I worked for a year for a company called Lionbridge rating websites for Big G. All of our training, all of our emphasis was "The best experience for the end user". We graded web sites according to their relation ship to a search keyword.
What Google wants is a page of SERPS to include the primary likely intent of a search as well as the secondary intents. This is what causes a site to rank for a keyword when at first glance it appears that it shouldn't.
For instance, we would be given a keyword and 3 pages of serps, and we had to decide which page of serps matched the keyword best, taking into consideration the users likely intent.
Suppose you search for "Clydesdales". The higher results would pertain to Clydesdale Horse raising Ranches, breeders and the like. But also included in the serps would be a link to the Budweiser Clydesdales, and their appearance schedule.
This SERP page that included the Budweiser site would be a better solution for the search, because it would answer the users likely primary intent, to learn about these horses, as well as the a secondary likely intent that many users might also be looking for, the Budweiser Clydesdales.
This is the point I am trying to make. Google wants your visitor to find information about the keyword they searched for, and they want a good experience for their users when they visit the site.
A page that has copied content that keeps visitors there once they arrive will certainly outrank a site with original content, if the visitors to it bail immediately.
If the visitors visit it and find value there they will stay on the site, and the site will continue to rise in the rankings for that keyword phrase. If the visitors consistently go to the site and immediately leave, they found no value for the keyword searched, and Big G will lower the rankings for that site as applied to that keyword.
Pay close attention to your bounce rate and the average time spent onsite by your viitors. If you can improve these statistics, your site will rise in the rankings.
A bad header image, using sound to play automatically, a popover with no clear way to get rid of it, a page that takes too long to load, in fact a million things can cause a visitor to bail immediately. When this happens consistently, Google looks at the keyword searched, and decides that the site was not as relevant to the keyword after all and an adjustment will be made.
Many newbies do themselves a disservice by constantly checking their web site to see if it looks right, or is still online. Every time you go to and check your site, and leave in less than 30 seconds, you are driving a nail in your rankings coffin.
Keep the end users experience in mind when you build your site. It will make a tremendous difference.
