When someone takes your content, it’s called “scraping.” You usually don’t know it has happened until your search engine strategies start to flounder, or someone brings the theft to your attention.
My Experience with Scraping
Ten years ago, I operated a website where I sold subliminal cassette tapes and CDs. I made a great deal of money and built a wonderful list of customers who continued to return to buy my products.
During this time, someone in Europe copied my entire website and displayed it on what I can only assume was their personal website. Luckily, I had my information removed by sending a cease letter to his hosting company.
Having your information removed from someone’s website doesn’t always go as smooth as it did for me, so how can you prevent your hard work from being stolen in the first place?
Keep reading to discover several of the most effective practices to protect your blog content.
Protecting Your Content
If someone sets out to steal from you, the best protection is prevention. Here are some tips on how to safeguard your content.
1. Use a Copyright Notice
While this doesn’t secure your content from being stolen, it does give you ammunition to use if someone does steal your images or written content.
According to WordPress, your copyright notice should be shown from your sidebar. I have taken the original notice and slightly changed it to be grammatically correct from what the WordPress website suggested.
It reads:
Β© [Full Name], [Blog Name], [Current Year].
Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the blog author is not allowed. If you wish to use excerpts or links, please provide credit to [Your Name] and [Blog Name] with a specific and active link to the original content.
Years ago, I used to add a copyright notice at the beginning of every blog post. I’m not sure why I stopped adding one, other than sheer laziness, but I might start adding it back again. π
2. Use Summaries with Your RSS Feed
Common sense dictates that if you don’t post the entire blog post within your RSS area, then scrapers cannot steal your content by way of your RSS feed. You can easily change how your RSS feed works from inside your WordPress dashboard.
Go to Settings >> Readings and click the box to change each article listing to display a summary instead of the entire blog post. Remember to click the “Save Changes” button to update your new settings.
3. Add Watermarks to Your Images
You can easily various watermarks, and position them anywhere on your image, using different fonts and colors. The watermark tells others where the image comes from should it be taken and used without your permission.
You donβt need a plugin to add a watermark to your images, even though several may be available. You can add the watermark with a graphics editor such as Photoshop, Gimp or PicMonkey.com.
Preventing theft is vital to keep your content safe. The last thing you want to do is allow someone else to benefit from all of your hard work. Obviously, if you can protect your assets, then you should!
I was devastated when someone stole my entire website. Fortunately, there are a vast number of technical advantages since that time that can keep you from suffering the same fate. Your can use plugins to protect your assets from Internet thieves or implement the methods I shared above.
If you have other methods to protect your assets, please feel free to share them with me and members of the community using the discussion options offered below.
How are you protecting your content? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Thanks for reading,
– Bonnie
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Hi Bonnie,
All excellent points.
I actually have just learned not to long ago how large content scrapping is.
It really hit a nerve to know that someone could take content that I spent hours creating scrap and spin it with software in minutes.
The spun content is not as easy to find if at all. One of the ugly sides to what we do.
Take care…
Hi Steven,
It’s sad that some individuals aren’t comfortable in their skin that they feel; they have to COPY (i.e. steal) content from others just to feel special.
It’s no doubt part laziness, but I think people take article content from others because they don’t feel competent enough to write from the heart.
The sad thing is, some will use our content “as is” which makes it worse for readers to know which person deserves the credit. Not everybody thinks to respin what they steal from other writers.
Years ago, I taught people how to write articles. I never created a membership site from my training, but maybe it’s a good idea for me to consider doing it this year?
Thanks for your wonderful opinion. Have a great day!
– Bonnie
Thank you so much for the tips! I’ve never actually checked if I have been scraped. I’m almost afraid to look. However, I know that checking is the right thing to do!
Hi Katherine,
If you’re publishing online, you should make it a monthly habit to check your content for duplication. You can never tell when someone is in the process of stealing your content.
There are different tools you can use to find duplications of your writing, Katherine. Don’t wait until it’s too late before you get active in searching with Google Alerts.
Enjoy your week!
– Bonnie
Well this is an interesting topic Bonnie!
I’ve never really given much thought to having someone steal my content. In this day and age that shouldn’t really come as a surprise to me should it.
I do like the copyright suggestion you have here. While this won’t stop anyone from stealing content, at least it should offer some protection if you need to fight this after the fact.
So I guess that begs the question – using the standard copyright that comes out of the box with most theme’s isn’t sufficient?
Great idea for a post Bonnie!
Hi Craig,
Nothing comes to me as a surprise anymore; especially when we’re talking about the Internet scene. π I’m glad you like the copyright suggestion. Have you ever used one before?
I agree that a copyright notice doesn’t stop thugs from stealing, but it is true that they can come in handy when used at the right time. I would say that a standard copyright is better than having none at all.
You could copyright every piece you write with the government, for a fee, but I cannot guarantee that it’s a worthy investment. I’ve never placed a copyright on any material, but there may come a time when i do.
– Bonnie
The only copyright notice I’ve ever used is the standard one that’s included in the footer of my site. Doesn’t sound like that is sufficient enough though.
Hi Craig,
Something tells me that if a person wants to steal your content, no copyright notice is going to be sufficient; standard or otherwise. The best we can do is place a notice and hope people take it seriously.
Have a great week!
– Bonnie
Hi Bonnie
Absolutely amazing that someone would copy your entire site. The cheek and stupidity are breath-taking! Glad you sorted it.
I used to use anti-copy plug-ins a while ago but stopped – and I can’t even remember why. Very smart idea to use Google alerts to get alerted!
Sorry I’ve been absent from your blog for a while, but good to catch up again, your posts are always valuable.
Enjoy the rest of the week. Joy
Hi Joy,
Yes, some people go to great lengths to take what doesn’t belong to them. Have you ever had the displeasure of having your content taken without your knowledge?
I would hope not.
All the anti-copy plugins I found were useless with the latest version of WordPress. Perhaps this is why you and other bloggers stopped using them?
It was great to see you again. I forgive you for not being around because I know how busy we can become. Time seems to pass by so fast without us ever taking notice.
Thanks for stopping by, Joy. It has been a pleasure to talk to you again. Please make it a point to come back soon.
– Bonnie
Interesting you brought this up, Bonnie. I haven’t experienced thios myself, but I’ve been it happen to other people.
I remember sometime last month I found a site that had a pretty good post on something (I can’t remember it right now). But what was really interesting was that I know I’d read that same post earlier and just couldn’t remember where.
After doing a search with some of the content, I found that this person copied the entire post, including images, from a post that Jeff Goins wrote. I immediately contacted him and let him know and he did his own search and saw that this person has been copying a lot of his content for months and passing it off as their own.
It was really a sad thing. I have no respect for those that blatantly copy content like that.
Sorry to hear that your ENTIRE site was copied. That’s horrible.
Anyhow, excellent post and I’m going to be sharing this one like crazy. Great job.
– Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Once I read something that sounded like a duplication of something else, I may or may not search with Google or Copyscape to find other copies of the article.
However, with the amount of PLR sold today and the individuals who buy and use it, how would I be able to tell whether it’s a stolen piece of content or if it’s PLR?
Back in the day, when the person stole my entire website, PLR didn’t exist so it was easier to notice duplication among content. Today, I’m not sure duplication content would raise any red flags. Do you?
Thanks for visiting my website, Andrew. Please have a good weekend!
– Bonnie
Well, not for PLR content but when it’s basically taking the thoughts of someone else (non PLR related) then it’s really horrible.
Even with PLR, people should be “smart” enough to make some changes to their work. It just shows their laziness when they don’t.
Hi Andrew,
Yes, people should rewrite the PLR they purchase. I know some make excuses not to, but that’s where they’re wrong. It’s imperative to inject your personality into the mix. That’s how you make PLR content work for you. Otherwise, why bother buying it?
There will always be people that are too lazy to write the content, and they would rather steal it. One day, perhaps there will be a method available for bloggers that can prevent people from stealing content.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed! π
– Bonnie
Wow Bonnie. This post has really opened my eyes! Thank you so much for writing abou this important topic. After reading through the comments and seeing how many people have been affected by this, I can see that I’m going to have to consider what I can do to protect my blog. Even though, at least at the moment, I’m small fry as far as blogs go, I don’t suppose they much care about things like that. The thought of someone stealing a whole site just boggles me! I’m still not totally clear on what plugins might be the best though.
Hi Rachel,
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been blogging for years or if you’re just starting, protecting your content is just as important for everyone, big or small.
Although there may be some plugins to help you protect your assets, I haven’t found any that I would feel comfortable to suggest to you.
Until I find alternatives, using a Copyright notice, summaries for your RSS feeds and adding watermarks to images will just have to suffice for now.
The sadness of the situations remains the same as always; if scrapers want your information, they will not stop trying to get their hands on it.
The best I could hope for is that someone will create something in the near future that will help us all.
– Bonnie
We have discussed this in my nonfiction writing group, Bonnie, and the same thing that happened to you happened to a woman in my group. Awful! She recommended a program called Copyscape, I think. The woman claims it’s very effective. You know, up until a few weeks ago, I did copyright my material, then I got an author profile plugin and forgot. What a great reminder!
Thanks,
Amy
Hi Amy,
It’s nice to hear from you again. Thanks for visiting!
It’s a terrible thing when scrapers think it’s alright to steal assets that belong to someone else. It’s awful to hear that it’s still going on and doubly depressing for the party that has to deal with getting their content back.
RE: Copyscape
I totally forgot about Copyscape, which I have used in the past. It can be a cumbersome job to sit and search for copies of your content, but if you had a VA do it for you, it makes it a worthwhile investment.
What is Copyscape?
Copyscape will search the Internet for copies of your content. I have found several copies of my work elsewhere with the owners of the website claiming they hired a ghostwriter to write for them.
Sadly, this also shows that some ghostwriters think it’s okay to plagiarize content from other websites. That’s why I recommend you always check the content for duplicates before paying and accepting the content to use in your business.
Copyscape also has a service (Copysentry) that costs $4.95 per month that will search the Internet looking for copies of your pages. If the service finds any duplicates, they email you.
If you should find that someone has stolen your content, it’s important you take steps to have it taken down, immediately. Be vigilant in retrieving and protecting your content. Don’t let thieves get away with your stolen property.
– Bonnie
Hi, Bonnie,
Great article, and so needed. Iβve had a similar one sitting in my Drafts of my WordPress blog waiting on the outcome of my situation in order to share. Ugh. Iβm in the middle of dealing with thieves right now.
Wow, I’m so sorry that you had to be the victim of thievery also, an entire website? That’s just horrible!
The people I’m dealing with are based in China, and communication with hosting company, registrar, etc. are difficult at best.
The suggestions you made are good, yet if they really want to get the information there’s no stopping them as youβve mentioned. For that reason I donβt use any type of plugin for that so I can use plugins for other proactive things.
It amazes me that these thugs continue stealing content on a continual basis and continue to sleep at night. Well, Iβm going to keep moving forward, doing whatβs right and remember that what the principle sow what we reap, is so very true.
Thanks for the info, Bonnie, and hope you have a wonderful evening.
ΛCarol
Hi Carol,
How horrible it was to hear that you’re dealing with content thieves! I feel for you, girlfriend because I know what it’s like when you find out someone stole your content and then the work to have it returned to you.
My experience had taken place before websites turned into blogs. While I am not well-rehearsed in the methods used to steal content, it didn’t seem to deter the scrapers from stealing all my HTML along with the content.
It amazes me to this day because my HTML website was a store for subliminal programs. Why on earth would someone want to take the content unless they were selling the same product?
I was the only person selling the products at that time, so I still scratch my head that anyone would steal the entire website, including the BUY buttons. ROFL
Like you, I am amazed that these people continue to sleep well at night without any regret that they are turning worlds upside down with their scraping habits.
I agree with you, Carol. What goes around, comes around.
One day these thugs will reap what they sow. I can only hope the shoe is on the other foot where these people, so they understand what they put other individuals through when they rip them off!
I hope you clear up your theft problems in the near future. Please keep me posted on your progress!
– Bonnie
Hi Bonnie,
I’ve just been dealing with this lately myself. Had to notify the hosting services since the owners refused to respond or take my content down. Why do people do this anyway? I guess most people just don’t pay attention and don’t care, who knows.
I really don’t have anything in place to prevent them from stealing mine. I like to see the good in most people instead of the opposite. I do have something in place that will copy my link if they copy my content but of course they can remove that if they choose.
Some of your suggestions are pretty good though Bonnie, I might have to consider more measures moving forward. So far just this week I’ve dealt with three sites. Not an enjoyable way to spend my time.
Thanks for the tips Bonnie and have a great week.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Oh my goodness! First Carol and now I hear you are dealing with issues from hoodlums, too! I’m so sorry you have to deal with brutes of this magnitude.
Mentors Gone Wrong
Believe it or not, some of these people I had the unfortunate experience of watching a video tutorial that taught people how to write an article by copying material from a WIKI website. As I sat in horror watching this video unfold, I realized there was a great lesson to share.
I contacted the party involved and explained this was plagiarism and the consequences of the action. Thatβs when I found out this person learned the practice from another marketer.
I was like, “Say what?”
If you want to read the article, you can find it at Is Your Business Suffering from Bad Advice?
Like you, I don’t do much to prevent people from stealing my content, even though I went through it years ago. Luckily, it hasn’t happened again to me, but I know it’s only a matter of time.
I’m hoping the future will bring drastic measures to bloggers so we can freely write and share without the worry that our hard work will fall into the wrong hands. Like you, I’m trying to remain positive until a new solution arrives.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Adrienne.
– Bonnie
This is definitely something good Bonnie. Does Blog Content Protector also disable the ‘save page as’ option on the file menu of browsers?
If the right-click button is disabled, someone who knows will save the page to his local pc, open the file in an html editor and access its content.
That’s something I’ll have to find out with the plugin you recommend.
Thanks for a useful post Bonnie
Hi Enstine,
Forget about the plugins. I rewrote the article to include steps you can take to protect your online assets.
After trying to install the plugins, and unable to get them to work proficiently, I scrapped the original article and offered different solutions.
If you have time, I would like to invite you to return to the blog and read the new material that is bound to be much more useful than any WordPress plugin.
Have a great week!
– Bonnie
I have been on websites where these tools are used. I like the second one because when you copy something of use, you always have the link where the content came from. Very helpful when creating a curated post and you want to link back to the original post. π
Hi Victoria,
I installed the Anti-Steal Content plugin, and it worked so-so. It did embed my link to the bottom of the copied content, but that doesn’t prevent the scraper from removing the link – does it? Nope!
I also noticed that the plugin, while adding a link back to my blog post, didn’t include the source of the post. It listed a bunch of question marks instead, which tells me the plugin doesn’t work satisfactorily with the latest version of WordPress. BOMB the plugin. π
I also downloaded the Blog Content Protector plugin, and the ZIP file was empty. The creator should remove the listing from WordPress instead of making people waste their time with an empty zip file.
After trying to download and install the plugins I originally posted about, without any success worth describing, I opted not to try the Watermark Reloaded plugin.
Since we can easily add watermarks to images on our own, why add a plugin to do it? Overuse of plugins only slows your blog down.
I did add more the blog post in case you want to revisit.
– Bonnie
When I worked retail, store theft was one of the biggest cost issues. I learned that you can prevent and spy (store detectives, hidden cameras) but thieves are ingenious and will find a way. It’s almost a challenge to them, like hackers.
Despite that, it’s worth putting precautions in place to stop some of the leaks.
Lock access to any directories eg download directory. Place an empty index file in your site folders. Ensure all your products have plenty of links back to your money website and buy buttons. Brand everything.
Those plugins are definitely worth checking out.
Hi Mel,
You offer such wonderful suggestions in addition to those I have shared above. Thank you for being so open about other methods to help the community to protect their assets.
Let me share my appreciation on behalf of the other individuals who won’t get the pleasure to read the article or your response.
Thanks for stopping by, Mel. Have a great week!
– Bonnie
I just recently found a website that has copied several other websites in this particular niche and used all ofour articles to fill their site. They add a “originally published here” link with a link to my site, but for some reason people seem to think that if they credit you that it’s ok to copy your work. I’m going to give some of these a try. Thanks Bonnie!
Hi Misty,
I’m so sorry this happened to you, girlfriend. Have you contacted the website owner and ask to have your information removed?
Wake up scrapers! Just because you have an “originally published here” link back to the owner of said content, you did not GET PERMISSION to add the content to your site.
An Alternative:
It would have been better if the website owner contacted you and asked for a one-on-one interview. They would have content nobody else had. How groovy for YOU and them had they thought of the idea. Right?
I rewrote the article because none of the plugins pleased me after I installed them. It’s much better to use the other solutions I provided in the new article.
Have you read it yet?
– Bonnie
Oh goodness. While I haven’t had to deal with this experience, I have heard of it happening. Thank you for sharing ways to protect our pages. Do you have a tip for Blogger or non-WP users?
Hi Mary,
Mel Day has shared some great options in her comment. I invite you to return and read them. While you’re here, I shared several more alternatives to using plugins; especially since there are no plugins available for Blogger or non-WP users.
Be well, Mary and thank you for coming to visit and comment. I appreciate hearing from you!
– Bonnie
Hi Bonnie, many thanks about this article! I didn’t know any of the 3 plug ins you talk about and I am heading to see how I can use them for my blog.
Thanks again!
Hi Amaia,
That will teach me to write about WordPress plugins before I installed them to try out. π
I rewrote the article because none of the plugins pleased me after I installed them. It’s much better to use the other solutions I provided in the new article.
Have you read it yet?
Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope to see you back in the comment section in the near future!
– Bonnie
No, you aren’t missing anything. You can type your comment into the buffer app area, but you can also just highlight the text you want to go into the app and it will post to your social media. So, no miss typing. Easier to quote. Just an observation is all.
Hi Jenn,
I didn’t know about being able to highlight the text from your blog to post it to your social media account. Can do you this with the free account or must you upgrade to the paid version?
– Bonnie
I’m only using the free account and it works.
Hi Jenn,
How many messages can you schedule with a free Bufferapp account?
– Bonnie
A lot as far as I can tell. They limit you on how many social networks you can hook up to for free though. I think if you get a paid membership, you can have up to 12 social accounts.
Hi Jenn,
Meh, the 12 accounts is a tad bit much, in my eyes. As long as I could automatically post to Google Plus or Facebook, that would be fine.
I know it takes a lot of your time to return here, so I do appreciate the fact that you’re willing to answer my questions. You’ve been most helpful.
Thank you!
– Bonnie
Actually, Bonnie, it’s not hard to leave comments here since your comments go to my email.
I’m not sure which accounts are available on the free leve, but I use twitter and facebook for mine.
Thanks for getting back to me, Jenn!
– Bonnie
Ooooo, this is SO helpful! Crazy how that happened to you!!! Thanks for sharing this, I wouldn’t have even thought this was a possibility!
Hi Ashley,
Yeah, the last thing I expected to find was my entire website on another hosting account that didn’t belong to me. I’ve had other pieces of my content used on American websites since that incident.
Whenever that happens, I simply send a cease letter to the web owner and copy it to send to the hosting provider, too. I don’t have a problem sharing my content, but when a website portrays the content belonging to them instead of me, that’s a problem.
You could use Google Alerts to spy on your content as well. π
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I love hearing from others!
– Bonnie
I’ve heard of the one that creates the link, and the one that won’t allow highliging of text, however, for some sharing tools like buffer, if you highlight a portion of text, buffer will post that along with the link to the post in your sharing tools for social media. So, in that light, disabling copy/paste options might not be wise.
It’s not something I worry much about.
Hi Jenn,
I used Buffer for a little while, but not that long. You simply type your updates directly into Buffer, so how does this work against your blog?
Am I missing something? π
– Bonnie
I never even thought someone stealing my content. Thanks for the plugin suggestions!
Hi Salma,
Never in a million years did I think someone would steal my entire website, but it happened. What do they usually say? “When you least expect something bad to happen, that’s when you should expect it?” Unfortunately, theft happens more often than we think. π
You could use Google Alerts to spy on your content as well.
– Bonnie
I read this with some sadness – first, because I know you were fortunate with being able to win against the person who stole your website. Second, because I’ve known several bloggers who have had their blogs hacked. And third, because all the preventative measures you name are WordPress plug ins. I fear that is because there is no protection for Blogger users like myself.
Hi Alana,
Like I told Salma, you could use Google Alerts, Alana. This way, you can use trigger words for Google to send you an email when it finds your information used online other than your blog.
Google Alerts
https://www.google.com/alerts
It’s sad hearing that others had their website hacked. Nobody likes to learn that they put their time and heart into creating prose and then someone comes along and feels like they have the right to use it too.
While some believe adding a copyright mark on the website, it doesn’t ensure that content is safe from hackers. A hacker doesn’t care who owns the content – they just want to steal it so we need to find other ways to keep our content safe.
On a personal note… how have you been since we last spoke to each other? I hope you’re doing well and that 2015 is shaping up for you! π
– Bonnie
Hi Alana,
Since writing the post and testing each of the plugins I mentioned, I decided to write the post over again and share other means of protecting your online assets that didn’t use a plugin.
When you get a chance, try to make it back to this page and see if any of the new ideas I shared with you resonate better for a person publishing on a non-WordPress platform!
Thankis!
– Bonnie