In my opinion, web scrapers are scum. Maybe not the type of scum who would do something brutally vicious to another living thing but certainly the type of scum who would reach into your open wallet when your head is turned.
A few days ago, I wrote an article that describes how I find people scraping my content. These web scrapers like to hide behind anonymous identities so they don’t even have to feel guilty about stealing from you. Many of them don’t even view the practice as stealing since they aren’t literally taking money from your bank account. But they are taking your hard work and passing it off as their own — virtually the same thing if you ask me!
The reality is, sadly, even when they get caught, they usually only get a slap on their wrists if anything at all! In other words, they don’t have much to lose other than their conscience.
So what can you do to stop a scraper when you find one? The first thing is to find their hosting company. Many of the best web hosting companies have scraping listed as a violation to their TOS. Once you notify them and can provide evidence that you wrote the content, the hosting company will shut down the scraper’s site.
Don’t bother contacting the scraper directly; trust me, you won’t hear back. There are no accidents when it comes to scraping. This is an intentional act of stealing from you.
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Step-by-step scraper shutdown
- Go to Whois and enter the scraper’s URL.
- When the results are returned, click on the Server Stats tab.
- Record the IP Location (which includes the hosting company).
- Go to the web hosting company’s site and contact their customer service.
Voila! The scraper’s site should be suspended almost immediately.
Not only will you feel good about keeping your hard work to yourself but you’ll also prevent any duplicate content penalties from search engines.
Do you have a scraping story you can share?