Content scraped, and now they're ranking higher than me!

[htpc]

I launched a new site a couple of weeks ago. I just googled the name and was gutted to see it come in second. First is a site that's scraping my content.

What can I do about this? There's no contact details on the site in question. It's a free hosted site with k2free.com, should I notify them?

My biggest question is this - how can a site that's stealing my content rank higher then me?

[Mittineague]

Yes, contact the site's host. Also file a DCMA with Google http://www.google.com/dmca.html

And maybe block their IP

[tom.schavo]

well, this is another proof that duplicate content really doesnt bother any SEarch engine. :-)

[felgall]

well, this is another proof that duplicate content really doesnt bother any SEarch engine. :-)

No it isn't. It just means that the search engine hasn't recognised it as a duplicate - there is probably only a small section of each page that is actually the same.

Once the DCMA is issued then the illegal copy will soon disappear from the results.

[htpc]

Very strange. The offending site has now disappeared in the results altogether, before I had chance to report it. I wish I'd bookmarked the url. Can't remember it now as it was one of these jumbled domains that have no meaning.

Maybe they'd been reported already and the site was taken down.

Thanks for the advice, anyway, good to know what I should do if it happens again.

[JJMcClure]

Very strange. The offending site has now disappeared in the results altogether, before I had chance to report it.

Maybe they'd been reported already and the site was taken down.

Or... it's a great example of how search engines DO care about duplicate content

[calebtheredwood]

I go through this everyday. There is one site in particular that scrapes my content and publishes it within 5-10 minutes of me publishing the original article. I think they constantly ping my RSS feed to check for updates.

Later in the day I'll go to see where Google has me ranked for the keyword phrase I wrote the article about and there the scraper site ALWAYS is. They are usually ranked right around mine, but within two days they are totally gone.

I've reported them several times to Google and done DCMA reports, but nothing has changed. I now realize that worrying about these crap sites is a waste of my time. I'm better off spending the time creating my next great content!!

Good luck - I feel your frustration!!

[rageh]

well, this is another proof that duplicate content really doesnt bother any SEarch engine. :-)

I am also begining to wonder... A site that copied and pasted my content gets a higher ranking than mine is outrageous.

[mudflow]

I got a site that was translated to another language.

[Mahz]

Webhosts also tend to be very sensitive if you push the DMCA complaint into their court.

My webhost abruptly shut my forum down until I could resolve the DMCA complaint filed against me. One of my forum members (whose activities were unknown to me) was allegedly copy and pasting content from another website that took the complaint straight to my webhost.

[mirisaamali]

Very strange. The offending site has now disappeared in the results altogether, before I had chance to report it. I wish I'd bookmarked the url. Can't remember it now as it was one of these jumbled domains that have no meaning.

Maybe they'd been reported already and the site was taken down.

Thanks for the advice, anyway, good to know what I should do if it happens again.

But this cannot happen so fast. Even if someone reports, it takes nearly a month or so for it to get into action. I believe there is some other reason why it went off the first page. You should have taken the url at first. Try to recall and search in google for it. see if it comes up.

[azn_romeo_4u]

I hate content theives...with the rise of myspace there's been tons of them. Damn kids taking whatever without respect. Not even a damn link back.

[ryanhellyer]

No it isn't. It just means that the search engine hasn't recognised it as a duplicate - there is probably only a small section of each page that is actually the same.

Exactly. Just because a search engine doesn't recognise that something is a duplicate, doesn't mean they don't care about it.

[jessiejames27]

I got a site that was translated to another language.

What happened to that site? Was it penalized for copying although it was translated to other language? I'm really curious about this..

[kikykuang]

All of my sites are ectypal, some times they use the Logo of my site directly

[bess]

I think contacting Google in case they have AdSense on it is thebest approach, even it may be a bit aggressive, it's your content after all.

[austk]

I think if they put proper references to where they got the content then it should be fine, but if your site with its content was indexed first, the other site will be penalized in the Search engine, so same material or not, you come out on top. I guess SE's did it to make sure that if you can't get the other guy/gal to remove the copied text, that at least they'll only be hurting themselves in the end.

[blain]

I go through this everyday. There is one site in particular that scrapes my content and publishes it within 5-10 minutes of me publishing the original article. I think they constantly ping my RSS feed to check for updates.

Later in the day I'll go to see where Google has me ranked for the keyword phrase I wrote the article about and there the scraper site ALWAYS is. They are usually ranked right around mine, but within two days they are totally gone.

I've reported them several times to Google and done DCMA reports, but nothing has changed. I now realize that worrying about these crap sites is a waste of my time. I'm better off spending the time creating my next great content!!

Good luck - I feel your frustration!!

Find out who hosts their site, read the hosts T&C's regarding content, write an article that breaks those T&C's, then wait for the content to be scraped, remove your original post and then report them to their host.

[Mahz]

Find out who hosts their site, read the hosts T&C's regarding content, write an article that breaks those T&C's, then wait for the content to be scraped, remove your original post and then report them to their host.

Most prominent webhosts will take the issue seriously if you just email them and explain the situation. You shouldn't need to be "gamey" and rig the scenario to get a webhost to listen.

[roosevelt]

At the end of your article, pages, or in RSS Feeds, add a permalink to your website

[dvduval]

I've had this problem, but fortunately the sites doing it were not able to rank for my content, so it was not as big of an issue for me, though I have successfully filed DMCA complaints in the past.

[azn_romeo_4u]

Does anyone know how to properly file a DMCA complaint?

[JJMcClure]

Find out who hosts their site, read the hosts T&C's regarding content, write an article that breaks those T&C's, then wait for the content to be scraped, remove your original post and then report them to their host.

You could really have some fun with that idea.

[morty]

I wish I'd bookmarked the url. Can't remember it now as it was one of these jumbled domains that have no meaning.

Check the history of your browser.

[goodmast3r]

Google does not punish duplicate content. It's a myth.