in question. Someone might copy an entire content and use it for their benefit. Another person might use a paragraph, line, or citation. The person might create original content and use your photo to insert it into their content without your permission. That is plagiarism and there is no lesser or greater plagiarism.
In the field of content writing, plagiarism is plagiarism regardless of the quantity of content involved. If you must use someone else’s work, write to them or call to ask for permission or cite their work to give them credit for their hard work.
There are different methods used for copying but if you want to avoid it, use the right online tools to scan your content for plagiarism. One of the best ways is to check at Fixgerald your content even if you are certain it is original. You will have peace of mind that no one can claim rights to your content.
Effects of content copying on business
The reason why someone would love to copy your content is for them to use it to drive business into their website. As they get more traffic, they gain more profits using content that they never created. They get the benefits but you get unwarranted losses.
Some of the people who copy your content go further and write to you to accuse you of stealing their content. They will order you to remove it and sometimes, you will painfully remove your original content from your website and let someone who copied it use it.
You lose business and your ranking on search engines sharply decreases. Your traffic reduces suddenly and those that were loyal to you turn their loyalty to another website. This is the worst situation content copying by another person can put you into.
Ways to protect your content from being copied
Use copyright
Your original work is automatically copyrighted whether you have put the copyright mark or not. Unfortunately, most people check the copyright mark and if they find none, they think the content is not copyrighted and have every right to use it without permission. For all your content, insert the copyright mark before publishing.
Use antitheft bot
Bots use artificial intelligence to work according to the way they are programmed. Bots for anti-content theft blocks thieves from scrapping your content. It is usually installed on the web and runs on autopilot. If someone tries to copy your content, the bot notifies you immediately.
Disable copying and downloading
If you are good at programming, some languages like JavaScript and HTML can be coded to restrict content copying and downloading. If you are not skilled with coding, ask a programmer to set it for you.
Use Google alerts
Google has a lot of features that help improve user experience. It has features such as travel, news, entertainment, sports, and search capabilities. Another important feature for protecting content is Google alerts. Its search engine can be utilized to perform a deeper search for free.
Set up Google alerts and you will begin to get alerts anytime someone tries or copies your content. After you receive the alert, scan your content on the plagiarism checker to identify the page and then send an email to Google to notify them.
This is a feature you should take advantage of because you don’t pay anything to receive the alerts or to send a complaint about the copied content to be removed. You must include your email address to help you not to miss any alerts as they come. Remember to use a plagiarism checker immediately to scan and check which websites or websites have copied your content.
Create a habit of using plagiarism check tool
Plagiarism checkers are powerful tools used to scan for plagiarism. Beyond this, it’s also used to keep your content safe online. If you pay some extra fee on a premium tool, plagiarism checkers can keep scanning websites across the globe and warn you if it finds similar content to yours. The applications are used to check both the academic papers and web content.
Search on Google often
Google is used to rank content, search information using keywords, etc. Google might not block someone from publishing similar content but if you raise concerns with it that your content has been copied, it might take action depending on the seriousness of the issue.
You might copy sections of your content and search it on Google. You could also search according to your heading or unique keywords you have used. If you find that someone has copied your content, write an official complaint to Google.
The official website to file complaints about stolen content is the digital millennium copyright act (DMCA) website. Some of the actions that might be taken are to force the publisher of the copied content to remove it. They might also be heavily penalized.
Publish terms of use on your website pages
All links, hashtags, and clicks direct traffic to your content and the audience interacts with your content differently. It is your best option to publish your terms and conditions for use. Keep your terms of use updated all the time.
It might not directly stop copying, but it creates some fear in the mind of the user to give credit to your content and not misuse it. Make clear in the terms that anyone who wants to use your content should first ask for permission in writing.
Use your brand’s watermark
Programmers can code your website page in a way that your brand appears in all published content. It could be your company name, your name, or your logo. Any content thief can download your content but if they do it and publish, your brand will appear as the original creator of the content. It might help discourage content thieves from copying for data. Anytime they see your watermark, they will know their audience will know they stole content.
Conclusion
Once you have published your original content online, you stay optimistic that it will reach the intended audience and bring you the expected results. You might not have control over what other people does with your content and some might copy it and use it as their own. Although you have lesser control, you can protect your content through copyrights, protect your website from plagiarism, and search your content often on google, etc.