What can an Author Do About Copying and Scraping of Their Articles?

1. 53

   janderson99posted 13 years ago

   I quick search has shown that it is very hard to stop copying and scraping of articles - that is up to HP - But it is certainly worth doing and HP should implement it, even if it only stops 50%. Users could report the copiers and they could be added to the banned bot list.
   
   But what can an author do to minimize the damage and help to find copies.
   
   So far there are two things worth considering:
   => Put full URL links in your article to the article itself or to your profile e.g. Back to the Top, Headings etc. http://yoursubdomain.hubpages.com/article-blah-blah/. The copy cheats won't know about these and if clicked they go back to your original article. You get backlinks!!!!!!
   => Insert a unique distinctive phrase towards the top of the article that can be searched on - A Google search will list all your original pages and the copies that contain this phrase. This will make it easier to find the copies. One suggestion is a bogus phone number phrase.
   
   Of course the copying should be reported and hopefully rectified by Google. Any other suggestions?

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2. 81

   Millionaire Tipsposted 11 years ago

   I agree with you that there should be something on our hubs that make it harder to copy.  Adding a statement in the middle of the hub that lists the page it is found on is a good idea. "If this article is not on site: hubpages/..., please report it here by ..."
   I'm not sure hyperlinking could hurt our site, so even If it if it isn't hyperlinked, at least we get an additional chance to get warning, and as you say, have something that makes our hubs easier to find.

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3. 48

   Writer Foxposted 11 years ago

   Rachel Roodhardt:  Why did you revive a two-year old forum thread to post a spam link to your unfeatured Hub?
   
   I don't think you understand the purpose of the Google reporting form.  Refer to this current post:
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/120472#post2552514

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   1. 84

      Rachel Roodhardtposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Writer - sorry, I genuinely thought I was being helpful.  I've deleted my comment.

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   2. 77

      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Her post is gone, as are her other posts in three other old forums, all on the same basic topic.
      
      Wonder if she was picking them up from the "related discussions" and didn't realize how old they were?

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      1. 48

         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Well, I don't know.  You can use the search box to search for old forum threads.  The 'Related Discussions' are problematic and confusing.  One of them I saw yesterday was from five years ago!  I don't think new comments should be allowed on older threads.

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      2. 84

         Rachel Roodhardtposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yeh, I was.  Just thought I was being helpful… but I've deleted everything - I assumed that anyone interested in scraped content would be interested in a tool to report it… regardless of how old the post.
         
         I'm extremely happy to see this tool come in - I've been scraped so many times because almost all my hubs on SEO and search are featured (including this one now) so they get found quickly by those who look for content..  8-(
         
         Just Google "Rachel Roodhardt on Hubpages" and you'll see my problem… hence the article.

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         1. 77

            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            The new tool is certainly interesting, and deserving of a new thread.  You won't want to give a link to your hub there, but to say it is there and how to get to it or use it is information a lot of people would like to see.
            
            We all get scraped - it's a hazard of writing online.  We just have to live with it and keeping fighting to keep it under some kind of control.

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4. 70

   SmartAndFunposted 11 years ago

   Hey Rachel,
   
   FYI, while it is against TOS to post live links to our own articles, there is nothing wrong with posting something like "I wrote an article about the new Google scraper tool if anyone is interested in advice on how to fight scrapers. Just go to my profile and you'll see it."
   
   That should keep you in the clear. Also, if another Hubber reads your article and loves it, they can post a link to it in the forums. We just cannot post links to our own stuff.

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5. 78

   Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

   This reminded me to recheck my hubs. There are so many copied ones and some are copied at multiple sites. This is getting depressing. It will take forever to go through all of them and then to deal with the copied ones.
   
   I wish their was a better way to deal with all of this!!!

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