Is posting our original articles on competitor websites with a linkback beneficial?

[uderic]

We are receiving requests to repost our articles in full on competitor websites. Our competitors have expressed they are fine with linking back to our homepage, and the original source page. Would this benefit us, or do more harm than good?

[EGOL]

There are other options.  For example they could post your article and then use the rel="author" and rel="me" to attribute the content to you.  Also, rel="canonical" might work. I have not used these so I can't give implementation advice.

You would have to get an agreement that makes placing those attributes on their website is a condition of content use.

When people ask me to use my content, I invite them to link to it as you suggest.  I don't give my content away. Far to valuable.

A few of my competitors give me content because they want to have visibility in front of my traffic.  These competitors have a message to share rather than something to sell.  They also get some traffic from my site. These are competitors who are not "gunning to beat me" but just looking for as much visibility as possible.

[uderic]

Thank you for your reply EGOL.

We are certainly not desperate for links, but I also don't want to pass up an opportunity if it presents itself. I wasn't sure exactly how Google used the original publish date to filter duplicate content across different websites.

However, your argument is more than just Google attributing the content to them - but the content's ability to build incoming links naturally. Good point.

Maybe I should just kindly ask that they link to our articles. It seems like I may be passing up on an opportunity this way. Any other ideas to build on this?

[EGOL]

You might have a very smart competitor.

If that competitor has a website that is more powerful than yours then it is probable that they will rank higher in the SERPs than the original document on your website.  Also, it is very possible that the article on your website will be filtered from the SERPs because of duplicate content.

How will you feel when your great articles start earning links that power your competitor's website?  How will you feel when they outrank you?

I don't give content away.  It feeds existing competitors and creates new ones.  However, some people are so hungry or so desperate for a link that they will give their content away.

Also, content is my offensive weapon.  It competes in the SERPs, it competes for links, and those account for most of my traffic.