ContentMatt Cutts: Don’t Stitch Copied Content from Multiple Sites

Matt Cutts: Don’t Stitch Copied Content from Multiple Sites

In a recent Google Webmaster Help video, Matt Cutts addressed the question of "stitching" -- taking bits of content from multiple sources and putting them together to create a new article or web page. Cutts said this practice does not add value.

While many marketers and site owners understand the importance of quality, original content in their marketing plans, there are still those who are testing the boundaries of what that actually means. In a recent Google Webmaster Help video, Matt Cutts talked about the line between spam content and original content, once again.

The question was: Can you copy small portions of content from multiple websites and combine it to create one new web page, and compete in Google with that?

matt-cutts-stiching-content

“I fear you may be heading for heartbreak,” Cutts replied in the video. He added that if this is something you’re considering, you should really be asking yourself why you’re doing it in the first place. For example, are you trying to automate?

Cutts began explaining the practice in question by talking about Yahoo’s distaste for it in days past. Yahoo referred to this tactic as “stitching” and “they really considered that spam,” said Cutts.

But does Google say it’s spam? “If all you’re doing is taking quotes from everyone else, that’s probably not a lot of added value,” he said.

He did give an instance of where multiple resources with bits of information work well in an article, citing Wikipedia as an example. In Wikipedia, several resources come together as citations to support the main topic, but do so in a way that reports on and summarizes the information to create a new, unique web page on the matter.

While many may be fuzzy on what original quality content is, when in doubt, know that any time you’re cutting corners in your content, you’re likely not producing the best content you can for that website.

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