Article Score : How is it calculated?

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And it does add one more article to my target of 50 (then 100), when I will get a 10% (then 8.33%) increase in the percentage of times that my adsense ads are shown. Anyway, on with the show!

At the time of writing (02/12/2012) there were 708 articles with an article score of 100. It is a toss-up which article first achieved this accolade. It was either 'Highest Mountains' by @Hans or the self-promotional whizzography 'Chef Keem - who the hell is he?' by, you guessed it, @Chefkeem. Both being dated 05/10/2012. They are now shown on one of the last few pages for articles with a 100 score within 'Popular Pages'.

I state these facts for the simple expedient of showing that obtaining a 'perfect' page score does not mean that you will head the list for any length of time. As new articles reach the magic number, they may too be shown at number 1 (not guaranteed, but at least they will show high in the list).

Whether or not page scores are relevant (see 'Article Scores - Relevant or Irrelevant?') they are created, and can be seen. Those that visit us, and have had exposure to similar mechanisms at places such as Hubpages, will know of their existence, and likely take some measure of comfort in the fact that those articles with a high score will be 'better' than those with a low score.

That said, where do you find the scores your articles have achieved?

There are two places:

1. Authors > You 
   That is = go to the 'authors' tab and then access your profile
   or
   In the search box, pick 'author' from the drop-down menu, then type in your 'username', press enter, then click on either your avatar or the URL link on your username
   or 
   click on your avatar, anywhere on Wizzley that it appears.
   This gets you to the page shown opposite (well your equivalent page, that is). 
   The little boxed number at the top left of your article thumbnail is the 'article score'. You will be able to see them all there.
   
   
2. Click your username on the links bar at the top of the screen. Then click on 'My Pages'. This will take you to your page-stats page, where the 'Rank' column shows the article score as a green bar which, when you hover over it, shows the score as a percentage (see screenshot).

I have shown a subset of my stats in the screenshot, so that you can see the data on which I base my calculations for 'Author Score' below.

                                                 So, what are the determinants for 'Page score'?

                                                                    In no particular order:

The next rating will be calculated at day's end (whatever that may mean). The score does not increase above 60 (60%) at this point. It rises to this level according to criteria as detailed below. At following day's end (or maybe it is day's beginning), further iterations of the calculation algorithm take place - taking the score through 70, 80 and then, I believe, in smaller increments up to 100 (100%). That is if certain criteria are met.

At this stage, early in the cycle, page age is a major player. After several days it plays a lesser and then insignificant part in the calculation.

Throughout the process of rising from 50 to 100, page-views plays its part. I have not had sufficient data to determine the exact cut-off point in the number of 'customers' per day (or overall) that influences whether the page rank rises, falls, or stays static. To date none of my articles has fallen below the 50 mark.

Should your article receive sufficient page views it will rise to 60 (60%) - and stay there (possibly for as long as your page views stay above a certain number each day [or other period]). That is unless your article gains 'likes' and/or comments (see below).

Since page-views is what you are ultimately after anyway, without which you have no hope of earning sufficient income to make writing on-line worthwhile, this is the area that you should concentrate on.

Again from the limited data on which I have to base my estimations, it would seem that each comment made on an article will have a beneficial impact on the article score. I have a suspicion, just a suspicion at the moment, that a comment from a reader has a greater impact on the page score than does a reply from oneself.

That said, my initial calculations show that, all other factors being equal, a comment is worth around 2.5 to 3 (%) each. So, if an article obtains 14 comments incoming, and the visitor stats stack up, the article will achieve a 100 within 6 days, should those comments arrive within that time-span.

If the author answers incoming comments, then I surmise that an article would need around 8 incoming comments to achieve the same level, in the same time-frame.

This of course assumes that there is no limiting factor placed on the relevant criteria, such as 'likes' (see below). It may be that if the article does not receive any 'likes', then the figures above may be optimistic.

As one would expect, votes from readers have the most influence over the determination of quality for an article. It is the basis on which search engine results are partially/predominantly based. Incoming links to an article, something to which you should pay particular attention, being an indication of peer approval.

This is borne out by the data I have to hand. I estimate that a 'like', something one is unable to do for one's own offerings, is worth around 3 times that which a comment is allocated. A simple calculation will tell you that this is around 8 to 9 (8% to 9%), that is again, all things being equal on the visitor stats front.

Again, it may be that there is a limitation on this and that it relies partially on there also being comments.

• An article must receive a quantity of visits (as yet undetermined) before it rises above a score of 50, to 60.
• Age of page has an effect, in that it is a limiting factor in the first stage of any calculations.
• Quantity of visits alone will only enhance the score by 10 (10%), from the base of 50.
• Each comment received by an article will boost the rank by approximately 3 (3%), with the proviso, as above.
• Each 'like' will increase the score by 9 (9%), with the previously stated proviso.

My conclusion, therefore, is that any article receiving sufficient page-views, comments and 'likes' will achieve a score of 100. This may be achieved in a minimum of 6 days (the page age limiting factor). The article would need to obtain at least 5 likes, or at least 14 comments, if not in combination, to achieve an author score of 100. In combination, one needs to combine (C x 3) + (L x 9) to make 40 or more (that is 100, the target, minus 50, the start point, minus 10, the page-view factor).

                         May your angst [.........about 'Article Score'.........] be with you!