HubPages Deleted my Amazon Links and Hub Appearing on Other Website

1. 74

   whitney_185posted 7 years ago

   So, my hub was recently "selected" to be edited (Woo! What an honor!) by HubPages. I thought this was pretty cool and was excited to see what would happen.
   
   What happened?
   
   They deleted my Amazon links (no really, I don't want to try to make money, it's fine) and when I clicked on the button to view my edited hub live, it took me to howtheyplay.com. Which... is not hubpages! Am I still getting traffic revenue for this? How can you just put my material on a different webpage, which tells you that you will get paid to write for them.
   
   HubPages! Are you using my content and making money by posting it on other websites!?
   
   I plan on deleting my account and content, which has almost 200,000 views for this website yet has failed to pay me hardly any money over SEVEN YEARS.
   
   Any other hubbers out there angry about this???

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   1. 74

      whitney_185posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Just saw that "howtheyplay.com" is a HubPages site. HubPages, please confirm I am getting paid for views on your new site.
      
      Still angry you deleted my Amazon links.

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   2. 92

      Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Whitney,
      
      You are still earning from your article just as you were on HubPages. Most Hubbers have found that being moved to a HubPages Network Site has increased traffic significantly.
      
      Our guidelines for including products are now more strict than they were in the past. The product must be directly related to the subject of the Hub's title, it must add to the reader's experience (if you removed the product, would your reader be missing an important component of the information?), and you must demonstrate personal experience with the product. In other words, you need to talk about why you personally like it, how you use it, etc.

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2. 87

   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   It sounds like you've been out of the loop for a long time.
   
   When you first joined,Google loved HubPages and sent it lots of traffic. But in 2011, Google decided it did not like multi-author revenue-sharing websites.  Google started favouring sites that specialised in specific topics instead.  HubPages' traffic dropped like a stone. 
   
   Ever since, HubPages has been trying various strategies to recover.  Nearly every other revenue-sharing site has gone broke in the meantime, so HubPages has done well to even stay afloat.  However none of their strategies has had a lasting effect, so now they have decided to split HubPages up into separate sites, each concentrating on a specific subject area - in other words, finally bowing to what Google said it wanted way back in 2011!
   
   They're choosing the cream of HubPages to create the new sites BUT having been "slapped" by Google in the past, they're terrified of it happening to the new sites.  So they're being ultra-cautious about allowing anything that might upset Google.  One of those things is Amazon capsules - they had a warning from Google in the past about Hubbers using Amazon ads inappropriately,so they now see Amazon ads as "risky" and they are removing most of them from the Hubs they move over.
   
   If the new sites do well, then you should see increased revenue from Adsense and the HP Earnings Program (I suggest you check your account settings to make sure all of those are still active).

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3. 70

   makingamarkposted 7 years ago

   What the original OP does however highlight is that HubPages has some work to do on communication with people when their hubs are moved and why this happened!

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   1. 95

      theraggededgeposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I've had emails every time they were about to edit a hub, when it was done (snipped) and then when it was moved. What else can they do?
      
      I have undone some snips, not many though. Traffic has always increased dramatically each time they move a hub to one of the niche sites.

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4. 82

   hinazilleposted 7 years ago

   Interesting! I've been out of the loop too it seems. What is the criteria for moving hubs over to the specialised sites?
   
   Whitney, I have over 100,000 too but get a few dollars every month. I'm thinking of moving my hubs to my own site now.

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5. 86

   Lady Loreleiposted 7 years ago

   I was just showing up here as well to ask WHY snipping means removing all Amazon links from an article. Yep, I just write for fun -> NOT! I write for extra income.
   
   Really not impressed with the compliment that an article is deemed good enough to earn Hubpages money while reducing my odds of getting any. Thanks but no thanks. That article can now move to my site.

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   1. 96

      wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I would mention that not only has my total increased by over 100% but Amazon sales are up as well...after losing most of the capsules when the hubs were moved. 
      
      I have re-inserted a very few ads that gave rise to multiple Amazon sales, but have left dozens to fall by the wayside as HP snipped them out.  And watched as Amazon income quadrupled.

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      1. 91

         Rochelle Frankposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         My experience is similar.  At first I was a little concerned that Amazon earnings were down, but that was overcompesated by ad program earnings. I am finding now that Amazon is also doing better than it did in the first weeks after the switch.
         Overall, it seems that the move has been very positive.

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