Publishing high-quality content is the basic precondition if you want to dominate the SEO game, but the process is getting increasingly difficult in the last few years.
First of all, you need to compete with hundreds or even thousands of content creators from all over the world. More than 1.7 billion websites are currently active on the Internet, which means you’ll have a hard time pushing through the crowd.
The second issue is even greater as it becomes almost impossible to write a totally unique piece of content. You could search for literally anything online – from space engineering to email marketing – and rest assured you will bump into thousands of posts in each case.
In such circumstances, it’s not surprising to face plagiarism issues that could harm the reputation of your website and jeopardize your SEO ranking aspirations. Our goal is to help you cope with the problem, so keep reading to see the top five tips on how to write plagiarism-free content for search engines.
The Downsides of Plagiarism
Before we start digging deeper and elaborating on our tips, we need to warn you about the devastating consequences of plagiarism. Although it takes a lot more work to craft unique content, it is totally worth your time because:
- Plagiarism ruins webpage ranking. Google and other engines will penalize plagiarism simply by ranking your posts far away from the top 10 search results.
- Plagiarism undermines your reputation. If users realize that you constantly copy and paste other authors’ posts, they will stop following your work.
- Plagiarism doesn’t allow you to build authenticity. If you want to become a key opinion leader in a given niche, you have to eliminate plagiarism from your content.
The cons of plagiarism are more than clear, but how do you avoid this problem? Keep reading to see five practical solutions.
1. Take time to research your topics
Every content creation effort should start with comprehensive research. After all, you need to know what other authors have to say about a given subject if you don’t want to repeat the same conclusions all over again.
Where should you look for trustworthy information? There are many resources available online, including popular blogs, Q/A websites, magazines, digital libraries, and industry thought leaders.
Jake Gardner, an assignment writer at the paper writer service, adds you can search for primary sources such as the official documents, laws, and similar files that could give you a better understanding of the subject: “Once you’re done with research, you can brainstorm different ideas and determine a point of view that has never (or rarely) been used before.”
2. Write about popular topics with a tweak
This tip is closely related to the first one on our list because it encourages content creators to think alternatively. What’s the idea behind this suggestion?
No matter how hard you try to avoid it, sometimes you just have to write about trending and popular topics. The thing you can do, however, is to come up with a simple tweak and write from an uncommon standpoint.
That way, you can successfully avoid plagiarism as you won’t use concepts, keywords, and statements that are already present on other websites.
3. Use your own words to write the post
Another critical suggestion is to use your own words and write about a given subject in a way that suits your style and vocabulary. Don’t pretend to be someone else and don’t mimic other authors’ styles.
First of all, you cannot outperform other writers in their own game. And secondly, it will only lead to content abundance and you will catch yourself plagiarizing sooner or later – however unintentionally.
What you can do, however, is to understand the topic clearly and then use your own words and phrases to clarify the subject. If you dig deep and really make sure to figure out the topic, rest assured you will find a way to express your thoughts without plagiarizing.
4. Beware of quotes and references
Sometimes you will use quotes and references to solidify your text and make it sound trustworthy. It’s not a bad practice, but rather a common technique among content creators. The idea is to make a better article that really provides value to the target audience.
But there is one detail you need to be aware of here and that is to use quotes and references properly. If you forget to mention the source of your reference, search engines will interpret it as duplicate content and plagiarism.
Therefore, you should always include links to your sources and let the audience and engine crawlers see the origin of the quoted text. But you should not exaggerate with it, so keep the quotes and references below 5% of the total word count.
5. Use anti-plagiarism tools
We saved the best and the easiest tip for last. Namely, you must check each post with anti-plagiarism tools before going live with it. There are all sorts of plagiarism checkers that will inspect your copy quickly and point out details that look suspicious or the same as posts on other websites. If you don’t know which tools to use, here are a few interesting suggestions:
- Copyscape
- Grammarly
- Scribbr
- Plagscan
- Ephorus
The Bottom Line
Plagiarism can only get you so far in an attempt to win over the target audience, dominate search engines, and build a professional reputation, so you better make sure to work harder and come up with a unique style of writing. In this article, we explained to you the top five tips on how to write plagiarism-free content for SEO. Do you have what it takes to become a master of content creation?
AUTHOR BIO
Isabell Gaylord is an essay help expert at the best essay writing service UK. Apart from being a member of the top essay writing service, Isabel is a blogger who specializes in digital marketing and search engine optimization. She is the mother of two toddlers and a passionate traveler.
