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The Secret To A HubScore Of 100

Updated on January 4, 2009

In my Hal's Not-So-Secret Method To Writing Successful Hubs, I explain that "I have never been able to figure out why one hub with 500 views and 3 comments gets 100 and another with 10,000 views and 60 comments in the same time span struggles to get 80" and, yes, that is unfortunately still the case. No, I have not reached any mind-expanding satori epiphany and can now elucidate upon its intricacies: If I had as much as a clue as to the Brobdingnagian and Draconian workings of the infernal HubScore Enigma Machine, I'd have 659 Hubs all scoring 100 and the nice people at Hubpage Central would have to rename Best Hubs as Hal Hubs.

However, I've had a total of seven Hubs score 100 at one time, so I guess I'd better come up with something to justify the title of "The Secret To A HubScore Of 100."

OK, here is the secret: I know where all the skeletons are buried on Minna Street and I'm blackmailing the folks at Hub.

Oh, alright, no, that's not the secret, although being half Sicilian and half Neapolitan, I'm pretty sure that if there are any skeletons buried around there, some of my paisanos are certainly implicated.

What the Hubs that regularly score 100 seem to have in common over and above the timeliness aspect I've just outlined in Writing Hubs With Legs, is rather surprisingly not:

  • Commercial Keywords
  • Level of Information
  • Word Length
  • High Controversy
  • Number of Comments
  • Number of Photos or Videos

or anything else that would seem by logical deduction to have some measure of impact.

I have no respect for keywords in any way, shape, or form, and refuse to write commercialized pap for the purposes of tricking readers into clicking on ads or other scammy links. The amount and presentation of information seems to be a non-factor, as I've had technically simple as well as complex Hubs hit the magic 100 mark. I also have Hubs with comments in the hundreds which never reach three figures, while some of my century mark Hubs have a mere handful of comments.

Instead, the key to the Big One Oh Oh seems to be to incorporate information in the Hub that doesn't seem to be available in a readily accessible and reasonably concise form anywhere else, and which doesn't upset too many people.

Many of my extremely controversial Hubs have attracted countless thousands of page views but have never bubbled above the 90 or so mark. That has to be due to the number of thoroughly teed off enthusiast evangelists of this thing or another who take exception to my demolishing their castle in the air, and thus hit the Rate It Down button a few thousand times.

Therefore, you may (or may not... it all depends on whether I have penetrated the innards of the Hubscoring secrethood properly) stand a better chance at reaching that pinnacle of Hubdom, the magical, mystical one hundred if you provide unique, clear, relevant, timeless Hubs which are not overly controversial.

Let me know how you make out!

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    • countrywomen profile image

      countrywomen 8 years ago from Washington, USA

      Hal- Learned something new today. Will try to keep these things in mind when I write my next hub. Thanks for this nice information.

    • Christoph Reilly profile image

      Christoph Reilly 8 years ago from St. Louis

      This is the most controversial thing you've ever written. It's doomed!

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      countrywomen, I hope it helps, but keep in mind that it's pretty well all guesswork. The HubScore Algorithm is a better kept secret than the Coca Cola Formula! :)

      Christoph Reilly, yeah, you're right... I think I have to transplant this Hub into a Lens over at the Squid! :)

    • Netters profile image

      Netters 8 years ago from Land of Enchantment - NM

      I like your honesty! I enjoy your writing, makes me giggle. Thank you.

    • needful things profile image

      needful things 8 years ago from Poland

      Hahaha... my hubs are struggling... 1 score point at a time.

    • Elena. profile image

      Elena. 8 years ago from Madrid

      Hello Hal!  I'm coming from another hub of yours, "Hal's Not-So-Secret Method To Writing Successful Hubs" where you "explained" how Hubscore works, and I did think about the Coca Cola formula!  Laugh! This was lots of fun to read, thank you!

    • Amanda Severn profile image

      Amanda Severn 8 years ago from UK

      So that's it then. Just write something useful and intelligent in proper English, then hope for the best! Ho hum, I was hoping that you were going to include a piece of magic code to cut and paste at the very least! (Only joking!) Seriously though, I'll know I'm on the right track when I eventually get a hubscore of 100. It's something to aspire to!

    • Mike the salesman profile image

      Mike the salesman 8 years ago from birmingham alabama/sherwood oregon

      good points Hal.. But I am with you, id rather write what I feel, and take my 79 or 80! Thanks, Mike

    • Wayne Litchford profile image

      Wayne Litchford 8 years ago from Nashville, TN

      Your hub is very funny, yet insightful. I have read hubs with controversial comments that go on and on with the objective, it seems, to be more controversial that the last. This always seemed a waste of time to me. I'm glad to know others feel the same way.

    • Bruce Elkin profile image

      Bruce Elkin 8 years ago from Victoria, BC Canada

      Thanks, Hal. I agree that writing good stuff, without worrying about scores or selling is probaby the secret to doing both. Good to have it reinforced here. Much appreciated!

    • Rik Ravado profile image

      Rik Ravado 8 years ago from England

      Hal

      I am a great fan and I love your prose and your razor-sharp mind BUT ...

      I notice this Hub currently has a score of SIXTY THREE (63). Its like someone giving a presentation on fashion turning up in an old boiler suit. The 63 would look bad on most people but some how you can carry it off. Well Done!

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      Netters, I'm nothing if not honest, and that usually gets me a black eye! :)

      needful things, as long as your Hubs are heading UP, then everything is fine! :)

      Elena, it has long been rumored that the reason that the Coca Cola formula is so secret is that it uses coca leaf. I can at least assure you that the HubScore formula is 100% cocaine free! :)

      Amanda Severn, yes, I'm sorry that I neglected to include the magic code. Here are the instructions for those gullible enough to go through with it:

      1) Make sure your Visa or Mastercard has a minimum of $5,000 credit available.

      2) Go to www.givehalallyourmoney.com

      3) Click on the icon which shows a fat, laughing Hal.

      4) Enter your credit card information, including the expiry date, CVV code, plus upload any photos of young lovelies in lingerie which might be hanging around your hard drive.

      5) You'll now be taken to a page where you will be able to cut and paste the secret code. You can place this code on your website's html and every new visitor will be able to see your site with a large flashing superimposed line that reads THE OWNER OF THIS WEBSITE IS AN IDIOT!

      :)

      Mike the salesman, there's nothing wrong with an 80. I have a whole whack of Hubs I've written that I had very high hopes for which never broke the Big Eight Oh!

      Wayne Litchford, as you may know, I was the subject of death threats from a bunch of sorry loser twits who took offense to my opposition to sanding down CPUs with soapy water. There was more controversy there than probably all the rest of my Hubs put together, but that Hub never reached 100.

      Bruce Elkin, I truly do believe that If You Write It (Well), They Will Come! :)

      Rik Ravado, Rome wasn't built in a day, and HubScores aren't Instant, Just Add Water. I'm already up to a stellar, amazing, incredible, stratospheric 65 as I write this! Could the magic SEVENTY be far away? Besides, I'm perfectly happy since even 65 is higher than my IQ! :)

    • Sakshi Saini profile image

      Sakshi Saini 8 years ago from India

      if this is true...then why are you lying on 96???

      yy not 100???

      lolzzzz

    • sean.rutger profile image

      sean.rutger 8 years ago from USA

      Hal, that's good advice for hub authors. It would be great if everyone tried to follow those guidelines. I'm new to the hubpages community, so this was a good read at a good time for me. I hope you're right about the scoring system!

    • MarcNorris profile image

      MarcNorris 8 years ago from Canada

      I have been having some frustrations with respect to figuring out why one hub gets tons of traffic and has a poor hubscore, but another with a couple of visits does extremely well.

      You have clarified some things for me yet the formula behind attaining a specific hubscore is still a bit of a mystery - guess I will just have to make more hubs, experiment and analyze the results.

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      Sakshi Saini, if you're referring to my IQ, I couldn't reach 100 if I was conjoined twins! :)

      sean.rutger, fortunately the HubScoring system has been refined to the point where much of the commercialized and self-serving trash is severely penalized, just as it should be. I hope I'm right about the scoring system too, but as I said, its internal workings are still shrouded in mystery! :)

      MarcNorris, as Darkside points out in his seminal Hub on HubScores, there are "randomizers" which ensure that even the hardest won victory is not constant. I have Hubs jump up and down between 100 and the low 90s on a daily, if not hourly basis, and completely exclusive of any comment additions or pretty well anything at all that should make a difference. Keep experimenting and let me know if you come up with the Great HubSecret Decoder Ring! :)

    • kenderso profile image

      kenderso 8 years ago from Phoenix

      Thanks for the great information and secret to success on HubPages/

    • mcarolyn profile image

      mcarolyn 8 years ago from Philippines

      I've learned something new again today! Many thanks for this information. My hubs usually scored less than 50...

    • rockinjoe profile image

      Joseph Addams 8 years ago from Standing right behind you!

      Hal, you're a friggin' genius! If I had half your brain, I'd be dangerous!

    • Cris A profile image

      Cris A 8 years ago from Manila, Philippines

      I had a hub which scored a 100 and went to the top spots of both the Hot Hubs and Best Hubs - sadly it was all too fleeting! Anyway I still don't know what made that hub shoot up to that level aside from the comments. Thanks for the info :D

    • shubbell profile image

      shubbell 8 years ago from New Orleans, La, USA

      As a newbie to Hub Pages I have to say that this is the best information I have come across. It's just plain common sense and will make Hub Pages a better place to hang out in the long run.

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      kenderso, thank you very much, but keep in mind that the secret isn't so secret and it certainly isn't guaranteed! Like almost everything else in writing, you have to buckshot HubPages.

      mcarolyn, best of luck on your way to the big 100! :)

      rockinjoe, half of my brain would be one side of a single cell that's been sliced into two. I don't think it would do you any good. However, I AM dangerous, but that's only because of my body odor. :)

      Cris A, I doubt that I've ever had a 100 Hub in the morning stay that way until evening. The algorithm likes to keep those scores a-bubblin'! :)

      shubbell, thanks, and keep on (s)hubbin! :)

    • coffeefreak profile image

      coffeefreak 8 years ago

      Thank you for the tips.

    • profile image

      pgrundy 8 years ago

      LOL! I once saw a job posted at Elance that required more keywords incorporated into the copy than there were words in the copy--I sh#t you not! LOL! I won't write that crap either.

      I write what is on my mind at HP and don't really care how it gets rated. I think at some point all writers have to learn to not care what people think--you have to kind of care, but then let it go once you're done, otherwise you just produce garbage.

    • Rob Jundt profile image

      Rob Jundt 8 years ago from Midwest USA

      Sounds good to me. Having something truly unique, yet informative, will always be valuable. Solid advice from a solid hubber.

    • ThePioneer21 profile image

      ThePioneer21 8 years ago from Liverpool

      I'll be taking your tips into consideration.... Looking forward to reading your other work :)

    • paul2037 profile image

      paul2037 8 years ago from NJ

      If I need to use proper english I guess I will never see a hub score of 100...but if a "C" student can be president does it really matter.

      What if it's all just random and they do just to mess with our minds?.....

      I do want to test the information not found any place theory......I just have to find that information and then write about it.....hmmm now where can I find some info no one else has......

    • Jennifer Bhala profile image

      Jennifer Bhala 8 years ago from Upstate New York

      I only just published my first ever hubs today. Wish I read this hub first. Hopefully my information will reach the 100 mark. Thanks for the heads up.

    • Woody Marx profile image

      Woody Marx 8 years ago from Ontario, Canada

      Hal, your readers might like to know I have read this Hub carefully and using my U.C.R.T.H.W.A.N.O.C. device (Provide Unique, Clear,Relevant, Timeless Hubs Which Are Not Overly Controversial) which I invented in the basement in my laboratory, have anlayzed your own Hub and found it to be lacking in U.C. and have a score of 100% in all other factors.

      Therefore if you simply adjust the U.C. of this Hub, to rachet up those two features, it will go to 100%.

      To do this I suggest you make it more unique (maybe write a sentence of it in latin?) and also more concise (maybe add a bulleted list or a mathematical formula?) and then it will have 100% in all sections, according to my machine.

      Presently I am trying to get my machine to OUTput Hubs as well as analyze them, and then I will be able to move from Guelph to Cancun, while my machine writes the Hubs for me--all of which will be 100% I might add!

      ;)

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      coffeefreak, Rob Jundt, ThePioneer21, Spa, thanks for the kind words!

      pgrundy, I've soooooooooooooo given up on Elance. I'm seriously starting to think that it's a big "boy's club" and am even "strongly suspecting" that more than a handful of the offers on the site are completely faked, just to suck people into paying their monthly dues. It certainly doesn't surprise me that they would ask for, say, 1000 keywords in an 800 word article. All you need to do to satisfy those requirements is to write in multiplex form. Try quantum writing in multiple universes too. That should work fine. :)

      paul2037, well, proper English is considered (by the powers vested in me by me) as a very necessary prerequisite for proper Hubbing, but I can most certainly confirm that there are quite powerful randomizers in the HubScore algorithm. As for the information not found anywhere else, you would actually be surprised when you begin to research it, at how many aspects of the world are not covered on the net to any great extent. The spectrum of human knowledge is extremely wide!

      Jennifer Bhala, go get that century mark! Keep up the good Hubbin'!

      Woody Marx, first of all you have to recognize that any Hubber from Southern Ontario will be automatically penalized by at least 10% of HubScore due to the fact that the rest of the world is envious that you guys get to eat delicious and delectable Harvey's burgers whenever you want, while the rest of us have to munch on disgustoburgers from BK, MickeyDee's, etc. However, if you can get out of the Harvey Hole, I believe that your UCRTHWANOC device will be very successful, and my attorneys will be in contact with you shortly to arrive at a mutually satisfactory intellectual property licensing agreement. I have instructed them that due to your fellow Canuckianism, let alone your burgerization, the initial payment should be held to the smallest reasonable amount, in this case $100 million dollars, U.S., and preferably paid in gold bullion... I don't trust paper in this economy! :)

    • CarpetDiem profile image

      CarpetDiem 8 years ago from Southern California

      hi Hal,

      Sakshi already alluded to this above, but it you know the secret to getting a hubscore of 100, why is this hub a "92"? :) (just teasing...)

      I thought maybe the secret was to put a sentence with words beyond my comprehension like "I have not reached any mind-expanding satori epiphany and can now elucidate upon its intricacies"

      I'm going to try that on my next hub! :) ~ Steve

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      CarpetDiem, the reason this Hub is at 92 is to commemorate my age. As for the $20 words, all it takes is an online thesaurus and a commodious proficiency in didactic and pedantic obfuscation... and remember... Tempus Rugit!

    • Shirley Anderson profile image

      Shirley Anderson 8 years ago from Ontario, Canada

      Look Hal, quick - your hubscore's at 100! Every time that happens to me, it never sticks around very long.

      I didn't come and read this hub the other day because I thought that I had read it before. Either my delusions are kicking up or you deleted my delightful (I'm sure) comment. I have a feeling it's me.

      I read the comments that you and Pam exchanged re Elance. It has baffled my mind why anyone gets involved with them and others like them. Guess having a background in the print world makes me an online fuddy-duddy or something. I've peeked into those sites and they're sickening. It breaks my little writer's heart.

      In summation....great article (as if it would be anything else!) that I'm sure will help a lot of people, especially those who are new to all of this.

    • profile image

      Erick Smart 8 years ago

      Really for the most part these people seem to have catchy titles to well written articles that keep your attention. I have to admit I have a short attention span. Your title grabbed me, the talk of mafia type action kept me (and made me giggle as well as scheme), and then I just had to stick around to put in my two cents.

    • Chris V G profile image

      Chris V G 8 years ago

      Thanks for clarifying this mystery for me. I've new to "Hubbing" and couldn't figure out this score.....I know how to improve now

    • Laila Rajaratnam profile image

      Laila Rajaratnam 8 years ago from India

      Hal, thanks for letting us on to the secret! I particularly enjoyed your magic code to Amanda Severn..LOL!

    • Houellebecq profile image

      Houellebecq 8 years ago from Newfoundland

      Thanks Hal, I'll try to keep these things in mind :)

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      Shirley Anderson, wow, I missed it! We hit the big C mark and I must have been sleeping! Oh well, it goes to show how tenuous is the world of the HubScore! I not only have never deleted any of your comments as they are all delightful, but I never would, so maybe it was the site itself having a HubBurp. I couldn't agree more on Elance. Both you and I come from the print world (wow, actually publishing words on paper... what a quaint concept...) and to see the appalling level of mercantilism where writers are treated like slaves at the auction (and poorly paid ones at that) breaks my heart too!

      Erick Smart, I'll be happy to discuss the Mafia. Just check out the Hub I've just written:

      https://hubpages.com/entertainment/My-Childhood-Fr...

      Chris V G, I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you'll master the scoring far better than I, since in the final analysis, it still remains a mystery to me! :)

      Laila Rajaratnam, by all means, if you want to donate a few thousand to the Hal Organization For The Advancement Of Secret Codes, don't let me stop you! :)

      Houellebecq, good luck and good Hubbin'!

    • profile image

      newsworthy 8 years ago

      After long nights of being on the hubpages prowl - once til 5am; I needed these suggestions. Truly, you must be the Tom of cats.

    • Shirley Anderson profile image

      Shirley Anderson 8 years ago from Ontario, Canada

      Thanks, Hal, you sweetie. I'm sure you'll hit the 100 mark again, probably about a million times.

      You seem very adept at writing quality while appeasing the SE's. I admire that, all the more because I have not adjusted to the world of SEO as well. However, once I get over it and stop whining, I'm going to forget about all the crap I've been churning out for the past year and start 'writing' again.

      Thanks for being a great example and shining source of hope for me. :)

    • Lgali profile image

      Lgali 8 years ago

      very good advice

    • Hal Licino profile image
      Author

      Hal Licino 8 years ago from Toronto

      newsworthy, I work at 5 am as well, but that's the beginning of my day. Since I'm one of those middle-aged weirdoes who is in bed sleeping no later than 10 pm, I can barely imagine what it must be like to actually see 5 am from the other side! :)

      Shirley Anderson, although it is much appreciated, please refrain from compliments such as these. They have swelled my head to the extent that it is now rubbing on the ceiling and the "popcorn" texture is rubbing off what's left of my hair! :)

      Lgali, thanks!

    • Shirley Anderson profile image

      Shirley Anderson 8 years ago from Ontario, Canada

      LOL, Hal. I'm a visualizer...I laughed heartily at your response, still am. Sorry about the stucco burn!

    • heart4theword profile image

      heart4theword 7 years ago from hub

      Is this figure right, you have 1956 hubs you've written? If this is true, WOW, my hats off to you:)

    • Millionaire Tips profile image

      Shasta Matova 4 years ago from USA

      Congratulations on 7 hubs oat 100. That is an amazing feat!

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