Is Hubpages.com getting phased out? If not, should it?

1. 93

   Jonathan Wylieposted 7 years ago

   I have been looking at the traffic on my 35 hubs and the ones at the top of the list are almost all on the network sites. Those are the ones getting the most views, and I would expect that those are the ones that are earning the most money (although we still don't have any of those stats).
   
   So, my question or thought to you is whether or not hubpages.com is still a viable place for hubs? Traffic for me, and for others, is better on the network sites, so is the long term plan to eventually move everything off to network sites due to the fact that the network sites are improving in search rankings?
   
   Originally I wasn't a fan of the network sites, but the numbers don't lie. Now I wish all my articles were over there. Currently I am not very motivated to write for Hubpages because of the time it is taking to move new articles to network sites. Yes, we can submit one site to move (every 60 days) but otherwise we are just stuck with low traffic waiting for hubs to get picked up.
   
   I accept that some of my numbers could just be bad SEO on my part, or a lack of popularity in search terms, but I have had articles that get very few hits on hubpages.com see an almost overnight improvement in views when moved to a network site, and I can only attribute that to the attractiveness of those sites to search engines. I accept the role of the editors could also be a factor, but I don't really see significant changes to my articles when they are edited.
   
   Hubpages.com is apparently not what is used to be in terms of popularity with search engines, (hence the niche sites) so is it time to retire it altogether and just stick with the network sites instead? Sometimes I feel like Hubpages is really just being used as a training ground for new writers or as a way to filter out the best content for the network sites. It's a half way house. If your writing is good enough maybe one day you too can have some articles on the network sites...
   
   I am trying not to be negative, but I would really like to write more for Hubpages, and I am struggling to see why I should right now, aside from the earnings I am making (presumably) from the network sites.
   
   Any thoughts??

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2. 87

   NateB11posted 7 years ago

   I've seen an improvement in traffic both to my Hubs that were moved to niche sites and the ones that have remained here, and this is the case for other Hubbers too. So, I'm not so sure the main site should be abandoned, it's traffic seems to have improved too.

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   1. 93

      Jonathan Wylieposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I am glad that you are seeing improved views for both your niche articles and the hubpages articles. I am not seeing that, but with so many articles and users on hubpages there are going to be a lot of variations.
      
      I don't think that hubpages is going to be abandoned any time soon, nor should it be. I was just curious, I guess, if this was part of the long term plan. Maybe there is still a role for both sides of this equation.

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3. 88

   Will Apseposted 7 years ago

   If you write a new page it goes to the of the queue for niche site consideration.
   
   Publish and it will be moved in days, if it is good enough.

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   1. 93

      Jonathan Wylieposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't know that, so that is good to know.

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4. 77

   Sabre1000posted 7 years ago

   I don't think they should phase out HubPages.com until they get this Pinterest thing fixed.

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5. 89

   WryLiltposted 7 years ago

   Hubpages.com is where the forum is, so there's no way they can ever get rid of that

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   1. 93

      Jonathan Wylieposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hahahaha! Good point!
      
      I re-read this blog post and it talks about continuing with hubpages.com for the forseeable future, but it also said that hubpages.com seems to have been "affected by algorithmic penalties" that have led to lower rankings with search engines.
      
      I guess Google could change all that next week and we could find the whole situation flipped again. Who knows. Either way, I am glad to see that Hubpages are taking positive steps towards sustaining revenue for authors and themselves!

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6. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   Let's face it, the niche sites were created because the main site isn't profitable.  Why on earth would a business - which is what HubPages is - continue to maintain a division that wasn't profitable? 
   
   It seems logical to me that at some point, HubPages management will look at its expenses and realise it can't afford to go on allocating staff time to maintaining the main site.  If they don't, they're not very good business people!
   
   However, I expect they'll keep the main site going for some time, because it will take time to sift through current Hubs to find more material for the niche sites.  And they don't want people removing their Hubs in the meantime.  In fact I'm pretty sure there will always have to be a HubPages.com, simply because Hubbers need a central Hub to manage their accounts and interact.  There are a couple of other sites which operate like that, HubGarden springs to mind.
   
   The question is whether HubPages.com will have any actual articles on it, or whether it will just be an administrative Hub.  I believe that if HubPages is serious about managing its costs and achieving profitability, it's got to be reduced to an administrative Hub only. 
   
   As you know, they are vetting new Hubs to go straight to the niche sites as they're published, so eventually HubPages.com will consist only of "failed" Hubs that have poor money-making potential. If they allow those Hubs to stay on HubPages.com, they'll need to be monitored for quality, adherence to rules etc, which takes up staff time - meaning they'll cost more in admin costs than they'll pay.   Perhaps they could make every Hub on the main site unFeatured and then stop monitoring them, but I'd be worried at the implications for quality.  So I do struggle to see how maintaining the main site in the long term will ever make sense.

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7. 84

   julieann26posted 7 years ago

   From what I can gather you will still have to write any new hubs on hubpages.com (the main site).  If the article/hub is good enough it will be moved to one of the niche sites.  If it is not good enough it will stay here on the main site.
   
   There is no guarantee that every hub you write will end up on a niche site as the editors are looking for good quality articles that will bring traffic to the niche sites and keep Google happy.
   
   Previously published hubs come under the 60-day submission rule.  These hubs will stay on the main site until the editors decide if they are good enough to be published on a niche site.  So I see the main site still being viable for a long time.

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You are right, that's the way it works at the moment.  And I believe it's likely to stay that way for a year or so,while HubPages is still mining the old Hubs for suitable candidates to move to the niche sites.
      
      The question being asked is, what is going to happen in the future? If a new Hub isn't good enough to "keep Google happy" on the niche sites, it will be left on the main site - but for what reason? 
      
      If all that remains on the main site eventually is Hubs that can't keep Google happy, then they're not going to earn much, so what's the point?   HubPages exists to make a profit and running a site that's making a loss (which the main site would do) is a bad business decision.
      
      It would be just as easy, and less cost, to set up a system where Hubbers submit Hubs to the niche sites through a central account (as they do now) - but if they can't make the criteria to get on a niche site, they don't get published at all.

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8. 82

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 7 years ago

   I have a few pages on hubpages.com that are doing well enough it doesn't matter to me if they ever get moved. Seriously, I've a handful that do so well on the original site that I couldn't in sound mind ask for more.

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