Content is unique

u as in unique
What does that mean?

Every provider wants unique selling points for their products that set them apart from the competition. The same applies to content providers. They deliver an information product that – depending on the type of media – consists of any combination of words, sounds, images, sequences and much more, the combination of which creates almost infinite possibilities. In the eye of the consumer, regardless of whether they are reading a text, listening to a song or watching a video, every piece of content is therefore unique.

The opposite of unique is an identical copy. Especially in the digital space, it is very easy to create copies in any quantity. A copy is practical in many cases – for sharing information or as security against loss. But a copy has no information value of its own, as it contains nothing new. It is not unique.

Why is it Important to Create Unique Content and What Benefits Can I Derive from it?

Unique content is more attractive than “me-too” content. If you have the choice, you should always go for the original. Google’s penalization of duplicate content in search engine rankings is an additional motivation to create content that is as unique as possible.

But What Exactly is Unique – and How can I Measure it?

The term ” duplicate” is important here. This is what computer scientists call data that is very similar. In most cases, such duplicates are not created intentionally. For example, there is often a pattern where one and the same website is stored under different URLs in a database (such as a search index). Perhaps a reference to a comment or similar is added to the URL. However, the content that appears in the browser when the URL is called up is always the same.

Determining a Duplicate and the Degree of Similarity of the Content is not Easy at All.

There are countless ways in which content can differ from one another. In the URL, in the format or resolution of an image, in the length of the text or the words used, etc.

To create unique content, two things are important:

1. Avoid creating content by making a copy
2. Create content that is truly unique – either in terms of the mix of images, text, colors, etc. or, in the case of text, in terms of message and expression.

How Do I Go About Creating Unique Content and Avoiding Duplicates?

There are numerous tools for identifying duplicate content. Google itself also offers a corresponding tool in the Search Console. Here, for example, duplicate content (URLs) can be identified using canonical tags.

Creating truly unique content is far more challenging. Not everyone is an artist, and the expectation to produce something entirely original can feel overwhelming. But it’s not that difficult. Anyone who creates content themselves, be it through photography or copywriting, will actually always create something unique, unless the content is created solely by combining existing templates.

When creating texts, it is helpful to use modern AI services to systematically classify your own content and keyword it thematically. As an editor, I can then obtain an overview of the topic mix of my own content at the level of this metadata. The AI can also calculate the semantic similarity of texts. However, to be truly unique – in the eye of the beholder – this analysis must also be carried out on content from other relevant providers in the market. With AI platforms such as CONTEXTCLOUD, it is now even possible to systematically compare your own content portfolio with the market and thus identify potential competitors.