in 2010, not an incredibly long time ago, if I entered a search term in a Google I would get a long list of items that matched.
Yeah, probably Wikipedia would be first since they are in bed with Google and always have been, but there would be items from all over the place.
Items posted on writing sites.
Then Google decided to block items on writing sites in one of those obscenely cure manners. What it did and does is to simply have all writing sites begin with a minus score.
For example if you searched for ‘Actors who died in 2010’ (before 2011) Every site that had all the words would receive a 100%. Sites that had ‘Actors who died in 2000’ would have a 90%, and ‘Actors who died’ would have a 50% so come AFTER those which scored higher.
If you had an item on Triond with all the words it would score higher than an item on the BBC which had only some of the words.
After 2010 every writing site began with a MINUS score so that the item on Triond with all the words would be way down at the bottom, coming after “Actors Who Died”.
In this way, the searcher would NOT be directed to Triond. Only if there were no other articles on sites that Google approves of, which matched some of the words, would anything written on Triond or Hubpages or Wikinut ever appear anywhere.
This meant that the person who searched would not know that Triond or Hubpages or Wikinut existed. This meant that these sites would get less hits. A lot less hits.
This is the key feature which you must keep in the front of your mind.
How many people who do NOT belong to this site come here to read anything?
Stop and think of it.
Think of your last search. Did you come across an item on a writing site? Or were you herded into Wikipedia or some other site which Google links with?
I did a searching of ‘watching television online’ and went through eight pages and not one is writing on any writing site. Not one.
Take the title of an article you wrote here and put that into a Google and see if your item turns up.
It won’t.
This means that the only hits and views that a writing site gets are from members of that writing site.
This means that the revenue earned by the witing site via advertisements is much less than it would be in 2010 because the site gets that much less hits.
There was a time items published on hubpages came up as often as a wikipedia entry. Now? You won’t find them, unless if they are on page 100.
This is why writing sites are not what they used to be. This was done by the infamous ‘do no evil’ Google which has taken money out of the pockets of every person who writes on line.
This is why many sites now pay very badly, many have stopped paying, many go down, and others make publishing a bit harder.
There was a time, and I never do get tired of repeating it, that one viral item getting 10k hits meant the writer would get $100.
And in those days, many writers, cumulatively, getting 5k hits there, 2k hits here, 340 hits over there… on and on could actually (esp. if they lived in a 3rd or 4th world country) support themselves by online writing.
Today, getting $10 every other month is the best one can expect.
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Though very depressing, your post sums up the situation to a tee. Writers are forced to spend longer hours on the keyboard and generally good and bad writers are earning the same amount because a lot more depends on how active you are on social media than how well ranked an article is on search engines.
I learned of many writing sites via a search which led me to an article and I joined the site. Now... no one knows this article exists unless they are members of this site.
I have written on many sites even on my personal blogs English poetry Forum and Urdu Poetry Forum but a lot scamming I find on my name other people pus their own name with my name because my name if ranked in google I have written thousands of articles.
Scammers do what they can but what can I do in this matter? We must have to take steps or make any solid policy to avoid scammers.
You receive an e-mail that looks like it came from your bank, warning you about identity theft and asking that you log in and verify your account information. The message says that if you don't take action immediately, your account will be terminated.
What actually happens: Even though the e-mail looks like the real deal, complete with authentic logos and working Web links, it's a clever fake. The Web site where you're told to enter your account information is also bogus. In some instances, really smart phishers direct you to the genuine Web site, then pop up a window over the site that captures your personal information.
The risk: Your account information will be sold to criminals, who'll use it to ruin your credit and drain your account. According to Gartner, phishing scammers took consumers (and their banks, who had to cover the charges) for $1.2 billion in 2003.
The letter says the scammers are seeking an accomplice who will transfer the funds into their account for a cut of the total--usually around 30 percent. You'll be asked to travel overseas to meet with the scammers and complete the necessary paperwork. But before the transaction can be finalized, you must pay thousands of dollars in "taxes," "attorney costs," "bribes," or other advance fees.