Scraped content
Black hat. Against Google’s spam policies. Risks a manual action or a ranking drop. White, grey and black hat SEO compared
What is scraped content?
Scraped content is content taken from other websites and republished without adding original value. Google’s scraping policy covers copying content and republishing it, copying it after small changes such as swapping synonyms, republishing feeds from other sites, and embedding other people’s videos or images without adding anything.
Scraping is often automated, with bots pulling articles, product descriptions or search results into templated pages. It overlaps with article spinning and, when done at volume, with scaled content abuse.
Quoting, curating and syndicating are different. Quoting a source with commentary, a roundup that adds analysis, or licensed syndication with a canonical tag pointing to the original are normal practices.
Why scraped content matters for SEO
Scraping can look like a quick way to fill a site, but the pages offer nothing searchers could not already find, which is exactly what Google’s systems try to filter out.
The white hat alternative is original work with information gain: your own data, testing, photos, experience or analysis. If someone scrapes you, a DMCA or copyright removal request to Google is the fix.
Risks of scraped content
- A “Thin content with little or no added value” manual action.
- Algorithmic demotion; scraped pages rarely outrank the original for long.
- Copyright removal requests, and Google says a high volume of valid legal removals can demote a site’s other content too.
- Legal action from the content owner for copyright infringement.
How to deal with scraped content
- On your own site: find pages copied from elsewhere (search a sentence in quotes) and rewrite them with original material, or remove them.
- For product pages, rewrite manufacturer descriptions and add your own specs, photos and FAQs.
- If you syndicate, ask partners to use a canonical tag to your original.
- If others scrape you and outrank you, file a copyright removal request with Google and contact the host.
Scraped content example
A “news” site whose every article is a word-for-word copy of articles from other outlets, posted minutes later, with the original links stripped out and ads added around them.
Scraped content FAQ
Will scraped copies of my content hurt my rankings?
Usually not. Google tries to identify the original. If a copy does outrank you, file a copyright removal request.
Is using manufacturer product descriptions scraping?
It is duplicate content rather than a spam violation in itself, but pages with nothing beyond copied descriptions add little value and struggle to rank.
Related SEO terms
Duplicate content is the same or very similar content available at more than one URL, on one site or across sites. Google picks one version to show.
Article spinningBlack hat
Article spinning is rewriting existing content with synonyms or software to pass it off as new, which Google treats as scraping or scaled content abuse.
Scaled content abuseBlack hat
Scaled content abuse is producing many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, with little value for users, whether made by AI, people or both.
Thin content is a page with little or no useful content of its own, such as near-empty pages, copied text or doorway pages.
A canonical tag is a link element that tells search engines which URL is the main version of a page when duplicates exist.
Information gain is the new, useful information a page adds beyond what other pages on the same topic already say.