How to Improve the Quality of an Article

Why Does Quality Correlate With Success?

Quality is important on HubPages for several reasons:

• Quality is a huge predictor of success (traffic, earnings, impact, etc.) over time.
• A minimum quality standard must be met in order for an article to be Featured on HubPages.
• High-quality work can improve your online reputation and bolster readership (while low-quality work does the opposite).

We therefore recommend doing regular content maintenance and updating your articles periodically to improve them and ensure they follow current online writing standards.

Simple Ways to Improve Your Article

A few small fixes can go a long way. Here are a few simple but impactful ways to boost the quality of your article.

Make Sure That Your Title Is Short and Descriptive

It's also a good idea to make sure it matches common search queries people might use to find information via Google or other search engines. (More on creating good titles can be found in our guide to creating successful, search-friendly titles.)

Provide Information That Cannot Be Found Elsewhere Online

Consider providing unique expertise, pro tips, rare data and analysis, and information that is not already extensively shared via existing online resources.

Present Concrete Facts, Figures, and Data

Referencing and linking back to trusted sources and providing detailed, insightful analyses rather than "common sense" and anecdotes add authority and trustworthiness to your content.

Provide a Pleasant Reading Experience

• Utilize attractive, subject-appropriate, high-quality media.
• Break up text into multiple Text Capsules with descriptive subheadings.
• Include bulleted lists.
• Provide helpful summaries and highlights.

Utilize a Wide Variety of Capsules

Where appropriate, present your information using specialized capsules.

• Use Map Capsules to provide context to historical accounts.
• Use Table Capsules to summarize features, cautions, timetables, prices, and recommendations.
• Use Ratings Capsules to allow readers to rate recipes, products, services, and places.
• Use Photo Capsules to illustrate your points and provide visual examples.
• Use Video Capsules to feature supplementary footage with additional information or instruction.

Make an Effort to Include Relevant Images

Including images can bring additional context, instruction, information, legitimacy, and visual allure to your article while also encouraging visitors to share your article via visually based social media sites like Pinterest. Ideally, use your own personal photos; if you use others' images, be sure to respect copyright law and attribute public domain, royalty-free, and creative commons images properly.

Edit Your Text (or Have Someone Else Edit It)

It's important to address any grammar/spelling issues in your article so that it comes across as trustworthy and professional

Avoid Unrelated Text, Links, and Products

Ensure that all of the content in your article is tightly on-topic and relevant to what your reader has searched for.

More Resources You Can Use

Utilize our quality-rating guidelines as a helpful reference point. These are the very same criteria used by the people who rate your articles via the quality-assessment process. We recommend shooting for an 8+ to ensure your article is of very high quality.

You can also review our guide to the eight elements of a stellar article to learn more about the common characteristics of the most successful articles.