Unique content is content that cannot be found in the same form on other websites. The opposite is duplicate content, which is where the content of one website is very similar to that of another. In this article, you can find out what to look out for so that search engines like your website’s content.
Unlike plagiarism, it is possible to publish duplicate content legally. This is because the same image or the same text can be sold several times with the appropriate usage rights.
Duplicate content is also often found within websites; this tends to occur where there are several versions of a page, e.g. print-optimised and mobile-optimised versions. It is also common for the same content to be accessed with and without “www.” in the URL.
The term “unique content” is particularly relevant when it comes to search engine optimisation. Because search engines are geared towards delivering the best results for a search query, duplicate content is given a hard time.
Search engines regard such content as having no added value. Therefore, they penalise duplicate results, denying them of the chance to achieve top rankings. Unique content is therefore essential for a good ranking.
How do I know if I am using unique content?
If you want to make sure that you only use unique content on your website, a tool like the SISTRIX Optimizer is very helpful. Among other things, it checks your website for content that occurs more than once and shows you where it is using duplicate content.
As part of quality assurance, it makes sense to subject every new piece of content to a quick check for unique content. That way, you can be sure that search engines will value your new content because it is original content. At SISTRIX, this is done by the plagiarism checker of the Content Assistant.
Tip: Duplicate content within your own website is not a serious disadvantage if a canonical tag is used. The canonical tag points to the original source, which should be taken into account by Google and other search engines. It is not “binding” for the search engines, but it is an important note.
How do I create good unique content?
For unique content, online marketing agencies, text agencies or freelance copywriters are the best places to go if you don’t want to write the content yourself. Basically, unique content is standard nowadays.
When search engines were not as advanced as they are now, there were text generators, article spinners and other tools that rewrote and paraphrased existing content more or less convincingly and thus simulated unique content. This was a cheap, but not particularly high-quality solution.
Because unique content is standard today, your content must be able to do even more. It must be interesting, offer added value and be the voice of your company.
This is the only way to convince people and search engines that your website is worth a visit in the long term. It is important that you understand the intention behind the search query and design your content in such a way that it satisfies this search intention.
Conclusion
Unique content is one of the most important prerequisites for a good search engine ranking. Use unique, high-quality content to convince readers and search engines.
