How To Deal With A Content Thief
How do you catch a content thief?
First of all, how do you know when your content has been plagiarized? We use the free version of a tool called Copyscape (there are also paid versions that come with additional tools). When you provide a URL, Copyscape will scour the internet for copies of the content. Copyscape may misinterpret your own social media pages and local listings to be duplicate content, but occasionally, it detects plagiarism. When it does, it conveniently highlights your content on the offending site(s), like so:
Why is duplicate content bad?
Other than the fact that it’s reprehensible to steal someone else’s work, duplicate content is bad because it affects the way Google ranks your website. Your SEO can suffer if duplicate content exists on the web.
What do you do when you have caught a thief?
I use a fairly straightforward cease-and-desist template (I just change the dates and insert the link(s) to the offending page(s):
“It has come to my attention that your website uses unique marketing text and terms that were stolen directly from our website boxcrush.com. I have made a digital copy of your website and am retaining a copy for my lawyer, along with this email and the date it was sent.
I hereby ask you on this day, August 8, 2019, to cease and desist use of any and all text, graphics, and phrases that were taken from our website. You have until September 1, 2019, to respond to this email informing me that these items have been removed from your website. If you do not make such a response, and you fail to remove my property from your website, I will be forced to take legal action against you.”
I visit the offending website to find an email address or a contact form – if multiple people are listed on the site, I include all of the decision-makers so I can count on someone noticing my email.
How do people typically respond?
The responses vary, but usually, the content is immediately removed. Some people don’t respond, but they take down their entire website. I have received several apologies, some of which I’ll share here (but I’m omitting their names and company names to be kind). I swear I am not making these up.
___________
“Dan, thanks. I have taken the site down until I can get to the bottom of this. My 15 year old son "wrote" the content for the site last year for me. Apparently he didn't put in the time he said he did. . . ”
___________
“We paid a freelance writer a lot of money for the content on our website. I don’t even know what to say. We will get this removed as soon as I can get someone to do it.”
___________
“I have removed the items I believe you are referring to. Please let me know if you believe there are still elements of [redacted].com that use your unique marketing text.”
___________
“Sorry for any inconvenience or frustration. I'm not even in the web business anymore and have not been for a while. Sorry I did not respond to your first email. I must have missed it. All of the pages in question have been removed and will no longer appear on the web. Again please accept this apology and best wishes with your business and the future. If something was missed please respond back and let me know.”
How to handle a content thief like a digital marketer
1. Use Copyscape to review the offender’s content
If someone is stealing your content, it's likely they are stealing from others, too. By using Copyscape on each page of the offender’s website, you might be able to discover other entities whose content has been stolen.
2. Let the other website owners know
I've contacted other agencies whose content appears on an offender’s website. (And I made PDFs of the highlighted duplicate content, to document the misappropriation).
(optional additional escalation levels)
3. Let the offender’s clients know
Does the offender have a portfolio that lists its clients? Testimonials? Reviews in offline sources? The content that compels clients to work with an agency might not be their own, and I believe clients deserve to know. Maybe they’ll find out who actually wrote that content and choose to partner with them.
Once other digital content owners begin sending cease-and-desist letters, the offender will likely be highly motivated to remove their content.
Have you ever dealt with this problem? Do you have additional tips to share?
Need an experienced agency to write authentic, original content that's well-researched and reflects your brand and vision? Talk to BoxCrush. We have a skilled in-house content development team with years of experience writing content for a wide range of industries and topics.