I think people at WA underestimate the value of passive niche sites. After I get 30 posts in my new site, I will consider which one should be an authority site and which one should be passive. I can imagine adding 2 or 3 new passive sites every year.

i dont underestimate that at all. In fact, 2017 I built a niche site every month, however, I didnt stop posting on the established sites, I maintained 1x post per week.

How are these preforming today?

I have ranked and monetized 35% of these (the earlier sites), and the rest are coming along nicely.

Is this passive?

Not by any means.

Thanks!

You're very welcome.

2 reasons.

A. I am following the advice of a group which teaches to start a site with 30 posts. After that start a second site with 30 posts. Now that the first site has matured in the search rankings, go back to building the first site. It probably makes more sense when they explain it directly.

B. I was getting burned out on my first topic, but I wanted to keep writing about something.

I would question the logic behind point A as Google loves freshness and engagement. Letting it sit idle while you write for another site does the complete opposite.

Point B I totally understand, but could've been avoided with better niche research. Perhaps setting site A to curating content instead to boost relevance and keep freshness up.