📌 Overview
Publishers often ask us three related questions: why a payout still shows as pending, why a site was rejected or shows a lower Domain Authority (DA) than expected, and how to remove inactive sites or activate new ones. This article explains what usually causes each situation and what you can do before contacting us.
⏳ Why Is My Payout Still Pending?
A payout for a published article, such as 'DIY Landscaping vs Hiring Landscaping Contractors', is not released the moment you submit the content. Pending usually means one or more checks are still open. Common reasons include:
- Content is not yet verified: The article must be live on your site at the agreed URL and match the approved content and links.
- Site is inactive or not approved: Payouts are tied to an active, approved site. If the site was rejected or deactivated, related payouts may stay on hold.
- Quality review is in progress: Articles may be reviewed for formatting, link placement, and guideline compliance before payment is released.
- Missing payment details: Incomplete or outdated payout information can delay processing.
- Processing cycle: Approved payouts are released in batches, so there can be a short wait after approval.
✅ What to Check Before Contacting Us
- Open the order and confirm the article is published and the live URL is correct.
- Confirm the article is publicly accessible and not set to draft, private, or noindex.
- Make sure the links and anchor text match the order exactly.
- Check that the site tied to the order shows as active and approved in your account.
- Review your payout details for accuracy.
If all of these look correct and the payout is still pending, our team can review the order directly.
📊 Why Does My Site Show a Lower DA Than Expected?
You may see a different DA on your site than you see in another tool. For example, a site might appear as DA 42 elsewhere but DA 8 in our platform. This can happen for several reasons:
- Different data sources: Authority scores come from different providers, and each uses its own methods. Scores for the same domain can differ.
- Update timing: Metrics are refreshed on a schedule. A recent change may not appear in our data yet.
- Domain version differences: Metrics can vary between the www and non-www versions, or between the root domain and a subdomain.
- Redirects or ownership changes: If a domain was recently redirected, rebuilt, or transferred, its metrics may reset or be recalculated.
- Very new or low-link profile: Sites with few backlinks tend to show low scores until more data is collected.
The score shown in the platform is the one used for approval decisions, so a lower value there can affect whether a site is accepted.
🚫 Why Was My Site Rejected?
Sites are reviewed against quality standards before they can accept orders. The most common reasons for rejection are:
- Authority or traffic metrics below the required minimum.
- Little or no original content, or content that looks thin or auto-generated.
- A site that is unreachable, blocks crawlers, or is under construction.
- Heavy ads, spammy outbound links, or off-topic content.
- Duplicate submissions of the same domain.
🔧 How to Improve Your Chances of Approval
- Make sure your site loads reliably and is open to search engine crawlers.
- Publish a healthy amount of original, useful content on clear topics.
- Remove spammy links, excessive ads, and unrelated content.
- Build your backlink profile over time so your authority metrics can grow.
- Wait for your metrics to refresh, then ask for a re-review if your numbers have improved.
🗑️ Removing Inactive Sites and Activating New Ones
If your account lists sites you no longer use, or you have new sites you want to start receiving orders, here is how to prepare:
- For removal: Make a list of the exact domains you want removed and confirm they have no open or pending orders. Orders in progress may need to be completed or resolved first.
- For activation: Make sure each new site is submitted, loads correctly, and meets the quality standards above. Activation depends on the site passing review.
Removal and activation requests are handled by our team, so send us the full domain list in one message to speed things up.
📝 What to Include When You Reach Out
Having these details ready helps us resolve your request faster:
- The article title and order ID for any pending payout.
- The live URL of the published article.
- The domain names affected, with the DA you see in our platform and the DA you see elsewhere, if they differ.
- The domains you want removed and the domains you want activated.
- Any rejection message you received.
💬 Need More Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.