Hello, Hubbers! Today, we are pleased to be able to share with you our plan for 2016. We’re still as determined as ever to break out of Panda, and we will continue to raise the quality of writing on HubPages by investing in and improving our two quality systems: the Quality Assessment Process (QAP) and HubPro editing. However, we believe that HubPages has another challenge that’s weakening our overall quality efforts and reputation: its general-content nature. These days, search engines and readers are better able to understand sites that are about one topic rather than a hodgepodge of just about everything. Thus we have decided to launch a series of niche sites over the course of the year, starting with two as early as next week: TatRing and PetHelpful!
In the medium term, traffic to the new sites will fluctuate. This is expected, and we will aim to build sites in areas where we think we have a shot at becoming successful. Long term, we’d love to see these sites grow into passionate communities, and we’ll be adding features over the coming months to help make this possible.
The remainder of this blog post is composed as a FAQ. If you have a question that isn’t answered below, feel free to post in the related Forum thread.
How is this all going to work?
HubPages will continue to exist as a website. All new sites will be part of the HubPages Network of User-Generated Content Sites. New sites will have unique domain names, but they will be operated by HubPages. They will be comprised of high-quality existing and newly published Hubs. Every Hub that is moved to a new domain will have a 301 redirect in place.
Please review the revised Terms of Use and Privacy Policy— they will go into effect on February 9th, 2016.
Why is HubPages pursuing a multi-sites strategy?
To put it simply, we believe this strategy is our best chance at a sustainable future. We think search engines can understand the organization of niche sites better than general content sites, giving them a structural advantage in SERPs. Furthermore, we are confident that our new domains will start with a clean slate in search and not be affected by algorithmic penalties like HubPages seems to have been. Vertical domains can also become stronger brands because they are more memorable to readers. For example, a visitor is much more likely to quickly grasp the idea behind a site like PetHelpful over a site like HubPages; the former is a site about pets for pet lovers and the latter is much more ambiguous!
Will HubPages.com continue to exist?
Yes! It will continue to be the home for Hubs that don’t get moved to niche sites. Additionally, for now, Forums, Q&A, My Account, and profile pages will all remain on HubPages. All articles will continue to be written on HubPages using the HubTool.
What are the new sites about?
TatRing is the first site we’re launching, and it is for artists and enthusiasts sharing knowledge on tattoos and piercings.
PetHelpful, a site for animal lovers, enthusiasts, and pet professionals sharing expertise and knowledge on pets, will follow.
Additional sites are being planned, and we will announce them when ready.
What Hubs will be moved to the new sites?
The moderation and editing teams are working together to hand-select and edit Hubs to move to the new domains. Hubs that are defeatured are not being considered at this time, but Hubbers are encouraged to update and improve their Hubs so they can become eligible for review. Lastly, new Hubs will be prioritized during the selection process.
Hubs must, at minimum, meet our criteria for being Featured. You can read about these standards in detail in this newly published FAQ entry. During the selection process, [already Featured] Hubs that have problematic elements (e.g., products, links, low-quality images, etc) may be snipped so that they meet the editorial standards on the new domains.
What gives my Hub the best chance of getting moved to a niche domain?
A single, great Hub may not be selected if the account isn’t in good standing or appears to be untrustworthy. To increase your chances of getting selected:
- Use a real name or pen name (avoid business names or keyword-driven names)
- Write a biography for the topics that you are covering, demonstrating expertise and passion
- In your profile bio, show your interest in the topics you write about
Will I be able to sign in to the new sites?
For now, sign-in will be limited. You will be able to sign in to each site using your HubPages account. The available signed-in features are:
- Hub commenting
- Author Center tools on Hubs themselves
Unfortunately, for now, you will have to sign in and out separately on each site. Also, Facebook sign-in is not supported on the new sites.
Can I opt out of this?
There will not be an opt-out option.
Can I still earn money from Hubs that are moved?
Yes. Your Hubs will continue to earn money when they are moved. All of your earnings will be rolled up in My Account > Earnings > Earnings Reports like they are now. The revenue share will not change, nor will the ad layout on Hubs.
Will Google Analytics continue to work?
Yes, Google Analytics should continue to track your page views properly.
HubPages Blog 
Bravo: But you’re just now figuring out that the large broad topic content mills are a bad idea? That wasn’t the only problem you had IMHO. But most bloggers and site owners have known this for 2 years or longer.
Looks like another good move. Google respects authority sites.
“Lastly, new Hubs will be prioritized during the selection process.”
So veterans and older hubs get pushed aside, regardless of quality? Why?
We will still be going through old Hubs as well. It will just take longer to get through the backlog of eligible Hubs.
There’s more for them to “fix” in average older hubs. Older hubs will have more links to resources and in photo credits for them to remove and they’ll have Amazon products or eBay for sale on them. Also, they likely aren’t very concerned about retaining old users and prefer to get new users who better fit the new style.
One of the first Hubs I ever published many years ago was selected for this process
I think this is a good move. A few years ago I wrote for a site called CrowdSource, which is an Amazon company. We were given a list of websites NOT to use for research for our articles, one of which was HubPages. Breaking out into specific sites based on real, authoritative knowledge/advice/solutions can change HubPages reputation as a site for amateur writers and give those writers who provide valuable information more credibility.
Looks like a good move… it’s difficult to build significant authority as a “generalist.” I hope you’ll consider a “Psychology, self-help and mental wellness” type niche site… I have been part of a couple of specialization divisions at other venues, and the “subjective sciences” tend to lose out to readily “hard defined” categories like “cars” and “pets” and “cooking” because site founders don’t really understand them… yet self-help has a HUGE niche on the web. I also hope you choose to implement the process slowly, testing what works as you go. The late Helium crowd content site saw its demise as a result of a hasty and ill-conceived move to multiple niche sites… good luck!
I agree that this strategy is more than a little late to the game, but it’s better late than never. I find it odd that one of the first niche sites is dedicated to tattoos and piercings. There are quite a few topics that would reach a much greater percentage of HubPages writers, such as travel, cooking, and crafts. I’m curious to see what other niche sites are unrolled later this year.
Good decision taken. But, I hope that everything will be under control of present Hubpages site. The menu bar under author’s profile at the top should display all the new sites under author’s account so that author can always see whichever hub is under different sites.
I’m OK with the niche sites. I think it’s a great idea. But have you folks ever considered changing this drab black and gray template. Colors excite people! When I used to publish for Squidoo we had the option to choose a template that suited the topic we were writing and sometimes to suit the holiday season. They were really pretty and put you in a mood. Think about it. Once again, congrats on the move to create niche sites.
Great move. Not sure if any of my hubs will qualify, but it’s great for all HP writers.
Will authors be told that their hub has been selected and moved.
Neither “tatring” nor “tat ring” are in Urban Dictionary. What exactly is the name of the site supposed to mean? A piercing on a tattoo? A tattoo on a piercing? A network of underground unlicensed tattoo parlors?
“Ring” is a slang term for a piercing (earring, belly ring, tongue ring, etc). The name signifies that the site specializes in both tattoos and piercings.
I hope there are more niche sites to come other than TatRing and PetHelpful. Those two are obviously great, but it would be awesome to see other niche communities emerge.
We do have future plans for more sites to come. 🙂
A really nice move HP team.
There should be a HP network site on Quotations and Saying too.
I agree with cmoneyspinner. PLEASE change the boring and unappealing Black and Grey colour scheme. It has no appeal whatsoever and gives the impression that Hub Pages is possibly a collection of formal academic writing rather than vibrant, interesting subjects written by people with passion. I really hope a new colour template is being planned along with these other changes.
LOL. The Bellatory site is now live. As soon I heard the name, I thought “bella”. Beautiful! Right? But it’s still black and gray! I didn’t want to say anything because I’m really glad about this niche site. But black and gray again??!!! 🙂
An excellent move by Hubpages! It is always encouraging to see a company actively engaged in working to make their site better and more profitable. Hopefully this change will also speed up the load time for our sites. Thanks for all you do…Hubpages. Can’t wait for you ‘Health & Fitness’ niches to come out. Keep up the good work.
Is there a central list (and maybe there is and I missed it) with the new sites added to it? It would be helpful so that we could work to produce quality work that might be considered for the new websites.
This is great! I love hubpages 🙂
I have received acceptance of several of my astrological hubs…I would love to write only for this category. Not sure how this will work for viewers and also for making some dollars here.
I’m pleased to have my Hub “How I Met My Dad After World War II Ended” chosen for the KindredBond site. However, sweeping changes in article-writing website formats usually spell the beginning of the end, as Helium, (AssociatedContent)Yahoo!Contributers, Squidoo, Bubblews, (Suite101), and others have experienced. Hopefully, that isn’t happening, here, at Hubpages.
So far we have seen traffic and earnings gains on our new sites, so they appear to be working. 🙂
Great! Let’s keep it going!!
A really nice move HubPages team. Now there are 25 niche sites ranking very well in search engines I can’t believe how fast you were to rank them in very short period.
thanks for sharing…
keep it up.
Before Hubpages can move my Hub article to another site named Delishably, Hubpages editor asked if I would address a few grammar mistakes before it moved on. After I fixed the errors, how do I notify Hubpages that my Hub article is ready for another review?