Google v Squidoo and Hubpages

Matt Cutts, Google guru, has declared war on content farms.  It is a long war, involving a lot of algorithm tweaking.

The idea being to reduce the power of the content farm when compared to genuine content written for the purpose of it being there, rather than a quick buck.

The graph below shows the last few months of Hubpages v Squidoo traffic as measured by Quantcast.  HubPages is the one at the bottom.

There is a clear decline in HP traffic, and a corresponding rise in Squidoo.  It is as if turning down the dial on HubPages simply increased the views to Squidoo.  Im not a fan of Squidoo but that cant be what Google wanted.

The two sites are very similar.  Content written for marketing - either adsense or affiliate.  To me, Squidoo looks spammier but its a choice thing.

Heres the graph...

You can see the divergence in traffic around July, gathering pace in late September where HubPages took quite a knock.  As HP goes down then Squidoo rises.  All that traffic had to go somewhere, but it doesnt look like it went to individual sites.

Google just took it from HP and gave it to Squidoo.

I wonder if the Squidoo drop at the beginning of November is the next phase of Googles anti-content farm efforts?  No corresponding rise for HP, so a content farm drop overall.

This has long been promised by Google, the end of the writing sites that specialise in low quality generic material that serves little purpose.  The sites that I have spent my time writing on as it happens.

I havent bothered feeding my blog into Quantcast by the way, it wouldnt even register I should think.

Really, I should stop looking at traffic and just get on with writing.  The trouble is, it is so addictive.

Wouldnt it be nice if Google just set the dial higher on our own content and gave us millions of hits each day?  That really would be worth blogging about.

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Can You Make Money at HubPages

The writer contemplating his next masterpiece...

Yes, you can make money from HubPages.

But first...

The internet is full of get rich quick claims from scam companies.

Worse that that, there are many bloggers and even reputable news outlets which tell you how good site X is.

They do this for the income from sign-up referrals.

There will be NO sign-up links on this page.  If you want to check out HubPages go and do it.

Google it and have a look.  I will give you my honest opinion based on five years of writing at HubPages.

Of all the places I have tried HubPages is still the most profitable, easy and ongoing place for me.  I run blogs, including this one, my own sites and recently affiliate marketing via CafePress and Zazzle.

It is HubPages which still gives me a dollar or so each and every day.

A dollar!

A miserable dollar you say, wondering if I have lost my senses.

The truth about internet writing and passive income is that few people earn as much as a dollar.  So I am doing quite well thank you very much.  Oh sure, I still have hopes of earning a proper living from my brilliant writing but they are the same hopes as when I started.

Very few people make any money.  Surprisingly, a huge number of them have an ego that makes them think they will.  That is where the scam companies come in.  They sell ridiculous dreams for sign-up and subscription fees and instead of even a dollar the would-be writer gets ripped off.

HubPages is an honest old-fashioned content farm.  They would prefer to be called a user-generated content site - whatever.  People write pages using the excellent FREE software HubPages provide and they share in any profits from advertising or Amazon / Ebay sales.

They pay out when you get to fifty dollars so I get a PayPal payment monthly during a good period.  Fifty dollars sounds a little better than the daily rate.

As a top-up to a pension, a minor savings plan or paying occasional bills that kind of income can help.  The cents and dollars mount up.  It is not a real income to replace a normal job.

That is the reality of the writing game.  HubPages is reasonably open and honest about it and they pay promptly and reliably.  You retain the rights to your content, can come and go as you please and as a no-risk no-investment introduction to the internet writing game it is one of the best.

A hobby that pays a little money at a time when interest rates are so low and money is tight?  If you enjoy writing and have something to say or share then HubPages might be worth a look.

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