Plagiarism means copying web content and portraying it as your own in a blog post. The practice is as old as blogging itself.
When you look analytically, the numbers seem astonishing. Out of the 5.1 billion websites present in the world, more than 1.5 billion websites are guilty of posting copied content.
The situation gets worse when we go down to professional writing. As per the statistics, more than 75% of articles are either partially or completely plagiarized.
The situation has gotten out of hand. Seeing this disaster unfolding in front of our eyes, here are our thoughts about plagiarism’s impact on a blog post ranking.
Let’s start by understanding the types of plagiarism present in a blog post.
Types of Plagiarism
Plagiarism in a blog can be found in 4 different ways
Direct Plagiarism
Direct plagiarism occurs when a blogger blatantly copies content from a source. It is the equivalent of intellectual dishonesty. The writer is effectively trying to deceive his audience by getting credit for the work which he hasn’t done.
Self-Plagiarism
This occurs when a blogger copies itself. Bloggers have to constantly update the content to stay relevant. During this, the chances of duplication increase.
Bloggers often use the same expressions to describe a situation, resulting in a higher plagiarism percentage.
Mosaic Plagiarism
This means borrowing content from other blogs. It occurs when a blogger either copies some expressions of others or tries to rephrase their work.
Almost all bloggers have been guilty of this at some point. Instead of doing their research, they simply find an alternate way of expressing a thought.
The content generation is quicker. And often, the search engine fails to recognize the duplication. It is very hard to avoid the temptation of easy work.
Accidental Plagiarism
It happens when you unintentionally copy the work of others. As humans, we get inspired by others. The bloggers are no exception either.
Sometimes, the words and expressions of your peers find a place in your heart. While writing your blog, you accidentally start quoting the same expressions and examples. This is the power of creative writing.
However, accidental plagiarism is among the least occurring types.
Is Plagiarism a reason for de-Ranking of a blog post?
So far, we have discussed the types of plagiarism. However, this section deals with its consequences. We would like to highlight the following key points in this regard:
Statistical Analysis of Ranking Factors
The bloggers need to realize the competition they are facing. According to the available data, in 2019 the number of internet bloggers was around 600 million. Now three years later, the number has increased multiple times.
To rank well, among them you need to produce original and high-quality content. It should be engaging, readable, and relevant to rank on top of Google’s SERP.
Google considers more than 200 factors for ranking a blog post. However, the major ranking factors are shown below graphics:
The below data highlights 2 main factors for SEO rankings:
- The high-quality content gets 26% weightage
- The Keywords placement gets 17%% weightage
They both combine to get 43% of the share in the ranking of a blog. That means to rank well, a blogger should work on producing non-plagiarized unique consistently.
A plagiarized blog is destined for a disaster. It would miss out on these two key SEO components.
Google Panda Update
We all know that Google is the primary search engine. It attracts more than 90% of all web traffic. To succeed in blogging means to get on top of Google’s SERP.
The latest Google updates have changed the blogging game on its head. The 3 important goals have been set for the latest updates; they include the fight against:
- Low-Quality Content
- Duplicate Content
- Spams
This cements the fact that the plagiarists aren’t going to get hidden now. The bots would never put such content on top. Only the original content is the way to get on top of the Google Rankings.
User-Engagement
While talking about search engine rankings, we can’t ignore user engagement. Google’s algorithms determine which content gets more screen time.
After that, it works on finding similar work to give a better user experience. This acts as a great leveler. The low-quality work is filtered out organically.
People read a blog to get insights about a certain topic. The humans deep down inside have the desire for knowledge. That is why knowing something new gives them a sense of joy. The people appreciate such work.
The duplication kills this thrill. The work looks like a burden that no one wants to carry. The people read a few lines to judge the work and move toward the next blog.
And the real danger is with more than 5 billion options available on every topic, they are highly likely to discard the website forever.
This decreases the organic traffic and the overall ranking of the blog post. The question is how to grow your blog.
The Remedy to Remove Plagiarism
The easiest way to remove plagiarism from a blog post is to use a paraphraser online. They are online tools, which utilize AI to remove all types of plagiarism from a blog post.
Besides that, they can also improve the text quality of the blog. All of this is done while maintaining contextual accuracy, no detail is lost. The blog post looks professional and engaging.
Based on the above reasons, we believe that every blogger should possess the plagiarism remover in his arsenal. If used in the right spirit, they can help in producing plagiarism-free content consistently.
This, of course, would result in taking your blog post to the top of Google Rankings.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Plagiarism isn’t a solution; it is a problem. Bloggers often commit plagiarism to stay active and relevant. However, this article explains how it contributes to the de-ranking of the blog post.
We have given statistical evidence to back this claim and proposed an alternate solution. Do Give it a read and get back to us with your comments.
