[artemis]

I have a friend that posts only unique content to his site (travel related) and he comes up on the first page of Google almost always. However, we experimented one time with a specific keyword in a "copied" article which was available on dozens of other sites and he still came up on top of the others for that keyword.

So even though he had duplicate content, his site was considered an authority to Google - So a lot of factors come into play - and not one thing will tell you, "if you do this you'll get these results..."

I've used original and spun content on my sites and what I've noticed is, if your content is of value - it will carry weight regardless. But to avoid being penalized by Google for duplicate content, my advice would be to write an article about another article.

For example, if someone writes about "Forex Investment Tips", I will quote some of his content and talk about whether I would do the same or not and why. That way I don't have to write a totally new article from scratch but it will be unique enough that Google will see it as unique content.

The better the content you provide and surround your articles with other valuable and unique content, the more likely others will link to your content and help you become an authority.

My 2 Cents -