What should I do if my content is stolen?

It can be very frustrating to discover another website taking advantage of your original content. You worked too hard for someone else to take the credit and your ad earnings.

If you find yourself in a situation where your content is being used without your permission, here are some actionable things you can do.

Familiarize yourself with copyright law protections

Here are some good resources:

• Copyright Law of the United States
• Copyright Alliance
  • What is the DMCA notice and takedown process?
  • Are recipes and cookbooks protected by copyright?
  • Find a copyright lawyer

Steps you can take

1. Start by submitting a DMCA complaint to Google. You can report the copyright issue to Google Web Search. If your request is successful, Google will give the domain a “strike,” and if there are enough successful requests, it will hurt the infringer’s overall search positioning.
   
2. Ask the infringing site to remove the content—it never hurts to ask!
3. Submit a DMCA takedown notice through the infringing site's host. You can use this site to identify the host.
4. Submit a DMCA takedown notice with WordPress or Blogger.
5. Contact the site's monetization platform and make them aware of the issue. If the site monetizes with AdSense, you can report the copyright issue here.