Is it worth setting up a load of Hub Pages pointing to my sites?

12 years ago

In my experience, yes. I actually still do this very thing. However since you have the time anyway, my advice to you is to try it for yourself. As long as you create quality content, go for it. Even if I were to have said no (and even if someone else does), how else will you REALLY know unless you try?

Keep us posted.
Derek

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johan_malmo

12 years ago

Hi NMB, I havent used HubPages in a while but as I remember it you need to get a pretty high score (80+?) on your profile before the links turn "do follow". Not sure its like this anymore, but I'm sure it will still help your ranking a little bit.

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nmb

12 years ago

Great advice there - I think the answer is try it and see. I get the impression that all seo and link building ideas still work to a certain extent but some may have gained more credibility and some will have lost some power. Google wants everything to be natural therefore I think the answer is to add a mix of everything and keep adding and adding.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by nmb

I am a content writer by trade and am looking for a way to build more back links to my website. Is it still worth setting up hubpages for individual products and link them back to the product page on my website?

I would be looking for backlink power firstly and then traffic.

It's "worth" it, if you compare it with not doing anything at all.

But it isn't worth it if you compare it with doing the same thing on sites/pages you own and control yourself (even if they're all on free hosting, which is easy enough to arrange). HubPages has many of the same problems as Blogger and Squidoo, in this regard (except even worse, because the backlinks will be no-follow until you get to a "score" of 75+, I think).

Don't imagine that the backlinks will somehow be "better" because they're on HubPages sites. And don't imagine that traffic will somehow be generated magically because you're using a site whose own home page (which you're not using) happens to have a high page rank.

What you need to be aware of and think about is in this post (it only mentions HubPages once, but most of the principles are the same): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6304000

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MorbitlyObesePaypalAccoun

12 years ago

I get pretty bismal traffic with hubpages. It's pretty hard to get a 75+ article, that will give you the do follow links, let alone enough that will matter to google.

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nmb

12 years ago

I have tried a couple of hubpages and they seem to be ranking ok for terms. I will ad a few more over the next few days and see if I can get the follow links to flow.

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mailey

12 years ago

It will definately help to bring some traffic so worth a try.

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richytherude

12 years ago

As long as your article is original and unique content without too many grammar mistakes, it will likely get a high enough hubscore. FYI, your individual hub score needs to be 40+ and the hubber's score has to be 75+. Consistently writing quality hubs will get you that 75+ hubber score.

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Web Hosting

12 years ago

I would recommend taking the time to create a hand full of decent hubs just for the traffic that you could gain from it over time. I would at least test it and go from there.

I would focus on traffic building and let SEO happen NATURALLY!!!

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Benjamin Ehinger

12 years ago

Originally Posted by nmb

I am a content writer by trade and am looking for a way to build more back links to my website. Is it still worth setting up hubpages for individual products and link them back to the product page on my website?

I would be looking for backlink power firstly and then traffic.

If hubpages still work I have the time to build hundreds of new hubpages for specific products and link these to the product pages on my site.

Your advice would be appreciated.

Hubpages still helps, but you may want to venture into more than just one type of web 2.0....building more than just one type can really help and there are dozens of good ones out there.

Benjamin

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nmb

12 years ago

Which other web 2.0 sites would you recommend for linking building/traffic purposes?

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by nmb

Which other web 2.0 sites would you recommend for linking building/traffic purposes?

It depends what you mean by "Web 2.0 pages".

People have differing opinions about exactly which sites are, and aren't, "Web 2.0".

It doesn't actually matter whether or not they're "Web 2.0": what matters is whether you own and control your own pages there.

The big deal, for some people, over what they like to think of as "Web 2.0", is that they imagine they're getting some sort of traffic advantage or SEO advantage simply because those sites' own home pages happen to have some page rank. And that's just a myth, because the page ranks of their own home pages don't help your pages there, worth talking about. The reality is that they give you nothing you can't get elsewhere.

There's no point in using pages on sites belonging to other people, which you can never own or control yourself, and subjecting yourself to all their ever-changing terms of service and idiosyncratic and inconsistent interpretations of them, when for the same money (i.e. free!) you can do that yourself on sites you do own and control.

The four most well-known ones to avoid, for these reasons, for backlinking/traffic generation, include Wordpress.com, Blogspot, HubPages and Squidoo.

The free ones which are perhaps a little more sensible to try are Weebly, Yola and Blinkweb. (Which of those three you consider "Web 2.0" is up to you!).

Or, of course, you can just put up your own little sites on free hosting of the 000WebHost/Byethost kind (nobody considers that "Web 2.0" but it's still much better-advised).

Everything explained in this post answers your question, I think: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6304000

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MP80

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

It doesn't actually matter whether or not they're "Web 2.0": what matters is whether you own and control your own pages there.

C'mon Alexa..

Free. Your. Mind. :p

You have over 15,000 posts on a forum that you do not own or control (Although.. I have heard the conspiracy theories!

) How many hours, days, weeks and months have you spent writing content for Warrior Forum? Are you at all concerned that your 'hard work' could be taken away from you in an instant, because you do not control the site?

(Even if you are, I imagine that you would simply back them up!)

How is that much different from writing articles at Hubpages, or Squidoo?

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

The big deal, for some people, over what they like to think of as "Web 2.0", is that they imagine they're getting some sort of traffic advantage or SEO advantage simply because those sites' own home pages happen to have some page rank. And that's just a myth, because the page ranks of their own home pages don't help your pages there, worth talking about.

Regarding the links; Technically speaking, you are correct of course.. Just because the home page is PR6 or whatever, doesn't mean that the rest of the pages are. But can you really confirm that Google does not place value on links, based on the site's authority from which they came? Do you have some insider knowledge?

In practise, there is, at the very least, plenty of anecdotal evidence that the overall 'authority' of a site linking to you does matter. Otherwise, a PR0 link from my brand new site, and one from [for example] Warrior Forum would be equal in Google's eyes. Maybe they are (especially following the more recent algorithm change

) but I highly doubt it!

Even if Matt Cutts himself said that all PR0 links were 'equal', we know that what google says, and what google does, are often two entirely different things.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

The four most well-known ones to avoid, for these reasons, for backlinking/traffic generation, include Wordpress.com, Blogspot, HubPages and Squidoo.

Really? Do you actually use any of these sites? Because I use both Hubpages and Squidoo, and find that they can be [at the least] very effective for generating traffic. I can't really comment on the SEO value of their links, etc though, because I don't care about SEO, and haven't tested them in that way.

Also can't comment on wordpress.com or blogspot because they're not really my thing.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

The reality is that they give you nothing you can't get elsewhere.

Well I can think of a quite a few benefits, but I will deal with just one or two, so that I can keep this post short!

For a start, both Squidoo and Hubpages get an [estimated] 30 million views each, per month. If you wanted to set up a business for the first time, would you prefer to build a store (which you would own) out in the middle of nowhere, or rent one in the thick of a city which already had 30 million visitors per month?

Whilst I'm sure that some people would choose to start from scratch, many others would simply go where the people are. Potential customers are already there, they just need to be enticed through the door (and to open up their wallets!

)

But, the main things that a lot of people seem to miss when it comes to Hubpages and Squidoo are:

-These sites are not the same as they always have been, or were, even one year ago. This is actually a good thing, because they are adapting with the times. Many, if not all, of their changes and 'restrictions' are for the benefit of their users (And ultimately, of course, themselves).

-They currently get only about 12-15% (est.) of their traffic from search engines.

The second point suggests to me that they are, for the most part, a community. The majority of their visitors arrive directly, much like WarriorForum.

At Warrior Forum, we all know what happens when someone shows up here out of nowhere and starts trying to spam the forum, or sell us stuff. That's not the way to do business here, and why would it be any different with these sites?

It's not.

Some of those sites have evolved to provide a better experience for their users, and people now need to produce better content, and engage with the community, if they want to get anywhere with them. What's wrong with that?

And, just like WarriorForum, some people actually enjoy the community aspect of sites such as Squidoo and Hubpages (believe it or not

) and find it another benefit over simply having their own site.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

There's no point in using pages on sites belonging to other people, which you can never own or control yourself, and subjecting yourself to all their ever-changing terms of service and idiosyncratic and inconsistent interpretations of them, when for the same money (i.e. free!) you can do that yourself on sites you do own and control.

Once again, back to the Warrior Forum example... You spend a lot of time posting here, on a site that you do not own (to the best of our knowledge

). You have links in your signature, and nearly every post, which people click on. Granted, you are not [overtly] doing business here but, nevertheless, a 'site belonging to other people, which you can never own or control yourself..' has allowed you (and many others) to build a solid reputation.

In theory, Warrior Forum could delete any, or all

, of your posts without notice or consent (and they do for some people) Yet, you happily subject yourself to their [ever-changing?] terms of service.

I realise that your business would not be lost if the worst did happen, because your content here is not key to your success. But can you also see that you could quite successfully build a business from here if you wanted, and yet still remain relatively unaffected if the forum suddenly vanished?

So, anyway.. different horses, for different courses.

I actually find Hubpages more patient and understanding of their users than WarriorForum. Hubpages will at least explain to you what the problem is, and give you time to correct it. If they are forced to unpublish your hubs, then they unpublish them, they don't [usually] delete them.

And yes, there are some restrictions there; for example, you can't post links to clickbank at hubpages. But that is not much different to here, and yet everyone accepts it. Hubpages allows affiliate links (except clickbank), WarriorForum doesn't. WarriorForum allows links to squeeze pages, Hubpages doesn't.

There's pluses and minuses wherever you go, and I.M. isn't a one-size-fits-all. Just like Warrior Forum, who have strict rules and conditions, so do many other sites. These rules are there for the benefit of all users, even though they can seem restrictive to those who don't understand them.

So if these rules and regulations are acceptable here, and at Ezine Articles, why not at Hubpages, and Squidoo too?

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by MP80

You have over 15,000 posts on a forum that you do not own or control

I do, but that has nothing to do with my business, and therefore isn't quite the valid analogy as which you're offering it, I'm afraid. :p

The context in which this question about using HubPages "pointing at my sites" was asked, is clearly a business question, about "money sites". That has nothing to do with my forum posts.

Originally Posted by MP80

(Although.. I have heard the conspiracy theories! )

So have I.

Originally Posted by MP80

How is that much different from writing articles at Hubpages, or Squidoo?

It's 100% different. First, it has nothing to do with my business (I'm not in the "IM niche" at all); secondly, it's not something for which there's a ready alternative (in the case of the HubPages, you could more safely use pages you own and control instead, but I can hardly do that as an alternative to posting here, can I, for the simple reason that on pages I owned and controled, there wouldn't be the 499,999 other members with whom to interact, would there?). Nice analogy "apart from that"!

Originally Posted by MP80

Regarding the links; Technically speaking, you are correct of course.

Google seems to think so, anyway. Which is what normally matters to people asking questions like that.

Originally Posted by MP80

In practise, there is, at the very least, plenty of anecdotal evidence that the overall 'authority' of a site linking to you does matter.

The only evidence I've ever seen of it is that 3 years ago, some people who wanted others to take them seriously as "SEO experts" on their blogs, in order to sell them stuff, used to say so.

If it were true, then multiple backlinks from article directories which happen to have high page ranks for their own home pages would be worth something, but nobody who knows the first thing about it is alleging that, are they? (And clearly it's nonsense).

In the old days, when you got an internal link to a "most viewed article" from Ezine Articles' own home page (which was and is PR-6), that was worth something to the article-copy. Because that was a link from a PR-6 page. (And of course, as they explained openly on their blog, it was in order to prevent people from trying to exploit that by "sending traffic to their article" to make it "qualify" for one of those internal links that EZA wisely abandoned that system.)

Originally Posted by MP80

Otherwise, a PR0 link from my brand new site, and one from [for example] Warrior Forum would be equal in Google's eyes.

Not so: linkjuice depends on relevance and quality.

Originally Posted by MP80

we know that what google says, and what google does, are often two entirely different things.

I was surprised to find this line here: although I don't think you intended it that way, this one is typically the last resort of people who have been regurgitating the theories of the Urban Myth School of Internet Marketing, have been caught out by a link to a Google site proving them wrong, and then - rather than admitting the possibility that they may be mistaken - clutch at the last straw instead, with the "Oh well, if you're going to believe everything Google says ..." line, apparently not often stopping to wonder why this particular issue would be something about which Google (or Cutts) would want to lie ...

Originally Posted by MP80

Do you actually use any of these sites?

Not now. I used to, up until a couple of years ago. But then, like so many here, I learned a little better, realised that I was getting no benefit from them that I couldn't more safely get on my own properties, and stopped.

Originally Posted by MP80

I use both Hubpages and Squidoo, and find that they can be [at the least] very effective for generating traffic.

Nobody's disputing that. I'm simply pointing out that what matters is whether they're more effective at doing that than a page which you yourself own and control, where nobody else can remove it and and you don't have to worry about getting up to a Hub score of 75+ for your backlinks not to be "no-follow"!

Originally Posted by MP80

I can't really comment on the SEO value of their links, etc though, because I don't care about SEO, and haven't tested them in that way.

Fair enough.

Originally Posted by MP80

Also can't comment on wordpress.com or blogspot because they're not really my thing.

Nor mine. I may be wrong about this, but actually I suspect that possibly they're not your thing for reasons not entirely unconnected with the very points I've been trying to make in this thread? You don't like the look of them, don't like their terms of service, feel you don't need them, don't want to waste time with them and get your sites deleted there as so many others have, don't want to be limited by their styles/formats, and so on? All those sorts of reasons, perhaps? I'm only guessing ...

Originally Posted by MP80

For a start, both Squidoo and Hubpages get an [estimated] 30 million views each, per month.

And how many views does Hostgator get, per month?!

You don't know, and neither do I. (And probably we don't care, either - right?).

But that's the relevant comparison, isn't it? How well a site does doesn't depend on where it's hosted. It's not your pages there, or mine, that are getting the 30 million views per month, so what does it have to do with what we're talking about?!

Originally Posted by MP80

If you wanted to set up a business for the first time, would you prefer to build a store (which you would own) out in the middle of nowhere, or rent one in the thick of a city which already had 30 million visitors per month?

That's not what I'd be doing by using HubPages/Squidoo. :rolleyes:

People visiting other sites at HubPages/Squidoo are not visitors to my pages, and that's the point I'm making.

The fair analogy is whether I want to open a store somewhere where the landlord can (and does) change the rules about what sort of business is allowed there, and can lock up my store and take away the windows and doors and keys without even consulting me, or a rent-free one on land I own myself where I'm the only person in charge.

Originally Posted by MP80

Whilst I'm sure that some people would choose to start from scratch, many others would simply go where the people are.

If you think that the fact that HubPages sites have however many million visitors per month is somehow going to help you to get traffic there, be my guest. Or be their guest. Until they revoke the invitation to be their guest. Or until you notice that all your backlinks are no-follow. Or until they change the rules.

I'll host mine at Hostgator instead, without even knowing how many visitors their sites get in a month, and without expecting that figure somehow to help me.

When I had a cauliflower soup recipes (or whatever) site at Squidoo, it didn't help me that Squidoo had 45,000 visitors per hour, or whatever it was. They didn't go to my pages. And they still don't, now that it's at Hostgator, or TypePad, either. For that to happen, I have to attract my own traffic, just like you do. The difference is that I don't have to comply with Squidoo's regulations any more, and live in fear of them changing yet again, and so on. No mystery there, I think?

Originally Posted by MP80

You spend a lot of time posting here, on a site that you do not own (to the best of our knowledge ). You have links in your signature, and nearly every post, which people click on. Granted, you are not [overtly] doing business here

Let's be clear and unambiguous about this, since you mention it yet again - I'm not doing business here at all. Not overtly and not covertly. And I never have done. I've never done a WSO. I've never had a "Warriors For Hire" ad. I've never written anything for other members. I'm not selling anything.

I have no financial involvement here at all.

I'm here for social and educational reasons only.

(And to heckle, and worsen people's indigestion, natch).

And that's the point: that's why your analogy simply isn't a valid one.

Originally Posted by MP80

I realise that your business would not be lost if the worst did happen, because your content here is not key to your success.

Again, let's be clear and unambiguous about this. Not only is it not "key" to my success, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my success/income/business at all, and never has done.

And that's why your analogy isn't a valid one.

Originally Posted by MP80

But can you also see that you could quite successfully build a business from here if you wanted, and yet still remain relatively unaffected if the forum suddenly vanished?

Call me naive, but if I built a business here, then it seems to me that I'd be very adversely affected if the forum suddenly vanished.

Originally Posted by MP80

So, anyway.. different horses, for different courses.

Indeed. As you say. Some courses for horses from the Urban Myth School of Internet Marketing, and others for people who want to own, run and control their own businesses without being unnecessarily dependent on multiple factors outside their control.

Originally Posted by MP80

There's pluses and minuses wherever you go, and I.M. isn't a one-size-fits-all.

No indeed. I accept that entirely. (And of course I also accept many of your other points which I haven't expressly disputed).

Originally Posted by MP80

if these rules and regulations are acceptable here, and at Ezine Articles, why not at Hubpages, and Squidoo too?

Because the functions to your business of HubPages and Squidoo can easily be replaced with pages you own and control, while most of those of the Warrior forum can't.

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nmb

12 years ago

Alexa

Thanks for your comments. I like to hear all opinions, do my homework and then decide what to do. The reality is that nothing is 100% wrong as nothing is 100% right - finding a balance is the key.

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ScooterDaMan

12 years ago

Alexa Smith is absolutely correct. What I am wondering is, if you really can create quality, compelling content - the kind of stuff that catches people's eyes, that they want to read and that they would want to link to, why the heck are you worried at all about creating hub pages? If your content is that good, people will want to link to it.

Your great content should be on your own website. The links will take care of themselves if you market the website properly in relevant forums and social networks.

If you do feel the need to give your site a boost, contact authority website/blog owners within your own general niche that are looking for quality content and offer to write something for them with a signature link that points to your website at the bottom. Don't make it a piece about your website or your products; make it a piece that is about the readers of that blog and what is important to them. This is how real businesses (you know, the ones that are at the top of the Google rankings now) do it.

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wolfmmiii

12 years ago

I have a collection of hubs that do very well in the serps. I use some of them for backlinks/traffic to my own domains but I also use many for direct affiliate sales. I find that I can write fairly short hubs that rank well, convert well, and are largely left alone by mods.

With that said, I say "go for it". Just don't try posting poor or copied content. The moderators and community typically react quickly to such content.

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