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Coming up with new content for your blog is tough, and it
can be tempting to copy content that you've seen elsewhere online. Sometimes
this happens accidentally, such as if your content is based on research and is
too similar to your sources. In other cases, plagiarism is much more blatant,
with some "writers" practically copying and pasting entire paragraphs
or even entire articles into their blogs. In any case, plagiarism is never
acceptable, and plagiarized content should be kept off your site at all times.
Here are just five reasons why.
1. It Will Ruin Your Reputation
Plagiarism can ruin a writer's reputation faster than
anything, even if they're only writing a short blog post for a website. Not
only will you be branded a thief for passing off someone else's work as your
own, but any credibility you might have had will be lost. After all, if you
can't come up with your own ideas, why should anyone listen to what you have to
say?
Even if you do follow up copied content with your own unique
work, your credibility and reputation will still be tarnished for good. Nobody
will trust you, and they won't have a reason to ever visit your site again.
2. It Will Ruin Your SEO
Part of the reason why businesses even have blogs on their
websites is for SEO purposes. They want to write content that will rank highly
on search engine results, and writing a long-form blog post is a great way to
do that. In the past, this meant using certain keywords and phrases in your
content that are often entered into search engines. The more a keyword was
used, the more likely your content would show up on search results. Since
Google's algorithm has changed so much over the years, that isn't the case
anymore. Work that repeats keywords ad nauseam now gets flagged as content that
shows up everywhere. It's useless, and it ends up with lower rankings as a
result.
This same principle applies to plagiarized content. When you
copy content from elsewhere, Google's algorithm is likely to recognize it as
copied content for the same reasons it flags keyword-stuffed articles, and your
search engine rankings suffer as a result.
3. You Can Suffer Legal Penalties
Not only is plagiarism unethical, but it is also illegal. If
you're a student who is caught plagiarizing work, you could be expelled from
your school and have your work destroyed. If you're caught plagiarizing content
in a professional blog, you could face serious legal penalties as well. The
author of the plagiarized work could sue you for copyright infringement, and
you may have to pay thousands of dollars in fines. In some cases, plagiarism
could even land you in jail for up to one year.
4. Your Site Will Get Less Traffic
Posting fresh and unique content is still the best way to
attract visitors to your website. It may take a little extra work to come up
with something truly unique, but the extra traffic you'll receive will be worth
it. On the other hand, copied content that is taken from other sites will only
lead to less traffic. Not only does it hurt your SEO as we've already
discussed, but you're more likely to drive traffic to the plagiarized site
instead.
5. You Won't Grow as a Writer
If you're serious about being a better writer, copying
content from elsewhere won't do you any favors. It's always a good idea to read
other content and take inspiration from it, but until you learn how to put your
own thoughts down on paper or on a computer screen, your skills as a writer
won't improve.
Avoiding Plagiarism
As much as we'd like to wrap this up by saying not to plagiarize work, that is sometimes easier said than done when you're writing online. For example, it's easy to accidentally write something that has already been said elsewhere if you're covering a popular topic. It's also hard to know exactly what you're getting if you're hiring an untested freelance writer for your blog. For all you know, they could be giving you plagiarized content that will go up on your blog and ruin your reputation. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid accidental plagiarism. The easiest is to run your content through a website that offers a plagiarism checker for bloggers before you publish it. The second is to always cite sources that you use when creating your content. If you quote another work, attribute the quote to its original author. If you cite any statistics, create a link to where you found them. Even if this still isn't your own work, at least you're not passing it off as your own.
Read More: Free Online Plagiarism Checkers that Works
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