Warning: This Hub contains more than two links to a single domain

1. 69

   Monfangposted 10 years ago

   So, I am in the process of writing my first Hub, which is going to be an extensive Resource Guide to a video game called Fire Emblem: Awakening. As such, I have been linking to quite a few websites numerous times, pin pointing specific sections of there site where you can find the best information on said topics.
   
   When I looked up, after I had finished adding to my Hub for the evening, I noticed this warning: Warning: This Hub contains more than two links to a single domain. When I clicked on the ? to bring up more information I was given the information below:
   
   This Hub has more than two links to a single domain. HubPages allows no more than two promotional links to a single domain per Hub. Links in the image source field of images count toward this limit. If the identified links are not promotional, then no action is required.
   
   Promotional links are links that you have any interest in promoting (your blog, your Website, affiliate offers, etc.). Links to well-known Web resources which you don't have any personal interest in (like Wikipedia, news sites, encyclopedias, open directories, etc).
   
   My question lies within the second paragraph seen above. I understand that promotional links are those that I have interest in promoting, something I would personally gain from. Then it goes onto talk about links to well-known web resources. My question is, to links to these well-known web resources count as promotional links, or no? ...
   
   Thanks
   ~Monfang

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   1. 89

      Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I play it safe and limit my links to two or fewer to any domain.  I think what your notice is saying that there is an exception to links that are clearly not promotional - like wikipedia and other well known sites.  But really, I wouldn't add too many links away from my pages because I want to keep my reader on my site longer.

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      1. 92

         Alison Grahamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It is a problem when you are writing a hub like the one you describe.
         My suggestion would be to provide the addition url information without linking it so that the reader can copy and paste into their browser
         
         That way you are providing the information, staying within hubpages guidelines and keeping your reader on your page.

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         1. 69

            Monfangposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the tip!

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            nufoundgloryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, maybe just give them the domain name instead of the whole url (if it's possible), that'd look natural to a normal reader.

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      Simone Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      For the record, links to non-promotional domains (e.g. government and .edu sites, major news sites, etc.) do not count.

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      1. 69

         Monfangposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Really? What counts as a major news site?

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         1. 83

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Major news sites would be the major well-known newspapers and TV stations, i.e. BBC, CNN etc.
            
            IMO the instructions are badly worded and need to be changed.  They say "Promotional links are links that you have any interest in promoting (your blog, your Website, affiliate offers, etc.)." but in practice, you can't link to any commercial site (except newspapers) more than twice. 
            
            The reason is that even if the site you've linked to has no affiliate scheme, you could've been paid to write a Hub promoting a particular business, or perhaps you're an employee.  So HubPages has no way of assessing whether you have "an interest" in promoting that site, and will always err on the safe side.

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            1. 0

               calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               A simple whitelist would be helpful and prevent people from having to contact help to find out what's wrong with their hubs, especially since HubPages' definition of promotional is not the intuitive definition most people go by.  For example, I know that I cannot link out to mathworld.wolfram.com more than twice, even though I have no interest in the site and it doesn't run any ads (not to mention, most of wikipedia's math articles are sourced from it!)
               
               Something like  all .gov and .edu sites plus a list of 100 or so trusted news/encyclopedia sites.

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               1. 83

                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I'm sure there aren't 100. 
                  
                  Most of us simply work to the rule that you can't have more than two links to the same domain, period. 
                  
                  Let's face it - if you're linking out to the same site multiple times, you're not doing yourself any favours anyway.  It's likely, once your reader has visited that other site twice, they'll get the message and won't bother coming back to your Hub again!

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   3. 77

      aravindb1982posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      What Simone Smoth says is perfectly true. I have a couple of hubs with these warnings. It has been more than a year now and those hubs have not been either black-listed or unpublished! That is because, they link multiple times to 'non-promotional' domains. So, don't worry if the sites you are linking too are purely informational ones...

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2. 0

   delleaposted 10 years ago

   Many of my hubs are written in sort of an in-depth news style, and I've been writing blogs for years before coming to HubPages. I've gotten this warning for my own hubs as well from time to time. When writing an article where a specific entity/topic/item/company is mentioned over and over, what I usually do is hyperlink the first time that item is mentioned, and I simply leave the rest of the mentions un-linked. Also, remember that if you're writing about sell-able items like games, that you can simply mention them by name in the hub and add Amazon and Ebay links to said games throughout the hub's content, which would likely earn you more money.

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3. 96

   Sue Adamsposted 10 years ago

   The 2 links to same domain rule doesn't apply to HubPages management itself when they put no less than 11 links to their own domain in the dreaded "Related Search" ads where each link leads to a full page of 12 adverts, most of which aren't even related to the hub topic and from which we don't get a share of revenue. So there seems to be one set of rules for us, and another for HP.
   To find out more go to
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/111781

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4. 58

   nufoundgloryposted 10 years ago

   I've seen a hub with literally 30+ links pointing to IMDB, and it sure looks messy....

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5. 85

   lovebuglenaposted 10 years ago

   It is generally not a good idea to have too many links in a hub period. So, be careful. If you feel that those links (that link to same domain) are necessary and are for educational purposes you can contact Hub Pages support and let them know, so they won't unpublish your hub, or allow it to be published if the warning is stopping your hubs from being published. .

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   1. 69

      Monfangposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The links may be to the same website, but they are all different pages within that website.
      
      It's not like I'm going 'here are a list of links' and just throwing them everywhere. I'm writing a bit about them, and then linking to were you can find more information.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It doesn't matter whether they are different pages or not, the important thing is that they're all to the same website.
         
         The rule is "no more than two links to the same website".  Simple.
         
         Of course there are occasions where multiple links are not going to do any  harm, but HubPages has to set rules and they have to be consistent.  That means the odd "harmless" instance can't be given an exemption.

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         1. 69

            Monfangposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            As per my initial question here at the top of this thread:
            
            "My question is, do links to these well-known web resources count as promotional links, or no? ... "
            
            That is all I want to know.

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               Uninvited Writerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               If there are more than two of them, yes.

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6. 92

   Alison Grahamposted 10 years ago

   I think for the purposes of understanding about links from a hub - it doe not matter what site they go to whether they are to authority sites or not, having more than two links to the same site is not allowed.
   
   Authority sites (where you might not have any incentive - affiliate-wise or otherwise, for providing a link and even where you are trying to help the reader by providing reference links), still fall into this bracket so in effect, the question about whether they are seen as promotional or not is irrelevant. If you have more than two to the same domain, it will get flagged up period!

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7. 58

   Shravan Picsoniaposted 10 years ago

   this happened to me many times. what I did was that I just removed the links. They didn't seem any kind of necessity to me!

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8. 69

   Monfangposted 10 years ago

   Guess I will have to think of a new article to write up as my first article then

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9. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   There is a white list, we just don't get to see it.  If you think a site should be added to it you can just post this suggestion in the forums.

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