As a digital marketer or brand owner, it’s crucial to protect the value of your copyrighted content to ensure your website reaps the benefits of search engine optimization (SEO). Not only is content important for SEO, but it’s also a valuable asset for brand differentiation and engagement. Learn more about the SEO benefits of protecting copyrighted content and how to find its illegal misuse so you can take proper action to safeguard your brand.
Why Quality Content is Essential for SEO
In May 2020, Google released a core algorithm update to improve how the search engine assesses content in order to present the most relevant and authoritative content to users. The update essentially reinforced the importance of quality content. When content is original and fresh, it will be more relevant to the user’s search intent which will increase the chances of Google rewarding the page with higher rankings in search results.
Google’s Content Recommendations
There are two primary recommendations that Google offers to site owners – focus on content and get to know the Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Google uses what’s known as ‘E-A-T’ (which stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) to determine content quality so it can give users the best content for their search query. Here are five easy ways to improve content quality:
- Make it easy to read
- Use a visually appealing format
- Include quality images
- Add appropriate resources/links
- Make it easy to access
Freshness can also be a ranking factor, depending on the topic. For example, freshness is a major consideration for time-sensitive events and information like a sale, promotion, live webinar, conference, etc. By offering the best content you can, Google’s algorithm will reward your page.
What is Duplicate Content?
There’s a LOT of content on the internet and, unfortunately, there are people that will steal content from other websites, resulting in search engines detecting duplicate content. Basically, duplicate content is content that appears on more than one page on the internet. Duplicate content can impact search rankings because it’s harder for search engines to decide which version is more relevant to a search query.
If you have duplicate content within your own site, it’s not as big of a problem. Simply add a rel=canonical tag on those pages to specify which page is the “correct” one to rank in search results. However, other websites that have your content can lower your page’s rankings and divert organic search traffic from your page.
How to Find Illegal Use of Your Content
Protecting copyright content is a must for preventing duplicate content issues that’ll lower your website’s search rankings and improve your ROI. Controlling your content’s distribution ensures that your investment and brand are safeguarded. You can manually search online for your copyrighted content, which can be time-consuming and not 100% accurate since you can miss pages that are using your content.