“Borrowing” Copy for My Website is OK… Right?

All too often people in the process of designing or updating their web pages struggle to come up with the right content. After delays and frustration, many seek other sites out on the internet for assistance. Perhaps ‘borrowing’ bits and pieces of web sites ranking well whether it is from competitors or even corporate websites that may feature services or products that you sell are considered harmless to use.

Many people do not realize what they may be doing (besides plagarizing) is setting yourself up for SEO disaster. Search engines will penalize for ‘duplicate’ content on a website, especially if this text is verbatim and was used directly from a website that may be doing very well in rankings. Penalizing by a search engine can range anywhere from low or very slow rankings to even banning a website altogether.

If hiring a professional copywriter is not in the budget, coming up with good website content is still achievable. You can get ideas from other websites (just don’t copy it!). Think about what your visitors need to know when they reach your page, as well as what you can offer them that is unique or better than your competition. Put yourself into your visitors seat and think of what you would want to see if you were searching for your products or services.

The bottom line is don’t plagerize web content. If you have already and are concerned you could have caused a problem with your rankings, have a professional review the website to determine what can be done to correct the situation.