# Scraped content

Category: [Spam & Guidelines](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/spam-guidelines/) › [Content spam & affiliate](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/spam-guidelines/content-spam-affiliate/) · Also known as: content scraping

**Scraped content** is text, images, or data taken from other websites, often automatically, and republished elsewhere. This entry covers the SEO meaning. Web scraping as a data collection technique is a wider field, and not all of it counts as spam.

## What does Google say?

Google's spam policies define scraping as taking content from other sites, often through automated means, and hosting it to manipulate search rankings. The examples are:

- republishing content without adding original content or value
- copying content and changing it only slightly, for instance with synonyms or other automated techniques
- reproducing content feeds without providing a unique benefit to users

The manual actions report in Search Console also points site owners to check for duplicates of content found elsewhere.

## Scraping and syndication

Syndicated content appears on another site with permission and attribution. Scraped content is taken without either, according to Page One Power. Google's guidance on syndication is a separate topic.

## Example

A script pulls the product descriptions of a competitor's shop every night and publishes them unchanged on another domain, with ads placed next to them.

## Related terms

- [Automatically generated content](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/automatically-generated-content/index.md)
- [Article spinning](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/article-spinning/index.md)
- [Scaled content abuse](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/scaled-content-abuse/index.md)
- [Duplicate content](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/duplicate-content/index.md)
- [Content syndication](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/content-syndication/index.md)
- [Spam policies](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/spam-policies/index.md)

## Sources

- [Spam policies: scraping – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies)
- [Manual actions report – Search Console Help](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175?hl=en)
- [Scraped Content Explained – Page One Power (secondary source)](https://www.pageonepower.com/search-glossary/scraped-content)

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Last updated: October 7, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/scraped-content/