In one of its strongest anti-copying measures to date, Google is now letting users directly report websites that “scrape” content from other sources. In other words, if you catch someone copying from you, you can now raise your hand and tell the teacher.

Of course, duplicate content has been an issue for some time, but the world’s largest search engine has never had an automated system that allows business owners and webmasters to point out violators on their own. This is a great step forward for honest online marketers, and just one more reminder that it’s never, ever a good idea to copy content from a competitor.

Here are three quick implications from Google’s new scraper policy:

Don’t try to copy content. Yes, we said this already, but it’s worth mentioning again. Even if you copy content from someone else’s site and change it slightly, you are likely to be caught. And if you are, there is a better than decent chance that you will be banned from Google, which could do damage to your online business that can never be undone.

And besides, who wants to copy content anyway? Your company isn’t just like anyone else’s, so the text and images on your pages should show what’s unique about your business, and why customers want to do business with you.

Protect your own content. The crux of this issue, from Google’s standpoint, has been that certain marketing websites with “scraped” content were ranking higher than the sites that had originally created it. While that’s likely to decrease now, the fact of the matter remains that there are companies out there that would like to steal what you have, so make sure you are working with a business web designer who can protect what’s on your pages.

Keep fresh content coming on to your business site. In a larger sense, this policy reflects the growing importance that Google and the other major search engines are putting on fresh content and articles. They’ve always mattered, but going forward they will likely influence search engine rankings even more. So, if you can squeeze out one blog post a week, and regular social updates – or get social media done for you – the time to get started is now.

Most website owners or business managers have gotten at least one of the e-mails in the past few months, and some have gotten dozens: an offer from an SEO “expert” or “marketing company” promising to improve their ranking on Google, Yahoo, and Bing for a negligible fee. And who couldn’t use some marketing help for less than $100?

Just like we all learned as children, when something looks too good to be true, there’s almost always an outstanding reason why. It’s no different with search engine optimization. Here is why: effective SEO requires some expertise, but it tends to be very light on “tricks” and heavy on time. There isn’t any kind of special equipment or software you can buy that will simply handle it for you; it takes a lot of hours, research, and refinement to earn a top search engine spot.

Knowing that time is the main ingredient, ask yourself the next logical question: how much of a professional’s time can you really expect to get for $50-$80 per month? The answer, no matter how you cut it, is always going to be “not very much.”

In search engine optimization, as with just about every other part of life, you truly are going to get what you pay for. Invest the right amounts with the right people, and they’ll pay you back time and again with the increased traffic and revenue that come with a first page results on Google or Yahoo; try to get away cheaply, and you’ll soon find that your website isn’t generating leads for your business. We all wish it didn’t have to be that way, but we also know that quality costs more money.

Remember that the next time a stranger shows up in your inbox promising an online marketing breakthrough for a couple dollars a day. You might get a really great price, but you will almost certainly not end up thinking you got a great deal for your money.

Search engine optimization doesn’t have to be outrageously expensive or complicated. Get in touch with eKzact, one of  Calgary’s best web design and Internet marketing partners today to find out why.

A lot of Calgary business owners, and especially those who are new to search engine optimization and Internet marketing, talk about Google as if it’s some kind of magical, irrational entity that gives and takes web traffic from their sites without any reason at all.

The truth, however, is that changes in Google’s algorithms, regardless of the effects, always come for one reason: the company thinks it can do a better job of giving people the search results they’re looking for. It isn’t personal, and it usually isn’t “for” or “against” anyone in particular — they’re just trying to keep their spot as the world’s most popular search engine by doing a better job anticipating searchers’ thoughts. Which is why some of their latest changes shouldn’t surprise you.

One of the most obvious shifts in the way Google ranks results lately has been the way they’ve started to punish what they think of as “scrapper” spam sites that pull you in with lots and lots of badly written (or even nonsensical) articles stuffed to the brim with keywords. In fact, the developers and spiders at all the major search engines — including Yahoo and Bing — are getting better at identifying pages that don’t mean anything to anyone.

So what’s the net of all this? That having a lot of fresh, interesting writing on your site is still one of the very best ways to get to the top of Google’s listings… but trying to fake it with low-quality copy isn’t going to cut it anymore. Throw enough junk on your site and it’s only a matter of time before Google spots it and you’re actually doing worse on the search engines than you were before.

Taking shortcuts on your website’s writing isn’t a good way to work your SEO plan; but then again, it never really was. Even if you could manage to trick people into visiting pages that were jammed with keywords (and little else), then what they found wasn’t that likely to convince them to contact you to buy anything to start with.

For those marketers who have been approaching search engine optimization the right way, Google’s new algorithms mean very little has changed. But for the unlucky few who thought they could get by with junk copywriting, it’s time to face reality.

Looking for quality SEO answers, a reputable partner, and better positions on Google, Yahoo, and Bing?  Contact eKzact — Calgary’s best web design and online marketing agency — for a free consultation today.