Site been plagiarised - duplicate content

[CommT]

Hi,

I look after two websites, one sells commercial mortgages the other sells residential mortgages.

We recently redesigned both sites, and one was moved to a new domain name as we rebranded it from being a trading style of the other brand to being a brand in its own right.

I have recently discovered that one of my most important pages on the residential mortgages site is not in Google's index. I did a bit of poking around with Copyscape and found another broker has copied our page almost word-for-word.

I then used copyscape to find all the other instances of plagiarism on the other broker's site and there are a few! It now looks like they have copied pages from our commercial mortgages site as well.

I think the reason our page has been removed from the index is that we relaunced both these sites with new navigation and consequently new urls. Can anyone back me up on this theory?

I am 100% sure that our page is the original version because we write everything in-house and I check it with copyscape before it gets published, Also the fact that this other broker has copied from several different sites corroborates this view.

Our legal team has written two letters (not sent yet) - one to the broker and the other to the broker's web designer. These letters ask the recipient to remove the copied content within 14 days. If they do remove our content from our site, how do I get Google to reindex our pages, given that Google thinks OUR pages are the copied ones and not the other way around? Does anyone have any experience with this? Or, will it just happen automatically? I have no experience of this scenario!

In the past, where I've found duplicate content like this, I've just rewritten the page, and chalked it up to experience but I don't really want to in this case because, frankly, the copy on these pages is really good! And, I don't think it's fair that someone else could potentially be getting customers that were persuaded by OUR copy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Amelia

[CommT]

Hi David,

I hope you had a good weekend?

Thank you for all your help! I reported them to Google using the link you posted and already the other site's URLs that had copied us have been removed and our pages have been put back in the index.

I have to say I am absolutely astounded that Google responded so quickly!

Yes, that is us on Google + and my personal Google + is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmeliaVargo/posts/.

Thank you again for your help thus far, and for your kind offer of more help should we need it!

Have a great day,

Amelia

[David-Kley]

Glad I could help. I really hope you get this all sorted out. Good news is, you found the problem and are working to fix it, which is much better than most people would have been able to do. Have high hopes!

"the two pages they've copied are really important sales pages (remortgage and first time buyer) so for us, it's a massive shame. "

There is still a way to promote those pages, just not using Google organic to do so. Modify some of the content, create a press release, promote that page using social networks, and drive interest to that page and your site the old fashioned way. PPC is always an option as well. Remember, there are many ways to get traffic, don't lose hope or the vision.

On a side note, is this your company? 
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TurnkeymortgagesCoUk/posts

I can add you to my circles, so if you have any more issues or need additional help just let me know.

[CommT]

I just wanted to post up a message to everyone who has helped me with this problem.

First of all, please accept my sincere thanks. I REALLY appreciate everyone's contribution.

Now, I just wanted to tell you all what, as a company, we've decided to do.

1. We've written letters to: The company that copied us, their web designer and their host, asking them to remove the copied content within 14 days of the letters.
2. We've 'reported' them to Google, via one of the links that David posted (https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?hl=en)
3. We've reported them for scraping, using the link that Paddy posted

Hopefully, this problem will go away, but I hate to think how much business we may have lost as a result - the two pages they've copied are really important sales pages (remortgage and first time buyer) so for us, it's a massive shame.

Best wishes, and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Amelia

[CommT]

Thank you David.

[David-Kley]

Once their version is removed/rewritten, resubmit your site to Google in every way that you can.

1. Fetch as Google
2. Change sitemap created dates to current day
3. Change crawl frequency in sitemap to daily
4. Check for proper 301 redirects from old pages, when you moved/modified the site to separate branding.
5. Submit the URL in question to Google, and letting them know that someone has copied your site's content. They should be able to see that your was created first.

Here are a few links to help:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice <<< start there

https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?hl=en

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/find-remove-stolen-content/

http://www.orclage.com/report-remove-stolen-duplicate-content-google/

[CommT]

Thank you Paddy! Much appreciated, and thank you for helping me again!

[LesleyPaone]

Ahh, good one.

[PaddyDisplays]

Don't forget about this:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Pw1KVOVRyr4a7ezj_6SHghnX1Y6bp1SOVmy60QjkF0Y/viewform

[CommT]

Thank you, you've helped me no end.

Have a great weekend

[LesleyPaone]

It really depends on the web host whether they will follow it or not. Some that are soley based in the UK might not. If they have US based servers or the site is hosted in the US more than likely they will. It is worth a shot though, I try to rattle as many cages as possible. Here is a little info on filing them in the UK https://www.teneric.co.uk/marketing/copyright-infringement.html

[CommT]

Hi Lesley,

Yes, I redirected everything using 301 redirects - page to page. I also used the change of address tool in webmaster tools for the site that changed domains.

I don't know if using DMCA will be appropriate - isn't that a US-only thing or can site owners in the UK use it too? If I can, I will use it.

Thank you for responding - I really do appreciate your help.

Best wishes,

Amelia

[LesleyPaone]

After they drop out of the searches google will index your site as a the canonical site with that content on it. So that part happens manually. Also, when you relaunched, did you redirect everything from the old site? That helps preserve link juice and at the same time gives search engines a pointer that the address of a page has changed to this new address.

One thing I would suggest is having a DMCA take down notice draft and sent to the host as well. If the other people you send letters to tell you to go pound sand, normally the host does not.