Minimum word count

1. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 14 years ago

   On another thread, a Hubber suggested that if HubPages had a minimum word count, it would prevent some spammers.
   
   I know that a very low word count can get a Hub flagged as substandard, but perhaps it's set too low at the moment?

   replyreport
   1. 68

      awareposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      i have the shortest hub on record i think . i dont need a ton of words to describe two thousand pounds . see i just did it again

      replyreport
2. 59

   Alessia Amnesiaposted 14 years ago

   I was told that a hub had to be 800 words or more or it was considered substandard. I think 800 is plenty, personally.

   replyreport
3. 79

   Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

   Under 800 is not substandard. Most of my hubs are under that. Anything over 300 is okay as far as I am concerned. I'm not sure what is flagged as substandard but I'm assuming under 100 words.

   replyreport
4. 68

   awareposted 14 years ago

   come on now that was poetry

   replyreport
5. 63

   Has_aWayWithWordsposted 14 years ago

   I know other places have a word count minimum of 250...I am pretty sure anything less than 250 is not giving much value

   replyreport
6. 82

   Whitney05posted 14 years ago

   I think right now under 300 is considered substandard, but that mark doesn't take the hub off the site. I agree some kind of minimum would be nice, but then that will eliminate most poetry hubs. That doesn't affect me, but there are many out there.

   replyreport
7. 0

   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   When I'm working on a new hub and I save it. I get a substandard warning until about 200 words I think.
   
   I don't know about upping that, we should be fair to the poets and haiku writers.

   replyreport
8. 90

   RedElfposted 14 years ago

   I'm with you, Nelle. Some of my poetry hubs got a very low ranking because of the word count, so I went back and added a prose section to a number of them - that vastly improved their scores (some by more than 20 points).
   
   It seems that as long as you have at least two hundred words, you can avoid the warning, but you still won't rank very highly, which is fine for a prose hub, but a shame for a poetry hub given the effort that goes into it. Oh, well.
   
   I would hate to see a minimum count that would rule out some of the beautiful and moving poetry that can be found here.
   

   replyreport
   1. 70

      Cagsilposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I had to put two poems together, so I could publish them. And, I agree, I've written other hubs at first and were flagged as substandard and I believe it's around 200-250 range.

      replyreport
9. 73

   relacheposted 14 years ago

   I wouldn't mind seeing the substandard word count go up by about 150 words from wherever it is now.

   replyreport
   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Me too.  I know that would impact poetry Hubs, but surely poets could add a paragraph of prose before or after the poem, giving it some context.  That would benefit them too, as it would make it more likely to be found by search engines.

      replyreport
   2. 90

      RedElfposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I sure would agree to that for prose hubs. It would be great, though, if there were a way to categorize them as Has_aWayWithWords mentioned - perhaps make a no-word-count-category for poetry hubs?

      replyreport
10. 63

    Has_aWayWithWordsposted 14 years ago

    the minimums could be based on hub category same with links, any hub in certain categories that come in under 250 words or have more than say one link in the body or to same site per 250 words.

    replyreport
11. 75

    Mike Lickteigposted 14 years ago

    I also think poetry hubs could include a bit of prose (perhaps as way of explanation or background info) to boost the word count.  I wouldn't mind seeing the word count raised some, also.  Another hundred words or so really isn't that much.

    replyreport
    1. 85

       rebekahELLEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I have a few poetry hubs, but I include some background for how or why it was written. I think it helps the reader identify with the poem and the writer more. It would be different if I was writing a book of poetry, but my understanding of hubs is that they are informative 'articles'. I guess I still don't understand how the photo hubs get by on being an 'article.'

       replyreport
12. 61

    Jane@CMposted 14 years ago

    I agree with the word count too, with the exception of poetry.

    replyreport
13. 62

    Eileen Hughesposted 14 years ago

    When we started writing in helium it was 200-300 then they put it up to 400. And the members had to go back and write more or they were told they would be deleted.
    
    I believe that poetry is not counted in the word count it is only articles.
    For better chance of google picking it up the 500 to 1000 word stands a better chance or so some of the longer articles I have seen are doing better.
    
    So why not write at least 500 - 800 words then it would save people having to go back and add to the articles later on.

    replyreport
14. 69

    cindyvineposted 14 years ago

    I agree Eileen, poetry couldn't possibly be included in the word count, but how does the automated thing that says if a hub is substandard or not know that it has a low word count because it's poetry?

    replyreport
15. 63

    Has_aWayWithWordsposted 14 years ago

    Well, I have thought out a few things that I think may help.
    
    1: Minimum word count of 250, Poetry category excluded
    2: No more than 1 link per 150 words in the content, links in capsule follows current guidelines
    3: Number of Amazon,Ebay,or Link capsules limited based on overall word count. for example you can't do 250 words on weight loss and then promote 4000 items by adding numerous capsules

    replyreport
    1. 85

       Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Let's not over-complicate things! 
       
       I'm still not convinced about excluding poetry. I understand poems are short, but poets need to understand that a short Hub won't get any attention from outside readers, so it's in their own interest to either write more than one poem per Hub, or include some background info.
       
       I can't see the point of item 2 - there is already a method in place to prevent excessive promotion.  All it would do is prevent people including helpful links.
       
       Item 3 - I think this is a different request altogether and should be considered as such.

       replyreport
16. 78

    brimancandyposted 14 years ago

    I think that adding a word count would not stop people from spamming. They would simply find a way to spam, getting as close to the word count as possible.
    
    What it might do, is keep someone who wants to write a decent
    hub busy trying to get to that word count as well. Some people
    have a hard time coming up with the words to describe what
    they are talking about.
    
    I probably don't have to worry about that. Because some of my posts are longer than 200 words! But, it would be cool to know exactly how many words are in my hubs. I'm sure it is a lot!

    replyreport
    1. 84

       CMHypnoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       You can find the word count of each hub in your hub stats.  Or if you are writing the Hub in Word first, turn on the word count and it will always be at the bottom of the screen.

       replyreport
    2. 85

       Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Brim, if someone can't manage 300 or 350 words on a topic, they shouldn't be writing Hubs.  If they do write Hubs, they won't be successful so there's no point.
       
       You're right, it wouldn't stop all spam - some spammy Hubs are quite long!  But it would make the worst spammers stop and think, and some would choose to go somewhere else with lower standards.

       replyreport
17. 60

    Niteriterposted 14 years ago

    It shouldn't be difficult to get a 250 word count if you're halfway serious about your material... Even if you're not at all seious about your material!

    replyreport
18. 75

    LeonJaneposted 14 years ago

    Yeah, i agree that poetry hubs struggle to get the word count up. I'll keep in mind to add a description of the background behind the poem.
    
    Also I find it hard to get recipe hubs up on word count. I guess I could go into detail about what the recipe means to me etc.
    
    Also hub word count is in stats as stated previously and it inclues all things like photo labels, titles etc. So if you have written you hub text in microsoft word and are close to say 400 words, after you publish you will notice your word count under stats have increased beyond 400 words.

    replyreport
19. 73

    relacheposted 14 years ago

    HubPages defines a Hub as a rich web page.  And what search engines like best is text.
    
    from the Starting Out Guide:
    
    
    Neither prose nor fiction fits the above definition very well, and lots of authors have stated that those pages pay extremely poorly.  So to make supporting that type of writing a priority is really against the mission of HubPages.  No offense to the poets, but if they just want to have single poems published as stand-alone pieces, they should start a blog for their poetry, not a HubPage.

    replyreport
    1. 85

       Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Relache, I think that's true.  The reality is that search engines value quantity because they can't judge quality - if poets realised the benefits of writing some text around their poems, they would be more prepared to do it.

       replyreport
20. 62

    Eileen Hughesposted 14 years ago

    I still think people should write longer articles to get googles attention.
    
    I cannot understand the so called articles that just have pic and hardly any words.
    
    They are trading on the sexy images which to me is not a challenge to our tallent like I thought hubpages to be.
    
    In saying that I am not knocking those pic articles, just using it as a comparison. As everyone needs to do what they enjoy doing or whatever....

    replyreport
21. 57

    Siew Chengposted 14 years ago

    It's not practical to add a minimum word count.  I have a few hubs that are compilation of smaller hubs. 
    One particular hub is about the meaning of money.  It's a spur of the moment creation. I add text capsules as I have new thoughts on it.  The hub ultimately ends with a few text capsules and the total word count is about 2,000.

    replyreport
    1. 85

       Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       The minimum word count wouldn't stop you creating and saving a Hub.  It would just stop you publishing it until it's long enough.
       
       Do remember that if you publish a Hub and keep adding to it, no one knows when you update it - it doesn't show on Hubtivity.  Why would you want Hubbers to come to your Hub and think it's half-baked?

       replyreport