Adding URL when a user copies content

[coder]

This is a little tricky to explain but I have been on websites and copied content from the website to paste it into an email. When I paste the content into an email the url of the page I copied from was also added to the paste.

For instance if I copy this.
sample content sample content sample content sample content

The paste will be
sample content sample content sample content sample content
Source: www.samplecontentwebsite.com

So the question is how is this accomplished? I googled the topic and am thinking that it is with jquery but can't get specifics.

Anyone know the specifics?

Thanks

[weegillis]

Not an answer, but another question: Have you tried this in different browsers? Is it a browser related feature, or is it unique to the website you are copying from?

[coder]

Tested and it works in most browsers. I think I also found the answer and it is free which is even better.
http://www.tynt.com/

After digging around on their website it looks like you have to setup an account, add some javascript and the script does everything else. I want to try this on a couple websites and see if there is any truth to the claim that traffic will increase.

Also, there is the security aspect of this script. We do have some private pages that I don't want to give tynt access to. I doubt they read what people copy and paste but the potential for abuse could be there.

[coder]

Here is an example of the script in action. Copy a section of the content using ie and paste it into an email - it should add the source link.
http://www.businessinsider.com/exclu...ion-ipo-2012-1

[weegillis]

Now that you point it out, I have seen this on news sites in the past. Didn't trace it to the source, though. Glad to see you got your OP resolved.

[weegillis]

I've given the script a whirl and found the setup process a breeze. Of course I wasn't very pleased to discover that my AJAX mini-site doesn't support the script. All it returns is a blank content section in the page (not the script's fault, but the way my content is called in). The script creates a hash value which is affixed to the URL of the page. In my case, however, the URI of the page content is simply a text file in the same folder and the folder index defaults to one of them. The hash value throws everything off, so I'll have to figure how to overcome this. The two systems are totally incompatible because of my design.

One needs to be aware that every time a user copies something, information is going to and coming from tynt.com servers, and they share with third parties. Not a bad thing--no PII and only aggregated data that does not give away detail as to actual publisher site traffic--but third parties are piggy-backing this service, all the same. It is, after all, about targeted advertising.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

FYI: It doesn't work if the user has scripting turned off. Try it yourself with NoScript installed in FF.

[coder]

I installed it on a couple of my sites and am still undecided if I am going to keep it or not. Probably give it 30 days and see if it has generated any additional back links or additional site activity. Not a fan of the hash tag but the canonical tag will take care of that.

[coder]

Even after 1 day of using tynt I am a huge fan. I didn't realize the amount of content that people were actually copying, 647 pieces of content copied from 1 site in 1 day.

Now this is the really interesting part about tynt that they don't really mention the benefits of, they list the top 20 keywords that people leave the site to search for. So if I know what people are leaving my site to search for, then I can base that information to create new and compelling content.

Also generated 66 new links although I'm not sure what they base that on. Realistically I only received 4 new visitors from using tynt but if that is only from 1 day of usage I'm kind of curious to see how much additional traffic that can grow into.

After today I'm adding this code to the rest of my public websites. Definitely a must have tool in any SEO toolbag.

[chrisJumbo]

Hmm, that is pretty interesting. What would stop someone from just deleting the URL before they send the email? Please keep us updated. I may well give this a try.

cd :O)