Anyone Else Feel that Our Pages Look Spammy? I'm Very Discouraged!

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  1. SoSimplyStephanie profile image85
    SoSimplyStephanieposted 13 months ago

    Okay, so it's be a few years since I've published on HP. Life happened and things went by the wayside. I still get a random $50-100 per month in payouts and log in randomly to keep my account active. I've started my blog back up and considered starting writing more on HP... until I took a look at the layout. I get HP has to make money so we can make money, but I am very discouraged by what HP has come in terms of layout and looking like QUALITY not quantity posts. My own posts look HORRIBLE with all the ads. 30+ adds on a SINGLE post is insane. It yells 'spammy' to me. It yells low quality just trying to throw in ads. My Recipes don't make sense, my gardening posts look horrible... all the tutorials and recipes are so broken up with what... ads? It's not a pretty look, and it's not a good content feel. I just checked the web archive and just 5 years ago it was a nice, well laid out, informative site. Today, it looks like a click-bank of ads.


    Am I the only one that feels that way? I'm considering moving all 160 articles to my blog, but I don't want to hurt the ones that are seasonal and ranking well, but at the same time, I don't my profile/photo/links back to my personal blog to be associated with all the freaking ads. Am I over thinking this? It just looks sooooo cheap.

    Here's an example right now vs. the older layout. An entire view of my desktop then and now. The now version has only TWO SENTENCES of content, and FIVE ADS. This is so frustrating. Yes, I could turn ads off, but it would be pointless to leave my content here. I'd rather have a few ads, than look like this. It's soooo mess, unreadable, and just not appealing. I personally leave sites like this rather quickly and don't fight with ads when I am looking for something. I can't imagine what the bounce rate is like now.

    Is it just me or does anyone else dislike this over-spammy ad display?


    https://hubstatic.com/16695220_f1024.jpg


    https://hubstatic.com/16695221_f1024.jpg

    1. lovetherain profile image75
      lovetherainposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Yes it's spammy and annoying

    2. Jan Stepan profile image85
      Jan Stepanposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Have you seen some other sites and their ad placement? HubPages are still more than decent in that sense.

      This is a modern-looking, free-to-read site. The ads are a must for us to earn money, and I am sure the ad team has relevant reasons as to why the layout looks as it looks.

      As I said, look at other free-to-read, magazine-type sites, and you'll quickly see what I mean.

      1. Thomas Swan profile image94
        Thomas Swanposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        The ads might be suitable for some network sites but not others. From what I understand, TAG treats them all the same. The least suitable might be Owlcation, which is supposed to be about education. Bombarding people with 30+ ads per article can't be the best strategy for that site.

        1. Glenis Rix profile image97
          Glenis Rixposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          I agree.

        2. Jan Stepan profile image85
          Jan Stepanposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          Of course, having a specific strategy for each site would be ideal, but I don't think that's realistic. It's not how things are done anymore.

  2. theraggededge profile image88
    theraggededgeposted 13 months ago

    It's not just you sad

  3. eugbug profile image94
    eugbugposted 13 months ago

    Whatever about the number of ads, I wish attention was paid to layout of them. They're all misaligned, including the video at the top of articles. At least they could make them look nice. Maybe they've no control over the code to do that, but we never get any answers when we query it.

    1. SoSimplyStephanie profile image85
      SoSimplyStephanieposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      Yes, I agree. The amount of ads isn't so much the problem as the placement of them. I literally had ads on top of ads in that post; three actually, if you count the one at the bottom that is anchored and scrolls with the page. It really isn't a good look for professional writing. I feel like all of our hard work went from a legit place to write to content farming (still not bad), to this ad-mill. It's almost like we are simply creating an ad-platform. The content is just a plate to serve it on. I don't like it, at all. Seriously, considering pulling all my work, which is going to suck considering my blog is new, and I'll lose all the Pins, backlinks, an top ranking, but at this point it seems futile to leave them here if it's only going to get worse. I personally wouldn't stay on a page more than about 2 seconds if it looked like this. sad

  4. FatFreddysCat profile image84
    FatFreddysCatposted 13 months ago

    I rarely look at my articles outside of the "author view" format in my profile.  The haphazard shoe-horning of adverts in the "real" view version (especially when it's the same ad repeated over and over again!) irritates the crap out of me, so I can only imagine how aggravating it must be for readers!

  5. Titia profile image93
    Titiaposted 13 months ago

    I fully agree with you and I think most of the writers here will too.
    I hardly ever post one of my articles on FB because I'm really ashamed of the many adds my friends will encounter.

  6. Jodah profile image88
    Jodahposted 13 months ago

    No, you are certainly not alone. We all hate it but complaints fall on deaf ears.

  7. Kobby95 profile image92
    Kobby95posted 13 months ago

    I hope they seriously do something about it. HP should not only be about money. It should be a balance between COMMERCE and SERVICE. Yes, we are here to make money but to also serve the readers.

  8. Brenda Arledge profile image81
    Brenda Arledgeposted 13 months ago

    The original one looks alot better without all the ads.

    1. eugbug profile image94
      eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      It does, nice and simple and doesn't make my computer almost shutdown due to overheating because of all the processing required.

  9. Thomas Swan profile image94
    Thomas Swanposted 13 months ago

    Yes! Having 30 ads in a 1500 word article is horrific.

    Could TAG just be milking our work to death? They fill it with ads, get money in the short term until google kills it off, then TAG fire the staff and dump it? Some niche sites appear close to death already.

    I'm ashamed to share my work too, and I'm also considering unpublishing some hubs in a particular niche and going with a personal website. I'll give it a couple of weeks and see if TAG announce something.

  10. eugbug profile image94
    eugbugposted 13 months ago

    I tell people to turn on their ad-blockers too if I share an article, or I share the Medium version instead. Visually, the networks sites are some of the worse I've come across on the Net.
    Why won't they fix the alignment problem?
    Who holds the keys to the code?

  11. PaulGoodman67 profile image96
    PaulGoodman67posted 13 months ago

    There is a certain irony in that writers can get articles rejected for spamminess for relatively trivial transgressions, for example, they might include three external links instead of two. Meanwhile, HP are plastering the page with ads.

    1. OldRoses profile image67
      OldRosesposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      ++++

  12. janshares profile image93
    jansharesposted 13 months ago

    Stephanie, you are not alone. It would be nice if Angel Jennings (HP forums moderator) and/or Matt Wells (HP Tech Guy) could once and for all address this issue by coming into this forum and talking to us. We are just needing justification as to why this on-going problem goes unresolved. What is the real issue? Speculation is getting old. Some of us need to make decisions as writers going forward.
    Thanks for the post, Stephanie.

    1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
      Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      We continuously evaluate ad placement performance for the best strategy to monetize HubPages. Ensuring authors earn as much money as possible is in our best interest. If you make money, we make money. We would never purposely do anything that would harm your earning potential. The ads may seem overwhelming, but based on our data, the Ad Team has concluded this is the best path and will make changes as needed.

      1. janshares profile image93
        jansharesposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        Thanks for your candid reply, Matt. Your last line answers the question. You (HP) see what we see, we are not crazy, but it is the best path forward at this time so that HP can stay afloat. Got it.

        1. profile image0
          savvydatingposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          I figured there is a method behind the madness, so I don’t worry about it too much.

          1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
            Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            That is the best move. We have a team of ad experts working on this. The best thing for authors to do is to create content.

      2. Kenna McHugh profile image93
        Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        Matt, if you say it works, then it works. I still think it is a turn-off for readers because I don't read web pages with tons of ads—too annoying.

      3. eugbug profile image94
        eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        Can you edit code for the page and control their layout so that at least they look neat? The video when it reduces in size and moves to the right side bar doesn't line up with the ads. Also is there any way loading can be speeded up? Can images on articles at least be loaded before ads, so there's not loads of white space? If there's several consecutive images, the white space can totally blank the screen and cause confusion. Readers don't know whether to scroll up or down. Maybe hairline rectangles could be displayed containing the text "ad placement" and "image" until they load?

      4. Glenn Stok profile image95
        Glenn Stokposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        Matt, Is the Ad Team you refer to the same Ad Team I met in Canada at the Maven conference in 2018? Or are they all different people now?

        You said in you post if we make money, you make money. Of course that’s understandable. But then why are they dismissing the proven method that worked before Maven/TAG took over?

        We made six times more money back then. Which means you (HubPages) made six times more money then.

        1. eugbug profile image94
          eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          The ad team are probably TAG people and Hubbages has no control over anything. That's why we can never get answers.

        2. Solaras profile image84
          Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          "We made six times more money back then. Which means you (HubPages) made six times more money then."

          No, they are making 30+ times more money than we do today. We are getting revenue for 1 ad per pageview, and they get revenue on the other 29 ads, plus video, and clicks to sponsored articles - taking them away from HP.

          1. Kenna McHugh profile image93
            Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            Solaras, This is interesting. Where can we get this information? It doesn't seem fair.

            1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
              Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

              This isn't true. Please ignore.

              1. Kenna McHugh profile image93
                Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                Okay, Matt, thank you.

              2. Solaras profile image84
                Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                No? What is the breakdown?

                https://hubpages.com/faq/#hep-requirements

                "What are impressions?

                As it relates to online advertising revenue (and the Ad Program), an impression typically means an "ad impression", and occurs whenever an ad appears on an article and is presumably seen by a visitor.

                With regards to your Ad Program reports, you are paid based on "page impressions," which are article views. Each page impression can include several individual ad impressions, depending on: whether ads are turned on, the length of the article, and whether a given location has "time" to show an ad in case the viewer navigates away from the article. The CPM for an individual is determined based on the value of individual impressions based on traffic characteristics."

                This phrase defines it clearly: "you are paid based on "page impressions," which are article views."

                That cannot be any clearer.

                Edit: If there is a different formula, the FAQ should be updated.

                1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
                  Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                  The FAQ is correct.

                2. Glenn Stok profile image95
                  Glenn Stokposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                  Barbara,

                  The FAQ you quoted is correct, as Matt had confirmed. But you are interpreting it as you assume rather than factual. Sorry if this sounds critical. I’m just trying to clarify things, as I’m sure you would agree is crucial.

                  Your previous post saying HubPages is “making 30+ times more money than we do” is unfounded and not based on anything factual. 

                  The fact is that we get paid 60% of the residuals from individual impressions based on traffic characteristics, and HubPages gets the other 40%. That has never changed.

                  1. Solaras profile image84
                    Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                    Please show me the link and the quote where the 60/40% split is written. Even Matt Wells has not stated that.

                  2. Solaras profile image84
                    Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                    Those of us with articles of 1500 words and more are displaying on average 30 ads, videos, and links to sponsored articles etc..

                    The terms of the FAQ are  "you are paid based on "page impressions," which are article views."

                    Page impressions, not ad impressions.

                    HP is paid on Ad Impressions not Page Impressions. 

                    They go on to explain how they are being paid, but never anything about how the split is made.

                    I have asked numerous times for the factual basis for our split, but all I ever get is a link to what I quoted above, which is deficient. It does not in anyway explain my earnings.

              3. chef-de-jour profile image99
                chef-de-jourposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                Thanks for the replies Matt, the most you've ever written in response to our concerns about the ads problem.

                Truth is hard to find in this ongoing saga.I'm confused. For example, if the ads team are aware of past performance, and the current ads regime is acknowledged as the crappiest ever then why aren't changes made to reverse the trend?
                Please just tell us the facts - are they able to change the current ads regime? Yay or nay? Do they have plans/projects to alter ads design and improve readability?
                A simple answer would at least establish a base for our own future plans as writers. I haven't mentioned loyalty at this stage but it's probably obvious to you if you do measure HPs popularity and sustainability that many veteran writers are either leaving the fold or not contributing as many articles as before. Consequences? Any reaction?

                We're reduced to speculation and endless guesswork whilst watching traffic and earnings plummet. Any incentives in the pipeline to remedy this?

                1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
                  Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                  Please see the previous reply.

        3. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
          Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          It's a different ad team than the people you met. They are aware of past performance. There are many factors that go into making money besides ad placement. Search engine algorithm updates and competition from other articles are a few.

          1. Kenna McHugh profile image93
            Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            Matt, I appreciate your replies. I am curious if the Ad Team has considered any of the advice from our forums. For example, Eugene has some excellent suggestions for the placement of the ads.

            1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
              Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

              Our ad team is always working on the best way for authors to earn. They take everything into consideration.

              1. Kenna McHugh profile image93
                Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                Matt, That's good to know. Thank you.

  13. Rupert Taylor profile image96
    Rupert Taylorposted 13 months ago

    The reality is that it doesn't matter a jot or tittle what writers think, the owners (is it TAG? I lose track) will do whatever it sees as its economic interest.

    I follow the sage advice of my father in this sort of situation - "Save your breath to cool your porridge."

  14. Venkatachari M profile image84
    Venkatachari Mposted 13 months ago

    We all experience this awkwardness of Hubpages and its management. So many of us have raised voices but no single comment by the staff till now. They simply don't care.

  15. pstraubie48 profile image82
    pstraubie48posted 13 months ago

    Yes....too many ads...it makes it difficult to read the work of others. I have sent (emailed) some articles to others and they complained about the number of interruptions due to ads. I get the reason for ads but it is annoying when so many appear.

  16. Solaras profile image84
    Solarasposted 13 months ago

    gaslighting

  17. psycheskinner profile image76
    psycheskinnerposted 13 months ago

    The ad load is excessive.

    And if it is "working" why am I getting paid less per page and per view now than I did ten years ago?

  18. psycheskinner profile image76
    psycheskinnerposted 13 months ago

    The "method" earns me half as much as what I earned at peak profit 6 years ago, about 20% down on when I joined.  (Controlling for annual trend and amount of content posted)

    I get it that the environment for content sites is more hostile but having watched multiple other sites closed because they chose to over-advertise (Today.com anyone?) I am not assuming anything. Especially given the change in management since the best earning times.

    Over-advertising is a vicious cycle because it gooses earnings in the short term but tanks traffic and site sustainability.  So long as we don't see popup-overs. animations or sound I am hanging in there.  But it's a valid concern. Hubpages is an outlying in lasting this long partly because they avoided this trap... until now.

  19. eugbug profile image94
    eugbugposted 13 months ago

    Is there any way we can control the quantity of ads? We can turn them off completely, so presumably that sets a global switch in the HTML (I haven't compared the source code for articles with and without ads, so I'll do that to see exactly how it works). Are there add placeholders as such or does the code just tell the ad mechanism to insert an ad at a new paragraph, every so many lines?

    1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
      Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      The best thing to do is stop worrying about ads and create content. Our Ad Team's job is to worry about ads.

      1. psycheskinner profile image76
        psycheskinnerposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        I disagree mainly because continuing to give content to Hubpages is not our only option.  The best thing *for me* to do is keep track of which opportunities are best meeting my needs, and distribute my efforts according.  I post less here because I have found other options that are more profitable and reach more people.  I still post here a little because it's not a complete waste of time, a little more fun, and variety is the spice of life.

        I would recommend everyone to back up their hubs, just in case.

        1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
          Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          To be clear, I meant that if people choose to publish on HubPages, don't worry about the ads, just worry about creating content. HubPages is here to stay for the long term.

          1. eugbug profile image94
            eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            Other than using shift enter, is there any way of stopping ads breaking up passages of text? I often have long derivations in math articles with lots of lines. An ad stuck in the middle is really frustrating. Is the insertion point definitely limited to a hard return? I've been replacing most of my hard returns after paragraphs with shift enters to keep the text together, but apparently this can confuse Google because it appears as a long passage with no paragraphs (Glenn, I think you mentioned this previously).

      2. Glenis Rix profile image97
        Glenis Rixposted 12 months agoin reply to this

        I disagree. There is reputational damage for authors when readers are presented with articles that are liberally sprinkled with ads that interrupt the flow of the article. Which  is why I have started to use the option to remove ads before promoting my articles on social media.

        1. Solaras profile image84
          Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          If you remove ads, do the Amazon links stay active?  And you can pick and choose on which articles to deactivate ads?

          1. Glenis Rix profile image97
            Glenis Rixposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            Yes,m you can choose which articles - at the bottom right of the editing page - options- turns ads on /off.

    2. Glenn Stok profile image95
      Glenn Stokposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      I use Google's "auto ads" on my author site, and I believe the code is similar. It selectively places ads between hard returns. I discovered soft returns help avoid pacing ads between paragraphs. That's the only control we have. But some editors may not approve of that. Maybe we can get clarification on that from the staff.

      1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
        Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        You cannot make your own changes to the ad layout.

        1. Glenn Stok profile image95
          Glenn Stokposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          Thanks for that clarification, Matt. That's what I was hoping for. I only use that method on my site anyway.

      2. eugbug profile image94
        eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        If there was control over which character ads were inserted at, we could then add a delimeter or dummy HTML tag using the HTML editor we have access to in text modules. Then instead of inserting at a hard return, the ad server would insert at that delimiter. I wonder is that technically possible? It seems daft that an ad can only be inserted at a hard return.

        These seem to be the only auto ad settings if that's what are being used.

        https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9305577?hl=en

        1. Glenn Stok profile image95
          Glenn Stokposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          Eugene, Matt made a comment above in reference that, where he said "You cannot make your own changes to the ad layout."

          So let's focus on writing content instead of beating this horse to death. hmm

          I have many drafts I've been working on simultaneously and trying to get some finished anyway. So I'm going to take Matt's good advice to concentrate on writing. There's not anything we can do about the ads since it's an automatic algorithm.

          1. eugbug profile image94
            eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            We can't make our own changes, but that's presumably because it's not technically possible because of the limitations of the editor. What I want to know is whether they have control over ads and can they pass some of that control to us? That webpage for auto ads suggests the only control is over the number of ads and what region of a webpage should not display ads. I've lost inspiration for writing because nothing I've written about in the last few years has been successful and I've run out of ideas. Nothing is ranking either so I find it futile.

            1. Matt Wells profile imageSTAFF
              Matt Wellsposted 13 months agoin reply to this

              Again, you cannot make changes to the ad layout, ever. Editors cannot change it either.

              1. eugbug profile image94
                eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

                And that's because of the ad system you're using, it's either all or nothing and Hubpages have no control over ad serving? I presume you can control the number of ads, but just not placement?

          2. PaulGoodman67 profile image96
            PaulGoodman67posted 13 months agoin reply to this

            Yeah, the ads are outside of our control.

            For what it's worth, my opinion is that there are two things going on nowadays:

            1. The ads are ugly.

            2. The views and earnings are bad.

            However, I don't believe that it's correct to assume that #1 causes #2.

            I think it's relatively easy for a company to figure out how to maximize earnings from ads and I can't see any good reason why HP would deliberately undermine their revenue.

            The ads are certainly ugly but I think other factors are causing the views and earnings problems.

            1. eugbug profile image94
              eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

              My experiment from a few months ago also showed that turning off ads on an article didn't increase the time on page. In fact it stayed the same on average.

            2. Solaras profile image84
              Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

              No one deliberately undermines their revenue, but publicly traded companies can get in a trap of having to increase revenues month over month. You can do that by increasing views, subscribers or ads or all of the above. However at some point you reach a tipping point of no return. Too many ads and users get frustrated and leave ealier in viewing the article. Google sees that and lowers your article in serps, more ads and quick, thin content to cover the losses,  more thin content affects the sites ranking. Rinse repeat.

          3. Kenna McHugh profile image93
            Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

            I agree. Let's concentrate on creating great content.

  20. Solaras profile image84
    Solarasposted 13 months ago

    Btw I would like to thank Matt Wells for engaging in this conversation.  It's the most fully engaged staff has been that I can recall since Paul and Robin moved on. It's appreciated. We all want HP to succeed and everybody get rich,  with little effort.

  21. psycheskinner profile image76
    psycheskinnerposted 13 months ago

    In terms of other magazines aren't Fadeaway and Spun also owned by the Arena Group? They have a lot fewer ads than us from what I can see.  Not even close.

    Honestly, the idea that Hubpages are not noticeably ad-heavy makes me even more worried that the leadership is out of touch with the user experience.  I can see an argument that somehow it is sustainably more profitable, but that it's not ad-heavy at all for the category?  That's just not true,

  22. Kain 360 profile image82
    Kain 360posted 13 months ago

    This is a fairly big concern of mine. I think the appearance and placement of some of the ads may turn many readers off. Back in 2011, I had an article go viral and get 5000 views per day, as it reached #1 spot on Google. Articles were easier to read and more organized back then IMO. My articles have not ranked nearly as high in SERPs in years. Honestly, I have been demoralized at times over the years, especially when I get nostalgic over my past success. I wrote on another account before.

    I'm going to continue to write content and diversify, but I'm not feeling entirely optimistic. Things have changed a lot since I joined in 2009. I know the earning program, unequivocally, helped me way more than Adsense did.

    1. eugbug profile image94
      eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      All of mine, several of which had thousands of views per day have plummeted in the ranks so that they only have maybe a dozen views per day. So Google doesn't like the network sites for some reason. I guess it's because of either the bad user experience or lack of authority. Maybe the new "Ask an Expert" feature is an attempt to establish authority. Hopefully Google will see it that way.

  23. CYong74 profile image97
    CYong74posted 13 months ago

    I think many of us have shared our misgivings about the current ad system. What's next is whether the ads team is willing to acknowledge all of us are readers before writers. We are the exact audience the Network targets.

    I could be old fashioned about this but I think no serious writer want to see his/her work smothered with ads that way. Especially when the ads repeat 30 times every 2 paragraphs and leave thick white spaces before and after.

    1. eugbug profile image94
      eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      There is always the option of turning them off completely per article. That works. What I'd like to know is could the code be changed to allow the number of ads to be varied or is just all or nothing?

  24. theraggededge profile image88
    theraggededgeposted 13 months ago

    I usually read hubs on my laptop via a browser with a built-in adblocker. Which just shows great big white spaces--annoying but not the end of the world. The other day I happened to click on one via the newsletter on my tablet. I couldn't believe the state of the hub. Beautifully written, lovely photos, but completely overwhelmed by repetitive ads. Utterly horrible. Had I been a casual reader I'd have been out of there immediately simply because any site with pages like that is likely to harbour viruses, trackers, and flip knows what else besides.

    This is definitely not a good strategy. No wonder traffic has hit the depths.

    1. Kenna McHugh profile image93
      Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      I need help coming to terms with the spammy/necessary ads. Writers complain, and overall traffic has plummeted, yet HP (Matt) says the Ad Team is aware of this situation, and they deem the case as status quo.

      1. Solaras profile image84
        Solarasposted 13 months agoin reply to this

        You know Kenna, their idea of what is best, depends on whom it is intended to be best for.  Is it best for HP, the writers at HP or TAG as a whole.  Does TAG intend to bleed HP niche sites, in order to support TAG's most valuable and viable properties, such as Sports Illustrated, Parade and The Street. 

        They use far fewer ads on those websites - approximately half as many.  And they appear to take care as to interrupting paragraphs, which is not happening over here at all.  I won't say they never interrupt a paragraph with an ad, but the ads are topic related. One would think it might be part of the article's imagery.

        So, in the words of George Orwell, "Some animals are more equal than others."

        1. Kenna McHugh profile image93
          Kenna McHughposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          I hear you, Solaras, but what can we do?

        2. eugbug profile image94
          eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

          Maybe the long term plan is to replace articles with these "Ask an expert" articles and have no ads.

      2. Glenis Rix profile image97
        Glenis Rixposted 12 months agoin reply to this

        I have now used the option to remove ads from several of my articles on network sites when I promote tge articles on social media.  The ads are a distraction from the content of the articles and frankly would be an embarrassment if the people whose opinions I care about read the articles.  I much preferred the old Hubpages format for ads- which were shown  on the right hand side of our articles and were unobtrusive.

        1. Glenn Stok profile image95
          Glenn Stokposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          Glenis, the problem is that most of our traffic is from mobile users and that does not have a right hand column. But I agree with you that the ads are an embarrassment. When I share my articles with friends, the common feedback received is that they couldn’t read it because those ads distracted their train of thought.

          That’s not conducive to a site meant for educational content, which is probably why we are earning only one tenth what we made with the original HubPages platform.

        2. Glenis Rix profile image97
          Glenis Rixposted 12 months agoin reply to this

          I also think that an excessive number of  large ads is generally a counterproductive policy. Because, like me, many people consequently activate an ad blocker. Which results in a lot of white space on pages- annoying but preferable to all those large ads.

    2. eugbug profile image94
      eugbugposted 13 months agoin reply to this

      My limited experiment on one hub showed that average time on page didn't change, even with ads turned off for two weeks. Maybe some readers just spent extra time reading ads and that compensated for those who backed out due to annoyance.

      1. PaulGoodman67 profile image96
        PaulGoodman67posted 12 months agoin reply to this

        Experience tells me that empirical data regarding how readers react is far more pertinent than anecdotal impressions.

        I understand that people find the ads aesthetically displeasing (as do I) but that doesn't mean that the SEO and revenue are suffering as a direct result.

        TAG's main focus will inevitably go on maximizing SEO and revenue with little attention paid to aesthetics.

  25. eugbug profile image94
    eugbugposted 12 months ago

    Why can't we be allowed to suggest that people make donations if an article helped them?
    What's Hubpages problem with that?
    I think I'll start trialling a donation link for PayPal. Also I'll try a poll asking readers would they be interested in donating.

    1. PaulGoodman67 profile image96
      PaulGoodman67posted 12 months agoin reply to this

      I think you've said something similar in the past and got shot down.

      1. eugbug profile image94
        eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

        I vaguely remember that, and Ithink I created a poll, but it was eventually removed by an editor. I can't remember whether I got an explanation for why we can't use PayPal links.

 
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