Substandard rating on articles

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   Persecution-aveposted 10 years ago

   I just tried to publish my first article and it received a substandard ratings. I then got a form letter email that said absolutely nothing. In the email it referenced a website that I referenced but that's it. It's not a subversive site or anything, in fact its a website put up by the american federal government, Im completely lost someone help me please--

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   1. 58

      MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The best thing to do is contact the HP team directly.  None of us can see your hub or know what went wrong with it.

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   2. 86

      Simone Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Persecution-ave! The best thing to do would be to ask for further clarification in a response to the email that was sent to you.
      
      If the link is cited as being unrelated, I recommend just removing it from the post. If the Hub is really short, I recommend adding more content. If the Hub has a lot of typos, I recommend working on some grammatical fixes.
      
      Just some starting points! But again, don't hesitate to ask for clarification from our moderation team if you do not understand what needs to be done.

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2. 60

   Persecution-aveposted 10 years ago

   Oh trust me I did- I sent them a nice little email then they sent me something about structuring but it only points to my use of a federal government website to refer others to get the help that they might need- well I used ap standard- so I mean did they want MLA, lol?

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   1. 88

      quotationsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This is kind of ironic given your pen name is Persecution Avenue, and this is happening .. hmm...
      
      I am only kidding. Welcome to Hubpages. Don't let this issue discourage you. Use this experience to learn how to make your hubs better and you will not only make Hubpages happy, but you will benefit from better traffic from Google.
      
      We can't see the hub that you wrote so I cannot give you specific advice on what you could do to improve it, but I can give you pointers on what generally makes a hub pass the quality test.
      
      1. do not write on spammy topics. Examples include how to get your ex girlfriend back, mesotheleoma, etc. I am not saying that you did, just a general comment that the topic you write about is important to determining quality.
      
      2. make your article about 1200-1400 words long. Anything shorter than 500 words is suspected of having little to say. Longer is better.
      
      3. break up your hub into subtopics with appropriate headings.
      
      4. use at least 3 images. Make sure that you are legally authorized to use the images so don't copy them from anywhere else without permission. Just because an image is on the internet does not mean that you can borrrow it.
      
      5. Add at least 2 Youtube videos related to the topic you are writing about
      
      6. Have a maximum of 1 amazon product capsule
      
      7. link to at least 3 authority sites on the subject you are writing about. Do a google search on the subject and then link to some of the top search results. Examples of authority sites include Wikipedia pages, Wired.com. cnn, etc.
      
      8. Do not link to any inappropriate sites such as porn, gambling, music downloads, controversial politics.
      
      9. Do not link to spam sites. For example sites that are nothing but affiliate link farms, clickbank pages or anything with very low quality content.
      
      Once you have made changes to the hub resubmit it. Or sometimes it is best to start from scratch and write a new one.
      
      I hope that this helps. Feel free to ask more questions.

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      1. 60

         Persecution-aveposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the rundown- that was exactly what I needed; forever in your debt- It must be the fact that I didnt overburden the article with advertising widgets and videos- its a simple 2000 word article about mortgage modification companies and what to ask if you are stupid enough to deal with them. I didnt phrase it like that but you get my gist. I think the only thing that I didnt do that you suggested is to add the images and the links to other sites- I mean the government sites could go in and that might work. As for the advertising I really didnt what that sort of stuff cluttering up the info- its an article against using pay services, not really the best forum to try to advertise I guess I could add two more government sites to the article.  as for youtube- um ill leave that alone for now, if it doesnt pass then Ill make a video over the weekend and add it to it and try it again. Lol Persecution doesn't give up easily, lol I so used to it.  As for controversy, my next article was about illuminati being non- sense I guess that's too controversial huh? This may be a site that i use for play because my writing is all controversy, hence the pen name, lol. Tx again.

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         1. 88

            quotationsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I am glad to help. About the Youtube videos - I really need to stress the importance of images and videos (whether created by you or found on youtube)
            
            There are three main reasons for this:
            
            1. they make the article more visually appealing.
            2. they will make your hub rank better in the search engine results. This is because Google ranks pages based on a number of factors, including its visual characteristics and layout. Whether you like it or not, google prefers pages that have these elements. And Hubpages quality control system mirrors that of Google because they are trying to encourage hubs that will appeal to Google because this drives traffic to the site and benefits their bottom line. So adding images and videos will certainly benefit you in the long run by both improving the quality of your hub and ranking higher in search engine results.
            
            In regards to the Youtube videos keep in mind that Youtube is owned by Google so there is a little favoritism going on in the way that Google gives you extra marks for showing their videos. We may not like it but you are better off playing the game.
            
            In regards to the topic and length of your hub. 2000 words is great! However make sure to break up the text with subheadings and images. It makes the whole article easier to read.
            
            In regards to your topic, there is nothing spammy about your topic because you are advising people against using the mortgage modification companies. But keep in mind that in general things like debt consolidation, etc are considered spam topics by Google and may also affect your quality rating here. Make sure that it is clear that this is not an article shilling for mortgage modification companies because if the reviewer or googlebot is confused, it might be part of the problem.
            
            As for the Illuminati, I don't think there is anything wrong with an article on that topic. There are many articles about them on hubpages. Google and Hubpages tolerate them because they act as a diversion from the real conspiracy. As everyone knows the real puppet masters are ... (redacted)

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            1. 60

               Persecution-aveposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Lol@ the diversion I think we may be on the same wave length- I figured I keep a running set of hubs under the heading ( right not cause I liked the consonance I think) Scams and Stupidity- just to start publishing a building a bit of a following- Yep got the subtitles and broke up into min paras with indented, numbered entries- ap standard formation I tried to keep the language as colloquial as possible, but the structure academic or at least adjacent. Hopefully after I apply your suggestions and the video- I found an existing one to link it to; It'll get approved. Once it does Ill be sure to send you a shout so you can give me any tips for improvement, always happy to accept CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. That general rating with no explanation thing from the site had me kinda like WHA... for a sec. Tx again.

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               1. 85

                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Trying to write about scams on HubPages is difficult. If a subject is prohibited - to prevent the scammers writing articles here - then positive articles warning against the scams are also prohibited.    It's because the robots who patrol these things can't read context, they can only look for prohibited words.

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                     Persecution-aveposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     That's a bit sad to be honest-

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                        Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Not really.   HubPages relies for its income on revenue from Adsense.  Adsense has very, very strict rules on what content can be shown next to their ads.  Some of the rules are stupid but that's beside the point.
                        
                        If you break Adsense's rules, you can lose your Adsense account.  There is usually no appeal.  If HubPages lost its Adsense account, it would have to close down.   That's why it's so strict - all our incomes depend on it.
                        
                        And don't think it can't happen.  One of HubPages's competitors, Wizzley, lost its Adsense advertising a few months ago, because one of its members uploaded images which Adsense disapproved of.  Luckily Wizzley was able to sort it out and get the ads reinstated, but it took several weeks and must have been a scary time for all concerned (not to mention the lost revenue for those weeks). 
                        
                        If you want to write about stuff Adsense doesn't like, you have plenty of other options.

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               2. 92

                  jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks, quotations, for the reality check about Google and the use of videos. I've been avoiding them without a full understanding of why I need to get with the program and use them. Out of 40 hubs, I have only one with a video that I just uploaded a few days ago. Thanks for the heads-up.

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                     quotationsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Glad to help. It is really amazing how much traffic improves once you add youtube videos. I have recently updated old hubs by adding videos and the effect on traffic has been noticeable almost right away.

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3. 60

   Persecution-aveposted 10 years ago

   Tx Simone thats where I started, before I even submitted it- is there a limit on length because it is a 2000 word article? Other than that no typos, no grammar issues, no mechanical issues, thats why Im so lost. When they rejected it, I took it over to textbroker and they accepted it and if you know writing textbroker is a lot harder to publish on than hubs, but Ill see what they say in their response because I really would like to know what they see that the other site didnt... thanks for responding though, we all need as much help as we can get, starting out.

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4. 60

   Persecution-aveposted 10 years ago

   So after all of that it was just the site that I referenced, even though a government site, hubpages cited it as the reason that article was rated thusly- Im still going to add some of your tips for making it more appealing.

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5. 60

   Persecution-aveposted 10 years ago

   After all of the concern, the article was re-rated because it was only marked substandard because the link was acting iffy, now that its back up and running, the article is under review again. Is this normal?

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      quotationsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Had a look at your hub. Good job on you first hub.
      
      Hubs go through a review process every time you make a change, so this is normal.

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      1. 60

         Persecution-aveposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         tx

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6. 92

   jansharesposted 10 years ago

   I just looked at your hub, Persecution-ave, and I think it's informative and well-written, a decent 1st hub. I know what it feels like to get one of those emails or when a hub does not get featured without an explanation as to why. Been there, done that, very frustrating. I'm glad to see that it passed.
   
   However, since your target audience is probably tired of reading a lot of information full of text, you need to break it up. Your paragraphs can be broken up a lot more to make reading easier and smoother. Also cut some of your sentences in half. Make more sentences and paragraphs than you think you need to. You'll be surprised how much better the article will look.  Also double check for typos.
   
   Welcome to hubpages, enjoy your stay.

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   1. 60

      Persecution-aveposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      yep I said the same thing after I saw it up- I was like god thats a mouthful- I have breakdowns of each of the ten steps coming next so I said I would do them more list- like then full on text like that one- hopefully it turns out better.

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         jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Great, cool.

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