Content is Cheap

The writer of an obituary, posted yesterday on the Guardian’s website, has been accused of plagiarism by a London-based freelance journalist.

Rosie Scammel (@rosiescammel) tweeted this yesterday, presumably after reading the obituary and tribute to a prominent cycling campaigner:



Have a read of the first few sentences of each and you’ll understand her disgruntlement.

They’re pretty much identical.

Rosie Scammel writing on Goodbye Jacques:

‘Squealing pigs, clucking chickens and screaming toddlers form the soundtrack to Barry Mason’s day, as Manager of Surrey Docks Farm. But it is to another topic we turn under a moody spring sky: Barry moonlights as the co-ordinator of Southwark Cyclists.’

Tom Crispin ‘writing’ on The Guardian:

‘Squealing pigs, clucking chickens and screaming toddlers were the soundtrack of Barry Mason's day, where he worked as the manager of Surrey Docks City Farm. But it was the inanimate bicycle which was Barry's real passion: Barry moonlighted as co-ordinator of Southwark Cyclists.’

Due to the tragic nature of the event the article concerns, it seems likely that Ms Scammel’s voice will be drowned out by the justified and perfectly understandable noise of well-wishers.

However, this situation does raise some interesting questions about The Guardian’s attitude towards content online.

Even The Guardian Doesn’t Understand Duplicate Content

The fact that Crispin appears to have lifted wholesale, several phrases from an article written in April reveals an arrogance about the nature and availability of content online at a time when the traditional media is under threat from blogs and alternative online news sources.

It also suggests that The Guardian doesn’t understand, or realise, the search engine implications of duplicating content, clearly explained here.

Basically, if you copy someone else's pre-existing content their site will be given preference over yours in the rankings. It may be quick and easy to copy and paste text from another website, but it'll get you nowhere.

Content is King

In the SEO industry we often stress the importance of good quality, optimised and original content to a website’s rankings. In fact, it’s one of the most important factors in on-page SEO, yet one that so many people still fail to understand, including The Guardian.

It’s a simple formula: assuming all the other aspects of your site’s SEO are in good order, good quality content with the power to engage visitors’ interest which also contains the keywords most relevant to your target audience WILL improve your website’s rankings and conversion rates.