Back to Writing on HubPages

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   Kain 360posted 7 years ago

   I used to write on HubPages a lot; especially around 2011 & I was doing extremely well at one point. Last time I wrote a few articles was at the end of 2013. Are there any major changes I should be aware of? The website looks different compared to 2013-2014
   
   I noticed that you can submit to HubPages network or something? I wrote a hub today & may start writing again. If anyone could enlighten me on how things have changed & how the website has been doing; I would be grateful.
   
   Thanks.

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   1. 80

      kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Kain 360,
      if you look at the top of the Comments box, you will notice that the Voting Selections are gone. The Yes, Interesting, etc. are not there anymore. I don't know why. But I miss them.

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         kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         @Kain 360
         You are now off and running thanks to Marisa and Glenn.
         So have fun and welcome back!

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2. 94

   Glenn Stokposted 7 years ago

   Welcome back Kain.  A lot has changed for sure. HubPages has been keeping up with the changing environment due to Google not trusting sites that contain unrelated content. This is seen as content farms, and sites functioning on that premise have been going out of business. 
   
   HubPages, on the other hand, has divided themselves into many individual vertical niche sites – each dedicated to a specific subject. This has helped all of us tremendously – with increased views from search engines.
   
   Curators working for HubPages hand select hubs to be moved to these sites based on quality. Professional editors also do some tweaking to hubs to improve performance. You will always be notified by email when this occurs.
   
   I see that eight of your hubs have already been moved to niche sites while you weren't looking. That's a good sign. You can also submit your hubs for consideration to speed things along, one every 14 days.
   
   I assume from your post that you have not been reading the weekly emails from HubPages. I think it's best to direct you to the blog posts to bring you up to date. The blogs should help you catch up...  http://blog.hubpages.com
   
   Since you were away for so long, the learning center has a lot of new material for you too: https://hubpageshelp.com
   
   I am sure you'll find that HubPages is the place for you. It's good you're back.

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   1. 82

      Kain 360posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I have had a lot of great memories here on HubPages. I wrote hubs on another account as well. Some of the pages here look quite different. I recall HubPages getting penalized from Google Panda updates years ago.
      
      Had no idea professional editors tweaked hubs. Although years ago, I had a feeling that would happen eventually.
      
      What do you mean hubs get moved to other websites? They are still technically published here, correct?
      
      I'll check out that blog post(s).

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         Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Welcome back! I suggest you read my Hub on the Basic Rules - it summarises all the current rules in one place.  You'll find it on the slider on my profile. You'll find some of them have changed quite a bit since your last visit!
         
         You're right that HubPages got hit by Google Panda years ago.  Ever since then, HP has been looking for solutions to recover from Google's wrath.  The solution they eventually came up with is to change the entire setup of the business. 
         
         They created a suite of brand new sites, each one dedicated to one broad subject area (the correct name for them is "vertical sites" but we tend to call them the "niche sites").   They started by transferring all the best Hubs from HubPages to those new sites.   
         
         Now they are working through what's left on HubPages to find and transfer the remaining good Hubs. Every new Hub is assessed as it's published, and if it's good enough, it gets moved straight to a niche site.
         
         So eventually, all that's left on the main site will be Hubs that are below standard.   Obviously that means the parent site won't rank well with Google - but the niche sites will rank well, because they are specialised sites full of quality content. That's the theory, anyway!
         
         The obvious lesson is that your goal now should be to get all your Hubs moved to the niche sites. Some have been moved already, so you're obviously capable of meeting the standards. Make sure they meet the rules and be guided by the Stellar Hub guidelines, and good luck!

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            Kain 360posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the information although I don't completely fathom every detail as of yet. So essentially, it's ideal for articles to get moved to these niche sites? I think one of my recently published hubs got moved to one. Will outside viewers know that the hubs originate from HubPages?

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            1. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, the ideal is to get your Hubs moved to the niche sites. 
               
               Consider this - HubPages is moving ALL the best quality Hubs to the niche sites.   If you know how Google works, you'll know that it looks at the overall quality of a site as well as the individual articles.  How do you think Google will judge the main HubPages site when all the best material has been removed?  You don't want your articles associated with that.
               
               No, readers won't know the hubs originate from HubPages, why would that be an issue?

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      2. 94

         Glenn Stokposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Kain, Marisa clarified what I meant by "vertical sites" so that should answer your question. Since eight of your hubs are already on those sites, they were obviously moved because they had the quality required. Catch up with the learning center and the blogs via the two links I gave you and things will begin to make sense.

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3. 95

   ShailaSheshadriposted 7 years ago

   You guess right Marisa. I have a doubt here.
   I think, there are people in hub pages who write good articles that does not come under niche sites. For example, if anybody writes on gold and silver jewelry and it has good views, what will happen to that article? Is writing such general article to be stopped?

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      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      There is no such thing as a "general" article.   Your Hub is not "general", it is specifically about jewelry.  Therefore it will do better on a site which specialises in jewelry and related topics. 
      
      On the HubPages network, that site would be Bellatory.com, which specialises in fashion and beauty topics. 
      
      You can find a full list of the sites and their topics here:
      
      http://hubpages.com/community/forum/138 … ost2854073

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