Don’t get stressed about blog scrapers stealing your content
David Peralty emailed me the other day to inform me that this website is scraping my content. The website is scraping content from BloggingTips and a few others (including Daily Blog Tips). Blog scraping is a topic I have touched upon before at BloggingTips however it’s something which still plagues bloggers today and unfortunately, the more successful your blog becomes, the more likely it is going to be scraped.
Before I talk about why you shouldn’t get too stressed about blog scrapers stealing your content, it’s best to explain what blog scraping is to those who have never heard of the term before 
What is Blog Scraping?
Blog scrapers use the full feed content provided by blogs to add content to a website or blog which they have created. Essentially, they are looking to make money through the internet the quickest and easiest way they can and have a complete disregard to the bloggers they have stole content from.
Here’s how they do it :
- The blog scraper either signs up at a free hosting service like Blogger or uses their own domain name and uploads a blog script (eg. wordpress) (note: scrapers don’t always use a blog script, there are other scripts available which will work for them)
- The scraper finds a free theme to use for his new site. They then plaster the site with advertisements : Google Adsense, banner ads etc.
- They then use a plugin or script which automatically copies the content from RSS feeds which they specify.
- The scraper then moves on and starts another one
Note, since scrapers steal blog posts from RSS feeds, it is only blogs which provide Full RSS Feeds which are at risk of having their content copied by blog scrapers. Bloggers who only show an introduction or summary of their posts in their feed will not be affected.
Why you shouldn’t become a blog scraper
There might be some new bloggers reading this who are tempted to setup a blog scraping site themselves to make some money so I thought I should explain why you shouldn’t
Besides the fact that stealing content that another blogger took hours to write is wrong, the first indication to you that blog scraping is a waste of time should be that it is only beginners who try and make money on the net using this method. Those who have worked on the web a while know that scraping other websites content is never going to make you any real money.
Why is this? Well the main reason is that you need traffic to make money from a website and it is incredibly difficult for a site which is copying content to get this. Think about it, why would anyone link to a site which is stealing the content from a website when they can link to the original article itself. Search engines also use algorithms to determine who wrote the original article and so the traffic blog scrapers get is incredibly low.
The funny thing is, the time you would have to spend promoting a blog scraping site to make a little bit of money is time which you could have spent creating a unique blog.
Bottom line, there is little to no money to be made by scraping other bloggers content.
Fight back against the scrapers
If your blog has at least a few hundred subscribers then there’s a good chance that your blog has been scraped at some time. In my opinion there is no way to stop someone copying your posts if your blog has Full RSS Feeds however there are many ways you can fight back and deter someone from scraping your site.
Here are some methods I covered in my post last year ‘Fighting back against the scrapers‘.
- Place a copyright in your feed footer
- Link to your blog posts
- Delete their pingbacks
- Stop people hotlinking images from your site
- Respond Legally
Don’t get stressed about blog scrapers stealing your content
After David emailed me, we talked about the blog scraping problem and that whilst there are methods to deter blog scrapers, there is nothing to stop them. As I mentioned above, there are steps you can take like stopping other sites hotlinking your images and using copyrights but these are deterrents at best. Basically, all they do is register a domain, upload a free theme, place loads of adsense ads and then use a scraping plugin to take content from dozens of popular blogs. If you take the time to report them to their host then they will just start a new one elsewhere cos it doesn’t take them long to repeat this process.
The more popular your blog gets, the more your blog will get scraped and the more you realise that it just isn’t worth wasting your time with these people.
Of course, no one wants their blog posts copied on other sites but you need to remember :
- It can be very timeconsuming dealing with scrapers (eg. reporting them to their host etc). This is time you could be promoting your blog or writing more posts.
- Google determines where the original article came from by inbound links to the article and from the authority of a website so you don’t lose any search engine traffic (google can sometimes get this wrong.
- Blog scrapers will not lose you any money and will not lose you any traffic. Most of their traffic comes from commentating and trackbacks (which you can delete).
- Blog scrapers soon realise that scraping is a waste of time. The people who are scraping BloggingTips now are different from the people who scraped it 2 months ago (this has been the same since the blog started). It seems to take scrapers a month or so to figure out that whilst creating a scraping site doesn’t take long, it just isn’t worth it.
Summary
It can be frustrating when you realise someone is republishing your posts without your consent. My advice is to do as much as you can to deter them but don’t waste your time chasing them. Include a copyright area in your feed and try to link to other posts of yours if you can but don’t stress over these spammers.
If you would like to read more on the subject I recommend these articles :
Blog Scraping - have you been a victim?
How to protect yourself against Blog Post Theft and Splogs!
Top 8 Excuses for Stealing Other People’s Content
Six Steps to Prevent Content Theft and Combat Copyright Infringement on Your Business Blog
The 6 Steps to Stop Content Theft
How to deter thieves from stealing your images and server bandwidth
Blog Plagiarism Q&A
Stop Site Scraping
Have you had your blog scraped before? How did you react?
*Please note, in this article I have used the term ‘Blog Scraping’ to refer to software which copies content from your blog onto another site. Having your content copied manually is a slightly different situation
Heida | May 15th, 2008 at 2:08 pm #
Yes, I can see where blog scraping would get aggravating but I am the type (if it happened to me) not to freak out about it. That would not change anything. If I spend all my energies chasing down unethical marketer, people what about my business?
While I agree one should take precautions and protection measures the best they can their energies are better saved for their business, instead of chasing down people who are unethical enough to steal someone’s content.
Bape | May 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm #
I personally don’t get angry about it. There is nothing you can do -and google will penalize them for duplicate content in the long run.
The Freelance Writer's Blog | May 15th, 2008 at 5:23 pm #
As you make the case for Kevin, copying is the best form of flattery! Sooner or later, all the copy cats just fall away, and the original will still be standing — stronger than ever.
FYI, thanks for taking the time to explain how blog scraping works. I knew what it was, but not a clue as to how it worked.
Yuwanda
Kevin | May 15th, 2008 at 5:31 pm #
Heida & Bape - Yes I completely agree. Your time is better spent working on your blog rather than worrying about these people.
Yuwnda - No problem. I think it’s important to understand why people do this in the first place
David Shaw | May 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm #
Hi Kevin.
This post comes at a good time, because I was just going to contact you about it.
I recently got a trackback from this site:
http://meet-the-blog.com/?p=116
They are stealing content from your blog, where you link to one of my posts. So it showed up on my blog. Have deleted the trackback. It is very annoying to have people doing this when you put so much effort into writing posts.
Kevin | May 15th, 2008 at 6:35 pm #
Yeah you need to be proactive with regards to moderating your trackbacks. Uusually a pingback is the first indication someone is stealing your content
Jonathan Bailey | May 16th, 2008 at 1:33 am #
I agree that you shouldn’t get too stressed about it and that you also shouldn’t worry about trying to stop every single case. I don’t encourage my readers to do that but I do believe that there are many times in which one should step in and take action.
It’s important to know your rights for when the scrapers cross the line and do have a negative impact on your site. It’s important to be ready. You also need to be ready for the human plagiarists that use your work to pad their portfolios.
I do have to disagree with there being no money in scraping blogs though. I’ve been approached by many black hats, some who do scraping and there is a lot of money to be made in this field.
It is getting harder though, that is the good news. Hopefully it will stay that way.
Thank you for the great article.
Internet Marketing | May 16th, 2008 at 3:28 am #
This one is threatening. Your tips are very helpful
VeraBradley | May 16th, 2008 at 5:31 am #
I really cant stand these blog scrappers! Its just like pirating someone’s intellectual property. I hope eventually someone will enact a law to protect online intellectual properties, including blog posts!
David Airey | May 16th, 2008 at 6:59 am #
Thanks for the mention, Kevin.
My first reaction was hasty, so I’d recommend taking it in your stride, and being calm. There are things you can do to help, and at the end of the day, you’re definitely not alone.
zohai | May 16th, 2008 at 7:50 am #
Hate those blog scrapers
But if since blog scrapers only go through RSS feed another way is to not use RSS feed no? Won’t that be another alternative as well?
Angie Hurst | May 16th, 2008 at 8:37 am #
Well, I found your article because I was freaking out over a blog scraper… thanks for easing my mind!
I will tell you though, that this scraper was even using my partial feeds. It looks really stupid on their site because it says, ‘to read the full article…’ but it doesn’t link, there’s no full article to read.
Cigar Jack | May 16th, 2008 at 10:12 am #
I’ve been battling a couple for awhile. A couple of times I got mean (Reported them to Google AdSense for violating the TOS regard Tobacco, which is easier than a DMCA Notice).
But now I’ve just added a few things to my feed to at least deter them or alert the readers about where the content originally came from. The plugins I use are Copyright Feed and Similar Posts Plugin that adds links to similar posts in the feed.
Kevin | May 16th, 2008 at 11:33 am #
Jonathan - I’m sure that there are some people makiny money through scraping but I believe the majority of them are not. Also, how much money are they making compared to webmasters who develop original sites. You are right though, I’m glad it’s getting harder for them
zohai - why would any blogger not let their readers read their blog through RSS?
jonson roth | May 16th, 2008 at 12:43 pm #
Unfortunately, Google does not always give credit where credit is due. I’ve seen several very high-traffic sites being outranked by scrapers in the Google SERPs for a specific page. Or ten. It is a problem, and if you’re worried about it, start by complaining to through the Google AdSense feedback link on the scrapers’ site. Then send them a C+D, followed by an email to their host, if necessary.
BookMarkMoney.com | May 16th, 2008 at 9:08 pm #
Oddly enough, I’m kinda flattered by scrapers. Every so often my blog gets scraped. Digging through my archives, it turns out that I have addressed this in the past.
Unlike a lot of people, I actually approve the pingbacks/trackbacks. Or at least I did until google decided to bestow upon me the gift of Page Rank (cue trumpets).
I use the RSS Footer Word Press plugin on my RSS feeds so that I’m properly attributed, and I figure that if they can actually make money off of what I write more power to them, since I haven’t made a dime.
Its one of those problems like gnats in the summer - they’re annoying as hell, but for every one you swat there’s 10 waiting to replace it.
arun kamath | May 16th, 2008 at 11:34 pm #
I sometimes do copy from BBC website but give them link as the source. Even then for most of the stories my blog ranks above BBC’s website story page.
Get It From Boy! | May 17th, 2008 at 8:25 am #
i have the exact same problem, but i am wondering why the scraper still manage to scrape my content FULL, when i don’t use a full feed post. You mentioned that scraping only happens with full feeds, apparently not for me.. and yeah, i contacted the scraper, he just link by saying he got the article from me but still with my FULL post.
Jonathan Bailey | May 21st, 2008 at 3:59 pm #
My apologies for the delayed response but apparently CoComment is not working anymore. Figures.
To answer your question though, they are making tons of cash. One I follow closely makes hundreds of thousands per year. However, he is the exception, not the rule. It is like any other usiness. You have a lot of failures, a few people that do well and some who get rich.
For every “six figure blogger” there’s probably a similar scraper the same as for every failed blogger there is a similar spammer.
Of course, I’m talking on percentages here, not actual numbers.
The point is, some make a lot of money, others make very little. It’s just like everything else in the world.