Earnings: Is it just me or....?

1. 84

   Rachelle Williamsposted 15 months ago

   Greetings fellow Hubbers. I hope everyone is doing well. I just want to say that I've been here for 13 or 14 years and my earnings have dropped to an all-time low - I literally had a $1 day recently and that's something that hasn't happened in over a decade. Do you guys think it's the Google algorithm change or is there something else going on around here that I am not aware of?

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   1. 96

      jansharesposted 15 months agoin reply to this

      Rachelle,
      You're one of HP's most successful and consistent writers. You're post is validating that if you're going through it, it's not just ME! I believe it's the same for most of us, across the board. We really don't know for sure what's happening. We can only speculate. It's very disheartening. I've been here for 11 years, it's never been this bad.

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   2. 99

      chef-de-jourposted 15 months agoin reply to this

      In recent times, since TAG took over the layout of ads and text and Google introduced EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) viewing figures and earnings have dropped off to miserable levels. Many of the niche sites have lost authority. 
      
      According to Matt Wells in his latest communique there's nothing to be done about the ads and text debacle. Ever. He's saying that we writers just have to lump it and get on with writing more articles. Some of the veterans among us are uneasy, naturally, because we feel let down and peed off. The forums have been full of speculation and analysis and puzzled gloom.
      
      What to think? TAG wants a different sort of reader, less involved, appears to tolerate HP losing money... so the prognosis ain't looking too rosy.
      
      The editors are trying hard to offset losses. I don't envy their job.
      
      In 11 years here I have over 30 million views from 400+ articles. HP has been a great earner for me. I want to keep at it and earn them some more dosh too but hell's teeth they're pushing it a bit. 
      
      I love my subject. I hate what TAG are doing to article layout. I'm still writing new articles. I'll continue until TAG announce one day: HP is dead, long live AI.

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      1. STAFF

         Matt Wellsposted 15 months agoin reply to this

         What I meant was that we have a team dedicated to ads. HubPages authors should stop worrying about the ad layout and use that energy to create content instead. HubPages is here to stay.

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   3. 87

      Patty Inglish, MSposted 15 months agoin reply to this

      My earnings doubled when schools started again and that's likely because so many of my articles are used in classrooms. Other than those articles, my earnings would be 0.

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      1. 95

         eugbugposted 15 months agoin reply to this

         My educational articles used to gain traffic when schools started agian, but they've all flatlined. Can't even get any answers from Danny Sullivan of Google. He asked me to submit some URLs, but haven't heard anything back yet, although I nag him frequently.

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         1. 97

            PaulGoodman67posted 15 months agoin reply to this

            It's a similar story for me. I used to get a boost at this time of year, but not anymore, apparently.
            
            I'm doing worse now than I was before the summer vacation period, probably because of that Google update in August.

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            1. 95

               eugbugposted 15 months agoin reply to this

               Paul Edmondson said years ago in a forum post that they were in contact with Google about drops in traffic after updates. I wonder is that contact mechanism still possible or are Google a closed shop? Did they even respond back then with definite suggestions on things that could be changed or was there just normal vaguespeak?

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   4. 84

      JLPetersonposted 15 months agoin reply to this

      The pay for our work is terrible!  I would be happy to earning $1 a day, which is pretty pathetic. Most of my articles are featured and a bunch are now on network sites, but that hasn’t helped much. Not sure what else to do other than try to write quality work… the rest should be up to HubPages. Another thing that bothers me is that when articles are moved to another network, they tend to delete my Amazon capsules, which reduces my earnings. It so frustrating. We should be paid according to a different algorithm.

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   5. 97

      Pollyanna Jonesposted 15 months agoin reply to this

      I joined 9 years ago and with about 20 articles would make more than I do now with 104.
      
      I think there are a few factors here:
      
      1. Amazon sales - now capsules are being snipped, I hardly see any earnings from this. It used to be half my income.
      
      2. Ad Blockers - I am guessing with this as I haven't fact checked, but assuming that now as less people see adverts and click on them, we're getting less commission from this?
      
      3. More articles on the internet = a saturated field and less hits. There's more competition out there.
      
      4. Lower AdSense payout value. They're paying less per view compared to 10 years ago. Is Maven taking more of a cut?
      
      I'm making cents each day and hitting a payout every 4 months now. I guess I just need to write more and look at articles that are more widely searched for by internet users. It's a shame to see such low earnings but once the article is complete it's a nice little passive income source. I'll just keep building my work portfolio and see what happens. I write because I love it, but yes, it would be lovely to make more money! I guess the halcyon days are gone.

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2. 88

   Jodahposted 15 months ago

   I am making about half of what I was earning in June last year. It has gradually been less each month, making less than 50 cents a day now.

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3. 95

   eugbugposted 15 months ago

   No, many of us are in the same boat. My earnings this year will a bit over one third of those for 2021 and half the value for last year. CPM has fallen too. Our articles are being demoted wholescale by Google.

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4. 84

   Rachelle Williamsposted 15 months ago

   Goodness! I hope this isn't a case of "The Writing is on the Wall" - Perhaps maybe it's finally time for me to start my own blog and get serious about it. I have started and quit many projects over the years. I have ADHD and it's super hard to niche down...because I'm interested in...well...EVERYTHING! LOL! I even have YouTube channels with more than half a million views, but I'm never interested in any "one" thing enough to stick with it.  Ugh...I guess it's time for me to get it together... I really hate to see my fellow hubbers and HP seemingly circling the drain

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5. 93

   Kenna McHughposted 15 months ago

   Writers who post on the forum agree we've hit a bumpy road. Matt Wells (HP Staff) says they are doing whatever they can to fix it. With that, HP or TAG are introducing new ideas and implementing them.

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6. 97

   PaulGoodman67posted 15 months ago

   There's been an entire series of Google algo updates that have affected the site negatively. Things are worse than they've ever been for me.
   
   Rather like Eugene, I earn less than a third of what I did a couple of years back.
   
   The only encouraging thing is that at least the staff are still working hard to rectify the situation. Nothing's really worked so far, though. We got hit again in August and lost even more traffic.

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7. 61

   FatFreddysCatposted 15 months ago

   My earnings were pretty good in July and August, but September thus far has been a total dumpster fire.

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8. 99

   Eurofileposted 15 months ago

   It seems like we are all in the same boat regarding earnings. Mine have never reached great heights. But even the trickle I had has changed to drips recently with very rare spikes. I keep hoping that something might work to generate more traffic, but increasingly I fear that it's a forlorn and misplaced hope.

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   1. 97

      PaulGoodman67posted 15 months agoin reply to this

      It's difficult to fend off the feelings of doom nowadays.
      
      Perhaps one glimmer of hope is that we aren't all quite in the same boat. The decline hasn't been 100% across the board. A few niches appear to have bucked the trend.
      
      Traffic at Pethelpful has held up remarkably well, for instance. I can see that not just from looking at the handful of articles that I have published there but also by viewing the stats at Ubersuggest.
      
      Things are desperate at most of the niches, though, and Amazon earnings have been in the toilet.

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9. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 15 months ago

   With all due respect telling us what we should worry about is rather patronizing.

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10. 84

    Rachelle Williamsposted 15 months ago

    This is all truly just, disheartening...

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