What is Unique Content?

Unique content is text that is original to your site and only your site. This means that your site is not plagiarizing in any way. You can still take main ideas from other sites, but the words of your site should be original and your own.

Why Have Unique Content?

There are three main benefits to having unique content:

1. Unique Content Makes Your Site Different from Other Sites

Unique content gives visitors a reason to click on your site versus other sites. For example, if you were to do a site on a celebrity, it is fine to look at other sites and get ideas. Even better, it's smart to look at other sites and see what they don't mention about your celebrity.

Adding several pieces of unique content to your site will keep people on your site longer because you are offering them something to read that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Try to develop content in the form of lists, which can be meaningful and helpful resources for your users. The more information users can find on your site, the more likely they are to:

1. stay on your site longer
2. come back to your site
3. contribute on your site and
4. refer others to your site

Tip: Add unique content to your site on a regular basis to keep users coming back. This works especially well on the homepage.

2. Search Engines Love Unique Content

Search engines like Google DON'T love text that has been copied from one site and pasted on another. The reason that search engines don't like copied text is because it makes it hard for a search engine to decide which page should rank for that content. Usually, the search engine picks one site (the site that had the content first,) and doesn't show the other sites, at least not on the top results pages.

A good way to get content ideas is to do searches on your topic and if you find a lack of good coverage, then create a page on that topic. For example, on the Miley Cyrus Lovers wiki, the users noticed that not many people have kept track of Miley's boyfriends or potential boyfriends. They created a page and now rank #1 in Google for "Miley Cyrus Boyfriend" plus this page gets mentions on other Miley Cyrus fan sites.

3. Unique Content Encourages Others to Link to Your Site

Unique content encourages others to link to your site from their site, blog, social network, news article, eZine, etc.

Examples of Unique Content

Top “10” Lists

• Top 10 Trendiest Handbags for Fall
• Top 10 Tips to beat “X” game on Xbox 360
• Top 10 Baby Names of 2006
• Top Fertility Clinics in the Midwest

Extensive Resource Lists

• Pregnancy Acupuncturists
• Dog Walkers in New York
  
• All Nascar Drivers
• Best Oncologists in New York
  

10 Easy Tips for “XYZ”

• Top 10 Pregnancy Exercise Tips, Top 10 Dog Training Tips, etc.
• Top 10 Myths/Truths related to “X”
• Top 10 Cancer Myths