Can I copy other people's content and still rank well?
I see people that rank well with the exact same content as other sites. Only problem there is that it won't last. Even if the search engines don't catch it as being duplicate content, the original author is sure enough going to find out sooner or later. A good way to check whether your pages have been copied by another site is with copyscape.com.
This doesn't mean that having duplicate content is entirely bad. If you have permission to duplicate someone's work through an RSS feed or other method, this content can be useful to your visitors. The duplicate content won't be worth anything in terms of SEO, but any additional unique content that you've added will be. When it comes to your content, your ideal visitor needs to be considered before the search engines. You'll find that if your visitors are happy with what they find, the search engines will follow suit.
