Is Your Website Content Killing Your SEO?

Observe the digital world of the web: every institute wants to rank on the search engine result pages (SERPs). And if you know even a bit about SEO, you’ll see that content is critical. But paradoxically, it is the least taken care of.

When it comes to content for the website, most institutes just copy-paste it. This could be either from content-generating tools or the same being copied from sources on the internet, and it is a brutal hit for a website’s SEO. But first, let’s understand what classifies as copied content.

Copied content is any content that has been blatantly copied from another source without permission, alterations, or citation. Such types of content can include plagiarism, duplicate internal content, and scraped content. The catch with copied content is that it is not intentional every time. Many institutes are unaware of the fact that just a proper citation is enough but search engines don’t work like that.

Another misconception institutes have is keyword = SEO, but it’s not like that. SEO is far broader than just integrating and adding keywords. Content plays a significant role. And not just content stuffed with keywords but also relevant content with integrated keywords.

You eased up your task by copying content, but you are up for some challenges. Search engines have become surprisingly advanced with their content detection technologies. They detect copied content across the web, which might lead to lower rankings of your institute’s website. Additionally, this reduces your website’s authority and might penalize your website. Apart from the technical setbacks, if students and parents visiting your website find the content repetitive and copied, you might lose their trust, which damages your long-term brand image.

Now that you know that comfortable copied content does not sail your boat, you must be wondering: what does?

My primary advice would be that content is not easy. It takes effort. First and foremost, you should thoroughly research the subject you want to write about. Varun Mayya says, “The best content writers are subject matter experts.” Conduct good research and then write.

Now, reading this, you might think I’m saying that you should not even consider the already uploaded content. It is essential to take references. You want to know what is already working. But don’t just blatantly copy. Try adding value to the existing ideas. The readers might actually appreciate your content when they notice it builds on what already exists. Also, this is the best SEO tip: write for humans, not engines. Write what your user seeks, and you’ll be rewarded greatly.

And, of course, I also don’t advise you to use generative tools that lose personalization. However, you can use plagiarism checkers or tools like Grammarly to ensure your content is up to the mark. And keep measuring your site’s performance regularly. Audit your website’s SEO score periodically and correct it if required.

Here’s your TL;DR: write content for humans yourselves and solve their queries. This solves your content game on the web, and your rankings improve massively. Here’s what search engines say about SEO: