How do you decide when (or if) to add content to a Hub?

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   promisemposted 9 years ago

   Do you add content to your worst-performing Hub or your best to make it even better? Do you add content to the low-scoring Hubs before the high scorers? What else do you think when you decide when or if to add content to a Hub?

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      cam8510posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      All of my hubs are featured.   On occasion a hub will become unfeatured.  That is one time I would make some changes.   Another time would be when I find additional,  relevant information that would improve my hub. If I have a hub with a score that I feel is lower than it should be,   I try to figure out why hubpages is keeping the score down. Then I attempt to resolve that issue.  I see drastic improvement in poor scores by making additions and subtractions to content, including changing Photographs.  Good question.

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         promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         What got me on the question was a Hub of mine with a low score. I got rid of two Amazon product links and a couple of canned photos. I replaced them with four original photos that I shot myself plus a nice canned shot that I graphically enhanced. Other than the score going down a bit, nothing else happened. It was disappointing.

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            cam8510posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            That is in interesting.  Those are the things that should cause a score to rise.  It at the very least returns them to being featured.  I usually try to change some text, like the title or capsule title.  Just a couple of days ago I saw one of my favorite hubs had sunk to an all time low score.  I went in and added some content because the word count was low.  I changed some photos and got new advertisements.  The score has come up about 15 points and is holding.  It sounds as though it isn't enough to change photos and ads.  Something needs to be added in the way of text.

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               promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I just went through the same thing with another Hub when I added about 150 words. This time the score went up 6 points. Odd that they go down on some and up on others.

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                  Jean Bakulaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi promisem,
                  We can drive ourselves crazy trying to understand what makes a hub get featured again. About a month ago, I had about 12 unfeatured, and usually all my hubs are featured. All I did was change a line or two, and a few little things like that, and they were back in business the next day.
                  
                  When I first came to HP, I didn't understand that you couldn't just take pictures from Google images, that they had to be from approved sites because of copyrights. I went back and changed some of the hubs, but as the years go on, I simply can't keep changing so many hubs, so many times. So I believe it has hurt me that I used pictures HP doesn't approve of as far as Editor's Choice hubs. But I write about Metaphysical subjects, and it's hard to find pictures to illustrate a lot of them.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That decision should have nothing to do with scores, because scores are totally irrelevant.  Traffic is the only measure that matters.
      
      If I have a Hub that's doing well, my attitude is usually "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."    If a Hub is doing badly, I first ask myself why.   If it's simply a subject that's not being searched for, no amount of additional material will help so it would be a waste of effort.  Likewise if it's a subject that has too much competition.  So I would research those things first before deciding what to do.

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         promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I tend to think that way too. If I have a good performer, what if I put more time in it and nothing happens? Even worse, what if it goes down?
         
         But I can say the same thing about low performers if I give them more time and don't get results.

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The folks at HubPages have kindly shared their views on the question:
      
      1. Focus on the Hubs with the highest traffic.
      2. Focus on your Hubs with violations or warnings.
      3. Focus on the oldest Hubs.
      4. Focus on Featured Hubs.
      
      That said, I'm reluctant to give up on my low performers. I have seen some of them improve over time.

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I thought you all would be interested in seeing this new announcement:
      
      http://blog.hubpages.com/2015/02/26/an- … -hubscore/

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      peachpurpleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I usually add a few lines if fresh text for unfeatured hubs to make them featured

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   aesta1posted 9 years ago

   I used to revise my low scoring hubs as I did not like having those scores until I read in the forum that it is better to give your time to your best hubs first, the ones that get traffic. When I did that, the traffic improved.

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Have you ever put effort into a low-scoring Hub and seen its score or traffic improve?

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         Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I've put effort into low traffic hubs and seen their traffic increase. I never use scores as a gauge.

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            promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I guess I keep coming back to the question of why have scores if we can't improve them? If the scores aren't meant to tell us about the quality of the hub, why have them at all? Just wondering.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               That is a very good question.
               
               At one time, we had a couple of excellent moderators who were very honest and open about how HubPages worked.   They both acknowledged that the scoring system was flawed but that HubPages didn't want to remove it until they had something better to replace it.  Their advice was always "just ignore the scores", because it's been shown time and time again that scores have NO correlation with how well a Hub will perform. 
               
               Not long after that, the founder of the site dropped in to say he thought the scoring system was wonderful and we haven't heard a word of criticism since.  The scoring system has been tweaked several times since then, but there is still no correlation between score and performance.
               
               Try sorting your Hubs by score and then sorting them by traffic, and see.

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                  promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I suspect one factor used in the scoring is the uniqueness of the topic. Search engines favor unique content.
                  
                  If I wrote an article about widgets, it might get a low score. Red widgets would get a higher score and red widgets that fly would get the highest. But red widgets that fly don't necessarily attract a lot of search engine results.
                  
                  So the traffic and the score in that example at are odds with each other.

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     This is what HubScore is made up of, according to HP:
                     
                        " The quality of the Hub - as measured through the Quality Assessment Process;
                     
                         The amount of traffic the Hub receives;
                     
                         The reputation of the Hubber - your HubberScore and contribution to the community;
                     
                         The response of readers to your Hub - including comments, feedback, etc.;
                     
                         The uniqueness of content - copying or paraphrasing content already available on the web will be highly penalized."
                     
                     On older versions there was an extra factor - "length of Hub".  That's been removed. 
                     
                     When it says "uniqueness of content", you'll see it's referring to the uniqueness of the text, not the uniqueness of the subject.   Uniqueness of subject has never been a factor. 
                     
                     You'll also notice that your Hubber Score affects your Hubscore, which is curious since part of your Hubber Score is an average of all your HubScores.  I'd have thought that created a circular reference which would result in some weird results.  Come to think of it,  perhaps that is an explanation!

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                        promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Great point about uniqueness of content versus uniqueness of subject. 
                        
                        They may not mention uniqueness of subject in their description, but it seems reasonable to reward it because it means there are fewer articles on the same subject elsewhere.
                        
                        As a result, the Hubpages article will attract more search engine traffic and ad revenue.
                        
                        Likewise the connection to Hubber Score. I recently wrote an article on a fairly unique subject. My score went up to 99. I then posted two more articles on fairly common subjects. My Hubber score dropped to 90 and my Hubscores dropped as well. But I saw no difference in traffic or revenue.

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                           Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           It may be a good idea, but the point is - how does an automated algorithm judge the uniqueness of a subject?   If it can't be done by an algorithm, it can't be included in HubScore.

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                              promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              I seem to remember reading that the editors also have some say over the final score.

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                                 Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 I think you are wrong. 
                                 
                                 You may be thinking of the QAP (which forms part of the HubScore).   HubPages' moderators do their own spot-check assessments to make sure the QAP team is scoring correctly.

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                                    promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                    I may have used the word editors too loosely.  I simply meant that I thought there was a manual step in the scoring process.
                                    
                                    Also, I didn't answer your other question. An automated algorithm can judge the uniqueness of the subject by looking at the dominant keyword phrase in a Hub.
                                    
                                    It can compare that phrase to the Hubs that already exist on the site as well as the number of documents in the search engines that display for those keywords. It may or may not be the case here, but technically it's not that difficult to do.

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                                       Jean Bakulaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                       If your hub is featured, leave it alone, unless facts or your subject has changed since you first wrote the hub. I have been here for 4 years now, so sometimes my data does need updating.
                                       
                                       It takes time for a hub to get attention. If the site has an issue with it, you will see that your hub is unfeatured. If you go into edit mode, you will see suggestions on how to improve the hub. Sometimes all you need to do is add two lines or another picture, it doesn't always take much to get an unfeatured hub featured again.
                                       
                                       Nobody really knows what the scoring system formula is, and it's not a real person sitting there scoring your hubs. Only your traffic from outside HP matters. Traffic from your friends here is nice, but it won't make you any money. It depends on whether you are here to improve your writing, as a hobby, or to make money. Online writing doesn't pay well anymore.

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                                       Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                       Other than the QAP, no there is no manual input in the scoring process.
                                       
                                       As you say it should be possible to look for the most frequently repeated keyword or phrase, and then compare it to other Hubs and articles using that keyword or phrase.  I agree it would be possible to do but I'm pretty sure it's not done.

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                        rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Marisa, if you've seen the latest blog post about hubscores, you'll see this is no longer accurate information.

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                           Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           It's not that different, though, Marcy.  In fact, only ONE thing has changed:  the measure of reader involvement is not limited to comments, it's now measuring other things like (probably) bounce rate. 
                           
                           Traffic is still there, it's just been "de-emphasised".   It had already been "de-emphasised" at least once (I remember Paul posting that traffic was no longer a major factor months ago), so I doubt that change will make a big difference.  It's the reader engagement measures that will affect the score most.
                           
                           I also notice that although "length of Hub" is not mentioned in the current Help section, it is still there so I was wrong to say it had disappeared.

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               rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               It's a very good question.  I don't understand how hubs drop 8-10 points after an update.  If it had a certain score before, and the only change is a necessary new material update, how/why does it drop so quickly?  I've tried to get answers on this, but I think part of it has to do with how it's rated.  What seems unfair is that it is a certain score, then, poof, it drops in a moment.  The rating doesn't seem consistent.
               Now I simply don't care what the score is because to me the scores make no sense. 
               
               I add new content to specific hubs that require updating.  Otherwise, I don't update or rewrite.

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                  promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Maybe it's a conservative response to the change until search engines have their own response to it. Then the score starts to rise again if search engines respond favorably. But I'm just speculating.

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   Kylyssaposted 9 years ago

   I add content when I see that a hub needs more content and/or when I have what I think is a good idea for more content to add to a hub. I research the subject more until I have what seems to be a good idea in the first case, but in the latter I tend to have the idea that seems good on its own and then hunt up the hub to change it.
   
   Score never factors in for me because it doesn't accurately reflect quality. I base my changes on my evaluation of the hub and the new material.

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I understand and agree that the scores don't accurately reflect quality. Does your approach result in more traffic? Is that your primary goal or are you focused on creative fulfillment?

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         Kylyssaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I write in the hope that my voice will be heard. That is creative and it requires readers to be fulfilling.
         
         Yes, making each piece of writing better and/or more comprehensive whenever I see something in need of improvement or think of something I should add to a piece generally results in more views. I've had pieces that slept for over a year before the right change suddenly woke them up and inspired readers to share them. It's not usually so dramatic, but there's almost always a significant increase in views within a short time. 
         
         I don't base it on ranking or on the number of views a piece gets because change for the sake of change seldom works as well as genuine improvement or well-considered expansion of a topic. Working on making each piece of writing the best I can has proven the best strategy.
         
         I prioritize them by working on hubs I think I have a good idea for improving or on which I've identified a specific shortcoming first.

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   tlcsposted 9 years ago

   Once a month I go through all of my hubs and add content and check that the google ads are in keeping with what my hub is about.

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   paradigm searchposted 9 years ago

   Whenever I think of or discover something I want or should do, I edit at will. Let the hubscore chips fall where they may.

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I'm surprised at how many posters like you are saying that they don't pay much attention to the scores.

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         paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         That's because we figured out that they're just there to torture us.

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            promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            LOL. That's my first laugh of the day. Thanks! 

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