Is it legal to rewrite other people's articles?

[Purres]

I have a writer who usually writes articles for my blog but I have a better idea thats she will rewrite some articles from other blogs to make better ones.

But I don't know does this affect to SEO rankings and Is it legal to rewrite other people's articles?

 

[vishwa]

Rewriting others article does not provides any credibility to the topic or provide much relevant information. You better research the topic first and try to write yourself by adding your own opinion and suggestions to it. This will increase your blog credibility and authority as well.

 

[Mike001]

The bigger question is, is it ethical. I would never directly copy an article or training class and pass it off as my own. I would not want someone to do that with my material so I would not do it to someone else.

There is nothing wrong with taking an article and improving on the article by adding additional information that the author has missed or inadvertently left out. If it improves the quality of the article and adds to the discussion. I have done that myself if I felt that the article missed a key point or a way to accomplish the task in a more efficient manner or following "Best Practices".

I have done that with some of the training that I have written. But I always contact the original author and let them know what I am doing and link back to the original author making certain I give credit for the original concept to that author. The majority of the time the author is more than happy to expand upon his article and add to the discussion with a mutual link back to my article or training. It works out as a win win for both.

On that rare occasion where I do not receive a response from the author or they are not interested in the information being added, and I might add this is pretty rare, I will still post the article with a reference to the original article I just will not include a link to the original and I will explain in the footnotes that the original author was contacted and choose not to respond to the request.

This way legally, I am covered and I can still get out the information to correct or improve the record. By the way I always save my contact correspondence in the event that it is needed.

But I can also say that in 15 years, and hundreds of articles and training classes, the issues has never come up in a legal standpoint.

I hope this helps.

 

[learn2do]

Of course, it is illegal when you rewrite other articles. Anyway, many people say that you will be safe from Google if 70% or more of your article is not similar to the original one. That's true, but using other people's articles without permission still be illegal.

 

[SEOPub]

It is not illegal to rewrite other content. Isn't that what you do when you research a topic and write an article about it? You are taking content that other people wrote and rewording it into your own.

 

[JonathanS]

JonathanS

Well, there's a difference between rewriting content and gathering ideas from other articles to write your own content. In my opinion, rewritten articles (or spun content) is illegal and morally isn't right. Even if you've found a way to beat the SEO system somehow in copying previously written articles. It really shows a lack of creativity. However, there is nothing wrong with reading articles about a specific topic online. Gathering information from different sources, only to write your own original article. That's how the spread of information works. You receive/learn about a topic from what others have written. Then you write about your findings mixed with your own original knowledge on the matter itself. Copying articles should only be used if you're crediting the source by supplying links to the original article written. Otherwise, you're just adding to the problem of illegal rewritten content. The one thing that is worth mentioning, is that there is a market for rewriting articles. As an online freelancer, you can make money rewriting requested articles from website owners. Though the reasons for this should be clear before taking on any work as such.

 

[subhodipd]

subhodipd

Well, there is a thin difference between rewriting and sourcing information. Rewriting refers to penning down a whole content through different words. However sourcing information and facts from multiple sites and arranging them into one content is not known as rewriting.

So, rewriting is unethical if you say, however sourcing facts is not. I hope that helps.

 

[Mike001]

Exactly correct, SEOPub.

Everything topic written, minus a very few, were written by someone else at one time or another. Goes back to that look and feel thing.

A good example, although it was more physical than written, was the Windows operating system. Apple sued the snot out of Microsoft over that system because it was too much like the original Macintosh system. Considering it had never been done before and Apple led the way many people thought that Microsoft would have to scrap Windows. Because when you compared the two, they were very similar. I remember the extended argument over the trash can for example. It was funny in a way just how deep they got into this.

But according to the best legal minds in the land, or so they say, you can not copyright look and feel. Even though Windows closely resembled the Apple OS, it was not a violation of their copyright or intellectual property. Imagine where we would be today had that lawsuit went in the other direction? If only too dream. As I pound the keyword on a Windows system.

Boy I really gave away my age there, as I reminisced on the days before Windows and the Macintosh. Bring back the VIC-20, Timex Sinclair, the TRS-80 and the Commodore Amiga.

Just kidding .......... or am I

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

I miss the Commodore Amiga. It's operating system ran off a single floppy disk and ran circles around Windows which at the time took like 17 disks to install.

 

[Developer]

As SEOPub pointed out, it is NOT illegal, I actually do it all the time and so do thousands of others. When I am running low on ideas for good articles and article content, here is what I do.

I will go out and find a series of decent articles, all touching on the same subject matter, of course, and I will read them several times... taking notes while doing so. I will then take the ideas and notes and formulate my own articles...

In theory, I'm writing my own NEW articles, however, in all respect to the original authors, I am merely rewriting what they have already said, and simply adding in some of my own additional thoughts (while even omitting some of the original).

Hundreds, if not thousands, of article writers and authors do this all the time.

It's NOT illegal, it's NOT unethical, it's NOT wrong. It's RESEARCH.

As Mike01 pointed out as well, COPYING an article, would not only be illegal, it would be unethical to boot, however, when done properly, you are only doing what thousands of others do every day...

How many times you have read different articles only to come out with the same core principles. It's just different people putting their own spin and perspectives on the same stuff...

The key is to add your own personality into anything you write, THAT is what will make your article stand out over others'.

 

[Mike001]

I remember it well, in fact I still have all those old OS's, I use them in my classes when I demonstrate where we have come from to the college kids who think everything should fit on a USB Drive and in their pocket, and I still have quite a collection of the old computers as well.

To name a few, the Commodore Amiga 2000, Timex Sinclair, TRS-80 and the Radio Shack Color Computer, Commodore-64, VIC-20, Apple IIe, AppleIIc, the Apple IIgs, an original Mac 512 and a Mac Plus, I even have an original Lisa. Most people have never even heard of that one.

Those were a much simpler time. Of course it use to take me about 45 minutes to load the Temple of Apshai on my Commodore 64 with the tape drive, but what the heck I could go and have lunch while I was waiting, and just hope it didn't crash half-way through.

You should see the looks I get when I teach my technology class and demonstrate the ways things were in the 70's, they look at me like we were crazy. I explain to them that at that time we were on the leading edge.

Who would have thunk it..... how far we came so fast.

 

[EpicGlobalWeb]

I have a writer who usually writes articles for my blog but I have a better idea thats she will rewrite some articles from other blogs to make better ones.

But I don't know does this affect to SEO rankings and Is it legal to rewrite other people's articles?

The exact second you do that the FBI will raid your house. You could easily get over 20 years for this. I'd tread carefully - use a VPN and contact your local Anonymous Hacktivist!

 

[Mike001]

I now we digress into silliness, I knew it was coming just was not sure how long it would take.

In the event that Purres does not understand weird American humor, he is only kidding, we have gone down the weirdness rabbit hole but not quite that far yet......

 

[EpicGlobalWeb]

In an effort to maintain a high-performing level of entertainment and quality content for the benefit of Webmaster Sun, I felt it was necessary to post a comment which maintained a high-performing level of ridiculousness and memorability.

 

[Mike001]

And with that, I tip my hat to the master....

 

[usmanshani2]

Bad idea... However, In college we learned that borrowing from one source is plagiarism but borrowing from many is research.

I have been using this as a SEO "secret" for a long time, I am interested in finding out if anyone else thought of it?

Speak into a Mic about your KW Phrase and synonyms, have a voice recognition program type it out for you and then tweak it from there... simple right?

 

[jeiss]

I don't see rewriting another person's article as illegal if you intend to make a better one out of it like you pointed. Not all articles written out there are 100% original content. You might know a little about a particular subject but need to read more in order to have a proper understanding of it. This would entail searching around for more information. Rewriting an article by adding more information to it that you feel is necessary is also part of being creative. If you're going to virtually borrow ideas from an article you found online to build yours do make a backlink to that webpage as your source.

 

[Tania997]

I don't know, putting informations together and writing an article isn't exactly that? Rewriting content? Unless you start from scratch you're always rewriting content. Even by gathering info or looking at other articles you're rewriting content because you're just saying what they said with different words. If a concept is absolute, you can't change it by rewriting content. Anyway, I'm pretty sure everyone does it so it's not illegal or people would be sued left and right.

 

[alexanderzx360]

It's illegal if you don't quote the original information or give credits to the writer. Your writer can rewrite the article, as long as he doesn't take it as it's own and specifies the original source of information about it. This only affects SEO in the way that more posts = more probable clicks, but if your posts start losing credibility or get people bored (since they rather go back to the original source) you'll start losing traffic on your website.

The rewriting method is good when it's for example, a science article that can be put in easier words so it can approach a wider audience, but never forget to give credits to the original source.

 

[martindrox]

Who is saying this is a research? it's illegal. If you're going to do that, give credit and if you want well profound articles for your blog then go for iWriter, buy some of your money for good articles and publish them on your blog, that way you didn't steal anything and you paid for the copyright so why steal content others have worked hard for? Don't even steal their content and make your "touch" to it. It's still stealing!

 

[spartan14]

Well if you do that google will see that and will not like it .Google likes content that its new and value and help people problems .You can try to inspire from more articles and make a post of your own but never copy an entire article .And also this its a copywright thing

 

[tom93]

I think it's not illegal if you inherit and improve them, make them into your owns and put your opinions in that. It's not wrong when you research and learn the basic knowledge, facts, issues, and write your own contents. But if you steal their opinions, their comments on the issues, it's another story

 

[Gazoo]

To be illegal there would have to be a law against it and I have never seen any that state this. Since you are taking information and rewriting it that is basically similar to what a lot of bloggers and other websites do around and if you are not actually copy and pasting then it's an original piece of work according to many people.

Most newspapers will take stories from the Associated Press and rewrite them in their own words and that is accepted so this is similar in nature.

That being said, that doesn't mean that I agree with it but it's something that can't be prevented these days and it's happening all over the internet.

I would say that as long as you are taking an article and completely rewriting it then I think the search engines will see it as unique as long and you aren't just copying an article and slapping it up on your site while changing only a word or two.

Illegal? I doubt it because it would have to be breaking a law.

Moral? Many people think it's not and that's up to you to decide.