Is there a way to get better results in the Related Hubs section?

1. 82

   kerbevposted 9 years ago

   At the bottom of the lens it has related hubs.  Is there a way to exclude some hubs from showing there, or to encourage better (more related) ones by limiting the category or using keywords or hand picking them or something?
   
   For example, my lens on a simple wooden toy is getting horror movies on it.

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      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      No. They are chosen by an algorithm according to keywords.
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/124189
      
      You can always search the site to see where your question has been answered before.  On the results page, you can choose Forums from the menu in the right column.
      
      http://goo.gl/Bwc7jA

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   2. 92

      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I wish there was a way for us to choose those "related" hubs. Your HUB on toys should have other hubs on toys in the related section. I agree with you on that.

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2. 93

   SmartAndFunposted 9 years ago

   Unfortunately, there is not. The algo which picks these related hubs tends to go by keyword rather than topic. In your case, it has glommed onto the word "Jacob" (the subject of the hub is the Jacob's ladder toy), and is suggesting related reading based upon this word, while your readers would probably rather read more about old-fashioned toys or any type of toy, than they would a horror movie that also happens to have the word "Jacob" in its title.
   
   I have asked several times in the past for a better system, whether that means changing the algo to give preference to the topic/category rather than key words, letting us hand-pick them, or some other solution.
   
   The algo does seem to work better than it did a couple of years ago, if that is any consolation, but as you are experiencing first-hand, it could use more tweaking.
   
   I would love the option to hand-pick! Unfortunately, that request has been denied in the past. Maybe we can rally up some support for it again. Perhaps with so many new members it is time for HP to revisit this request for improvement.

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   1. 82

      kerbevposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Squidoo allowed limited handpicking.  I can understand not wanting people to feature their own lenses, but rather the ones most likely to be clicked on.
      
      I would like to be able to limit the category, though, as an option.
      
      Or, maybe give us a few slots to have some discretion with, even if we had to chose from a preset list or only choose other people's hubs.
      That particular lens has a few accurate ones showing, so if I could push something that says "more like this" to help the algorithm out it would be good.

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      GusTheRedneckposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Several of the Hubs listed following a really techie Hub of mine were full of really gross errors of "fact" and all sorts of assorted nonsense. I contacted HubPages staff and was told that those faulty articles had to remain there.  So, readers of the correct-info Hub were thus referred to the error-filled hub.  One might ask, why should this be allowed.
      
      I contacted the "bad Hubs" author and tried to educate the writer.
      
      That writer's Hubs still sit here on HubPages, just as crazy as the day they were first published.
      
      Yes - referral by "algorithm" is convenient for HubPages - not so much for those who are sent in to read garbage Hubs because keywords are shared in multiple writings.
      
      Gus

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3. 93

   lisavollrathposted 9 years ago

   This was one of my biggest pet peeves at Squidoo, as well.
   
   I write vegan recipes. You know, for people who don't eat meat? And who probably aren't expecting to see images of cooked, or, even worse, RAW meat at the end of every recipe?
   
   Seeing related hubs at the bottom of one of my recipes that show meat? Not cool. Not related. Not even a little bit.

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      DrMark1961posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Not cool. I complained when my "Brazilian parrot names" hub had a "related hub" attached on the bottom--Brazilian bikini wax in DC. Yours is even worse than mine!

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         Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Now there's a Related Hubs link I would click on!
         
         Maybe HP knows what it is doing after all!

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      2. 93

         lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Sorry, but that made me laugh. Talk about unrelated!
         
         A better way would be to pull related hubs only from the same subcategory. That way, you might get other birds from Brazil, and I might get other vegan recipes.

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            DrMark1961posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Of course, you might also get "bacon wrapped figs". (I have heard that they are "almost vegetarian".) I still think the best thing would be to choose our own related hubs.

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4. 61

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   I wish HP would get rid of the related hubs section as well.

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   1. 82

      kerbevposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not saying I want rid of it.  I understand that while people may clickout from my hubs to theirs, I also benefit by having my hubs show on other people's.  I just wish we could really optimize the results - for common sense and for the search engines.

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         SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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5. 86

   paperfacetsposted 9 years ago

   A section that is input by the author, say "This author recommends", chosen by the author.
   
   A second section saying related subjects coming from sub-sub-subtitles only. That should keep it more related.
   
   This way the author can put in 3 of theirs for further reference and other random authors will have 3 spaces, as well.
   
   The "old site" had this arrangement.

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6. 61

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   Simply click on report, top right hand corner of each hub.

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      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That is not a reason to report a Hub and the report will be ignored.
      
      http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … p-hubpages
      
      Do NOT report a Hub:
      "•    When you don't like the opinion shared in the Hub
      •    When you think this Hub is just not a very good article (though it is not bad enough to be considered Overly Promotional or Poorly Structured)"

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      1. 93

         SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         From what he wrote above, I believe it's not that Gus the Redneck doesn't like the opinion or the way the article is written, it's that the article contains factual inaccuracies.

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            GusTheRedneckposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            That is correct to a great degree, but the reason that I contacted the HubPages staff and asked that the erroneous articles not be listed as suggested reading following my own Hub was because their presence as recommendations for additional reading following my own hub meant that readers were sent to read garbage. Any sensible Hub author would not want readers passed along to garbage Hubs.
            
            I was disappointed when the staff told me that they had no way by which to remove junk Hubs from those listings. (I find that hard to believe, too.)
            Gus

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   2. 92

      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      To report a hub just because one does not like it in "related hubs" is a huge disservice to the author of the hub and a waste of time for HP team who already have enough to do. All we can do, until HP makes a change to allow us to choose related hubs, is to just ignore it. Often those so-called related hubs are there because someone chose a wrong category for their hub.

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         Jayne Lancerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         According to my observations, it's based on keywords rather than categories.

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         misterhollywoodposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I agree - I wouldn't report a hub based on what comes up on related hubs.

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