Is this Hub More Trouble than It's Worth?

1. 96

   EricDockettposted 10 years ago

   About a month ago I wrote a Hub about pyramids, those big things in Egypt.  It hasn't done nearly as well as I thought it would.  I took a closer look at it today and it had a warning message on the top of it, that my Hub appears to be about pyramid schemes and may be moderated.  No action was taken against it, but it MAY be moderated, said the message.
   
   Well, I'm wasn't too concerned about that, because I figured if it was ever moderated I'd email our kind staff members here at HP and tell them my Hub is actually about pyramids and aliens and ancient gods and NOT about shady money-making schemes and we'd all have a good laugh.
   
   But on the other hand, then I started piecing together a couple of other issues.  One, that this Hub seems to be nowhere to be found for its keywords in the SERPs, though I thought it would do much better based on my keyword research.  Secondly, another Hub, which had been doing really well, dropped like a rock in the SERPs once I published and linked to this pyramid one. 
   
   So . . . maybe Google thinks my Hub is about something dodgy too?  I'm really not sure how "Did Aliens Build the Pyramids?" could be mistaken for something like that, but I'd imagine its just words that hit a filter that trigger this stuff.
   
   I don't know what to do with his Hub.  I deleted a couple of links that were to sites that were not authority sites, though they were informative and there was nothing wrong with them.  I'm thinking about deleting it altogether.
   
   Anyone have any advice on how to keep an innocent Hub from looking like a trouble maker?

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   1. 83

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Eric - I'm no expert, but maybe you could add the word "Egyptian" to the title and in a few other places so Google (or HP?) won't filter it simply by the word "Pyramid" and think you're promoting a scheme?  Although I am not sure why an actual pyramiding site would advertise itself that way.  Sigh.
      
      It looks like it's an interesting and valuable hub, so don't lose heart!

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      1. 96

         EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Good idea.  I changed the title and some of the text to make it more clear exactly which pyramid I'm talking about.  It can't hurt, I don't think.
         
         Thanks Marcy.

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         1. 83

            Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I had a chance to go back and read the hub more thoroughly - it's a great piece - I hope you're able to satisfy the bots that flagged it!

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               EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks Marcy. I may be worried for nothing.

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   2. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think you're right to link the two.  After all, the reason HubPages doesn't allow Hubs about pyramid schemes is that Google will penalize them.  If HubPages' filters are misinterpreting your Hub, there's a good chance Google's filters are too.  Marcy's idea of adding references to Egypt is a good one, I think .

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      1. 96

         EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Well, I've changed the title and the keywords in my summary and some of my image text, and there are keywords in my H2s like "Egypt", "Egyptian", "Sumerian"  etc.  I went through and got rid of words that could be linked to money  like "credit" and "account" and even "prosperous".  I can't imagine what else I can do to make it clear what this Hub is about.
         
         Hope I don't have to go through and change the word "Pyramid" to "big pointy stone building"!

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         1. 93

            wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            The funny (and sad) thing is that no one promoting a pyramid scheme is going to call it that.  So that particular word should probably NOT be on the proscribed list anyway unless the critics have overloaded the subject too badly.

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            WriteAngledposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Well you could "talk like an Egyptian" and change it to MR 

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   3. 71

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Eric.  Thanks for the feedback.
      Thanks to the info you provided, we revised the filter, so that is hopefully reduces the false positive warnings for Hubs about Egyptian pyramids.

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      1. 96

         EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Matthew.  I noticed the warning is gone from the Hub.  All is well, hopefully.

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2. 81

   rebthomasposted 10 years ago

   Great suggestion Marcy!!

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3. 92

   SpaceShantyposted 10 years ago

   I wrote a hub about dealing with debt and payday loans which got a couple of warnings and I sent an email to hubpages and they said as long as it wasn't promoting payday loans or affiliate stuff to just ignore the warnings.  I think the same applies to your hub, if it is not about pyramid schemes just ignore the warnings.

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4. 51

   Mikes Homeposted 10 years ago

   Can you contact a moderator for this site and get an explanation for this?   Not much sense using a website that may use a bot of some kind to sensor your site without even a human overseeing it and basing decisions on common sense  - not an algorithm in my opinion.

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   1. 96

      EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My hub was not censored and I appreciate the warning from HP when my content may be in danger. I just worry what G thinks.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The point is, Adsense uses automated robots too, and you won't earn a cent if the Adsense robots have a problem with what you've written - in fact you could even lose your Adsense account altogether.  So it makes a lot of sense for HubPages to use the same kind of robots, to safeguard all our Adsense accounts.

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5. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 10 years ago

   Same thing happened to my hubs about matrices; they got the "this hub appears to be about multi-level marketing" warning.  It was a long time ago, but I think I emailed the help staff to manually lift the moderation warning and then I loaded the hubs with more math words.  I checked them just now and none of them have the warning, so that fix must have worked. 
   
   I'm not sure if HP moderation warnings affect an article's visibility in Google search, but it couldn't hurt to get the warning removed. I second Marcy's suggestion to stick more Egypt-related words in there. And also email the help/moderation team.

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6. 87

   Bill Yovinoposted 10 years ago

   It's well known in historical and possibly scientific circles, that ancient aliens were accomplished scammers and legendary promoters of pyramid schemes. So much in fact, that they decided to build actual pyramids in order to put a more positive spin on their primary business and confuse future generations. Hubpages and Google are quite right in frowning upon your Hub. How could you, with clear conscience, stoop so low as to devote an entire Hub to the nefarious and dubious investment strategies espoused by these prolific provocateurs, purveyors, and practitioners of pyramid and Ponzi propositions? I for one, am glad to have these arbiters of good taste looking out for our best interests.

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   1. 89

      Rock_njposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Funny!  :-)

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         Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         That was indeed funny - and we need a few laughs these days!

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            Rock_njposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I had a Hub flagged and unpublshed due to a HP bot thinking it may be about Forex because it discussed options trading on the CBOE, where Forex options are also traded.  I had to laugh about that convoluted connection.  Don't worry be happy! :-)

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   2. 96

      EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      "Prolific provocateurs, purveyors, and practitioners of pyramid and Ponzi propositions" 
      
      Anyone who can come up with something like that deserves a Hubber Score of 100 for 6 months! Very funny indeed!

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7. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 10 years ago

   Forgot to ask you Eric, is the hub listed as "featured" in your account? (black circle with white "H" inside).  If not, it's probably due to the moderation warning.  When hubs aren't featured HubPages makes them no-index.  So it's a good idea to get the warning lifted.

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      EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, it's featured, indexed and it gets some Google traffic, but not much.

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         CMHypnoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Eric, I have written quite a few hubs about Ancient Egypt, including a couple about pyramids, and they do not attract large amounts of traffic.  You may find that as the hub ages, traffic will improve and you will rise up the SERPS.

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8. 85

   sparksterposted 10 years ago

   I have many issues like this here at Hubpages, which is why I don't write or publish anywhere near as much as I used to here any more.  Seeing as I write about mental health, personality disorders, abuse, etc. a lot of my hubs have had advertising disabled.  Despite contacting HP about these issues many months ago nothing has been done and nothing has been resolved.  Additionally, when using quotes or references that are more than a paragraph long I end up having the hub unpublished.  What about people who are writing to warn others of scams?  Just because you've mentioned a scam (or suchlike) it doesn't automatically mean you are promoting those scams.  The system is ridiculous.

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      sparksterposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      And it can't be anything to do with Google/Adsense because I've have no problem publishing such material on my other sites/blogs/etc.

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9. 86

   quotationsposted 10 years ago

   The funny thing about HP and Google's logic is that they think that someone writing about a pyramid scheme would actually describe it as a pyramid scheme. Scammers and con artists would never use this term to describe their "foolproof" moneymaking scheme. If anything, their algorithms should assume that someone actually writing about pyramid schemes would be doing a public service by warning against them.

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      Bill Yovinoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good point.  The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Pyramids.

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10. 84

    misslong123posted 10 years ago

    Before you delete it, copy it down in Word and save it in case you want to use it later. Often, just really really carefully examining each and every detail will do the job. You might take out anything fishy, and you might just add more text describing the purpose of the article, definitions, and examples to fill up the space. Make sure your pictures aren't too big or owned by someone else (there's a slight watermark on them if they do). Just check everything over. Once you are confident you've met Hubpages standards, I'd try to resubmit it to Hubpages. Also, if you search for "Tweaking Hubs" there are so many wise Hubbers who can tell you how to edit your hub to make it perfect. I am a beginner, so this is only my two cents, but I would suggest researching editing. Hope that helps! Michele

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11. 84

    misslong123posted 10 years ago

    I am a beginner so take my advice with a grain of salt. My suggestion would be to fix the moderator problem. That causes a low score on that Hubpage. Second, I would research evergreen hubs, stellar hubs, and flag hubs...see if you can at least get close to one of those. That will greatly improve your score. Hope that helps! Michele

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12. 62

    Chuck Bluesteinposted 10 years ago

    The warning message was only for you to pay attention to if it was about pyramid schemes. For example say you are looking at a guy's wife and he says to you that if you rape her, you will go to jail. There is no need to worry about it if you do not rape her. It is just a warning.
    
    It is like trespassing signs. In Pennsylvania the only way they can imprison you for this is if the owner asks you to leave his property and you refuse to leave. Now if a sign says that trespassers will be violated, then you have a cause for concern.

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    1. 96

       EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I was less concerned about the warning from HubPages than I was about G potentially seeing the same issue with my Hub.  As Marisa said, if the HP filters are seeing a problem there is a good chance G does too.  That's why I wanted to clear it up.

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    Jared Milesposted 10 years ago

    An interesting set of analogies you've used there Chuck... very interesting...

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    brediesposted 10 years ago

    Isn't it a pity that it is up to the user (the very people that HP depends on) to highlight the shortcomings in a system?
    This is the problem with automated systems.
    A great Hub that gets penalised because of what?  Someone's paranoia.
    
    So what if you wanted to write a hub decrying all pyramid schemes - you telling me you can't do it?
    
    Crazy innit?

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15. 62

    yupperclubposted 10 years ago

    I had a hub that was about something Hubpages does not want to promote (smoking)...I related it to more or less religious ritual that can be enjoyed by anyone if done so respectfully...wasn't featured for a long time even though I kept revising it.  Then I changed the category and it was featured immediately.  Try that.  Like the sounds of your hub.  Remember, there could be some truth to it.  Maybe not ALIENS...but gods here to save the earth post a nuclear war that happened before.  That is my own theory...gods like Saturn, Mercury, Thor, Apollo...They can MATERIALIZE...it's all a matter of sound.  I have a hub on sound theory you may be interested in.  First sound, then materialization.  (Post sensation).
    
    Try changing your category.

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