Google applies the “Duplicate Content” penalty when spiders find identical content on multiple pages of a website or on other websites across the internet.

If your site is found by the spiders to have duplicate content, Google can and will de-list your website.
So…what’s an affiliate marketer to do?

One answer is obvious….don’t put the same content on multiple pages on your website or on other websites that you own. Problem solved!

However, if you rely on Private Label Rights (PLR) materials, you’re probably wondering what to do.

Well, many of us use Private Label Rights (PLR) material on our websites. The problem is that hundreds or thousands of other webmasters are using the SAME materials. The trick is that you can’t use PLR materials verbatim.

There’s nothing wrong with using PLR material. But you’re going to have to make the effort to make it your own. You’ll need to make enough changes to the material to prevent the Google bots from deeming it duplicate content.

Here are some tips on how to go about changing PLR materials:

• Change the title: Add a word, subtract a word, or change every word.
• Rearrange paragraphs
• Rearrange sentences in paragraphs
• Add a paragraph
• Substitute a synonym….(change “quick” to “fast” or change “accelerating” to “going faster”, etc.)

After you’ve made changes, check it out. Use one of the free plagiarism checkers. Two of them are:

CopyScape

Article Checker

Also, Google and Yahoo have free duplicate content checking tools available.