1150 Words?!

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   Connie120posted 11 years ago

   I just checked the Hub guidelines, and it looks like the minimum is now 1150 words? Or is this just a suggestion for a "perfect" Hub? I have a couple of How-to articles I wanted to post, but they are very visual, with step by step pictures with the instructions, and so there's not a whole lot of words. Is this acceptable? one article in particular I really wanted to post,  because I searched all over to find a how-to about it, and ended up making up something myself because I couldn't find what I was looking for online.

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      calculus-geometryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It's only a suggestion.  There are no minimum word counts.  Obiously, many topics don't warrant that many words, especially if you are communicating via a series of images.
      
      One thing to keep in mind is that the more text there is on the page, the easier it is for Google to index it, and the more likely it is to show up for various keyword phrase searches.  So, if you think you can add more exposition, it's worth doing, but not a requirement.

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         Connie120posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         OK, thank you very much. For how-to articles, I try to opt for clarity, more than just word count. I'll go back through though, and see if I can add any more good content.

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      SpaceShantyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There is no minimum, 700 words is just reconmended, if your Hubs are successful Hubpages is successful.

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2. 62

   The Examiner-1posted 11 years ago

   I believe that 700-750 words is a minimum, 1150 is a suggestion, and 1250+ is recommended. The only requirement as far as I know is the 3 photos - but more is better.

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      calculus-geometryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No, those are all suggestions, not requirements.
      
      I just published a hub with under 700 words and it passed QAP just fine.

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         The Examiner-1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Oh. I thought I had heard of some who had their Hubs pulled off for having less than 700. I did not say any were requirements though.

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            calculus-geometryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            The person had his/her hub pulled for a different reason.  Maybe he/she incorrectly assumed it was word count, but many people are under the false impression that HubPages has minimum word counts.  (As evidenced by this thread)
            
            I should address something else in your first comment; there are no minimum  image requirements either.  3 is merely a suggestion.  A very good suggestion, but not a mandate. You won't get a hub pulled for having fewer than 3 images, but it might suffer a lower score, if you care about that sort of thing.

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               The Examiner-1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I was remembering a Stellar Hub saying a minimum of 3 photos, but it is still recommended for to reach that.

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                  psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  It is in the style guide.  There is no suggestion that all hubs should do everything (or indeed *anything*) in that guide just to pass QAP.

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      lovebuglenaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There is no requirement to have 3 photos in hubs. Good idea to have at least one though.

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      dwelburnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Three photos is not a requirement either. They just prefer it. I only have one hub with three photos. All the rest have one. The reason is it takes so long to find decent photos on the free to use sites.

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3. 83

   jansharesposted 11 years ago

   It is just a suggestion. I've also seen 700 suggested in the forums. It may not be a stringent requirement but I would call it a strong suggestion for the reasons calculus-geometry states. I would add that investing the time now to have a substantial word count will decrease the chances that your hub will fail QAP or get unfeatured for lack of quality, engagement, or traffic.

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      lovebuglenaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am thinking that people may add unnecessary extra words to hubs just to increase the word count and then wouldn't it lessen the quality of the hubs? I always think quality more important than quantity.

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4. 68

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   There is no minimum.  There really isn't.  My hubs are never anywhere near 700 words when I first publish them, and most aren't that long even now.

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   brakel2posted 11 years ago

   Paul Deeds was in a forum saying those are hub suggestions and that some people write way less words and even no text capsules. This corroborates the statements of those in forum who talk about writing shorter hubs

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6. 70

   brakel2posted 11 years ago

   I agree with Jan about trying to work with the suggestions. Of course, content is still. king, and style gets attention. Text capsules make a hub easier to follow.

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7. 71

   Anna Marie Bowmanposted 11 years ago

   People publish poetry here. Could you imagine if they pulled all the poetry off that was under 700 words...

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8. 82

   dwelburnposted 11 years ago

   Yes they prefer you to write at least 700 words, but ideally 1250+. But it is just a suggestion; it can be any length. Longer hubs tend to do better in general though - but not always!

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   Aneegmaposted 11 years ago

   You should aim at writing hubs that are +1250. I personally will never read anything that is less than a thousand words and the majority of people who visit hub pages want content. So although number of words is not required, but if you are seriously writing on hub pages, you must have at least a thousand words. Besides, Google loves articles with a lot of content, and HP will always feature your hub if it is more than +1250.

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      Connie120posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It depends on the kind of articles you are interested in. For How-to articles, I'm sure most people don't want to read a long-winded article; they want to get right to making the item or doing whatever the article is about.

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         brakel2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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10. 68

    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    All I can say is that my traffic and earnings are just fine with very few hubs over 1000 words, despite what anyone else might say.

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       Jean Bakulaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I think they are all suggestions too. I tend to write longer hubs, because it takes me longer to develop my thoughts. But I read many good hubs that are less words. Some topics do not need so many words to be explained.
       
       As far as pictures, I try to add 3, because it breaks up a longer hub for the reader.

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11. 68

    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    At the end of the day your hub has to be "good" enough to pass QAP.  You can get to "good" by a number of different routes.

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    mukhan92posted 11 years ago

    They all are the suggestions and you need not to worry about this issue as when writing my hubs I don't keep it in my mind and my hubs normally not excede the words more than 700 and I don't find the hudle in this regard so you may go on.

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    brakel2posted 11 years ago

    A QAP worker said they don't count words   As far as I know they just rate quality which includes content, grammar, spelling etc

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    spartucusjonesposted 11 years ago

    I have been looking over my hubs that were selected as Editors Choice (which are supposedly a higher standard than just being featured) and three of them only had one picture while one other had only 2. Also three of my EC hubs were under 1000 words. By the way my shortest featured hub is 502 words. Also in the olden days of the Apprentice Program the minimum was 500 words and I have a few hubs which are in the 500-600 word range (that was just for AP, that wasn't enforce site wide).

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       brakel2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Your info is a great contribution to this enlightening discussion.

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    ilikegamesposted 11 years ago

    Having just finished my first Hub I was thinking I could never reach 1150 words! Not on the topic I choose to write about anyway. I did manage to break the 700 one though so I was happy with that
    
    I think the recommendation also serves as a good minimum. I'll try to keep them all above 700.

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    thecollegewayposted 11 years ago

    I have posted various articles under the 1150 word limit. I think that this is merily a recommendation as it says that most people who post successful hubs will post hubs that contain at least 1150 words!

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    Adityapullagurlaposted 11 years ago

    I have hubs of 700 words and even 3000 words as featured, break the text into multiple blocks and each block with a photo capsule aside.. i think it works

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    dgicreposted 11 years ago

    Number of words is not really what is the most important. What Google likes most for sending traffic is time on hub, shares or back links. That's why adding a video really helps keep your time on hub stats up.

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19. 67

    ilikegamesposted 11 years ago

    I decided to push myself after reading this thread and replying yesterday. I managed to get a Hub with over 1600 words and I'm very pleased! Now to see how it performs in comparison

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