An SEO professional asked John Mueller about duplicate, copied content in the search results.
They explained that spammy websites keep regularly copying their content. These sites can be very spammy and have very low domain authority.
And they are working on doing a manual delisting of URLs from Google Search Console. They are using the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) form on Google in order to do this.
Their main question is: do they need to go further with an alternative option in order to fully delist sites, so that they will no longer receive spammy content to their site?
John asked what they mean about an alternative process.
The SEO pro said – from very spammy they mean that these are very toxic backlinks. They are getting so many toxic backlinks and most of the sites out there are copying their entire site.
And then they are delisting them using Google’s DMCA request form. They are submitting the request to Google manually.
Their question is: is this the right way to do this?
John explained that if another site is copying their copyrighted content, then the DMCA form, like they are using, is the right way.
The SEO pro also alluded to paying for a plan to delist the URLs.
John explained that Google has absolutely no paid plans or anything like that. The DMCA process is entirely free and you can use it directly in Google Search Console.
It’s important to note that the DMCA process is a legal process, and John cannot provide legal advice. He advises to check with a lawyer just to see if this is something that would be appropriate.
This happens at approximately the 08:37 mark in the video.
John Mueller Hangout Transcript
SEO Professional 3 8:37
One more question. My website, like spammy websites are regularly copying our content, like spammy like which have very low domain authority. That type of website is copying the blog content. So we are doing like a manual delisting for those URLs from Google DMCA. We are just manually submitting the request to Google by the form. After this, our URLs are delisting from Google
but is it the right way to get from these type of activities? Or we can go for an alternate option for this, like in further we will not see this type of spammy activities put on our website?
John 9:30
How do you mean alternate process?
SEO Professional 3 9:33
Like very spammy, like which has very low-authority, like pretty toxic backlinks. We are getting so many toxic backlinks, like most of the websites are copying our content. Our whole content is copied on our website. And then we are delisting–delisting them from Google GSC. We are submitting the request to Google, then they are manually removing this domain from like Google GSC. So is it the effective way to get rid from these type of activities? Or we can go for any other alternate option or any free or option is available you can also-
John 10:13
So I think if another site is copying your copyrighted content, then probably the DMCA form, I think that you’re using, is the right way.
SEO Professional 3 10:23
Yeah. Actually, uh, yeah, we have taken the plan also earlier, for a limited time, because plan is very expensive for it. So that’s why we are thinking we should delist the URLs manually. So we are thinking if we get any other option like for this, instead of premium plans?
John 10:48
I don’t think we have any kind of paid plans or anything like that. So the DMCA process, if, if that applies to your your case, that should be something that is available for free, you can just use it directly in Search Console, or I don’t know wherever the form is. So that might be one approach, the DMCA process is a legal process. And I can’t give you legal advice. So you might have to check with a lawyer to see if it’s appropriate. The other thing that you could do if you wanted to, is to use the disavow backlinks tool if you’re worried about those links. For for the most part, if it’s a random spammy site, I would not worry about it. I would not use a disavow backlinks tool, because it’s just extra work.
SEO Professional 3 11:40
There will be no effect of toxic backlinks on our website.
John 11:43
No, I can’t imagine. No.
