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I have been getting questions lately about the quality of PLR articles. Should you use them, is there a benefit to buying PLR, and is there any chance of actually seeing benefit from these types of articles in terms of SEO or "give away" value.
First things first, you will never see me encourage individuals to BUY PLR articles. These may have worked as late as 2010 as website content, but they have never been a good idea. There are several reasons why I think PLR articles are a hoax in the finest sense of the word and I am going to explain why.
(1) They are duplicate content. Breaking news...Google does not like duplicate content. In fact, if you put duplicate content on your website (which ALL PLR articles are), Google and other Search Engines will actually "red flag" and punish your site by lower your rank within their search results. Dupe content is bad. PLR is dupe content.
(2) They are typically outsourced. This isn't always a bad thing, but a lot of content that is outsourced typically is not written by subject matter experts (SME's) nor is it reliable information. There is one thing to be said about trusting your own work that you get outsourced, another thing to trust other people's outsourced work. Probably not a good idea.
(3) How are you really going to use them. What is the point of purchasing these articles? Are you going to put them on your site? BAD idea. Are you going to give them away as a bonus? I am not sure this is a good idea. Are you going to use them to fuel your newsletter content? This is going to be really bad for relationship building. Are you going to spin them and throw the content on a 100 article directories? That is a dated technique and will come across to search engines as backlink spam.
(4) A web search away. How does this differentiate from FREE online content? All this content is likely readily available online with a simple search in Google. So why are you paying for it? It is duplicate content no matter what way you look at it, so what is different from content that is online and free versus your PLR content. Nothing.
(5) 1,000's of people likely have the same content as you. How is content valuable if A LOT of other people have. Simply put, it is not. That is why there is so much value to search engines and your own brand if you create your own, unique and engaging content.
(6) You Foolin' people? Nobody is going to buy the PLR articles off of you unless you "fool" them into buying it. You should be ashamed of yourself if you are selling PLR articles. Based on what I have said, you should know that PLR articles carry very little value, so how can you feel good at the end of the day by selling something of little value. This is an ethics thing to me.
As prospective Internet marketers and opportunity seekers, we need to really consider the "logic" behind ideas before we buy into them. Do they make sense? What are you going to be able to achieve with a bunch of duplicate content? Who is really benefiting from this, YOU or the person you are buying it from?
I think if you answer these questions, you will be able to come to your own conclusions on the topic of PLR.
And this brings me back to the question, is there really such a thing as quality PLR articles? I conclusively think no, but would love to hear if you think otherwise.
This has been my thoughts as well. PLR might make it easier to get content out there faster but if the quality is not good then you are hurting yourself and not helping. I bought a package of PLR a few years ago but never used it. After looking it over it was just a waste of money. The idea was to rewrite the PLR but the content was so general that it was no help at all. Never bought any since.
I still have yet to hear an effective explanation, even from the PLR "gurus" as to the benefit of PLR. The fact of the matter is that PLR content is: (1) By nature duplicate, many people have it. Therefore no SEO value, in fact it will hurt your rankings in Google if you publish it on your site. This is 2011 stuff. (2) Carries little value if you are looking for "ideas" (that was one of the arguments). You are a Google search away from a million and one ideas. (3) You can make it your own. Why wouldn't you just rewrite one of the billions of pages that are already out there in Google on that particular topic. Why do you need to pay for this information? You simply don't. (4) You can give it away as guides. You can give away any information away in a guide. Package it up, source the content, and give it away. You don't need to pay for it. (5) You can resell. Well, now you are ripping someone else off. This is the true nature of a pyramid. If someone has any objections to any of these points, I would love to hear them. Ultimately those promoting PLR are the only ones would disagree with me. It is like selling a vehicle with an engine that you know is about to go...yet you don't tell the buyer. It is dishonesty at it's finest.
Good article Kyle pity I didn't see it before spending some cash on PLR, not to worry I didn't spend a fortune and hopefully I can make use of it. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, as you can see I am not a huge fan of PLR content. I have never found a use for it, in particular these days it is a thing of the past. Those that are still trying to create a business from PLR content are living in a time warp of 5 years ago. Quality, unique content is what you are looking for and that is what Google wants as well. And in terms of sharing PLR content with your "list" or your following, people would rather here what you have to say than some generic content. It can actually do more harm to your brand than good!
Hi Kyle - Let me ask you something. I can get water for free from my kitchen tap, but don't have the time or inclination to do so. I'd rather spend $5 at the grocery store for bottled water. Are the people who make & sell bottled water unethical because they are selling me something I can get for free? With a little research & elbow grease, I could probably learn how to fix my car, re-plumb my house and professionally manicure my lawn. There again, are the people who do the same things I could research and learn how to do for free unethical? I just think your article was a bit harsh on those offering PLR products. If people don't know how to use PLR properly, then they could get content elsewhere or write it themselves. Sure, you can get crappy, outsourced PLR, but there are a lot of crappy, outsourced, overpriced things all over the internet. Also, there are other article directories (no names) where people can obtain re-print rights for your articles. If they re-post them on blogs/websites, isn't this duplicate content, too? I'm just sayin'... Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Mary
Hey Patricia, Is selling water unethical...good question? It is not all that similar to what I was getting at...but yeah, perhaps selling water is unethical but people will sell anything that "sells" when it comes to business. I don't agree with a lot of things that go on in the world, and by no means is every business model an ethical one. PLR articles are definitely one of those. Not because it saves someone time, but because there is NO function to PLR content. People that are selling PLR content are selling it for the purpose of putting it on websites and blogs, which is probably the worse thing you could do. It is DUPLICATE content, content that search engines don't like, and even if it is the best written article in the world, it will have a negative impact on your site. Sure there are other uses for it, but they are very limited these days. The Internet is more about brand these days than ever, and faceless content is not going to lead to any brand creation, will limit your potential to attain following, and most of this PLR content has been originated through outsource, which is not always the best quality. That is where I was headed with this article. I am not disputing the value of any content, I am disputing the value of any PLR content...also known as dupe content.
Hi Kyle - Thanks for your response and your points are well taken. I do agree with you about the duplicate content issue. I would hope that those using PLR would rewrite or modify before placing on their site...especially with Google cracking down hard on duplicate content. That would be in a perfect world and again you're right...it isn't perfect. Thanks for the article because it really gets everyone thinking about the importance of good, quality content on sites, blogs and everywhere else and how it can impact your business/brand.
If you are going to do that, why would you not just rewrite content that is already out there...the billions of pages. In order for the content to be friendly for the search engines it should be 90% unique, in my opinion you are better writing your own content from scratch than writing PLR content.
Great and very informative article, PLR is nothing more than garbage. Anyone who sell them are basically scammers trying to make a buck or they don't know any better.
I actually agree with you...they are either scammers or are misinformed into selling them (by the scammers). I hope the PLR industry does not hang around too much longer because it is truly becoming irrelevant these days. Search engines don't like the content and readers definitely don't, so who does? The people selling it.
Dear Kyle, Another of your excellent article, providing lots of information, guidelings and ethics on what to do, and not what to do, as it relates to PLR articles.
Great info! I'm a writer and I have edited work for clients that purchased articles from these types of services. They were extremely generic and lacked any substance. Some of them were riddles with grammatical errors.
Yeah, they are typically outsourced packages, typically written by second language English writers...and typically very poor grammatically and lack the "meat" as you state. If you are going to buy content, outsource your own content that will be unique and exactly what you are looking for. It is a far better approach than PLR!
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