Google returns a stolen article result but...

1. 83

   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   Googled a portion of my article which I suspect has been copied numerous times. The top result today is this. Going to the site, there's nothing there other than pizzas. Why?
   
   
   

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      chef-de-jourposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Worth a shot!
      
      https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools … B&rd=1

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2. 78

   Eric Cauncaposted 4 years ago

   They may be using different keywords to make their business has more appearance on google when someone searched on them.
   
   
   
   
   

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3. 83

   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   Yes, I found loads of results with them at the top.
   
   I did some more digging. It's a really old trick to get good search engine results by hidden text. Sometimes it's hidden under the images. Called 'cloaking'.
   
   They need to be called out on this. I have emailed them. Next step is to report them to Google.

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   1. 79

      liesl5858posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Hi! theraggededge, It is really awful when you find your articles that you worked hard for being copied by other writers. I found two of my Hubpages Articles being copied by searching Google. It's just that I don't know how to email Google to take them down. Regards, Linda

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         OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Go to the Google site, webmaster tools, copyright removal and fill out the form.  Easy peasy.

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         1. 79

            liesl5858posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you OldRoses for your suggestion and help. I will do just that.

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         eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Linda. You can use the website Whoishostingthis.com or similar to find out the company who hosts the site/webpage. Then just say it's Hostinger for instance, Google "Hostinger + abuse" to find their page where you can report the infringement. This is quicker than navigating a site looking for the contact/help page. Sometimes there's a form for reporting, but if not, you may be able to find their email address for submitting an infringement notification. Email submissions have to be in a legalistic type format. Google "Sample DMCA Take Down Letter" for details. If you aren't successful getting content taken down, you can get it deindexed by filling out Google's "report alleged copyright infringement" form here. "Deindexed" just means the copy won't show up in searches, even though it still exists.
         
         https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools … tice?pli=1
         
         Bing has a similar form here:
         
         https://www.bing.com/webmaster/tools/contentremovalform

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         1. 79

            liesl5858posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Hi! Eugbug, thank you for your reply and your help. I will try and see if I can email the culprit. I put a polite comment for him to take it down but he didn't.

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4. 66

   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   I came across a few webpages like that listed by Google and I didn't understand why matching text wasn't appearing, but I forgot about cloaking and that would explain it. So I checked the page source code of one of these pages and the text showed up. Sometimes they make text white or the same colour as the background so it isn't visible.

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   1. 83

      theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Did you manage to report them?

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      1. 0

         Mentocioposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I also encountered similar issues, but . . .
         
         
         
         it was later fixed by Google.

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      2. 66

         eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         It was one of those gobbledygook pages with lots of jumbled text and pictures,so not something a reader would stay long on, but I probably should. Indicating to Google where the copied text is would be difficult. They often can't find it when it's plain to see.

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5. 78

   Eric Cauncaposted 4 years ago

   Hi, how do you know if someone has copied your articles? I often see the posts of Eugene on the forum about it. He knows even just one phrase has been copied on his articles. Thank you.

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   1. 79

      liesl5858posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Hi! Eric, try googling your article titles on Google. That's how I found out that my articles were copied, the whole article. They filled up their website with my article when I started digging thru Google. It is really annoying because I noticed that my views on the articles have become less.

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6. 79

   EricDockettposted 4 years ago

   Unbelievable that Google would rank a site like that over original content. Unfortunately, I think more than anything it is a symptom of how far Exemplore has fallen. An HP network site should always outrank garbage like that.
   
   I have an account with a bunch of Exemplore articles. Used to get around 3000 views per day. Now it gets a few hundred. Things have changed and I think it is largely out of HPs hands.

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7. 83

   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   Thank you!
   
   The emails, with the threat to contact Google, must have worked. I can't find it anymore
   
   I checked the source code for their main page and all is normal.

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   1. 0

      Mentocioposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Glad it worked!

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8. 78

   Eric Cauncaposted 4 years ago

   Thanks

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