What Is Spun Content?
Content spinning is the act of taking an existing article and rewriting it — changing the wording, using synonyms, restructuring sentences — without adding any information gain or real value. Then, it’s passed off as new content.
It’s not technically copying, but it basically is.
Why Be More Vigilant Now?
In the past, spinning content had to be done manually. A writer would pick a top-ranking article that fits what the client is looking for and rewrite it paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, just reorganizing thoughts, swapping in synonyms, and calling it done. It was still time-consuming, but faster than writing from scratch.
Now, with AI, a simple prompt can spin existing content into something that looks completely unique, passes plagiarism checks, and, unfortunately, often passes client review.
In the worst cases, the spun content is a 1-to-1 match: the exact same subheads, the same order, the same thoughts in each section. It’s the same article using different words. That’s a direct spin, easy to find and bad for your website.
More sophisticated spinners use multiple articles, pulling ideas from several sources and stitching them together. This takes longer and is harder to spot, but it still lacks value. There’s no new information, no unique perspective, and nothing that reflects your business’s voice.
Is Spun Content Actually Bad?
Yes, it’s bad.
Even if it’s not technically plagiarism, spun content adds no new information or value for your audience. It adopts someone else’s perspective and ideas — ideas that may not align with your brand — and erodes trust with your audience.
Think about a user who just read the original article elsewhere, didn’t find what they were looking for, and now lands on your site, only to read the same thing again. That’s a terrible experience.