What is Article Spinning?
Article spinning, also known as content spinning, is a technique used to generate multiple versions of an article or piece of content by altering its words, phrases, and sentences.
The objective is to create the illusion of original content while minimizing the effort required to produce new material.
In the past, search engines relied on keyword matching and encouraged individuals to create multiple article variations for better rankings, but today, with smarter search engines, this approach is ineffective.
How does article spinning work?
Article spinning involves the process of taking an original piece of content, such as a blog post or article, and using specialized software to rewrite it in numerous variations.
The goal is to create the impression of unique content by replacing words, phrases, and sentences with alternate versions.
To understand how article spinning works, let's consider an example sentence:
“The magnificent sunset painted the sky with vibrant hues."
Rewritten examples:
"The stunning sunset adorned the sky with vivid colours."
"The breathtaking sunset transformed the sky into a vibrant display."
"The awe-inspiring sunset covered the sky in a spectrum of lively shades."
These variations demonstrate how spinning software can replace words and phrases to generate different versions of the original sentence.
By applying complex algorithms, the software can explore numerous possibilities and create a wide range of rewritten sentences.
When the software processes the entire article, it produces rewritten versions by replacing various words and phrases throughout the text.
The more sophisticated spinning software can generate thousands of unique variations from a single article, each with slightly different wording and sentence structures.
Article spinning vs paraphrasing
When comparing content spinning and paraphrasing, it's essential to understand the differences between these two rewriting techniques.
Paraphrasing involves expressing the meaning of a source text in your own words while retaining its original message.
The focus is on conveying the information using different sentence structures, and syntax, and often simplifying the language to enhance clarity.
Paraphrasing typically condenses a longer article into a shorter passage, summarizing and consolidating ideas while maintaining the essence of the original content.
On the other hand, content spinning aims to create multiple variations of an article by replacing words, phrases, and sentences with alternate versions.
Content spinning often relies on the use of automated tools or software, which employ synonym substitution and occasional sentence restructuring to create unique versions of the text.
Likewise, paraphrasing tools or software have also automated the process of paraphrasing.
However, it is worth noting that content-spinning or paraphrasing tools can sometimes produce grammatical errors and poorly structured sentences. The text generated by such tools can be easily recognized as machine-generated.
Conversely, when a human performs rewriting or paraphrasing, there is a higher likelihood of producing text with fewer errors and a more natural and authentic flow.
Article spinning in past
In the early days of SEO, search engines had simplistic algorithms that were susceptible to manipulation.
Back in the early 2000s, search engine algorithms heavily relied on backlinks and keyword density as crucial ranking factors.
With fewer factors to consider, these elements significantly influenced a webpage's ability to rank in search results.
Article spinning emerged as a technique that allowed website owners to effortlessly generate a large number of articles.
These articles could then be utilized for article marketing or guest posting, wherein a substantial number of articles containing backlinks to the main website were submitted to external sites.
Moreover, article spinning facilitated the creation of PBNs (Private Blog Networks) and enabled website owners to quickly produce a significant amount of content for their PBN sites.
By completely altering the writing style and structure of an article, article spinning created the illusion of unique content in the eyes of search engines.
However, in contemporary SEO practices, article spinning is widely regarded as a black hat technique and is seldom used.
This is primarily because article spinning tends to generate thin content, which is now penalized by search engines.
Thin content refers to low-quality or shallow content that lacks substantial value or depth.
Search engines have become more sophisticated and prioritize high-quality, informative content that enhances the user experience.
How does article spinning affect my search rankings?
Article spinning can have detrimental effects on your search rankings. One of the key issues with article spinning is that the resulting content often lacks authenticity and quality.
Spun articles tend to be difficult to read and comprehend, as the process of replacing words and phrases with synonyms can lead to awkward sentence structures and grammatical errors.
Such content fails to provide a valuable user experience, which is a crucial factor considered by search engines like Google.
Additionally, search engines continually update their algorithms to ensure that users are presented with high-quality and relevant search results. They aim to deliver content that is unique, informative, and valuable to their users.
Duplicate content, even if disguised through spinning, is heavily discouraged. When search engines identify duplicate or low-quality content, they may impose penalties on websites, ranging from temporary ranking drops to more severe actions such as de-indexing, where the website or its pages are removed from the search engine index entirely.
Being de-indexed can have significant consequences for your website's visibility and organic traffic.
It means that your website will no longer appear in search results, making it extremely difficult for users to find your content.
Rebuilding search visibility after being de-indexed can be a challenging and time-consuming process.
Why do some believe it works?
When it comes to getting valuable search traffic, the general belief is that having high-quality, unique content that matches specific search queries is crucial.
It's natural to wonder if having many similar articles would reduce the relevance that is important for SEO success.
While that concern holds some validity, content spinning, in theory, can be perceived as an effective strategy.
The idea behind it is to create multiple versions of a high-ranking text, ensuring each spun version is well-constructed.
The objective is to increase the power of the original content by increasing its visibility and reach through the various spun variations.
Moreover, content spinning is believed to offer efficiency advantages, but in specific cases only.
Spinning a single text into multiple articles allows for the quick generation of a considerable volume of content.
This approach aims to save time and effort while maximizing the search traffic.
However, it is crucial to consider the practical implications and limitations of content spinning.
In practice, spun content often lacks authenticity and quality, leading to a poor user experience.
Search engines like Google prioritize high-quality, relevant, and original content that caters to user needs.
Duplicate or spun content is generally discouraged and may result in penalties, including lower rankings or even de-indexing from search results.
Furthermore, the concern arises that content spinning may dilute the relevance and uniqueness of the content itself.
So, content spinning is believed to offer benefits in terms of amplifying content power and efficiency, it is essential to carefully weigh the potential drawbacks and consider more sustainable SEO strategies that prioritize user experience and quality content.
What alternatives are there?
Instead of resorting to content spinning, there are several alternatives that you can consider to make the most of your existing content while staying within Google's guidelines.
Here are three alternatives outlined below:
Repurpose your content
Instead of spinning someone else's content, repurpose your own content in different formats or presentations.
Take parts of your existing blog posts and repurpose them as social media posts or transform key information into infographics.
By repurposing your content, you can give it new life and reach different audiences without resorting to spinning someone else's work.
Cover a topic from a different angle
Rather than spinning existing content, explore the same topics from a unique perspective or delve deeper into specific aspects that others may have missed.
Provide your own insights and analysis, offering a fresh take on the subject. By approaching the topic from a different angle, you can create unique content that adds value and avoids duplicating existing content.
Republish older articles
Identify underperforming content on your website, typically articles that are at least a year old and not ranking well in search engine results.
Instead of spinning them, consider republishing these articles by rewriting them from scratch or updating the majority of their content.
This allows you to give them a fresh look, update the information with the latest data, and potentially attract new traffic to those pages.
Republishing older articles offers the advantages of exposing your content to a new audience, incorporating up-to-date information, and saving time compared to creating content from scratch.
Tools to help you with writing
Here are some helpful tools that can assist you in researching, writing, and creating quality content:
SEMrush Writing Assistant & Topic Research Tool
SEMrush Writing Assistant is indeed a valuable tool for addressing various content writing needs.
It provides a comprehensive evaluation of your writing based on four essential parameters: readability, originality, tone of voice, and SEO.
To utilize the tool, you simply need to input your target keywords, and it will generate a range of SEO recommendations tailored to your content.
These recommendations are designed to enhance the visibility and ranking of your piece of content in SERPs.
Additionally, the tool provides word count recommendations, which offer guidance on the optimal length for your content.
This ensures that you provide sufficient information while avoiding excessive wordiness.
The Writing Assistant also assigns an originality score to your piece. This score indicates the level of uniqueness in your content, measuring how closely it matches existing content online.
A higher originality score suggests that your content is more distinctive and less likely to be perceived as duplicate or plagiarized.
CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
CoSchedule is a comprehensive work management software specifically designed for marketers.
One of its prominent features is the Headline Studio, a powerful headline analyzer that provides valuable feedback based on a vast database of data points.
With the help of CoSchedule's free browser extension, optimizing your headlines becomes a quick and efficient process, taking only 30 seconds.
This tool ensures that your headlines are well-crafted to effectively attract more traffic to your content, ultimately leading to increased visitors and sales.
In addition to the Headline Studio, CoSchedule offers a marketing suite that assists in automating teamwork flows and tracking team progress.
This suite streamlines marketing activities, allowing teams to collaborate more effectively and efficiently.
Grammarly
Grammarly is an advanced writing assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that swiftly detects writing errors and offers improved wording options in a matter of seconds.
One of Grammarly's notable features is its support for different variations of English, including American, British, Canadian, and Australian English.
This ensures that your spelling and expressions align with the specific style of English you intend to use.
Grammarly provides tailored writing suggestions based on your desired audience, formality, tone, intent, and domain.
This customization allows you to receive recommendations that align with the specific context and purpose of your writing, enhancing its effectiveness and clarity.
In addition to AI-powered writing suggestions, Grammarly also offers the option to receive feedback from writing experts.
This feature allows you to obtain professional guidance and insights to further refine your writing.
Canva
When it comes to content creation, capturing the attention of your readers with visually appealing images is crucial, and Canva is a valuable tool that can assist you in achieving this goal.
Canva is a user-friendly design platform that allows you to create professional-looking images for your website and social media channels quickly and easily.
It offers a vast library of resources, including over 420,000 customizable templates and more than 75 million premium stock photos, videos, audio files, and graphics.
This extensive collection empowers you to choose from a wide variety of creative assets to suit your specific content needs.
GrowthBar
GrowthBar is a highly regarded tool that has gained the affection of numerous content creators.
This tool offers a wide range of features that greatly assist in content creation. It provides article outlines, suggests keywords for improving search engine rankings, offers word count recommendations, and even takes care of essential elements such as images, headlines, and references for your blog posts.
GrowthBar goes beyond basic content creation support by providing valuable suggestions for implementing the best SEO practices.
In addition to its content creation capabilities, GrowthBar also generates insightful data related to your competitors.
This includes information about their website traffic, Google and Facebook Ads, backlinks, and organic keywords.
Such data empowers you with a competitive advantage by allowing you to analyze and understand the strategies and tactics employed by your rivals.
Conclusion
Article spinning has garnered significant controversy and disapproval in the field of content creation and SEO.
While it may have once offered perceived benefits such as manipulating search engine rankings or producing a large quantity of content swiftly, the drawbacks outweigh its advantages.
Search engines have become more sophisticated in detecting spun or duplicated content, prioritizing high-quality, original content that provides value to users.