# Copied-content watch for the Cedwyn research text: exact-phrase checks, then the right response (scraped copies vs our own family mirrors)

Added 31 Oct 2026 (skills harvest 11:46Z). Topic check first: 'copyscape', 'scraper', 'image theft', 'content theft' had 0 hits in INDEX.md and no skill file. Related files already exist and are not repeated here: ebook-piracy-social-drm-takedown-routine.md (pirated PDFs), reverse-image search, link-reclamation-unlinked-mentions-dead-urls.md, syndication-canonical-noindex-medium.md, wayback-snapshot-pages-noindex-canonical-ogl-fair-dealing.md.

## What Google states (primary, read 31 Oct 2026)
- Spam policies for Google web search, "Scraped content": abusive scraping is taking content from other sites, often by automated means, and hosting it to manipulate rankings. Examples: republishing without adding original content or value, or without citing the source; copying and lightly modifying (synonyms, automated rewording); reproducing feeds without benefit to the user. Such sites can be ranked lower or removed.
- Same page, "Legal removals": when Google receives a significant volume of valid copyright removal requests about a site, it can demote other content from that site, so the original is more likely to be seen than copies.
- Copyright removal from Search goes through Google's legal form (reportcontent.google.com, DMCA search form). Google's Transparency Report publishes each request and the URLs named, including the requester's name, so a filing is public.
- Practitioner testimony (snippets): Google Search Community thread (2025-26): approved DMCA removals did not take effect at once and a legitimate site lost its own brand query to a copy; the advice was to check which URL Google treats as canonical (URL Inspection). r/SEO PSA: file spam reports and DMCA notices against copying domains; a few reports usually suffice. WebmasterWorld (older): Google sometimes gets source attribution wrong and ranks the copy. No study with measured recovery rates was found, so this skill gives a routine, not a forecast.

## Routine (monthly, 10 minutes, free, no install)
1. Pick 6 distinctive sentences: 2 from /research/, 2 from /wales/ (one English, one Welsh), 1 from /ebooks/, 1 from an e-book sample. Choose sentences with a date or place name; skip boilerplate.
2. Search each as an exact phrase ("...", 8-12 words from mid-sentence). Record every host returned.
3. Sort hosts into: (a) ours (cedwyn, other bucklerfamily.estate hosts, the family wiki); (b) allowed copies with a link back (Medium syndication with canonical, Wikipedia citing us, quote with attribution); (c) copies with no link or credit.
4. For (a): confirm the duplicate carries rel=canonical to the Cedwyn page or noindex (see the wayback and syndication skills). Our own mirrors competing with each other is the more likely problem than outside copying.
5. For (c), in this order: polite request to the site for a credit link (draft only, owner's go); if bulk/automated copying, a Google spam report (no identity disclosed); a DMCA/copyright request to Google only on the owner's go, because the filing and the filer's name become public in the Transparency Report.
6. In Search Console, URL-inspect the original page; if Google's chosen canonical is the copy, strengthen ours (internal links, sitemap lastmod, a dated "first published" line) before any legal step.

## Measured baseline (31 Oct 2026, 4 exact-phrase searches)
- 1 sentence from /research/ (the Tŷ Mawr recorded-home paragraph): returned only cedwyn /research/ and /wiki/.
- 1 sentence of guidance text on /wales/: returned cedwyn (/docs/ evidence page), directory.bucklerfamily.estate and the family WordPress wiki, all ours.
- 1 Welsh sentence from /wales/ and 1 caption from /research/: no results (not indexed yet, or too new).
- Third-party copies found: 0. The copies found are our own family hosts carrying the same text.

## How we apply it to Cedwyn
- Run the routine monthly; log hosts to the project workspace (date, phrase, host, class, action). Takes 6 searches.
- Today's action is internal: the guidance sentence appears on three family hosts. Check canonical/noindex on the directory and wiki copies (proposal for the onpage flywheel; no edit made here).
- Outside copies: credit-link request first; spam report second; copyright filing only on the owner's go (public filing, family name visible).
- Plain language on public pages: never accuse a copying site; a neutral "first published here on <date>" line is enough.
- Gate: if a copy outranks Cedwyn for its own sentence two months running, escalate to the problems queue.

## Sources
- developers.google.com (read: scraped content; legal removals)
- support.google.com (read: copyright request data published per URL)
- reportcontent.google.com (form, sign-in required, not used)
- support.google.com (snippet; thread body not loaded)
- reddit.com (snippet)
- webmasterworld.com (snippet, older)
- Own exact-phrase searches, 31 Oct 2026 11:45Z