Republishing content is a big thing in the news world. A lot of publishers have developed a habit of finding and republishing great stories from other domains on their own website. Sure, they quote their sources and give credit to the original authors – but this kind of practice can harm their search rankings in more ways than they can think of.

If you are producing copied content with an intent to manipulate rankings and steal traffic from your competitors by copying their material, Google will make appropriate adjustments in the rankings and indexing regarding your site. If the world’s most popular engine figures out that you’re relying on shady tactics to generate traffic for your website – it will strip you of your rankings and push your domain so far down the search where no one will ever find it.

If you want to pursue the same stories as your competitors, be sure to at least rewrite them using your own words. Sure, this process requires a lot more time and effort, but it saves face. It’s better for your publication’s online reputation and position in the search.