Aug 12 2011

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Fighting Scrapers when Google Won’t: A Simple Guide

Battling those who mirror your site.

Scraping: When a site copies all of the information from a popular publisher and tries to pass it off as their own, sometimes even outranking the original author. Google has made great strides in preventing scraping, but it can still be an issue for those caught in its web. Here are some easy ways to discourage and prevent scraping:

1: Make Regular Updates

Google will assume that the first version of identical content that’s indexed belongs to the original author. For that reason, being indexed frequently is a great way to prevent scraping. While there are no magic bullets to being indexed more frequently, posting content on a regular basis is the most reliable way to get the attention of Google’s robo.

2: Link Back to Your Site

Scrapers need to post your content immediately if they’re going to be seen as the original author. That means copying your website, code and all. One way to ensure that you have evidence that you’re being scraped is to include links back to your own site. Have images, author tags, and other content link back to other portions of your main website.

3: Add “Read More” URL Inclusions

One way that scrapers get their content is just copying and pasting it. If this is the case, you can ensure that your site is attributed as the original source of the content by using a “read more” inclusion. This inclusion makes it so an additional line is added at the end of a copy/paste. Normally, this reads as “Read more: [your URL].” While there are multiple providers of this technology, Tynt is the most respected in the industry.

4: Truncate Your RSS

Another way scrapers get content is automatically importing your RSS feed. If you’re providing full posts in your RSS, it’s a good idea to truncate the total amount provided and add a “read more at” link at the bottom. This keeps your feed friendly for users while preventing the scrape.

Have other tactics that have helped you get past scrapers? Share them in the comments section below.

Written By:

Rob D Young | @RobDYoungWrites

Rob has been insatiably obsessed with Google, search engine technology, and the trends of the web-based world since he began life as a webmaster in 2002. His move into SEO work in 2006, and subsequently to writing for technology and internet-focused publications, has done nothing but fuel this passion.

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