Discover vs Regular HubPages - I Still Don't Get It

1. 93

   EricDockettposted 3 years ago

   I don't understand this discover.hubpages thing.
   
   A few weeks ago, I wrote a new article and I swore it landed on hubpages. com before going to the niche site.
   
   The next few artices I wrote landed on discover.hubpages before going to the niche site. After seeing some discussions in the forums, I figured I must have been mistaken about my other article going straight to hubpages. com.
   
   Now I see my most recently published article sitting on Hubpages. com.
   
   It would be great if staff could clarify the chain of events that happen after a hub is published. Why do some of my new hubs go to discover and some to the main HP site?

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      Kenna McHughposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      You are right. It isn't very clear.  Here's a reply from one HP staff concerning an article of mine that has a lot of traffic:
      
      The article would move from HubPages to discover.hubpages once it meets a certain performance threshold, not earnings threshold. As for what "performance" means, it's a complicated automatic process that factors in quality, traffic, view data, and revenue, among other things. Sorry about the confusion.

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   2. STAFF

      Matt Wellsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      New articles are first published on hubpages.com. If the article passes the traffic threshold it is moved to discover.hubpages.com. Next, it is reviewed for a Network Site.
      
      You can edit old articles on hubpages.com to make them eligible for discover.hubpages.com if they pass the traffic threshold.

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      1. 93

         EricDockettposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, Matt.
         
         That's what I saw with my most recent article. So, for new articles, there is no human involved in the move from HP to Discover? (I know a human would be involved if we submit older articles.)

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         1. STAFF

            Matt Wellsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Almost all articles are reviewed when edited or newly published. If it meets the quality and traffic threshold it will be moved to discover.hubpages.com.

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         NateB11posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the clarification.

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         Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Matt, just a question:what is 'pass the traffic treshhold'? What could be the minimum? Thanks.

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2. 96

   Rupert Taylorposted 3 years ago

   Your experience mirrors mine Eric. Some of my articles start at HubPages others at Discover. Some go quickly to niches others take weeks. Some quite acceptable articles stay on HubPages, while I see decidedly sub-par pieces going to Discover.
   
   Staff have outlined the official procedure but it isn't always followed. There is no consistency.

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3. 88

   Jodahposted 3 years ago

   I would love this to be clarified as well. It seems you also get a few hours to comment on some articles to before they move to Discover, while others go there almost immediately. Originally it was supposed to be determined mainly by the views or traffic.

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4. 81

   Brenda Arledgeposted 3 years ago

   I thought if they remained on Hubpages you cannot earn from there so we want them on discover, but they do tend to go their quicker than I can catch them to comment.

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   1. 93

      EricDockettposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      So it seems to you they start out on HP and then move to Discover?
      
      Based on the discussion last week as well as what Samantha said when the site launched I thought everything that passed QAP went straight to Discover.

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      1. 83

         bravewarriorposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         That's my understanding too, Eric. Articles seem to sit on HP.com for a bit then go to Discover. We were told ALL new articles will go to Discover in order to have the capacity to earn. I think weekends are a factor in the QAP process because staff doesn't work on the weekends, so articles created during that time move a bit slower than they do thru the week.

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5. 95

   eugbugposted 3 years ago

   Don't they appear on Hubpages once you hit the publish button? (with the old page appearance?) Then if they get featured after a day or sometimes less,  they move to Discover. That's the way it's always been for me.

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      bravewarriorposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah, that seems to be the way. However, they linger longer on Hubpages during the weekend before moving to Discover.

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      wonderlyndposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I see. Well it seem I really need to learn more to fully understand how hubpages works.

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6. 93

   EricDockettposted 3 years ago

   Since posting this yesterday, my Hub moved from Hubpages to Discover to a niche site. I am happy about that but still confused.
   
   At least in this case, the path seemed to go:
   
   Publish -> Pass QAP -> HubPages. com -> Discover. hubpages -> Niche Site
   
   Which is different from how I understood explanations from staff, which I thought went:
   
   Publish -> Pass QAP -> Discover. hubpages
   
   Then, niche site if is is good enough, or it remains on Discover until traffic falls and it is demoted to HP.
   
   I really don't care what the answer is, I'm just trying to understand how this happens.

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      wonderlyndposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Its nice of you bringing this up. It helps newbies here like me.

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      lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I thought Publish > hubpages.com (unfeatured) > Pass QAP > Discover and then Niche Site.
      
      It could be a cache issue that you see it on HP even after it has passed QAP. The HP link still exists for edits etc. So it is likely that the page (accounts page) is cached and the link has not changed to the new link.

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      1. 93

         EricDockettposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe. You mean on HP's end, right?
         
         If it wasn't a cache thing like you mentioned, at least in this case my article definitely stayed on HP. com for several days after it passed QAP.
         
         I assume "passed QAP" is still indicated by an article getting a score.

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         1. 98

            Shesabutterflyposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Per Samantha a few months back articles go to Discover while still waiting to pass QAP. Once they pass they either move to a niche or stay and if they fail they go back to HP. From my understanding "passed QAP" means the article goes from published to featured status. Not sure if that's when an article gets a score or not.
            
            I have not created any new articles in a long time, but it would explain the subpar content that is on Discover for a few days and then is gone, but it doesn't explain why some articles stay on HP longer before moving to Discover while others appear to move to Discover right away (and not just on holidays/weekends).

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            1. 93

               EricDockettposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               That's definitely not what happened with my most recent article.

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         2. 77

            lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Yup getting a score is what I associate with passing QAP.
            
            I meant cache on your end. When you say a few days, that throws my hypothesis out of the window.

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            1. 83

               bravewarriorposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               All of my articles have scores, yet many are still sitting in the dead zone of Hubpages.com. So, how does earning a score relate to the HP > Discover > Niche formula? And what, pray tell, IS the formula?

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7. 96

   CYong74posted 3 years ago

   I had one that remained on Hubpages for about 2 days, before moved to discover. It was featured while on HP.
   
   Have to say I'm kinda horrified that my article was for a while, deemed poorer than the spun/translated nonsense on Discover.

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      EricDockettposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      That's more like what I just saw. But again, I had others that quickly went to Discover.

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      PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      "I'm kinda horrified that my article was for a while, deemed poorer than the spun/translated nonsense on Discover."
      
      I think that's why people get upset, they feel insulted. But I do think that:
      
      1. The current system is as much there for technical and SEO reasons as anything else. I expect that hubpages.com will be phased out altogether at some point.
      2. I've long suspected that there's a whole range of criteria that HP has other than pure writing "quality". I have some articles that have pretty much zero distinguishing traits from featured material in terms of the everyday understanding of "quality", as well as elements like tone, layout, but they still languish in Discover or even hubpages.com. My guess is that rejection is sometimes things like the topic or keyword/phrase is over-covered, or that they don't want certain hubs where the niche has been hammered because Google/readers don't trust the content. There's probably a host of other reasons, technical and practical. It's frustrating though...

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8. 96

   CYong74posted 3 years ago

   I ought to clarify.
   
   I published 2 articles in late May. The first was featured after less than 24 hours. It also seemingly went straight to Discover. But I could be mistaken as I didn't check for a day. Anyway, it's now in Reel.
   
   The second one was published last Thursday and it stayed on Hubpages till this morning. After gaining ... 1 extra view.
   
   Impression I get is therefore:
   - QAP
   - HP or Discover, based on certain criteria
   - Niche
   
   According to Tessa, there isn't much evaluation during QAP beyond the basics. Didn't she say something about editors not being involved yet, or something? Personally, I think it's arbitrary when it comes to HP or Discover.
   
   Which if so, is awful, especially with the spun/translated stuff. But I guess it doesn't matter since traffic is with the niche sites. It's just a step along the way.

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   1. 93

      EricDockettposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I hope it isn't arbitrary. There must be a reason a Hub would go to one or the other.
      
      Whatever the process, it's fine with me. I just would like to better understand what happens.

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9. 83

   Kyler J Falkposted 3 years ago

   The process mine almost always go through is publish>hubpages>Discover>pass QAP>niche site. Rare exceptions to this process would reverse the order of QAP and Discover, but that's usually only for poetry. Most of the time I'm moved to Discover long before I pass QAP.

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      Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Just wait:you're move to discover before passing  QAP? I though one's article should sail through QAP first?

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10. 82

    bhattucposted 3 years ago

    I think those articles which are above a certain quality threshold go directly to discover.

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    1. 72

       Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

       I assume so. And the first yardstick I think is  QAP.

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11. 72

    Miebakagh57posted 3 years ago

    I wade into the discussion because I've not publish a single article since the new site dot discover came into transistion.                                 This forum will serve as a practical tutorial to me.

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12. 96

    Rupert Taylorposted 3 years ago

    Matt - What is the "traffic threshold?" And, how do we find out whether an article has passed it? Is it a secret known only to an algorithm?
    
    So far as I can tell there's no way of submitting an old article for moving to Discover, the only option being to move to a niche site. I've had a few rejected for a niche (I accept that), but they get booted back to HubPages, although I feel they are good enough to go on Discover when compared to some of the awful stuff that makes it onto that platform.

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    1. STAFF

       Matt Wellsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

       You'll know you passed the traffic threshold if your article is moved to discover.hubpages.com. You can't submit your article to discover yourself, but you can make an older article eligible by giving it a fresh update.

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