Why I Avoid Evergreen Content on Medium
You need to consider this if most of your views come from Google
I publish most of my articles on the HubPages Network because most of my views are from organic traffic through Google. Medium doesn’t pay for organic traffic.
Writing on HubPages has three principle benefits:
- We earn revenue for external views
- External traffic is a much larger audience
- Google search results keep earning into perpetuity
So it’s best to publish evergreen content on sites where revenue is received for search engine traffic. Besides, readership tends to deminish over time on Medium.
HubPages contains 30 niche sites managed by the Arena Group. And I’ve been publishing articles there since 2009.
Revenue comes from ad placements and 60% is paid to you. The other 40% covers site management’s cost, including professional editors that help you with SEO by making minor grammatical corrections.
The Appeal for Evergreen Content
HubPages wants high-quality evergreen articles that answer queries people search for online. Content should be written as magazine-style articles with stellar quality. That effort is worthwhile since the income revenue continues with older pieces.
Articles on their platform continue to increase with Google ranking as their algorithms detect reader interest based on read time and detect engagement through actual scrolling.
However, it’s crucial to understand that only professionally written content is approved for its niche sites, so it requires effort to write stellar quality articles written with evident expertise and exceptional detail focused on the subject of the title.
The Need for Authority
If you are a professional writer who can demonstrate authority on your subject, then HubPages could be the right place for you to submit your articles.
People often ask what they should write about to earn a decent income. My answer is always the same, write what you have experience with and can demonstrate being an authority on the subject.
For example, if you write about issues concerning science, health, or anything educational, you need to display authority. Personal experience counts too. Well-researched content with references to show credibility gets you into specific niche sites.
In addition, write original content that has few competing articles. Do a search to see if you have an original idea. If it’s a topic that is saturated on the Internet, then you need to stand out with something that gives your article more value than any other content.
That is really the only way to rank well with Google and is therefore required for the HubPages editors to select your content for one of the niche sites.
How Ad Revenue Works on HubPages
Maven took over HubPages in 2018 and began selling ad space by auction. Therefore, better-quality articles make more money since advertisers bid up the price.
When Maven took over, I was invited to their conference in 2018, so I learned the details there and will explain it here. (Maven later changed their name to The Arean Group).
HubPages’ revenue is based on ad impressions. The more ads viewed, the more revenue an author makes. So if readers leave after just a few paragraphs, authors earn little. Therefore, it’s crucial to write content that keeps readers engaged to stay until the end.
HubPages no longer uses AdSense. So you don’t need to create an AdSense account. If you already have one, you will not be using it.
The same applies to Amazon. You no longer need to have an Amazon Affiliate account. That was a long time ago. Now your Amazon ads are handled via HubPages’ account, and they pay you 60% of the residuals recieved from Amazon sales.
Concern About Duplicate Content
HubPages does not accept content that appears elsewhere. That protects you from a low Google ranking. Remember that with HubPages, you want to have a large Google audience. So you wouldn’t want to have copies elsewhere anyway.
Editorial Policies of Niche Sites
I recommend reading the Editorial Policy of any niche sites where you are interested in publishing your articles. That is where you will learn what they want from your content. Each niche has different requirements.
The link to their Editorial Policy page is at the bottom of each niche site. When I write something new, I always check that out and have all my content on niche sites by following their individual policies.
The Reason Why Some People Fail
When I examine the articles written by authors who complain that they are not earning anything on HubPages, I see three things that glare in my face.
- They use copyrighted images or images not licensed for commercial use.
- They place Amazon capsules in their articles that are not 100% related to their titles. That’s considered spammy.
- They carelessly write titles and subtitles without proper ASA-style capitalization.
Those three mistakes can cause articles to be kept on the home site and hidden from Google to avoid lowering the ranking of the niche sites.
Google Analytics Is Supported
A significant advantage of HubPages is that we can link Google Analytics to our account to see how people respond to each article. That shows how long visitors stay and the bounce rate of those who leave early.
That information is beneficial for knowing what changes to make to keep my articles ranking well.
For example, when Google Analytics shows that people click away quickly, I examine that article to see why I’m losing readers. It’s often as simple as the first paragraph not relating to the title well enough, and it helps to capture interest immediately in the first paragraph. Those Google reports are a goldmine of information.
Final Thoughts
As an online writer of informative articles for over a decade, I find it frustrating how we need to keep posting new content on Medium to continue earning residuals.
My experience with HubPages might have spoiled me because I find it is much easier to build a continuous income stream from past efforts by writing evergreen content.
