Bearing this in mind, webmasters set out to create unique content in many ways. Some methods are more ethical than others, but they all achieve the same goal – content that is different than anyone else’s. Or is it?

Unique Content Explained

For content to be truly unique, it must be completely original. Not only should the actual words and sentences be completely new, the topic or approach should be new as well. Rewriting the work of someone else will create a new document, but it is not truly unique. In fact, it’s not even legal and your site may get penalised by search engines. It’s copyright infringement and all you’ve created is neatly spun duplicate content.

Content Generators

One way to create “unique” content is to put a paragraph or article through a content generator. These programs go through an article replacing certain words and rearranging phrases to create something that is read as unique by search engines. It can’t be read by humans very well as it is essentially machine generated and full of gibberish.

The end result is messy and despite having five hundred new articles, every one of them is most likely in violation of copyright laws. The exception would be if you wrote the original article or used a PLR article with creative rights given to the purchaser. Copyright law, as it pertains to written material, states that you can not use or alter the work of another except in fair use. And using someone else’s material all over your website is certainly not within the fair use clauses.

Rewriting Articles

Another popular way to generate unique content is to rewrite articles. This is perfectly acceptable so long as you wrote or own the original article. In fact certain kinds of articles, PLR or private label right, are written for this exact purpose. Most PLR articles are sold with alteration rights meaning the new owner can change the material to suit his own purposes. PLR articles come with different privileges, but in general, the buyer can do anything to a PLR article he likes except sell it as his own.

While it may be legal to rewrite a PLR article, it is not legal to rewrite other articles online. Article on websites or in submission sites are not there to be used as a starting point for another piece. They are the property of the original author or commissioning agent, and to reword one is to again infringe on a copyright and break the law.

Regardless of whether a particular method of rewriting is legal, it will always fail to generate unique copy. Unique means the ideas and approach are fresh, not just the words and sentences. By changing a few lines or inserting a different company name into an article, the article’s meaning and content hasn’t been changed – just the words.

Search engines might be fooled by rewriting, but savvy readers won’t. Too often articles appear only slightly revised all over the Internet. If a website doesn’t have a new approach or something different to say than all the rest, visitors won’t be interested in reading or coming back.

Custom Articles

The only way to generate true unique material is to commission or write a custom piece every time you’re in need of something new. Of course you can generate ideas from other articles and even use a similar idea for your own. Ideas are not protected by copyright, but they might be patented – be sure to check before you expand on someone else’s design.

Research a topic. Read a few other articles by different authors to see how you might like to approach the topic, and then prepare your own slant. Give your readers and the search engines something fresh and interesting to read. Then, once your new work is complete, it will be yours under copyright law, even without registering it, and you can rest assured you have done all you can to offer the public something truly unique and special.

And anyone who might think to use your work for their own rewritten or generated content will be infringing on your copyright and you can go after them with everything you’ve got.

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