How To Fight Content Theft: Plagiarism Detection Tools

It’s hard work to create original content.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to make sure that your words aren’t being used on someone else’s website without your permission.

When it comes to to detecting plagiarism and other forms of content piracy, you have several choices — from simple copy/paste plagiarism checkers, to more advanced anti-piracy software.

Which plagiarism detection tool is right for you? (Tweet This!)

Manual Plagiarism Checkers

Manual plagiarism checkers are used to check for plagiarized versions of content one page or one article at a time.

Try using Google’s standard search function or Google Reader to see if your content (or parts of it) show up anywhere else on the Internet.

Or, try a manual plagiarism-detection service specifically designed to search for a block of matching content, one article at a time.  A simple Google search will turn up many free tools that can be used for this purpose.

Sites that benefit most from this type of service?  Manual plagiarism checkers are ideal for sites with a small number of articles.  Drawback?  A manual process can get unwieldy for a site that publishes a great deal of content.

Advanced Plagiarism Detection Tools

Instead of searching for duplicate content one page at a time, you can use an automated service to continuously monitor and protect your content.

In addition to automation, advanced plagiarism-detection services typically offer sophisticated custom features that can be very useful.

As an example, iCopyright’s infringement detection and resolution service, Discovery™ lets you determine what qualifies as matching content with a sophisticated set of filters.  And once duplicate content is detected, it offers an automated resolution service to get it taken care of quickly. 

The ability to use advanced settings helps to identify suspects for a closer look, without wasting time on insignificant matches.  And an automated resolution service can simplify what can be a time consuming and confusing process to get pirated content removed.

Sites that benefit most from this type of service?  Blogs and websites that have lots of content and produce content on a regular basis.  For many, the peace of mind that comes with continuous detection of duplicate content is worth the modest cost of protection.

No matter which plagiarism tool you choose, protect your work

The right plagiarism detection tool can help keep your site free from the negative effects of plagiarism and duplicate content.  Fortunately, there’s a tool for every budget:

• Manual tools are a free, win-win solution for smaller content creators
• Advanced tools provide added benefits for sites with more content to protect, at a modest additional cost

Once duplicate, infringing content has been identified, it needs to be removed quickly, in a way that doesn’t consume your valuable time.

• You don’t need an attorney in most cases, but you may need some help.  Consider an copyright infringement resolution service like Discovery to guide you through the process and automate the details.

We’ll cover remedies for plagiarism and content theft, including  using the DMCA Take down notice, in our next post.

Free Ebook:  The Blogger’s Guide to Copyright Protection

If you would like to learn more about how to copyright a blog, and what to do if your copyrights are infringed, you might be interested in our free e-book:

The Blogger’s Guide to Protection 

Let us know if you have any other copyright questions, in the comments!