Snipped Links on Niche Sites

1. 86

   Jonathan Wylieposted 8 years ago

   I am noticing a trend that sees a lot, if not all, of my outgoing links are removed when an articles is published on a niche site. I would love to have an explanation for that. I am not linking to spammy content, and the links are directly relevant to what I am talking about. If I was a reader, I would want the links, but they are all getting snipped. Any ideas why? I presume it is something to supposed do with how Google "reads" the article, which I understand, but are we writing the articles for Google or for readers? It is really frustrating me right now. If you write a listicle, like a top 10 article, and don't actually link to the things you are talking about then it looks weird and somewhat lazy. It makes people wonder why the author recommend this but did not link to it??
   
   Has anyone had articles pulled for going back in and adding the links back??

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2. 89

   Marisa Wrightposted 8 years ago

   The niche sites are being created because HubPages relies for its traffic and income on Google, and Google has made it clear it does not approve of generalist article sites, or sites that allow anyone to publish low quality/spammy material - both of which are a problem for the main site.
   
   Therefore with the new sites, HubPages is trying to ensure it picks only content that Google will approve of.   For instance, at first they had a  policy of moving only those Hubs which Google already "liked"(i.e. sent good traffic to), to make sure Google would look on the new sites favourably.
   
   For some time now, they've been going through other lower-traffic Hubs to bulk up the niche sites, but they want to minimise any possibility of upsetting Google.   Therefore they are being paranoid (there's no other word for it) about removing anything which they think Google might not like, now or in the future.   They are taking things to extremes, e.g. affiliate ads must not simply be relevant to the Hub, you must also have personal experience of the product (Google has never even suggested that's necessary).  They seem to have taken a great dislike to links, too, even though Google has never said links are bad.
   
   Basically, they seem to be trying to second-guess what new rules Google will come up with in the future, I think.  I do think they're being over-zealous, however it is their business and they are entitled to apply whatever rules they see fit.  If you feel strongly about the links, the only thing you can do is email the team @ HubPages, tell them which links you'd like to reinstate and see what they say.  They may give you permission.   
   
   Don't just reinstate without asking, because that may mean the Hub doesn't get moved to the niche site, and that would be a pity.

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