Hub Score Drop

1. 81

   moonlakeposted 8 years ago

   I know everyone says pay no attention to Hubber Score and Hub Scores but it's really a little hard to ignore when I have ended up with 48-50 hubs in the 60's. HubPages has made it pretty clear they don't want my kind of hubs and writing on here. I always had some hubs in the 60's maybe 5 or 6 but now this is just ridiculous. I work on my hubs all the time I redo and redo. I'm not a great writer like most of you but I've held my own on here for 7 years, not anymore. I know I'm putting myself out there for criticism  but I had to voice my opinion.

   replyreport
   1. 54

      janderson99posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It would be good to get a response from HP staff on this score drop. There are several threads running on this topic.
      
      Perhaps it has been caused by the broken stats that have occurred recently.?
      
      If HP have adjusted the Hub scores downward without running all the hubs through QAP then they should let everyone know. Similarly if the score algo has been changed then authors should  be informed about this. I agree it is very demoralising, especially after the 20% universal drop in traffic.
      
      Please HP tell us what is happening and why!

      replyreport
      1. 81

         moonlakeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         1+

         replyreport
      2. 91

         Thelma Albertsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         +1

         replyreport
      3. 60

         toptenluxuryposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I would say most likely it's from the stat errors

         replyreport
   2. 85

      gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      PAY ATTENTION, they EXIST for a REASON. If hubberscores weren't important, they simply wouldn't exist at all.

      replyreport
   3. 86

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      If I understand things correctly, there is no correlation between hub and hubber scores and views and income save for the fact that hubs with scores below 85 lose their outgoing links.  I'm not sure how much this one thing affects traffic, though.
      
      It's pretty clear that tweaking is going on within HP in addition to what happened a few weeks ago here as the result of Google's little games.
      
      In my mind, as long as your hubs are being read and you are earning, that's what really counts.  However, when tweaks affect that, yes, there is definitely a problem.
      
      My gut feeling is that this is the team's way of trying to rid the site of bad work, but that good work is getting caught up in the mess because there are flaws in the algorithm.  If you have been successful all these years, I suspect this is what has happened.
      
      My advice?  Walk away for awhile.  Let the articles lay.  It is very possible that things will change back at some future date, and in the meantime, you will continue to earn.  I'm very sorry this is happening to you as well as to others, but this is all I can think of that may be causing the problem.  Good Luck.

      replyreport
      1. 73

         brakel2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I thought that if hubber score was below 85, links were no follow. Am I missing something?

         replyreport
         1. 91

            Jayne Lancerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            If hubber score is below 85, or if the link appears in a hub that has a hub score of below 40. http://hubpages.com/faq/#linksnofollow

            replyreport
   4. 91

      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hi moonlake,
      
      I'm sorry Hub Score has got you down. If you check out the graph in this Blog Post, you'll see that scores in the 60s are average and not considered a bad rating. Hope that helps.

      replyreport
      1. 53

         paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Oh good, I'm still loved.

         replyreport
         1. 53

            paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I gotta take back about me being loved. Woke up this morning and discovered one of my hubs is now a 59.
            
            14,000+ words it is, too. It's my HTML reference hub. Never has been a traffic burner. Oversaturated topic, plethora of HTML reference websites, and all that.
            
            This hub is one of my pets though. Every time I have an HTML question, I go there to see what I did before.
            
            This post isn't really a rant, just making conversation over my first cup of coffee. Happy Thursday morning, Memorial Weekend approaches...

            replyreport
            1. 91

               LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Good morning, paradigm.
               
               Friday morning here. Very early morning ... 2am. But Friday nonetheless.

               replyreport
               1. 53

                  paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  One of the things I really like about HubPages is our global community. Makes me feel like part of the world in-crowd. Most everyone I know offline generally has a point of view that stretches a maximum of maybe 50 miles (80.5 kilometers).

                  replyreport
                  1. 91

                     LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     You could impress your offline friends by predicting the winning numbers in Thursday night's lotto draw in Australia, paradigm. Give them your prediction this morning ... and tell them to check online tomorrow. lol.

                     replyreport
      2. 73

         brakel2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Why have they dropped so much? I have just finished updating all my hubs and don't know how to improve them any more. I assume they dropped, so we could make them better. I understand the reasoning, but I don't know what else to do, except be more active and write more hubs and learn more about SEO. Maybe that is the answer.

         replyreport
         1. 91

            Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            It's probably a result of the fact that we've deemphasized traffic as a key factor in determining HubScore. If you check out the Blog post I linked above, it tells you the factors that are most heavily weighted currently. It's also worth noting that the presence of any Spammy Elements can bring down your HubScores significantly.

            replyreport
            1. 86

               Buildrepsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks for your explanation, Christy. I read the blog post included above. In the first column of the table just below the Gaussian curve (Hubscore distribution), the last bullet tells us that HubScore is i.a. computed based upon a Hubber's overall Hubber score.
               Isn't it so that the Hubber's overall score is i.a. computed based upon the average HubScore's? Which would make a (partial) circular loop. That's interesting because that would explain the unstable behaviour of the scores.

               replyreport
   5. 86

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      moonlake:
      
      I took a look at your article about minimum wage, and here are my impressions:
      
      The topic is a good one, but the information is not well focused.
      
      Your charts are not properly credited.  You need specific permission to use items such as those.
      
      Your grammar and spelling are good.
      
      The information you provide mostly comes from outside sources, where anybody can find them on the web.  Therefore, a good part of your work seems to be "spun".
      
      This basically is a good article that needs to be reworked and tightened up so that it flows smoothly.  I would also make sure the charts stick to the topic and do not wander off towards other info...this makes it look as though you are using them as "fillers".
      
      One more point:  This is not an "evergreen" article.  What you want to do is write hubs on topics that will not become obsolete over time.  It's good for now, but once the vote is taken on wages, nobody will want to read it.
      
      This gives you some idea about the types of problems you are having and why your scores have dropped.  Right now I'm sure many people are reading this hub because it is a topic of great current interest.  However, your scores have nothing to do with what you earn.  If you want better scores, you need to "up" your game a bit.
      
      The potential is there, all you have to do is reach out and grab it!
      
      Good luck!

      replyreport
      1. 81

         moonlakeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Sorry, minimum wage is not my hub.

         replyreport
         1. 86

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Hmmm...don't know how I managed to mix your work up with someone else, but guess I did.  Sorry.

            replyreport
2. 95

   Sue Adamsposted 8 years ago

   Last week I had 14 hubs in the 90's, now I have only 1. My hubs have not changed so something else has. If traffic no longer is a factor, then what else has changed in the algos?

   replyreport
   1. 54

      janderson99posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It is very disappointing, especially when no response from staff. Bug or algo change - That is the question.

      replyreport
   2. 93

      PegCole17posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      +1

      replyreport
3. 94

   peeplesposted 8 years ago

   I am feeling the same way right now. I have an article that is viewed over a thousand times a week and sometimes thousands of times a week, it is shared in many places by people other than me, traffic is ALWAYS good, it meets all of their requirements in edit mode in the top right corner, it has pictures, a poll with over 500 responses, and at minimum decent grammar, yet it has a score of 61. I am fed up. I am sick and tired of depending on blog posts or short answers from moderators about the whys of the situation. Their answers make no sense because my article meets their requirements. This isn't the only article though. My average hub score in the last couple of weeks has gone down to a 62!!!!! I get paid monthly, so should I complain? Obviously my articles are bringing people to HP, I have followers, I get shares, yet my work is appreciated by being overly censored and given a failing grade! I am beyond pissed. These are the moments where I feel like saying screw it and yanking all of my work off.

   replyreport
   1. 81

      moonlakeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      +1

      replyreport
   2. 93

      PegCole17posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That is really a bummer. Wow. I can only wish to have traffic like yours. I feel the same way about "failing grades". Rotten tomatoes.

      replyreport
   3. 91

      LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      ... well, a reliable payday is nice.  But of course you're allowed to complain.
      
      I think you should write to the team and ask them to look at your account. (As should moonlake and anyone else who wants a better explanation.)

      replyreport
4. 53

   paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

   Jeez, my hub score average has dropped so much I've given up, invoked my philosophy of life, and called it a day.

   replyreport
   1. 91

      LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You haven't really given up, have you, paradigm??
      
      It is sad to see much-loved hubbers distressed by numbers.

      replyreport
      1. 53

         paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Nah, I'm just going to ignore it.

         replyreport
5. 91

   LongTimeMotherposted 8 years ago

   That's very disappointing, moonlake. I enjoy the way you write. Please don't give up.
   
   Here's a suggestion that may or may not help. Instead of tweaking your hubs again, I suggest you spend the time checking if your content has been stolen and copied. Don't wait for HP to tell you ... do your own searches.
   
   There's some good advice on this forum thread:  http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/122095
   
   Removing stolen content might not influence your scores, but it will probably help your earnings.

   replyreport
   1. 81

      moonlakeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks I always check for copied content on my own. It's never ending.

      replyreport
6. 54

   janderson99posted 8 years ago

   My average score bounced back to what it was before. I suspect the changes were due to a bug associated with the traffic stats being wrong. But who knows??? No input from HP staff. HP dancing with Google around the May Poll.

   replyreport
   1. 53

      paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Mine remains 7 points down, I am still unloved.

      replyreport
7. 62

   sunilkunnoth2012posted 8 years ago

   Everyone facing similar issue. So no worry please. Let's hope it will improve soon. Everything here shows a very negative tendency like bad Hub score, author score, struggling traffic and dwindling income.

   replyreport
8. 95

   Sue Adamsposted 8 years ago

   Hubber scores keep dropping for no apparent reason. Yes, traffic has gone down too, but if the hubber score, as previously stated by staff, no longer contains the traffic factor, and hubs have not been edited adversely, then how do I explain an average Hub score drop from 86 to 79 and my 15 hubs with scores in the 90's all having gone down to the 80's and lower. What is going on? We  need an explanation.

   replyreport
9. 91

   Thelma Albertsposted 8 years ago

   It is very frightening how the hubscores keep on dropping. I have a lot of 60´s and 70´s and they were mostly in 80´s and 90´s before. I know they have lost a lot of traffic but I think my hubs are in good qualities. I keep on tweaking, backlinking, updating and I even created blogs just to backlink them to my hubs but still the same. Is there still a light in the end of hubpages tunnel? I hope so.

   replyreport
   1. 86

      Lady Loreleiposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I just hope that Hub scores and income are not connected with the traffic stats. With how messed up they are it could really mess up everything else. Very unfair to the writers if this is all somehow connected. Personally the Hub scores at the moment seem very unfair in and of themselves not much incentive to keep producing articles that is for sure.

      replyreport
10. 82

    mary615posted 8 years ago

    If and when I get discouraged about scores, etc., I just step away for a while.  Everyone gets discouraged sometimes.
    I was discouraged a few days ago because I didn't seem to have much traffic from outside readers, and then lo, and behold, I had several comments from unverified readers.  I was thrilled about that.  At least I know people are finding some of my Hubs.

    replyreport
11. 86

    Buildrepsposted 8 years ago

    When I have time again to delve somewhat deeper into HP's algorithms I will try to crack the code, and share it here. I know HP wants to keep it secret, but since so many Hubbers are getting frustrated, it's time to give it a shot! BTW, do I take the risk of getting banned?

    replyreport
12. 81

    moonlakeposted 8 years ago

    I unpublished many of my 60’s hubs. Yesterday I had one unfeatured hub for traffic, I unpublished it. Traffic has drop low; I have never seen it like this. I just don’t have time to do anything with them and I don’t know if I ever will. I may just delete all of them and leave the higher hubs but I really expect them to start dropping too.

    replyreport
13. 0

    Engeltaposted 8 years ago

    The  same thing is happening to me these couple of months and I am literally going crazy because I have done and edited the hubs according to Hubpages criteria. But the scores keep falling, and especially the Hubberscore is falling with one point each day. I am terrified and confused on what's going to happen to my profile and earnings page if these scores keep falling.

    replyreport
14. 95

    Sue Adamsposted 8 years ago

    Christy,
    I find your answer to the hub score drop rather mystifying. The blog post linked to above dates back to February 26, 2015. But the sudden drastic hub scores drop only occurred during  the last few days. Has it really taken nearly 3 months to deemphasize the  traffic element? Surely there is more to it than that.
    
    As for the spammy elements, 10 ads per page is definitely spammy.

    replyreport
    1. 91

       Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       As far as I'm aware, we haven't made any significant changes to the way HubScore is calculated since that update.

       replyreport
       1. 95

          Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          We have not made any changes, you have not made any changes, so who has? Something has changed.
          
          This is turning mysterious.
          
          Could the sudden drop in hub scores be related to the dysfunctional statistics on HubPages, so widely different to the results we see on Google analytics?

          replyreport
          1. 53

             paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

             The hubscore hamster died and Staff hasn't noticed yet.

             replyreport
          2. 54

             janderson99posted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Yep - my theory - the hubscore refresh was done when the traffic scores were broken and wrongly too low => scores plunged. My average hub score has actually recovered and has gone up a point (Wow!) but my hubberscore has gone down!!! I think the fastest and most effective way to cause a drop in hubberscore is to make friends!!! Someone forgot to downgrade that effect. Choppy seas plaguing the subs on the sea of hope.

             replyreport
15. 86

    Buildrepsposted 8 years ago

    And I want to add to my previous post, that there's still an obvious link between the 7/30-days traffic and the HubScores. Traffic on the short term is still part of the game...

    replyreport
16. 95

    Sue Adamsposted 8 years ago

    The dying hamster is running around in loops. Can we resuscitate it?
    
    What do you mean by 7/30 days traffic Buildreps?

    replyreport
    1. 86

       Buildrepsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I haven't verified it watertight, but when I glimpse between my eyelashes to the columns 7-days traffic and 30-days traffic, I see a relation between scores and these two (short term) traffics. It is also obvious that traffic is not the only factor that counts, let me state this clearly as well.
       
       And by the way, that scores still depend on traffic is obvious, because the score are i.a. determined by the feedback a Hubs receives. No traffic, no feedback - high traffic, lot's of feedback. So traffic cannot be out of the game.

       replyreport
17. 86

    Buildrepsposted 8 years ago

    If anyone is still interested in the issue, I took a short dive into the HP formula.
    
    This might take away some of the mysteries. The blue line in the graph you see are the HP scores. The red line is the result of a formula. The formula shows an increasing inaccuracy on high scoring Hubs (on the right in the red line).
    
    I will save you the formula, but in headlines your typical HubScores depend on the following issues:
    - amount of comments vs. average overall comments. This means that if a new Hub receives more than average comments it will score higher. So, that means working on followers for higher scores!
    
    - 1-day views vs. average overall 1-day views. A new Hub that is well visited will go up the next days.
    
    - 7-days views, 30-days views, total views also count for a certain (decreasing) weight. A Hub that is visited better than average over these periods scores higher.
    
    - the feedback your Hub receives
    
    - last but not least, the quality of the Hub is an important issue. This counts I believe for about 20 to 25% of the total score weight. Since quality wasn't incorporated in the formula, I believe this will straighten the red line better over the blue line, meaning that is the unknown factor here.
    
    I have no idea where HP takes their standards of 'quality'. That is the main reason why I opted out for EC. It is too fuzzy for me. The increasing whimsical red curve implies that higher scoring Hubs become also increasingly unpredictable and therefore is the definition 'quality' a doubtful thing.
    
    I hope this helps a bit!
    
    
    

    replyreport
    1. 91

       LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for making an effort to explain this to us, Buildreps. I confess, however, it still doesn't make much sense to me ... but that's no reflection on your explanation.
       
       Some of my 80s and 90s have very few comments and not much traffic, so I'm wondering why they have high scores. Mind you, they have high scores at the moment ... but have been scored much lower at other times in the past.
       
       I'm still confused.

       replyreport
18. 86

    Buildrepsposted 8 years ago

    @LongTimeMother, that's perfectly understandable you're still confused Quality and feedback are also things that count. Your Hubs are regarded as better by HP than that of others. Quality is the real 'mystery' here.

    replyreport
    1. 91

       LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       One of many mysteries, Buildreps!
       
       It seems an appropriate time to remind other hubbers that a high hub score doesn't mean that hub will make money. A hub with a much lower score can bring earnings. (So, too, can hubs with no comments.)
       
       ... Which, of course, is not to detract from your graph and explanation!

       replyreport
19. 53

    paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

    Well my hubscore average is now down a solid 10 points from my peak. My Philosophy of Life remains invoked, i.e., nothing more I can do so ignore it.

    replyreport
20. 91

    Jayne Lancerposted 8 years ago

    My hub score has never been so low.

    replyreport
21. 54

    janderson99posted 8 years ago

    This may not be helpful, but my average hub score dropped 3 points but has since increased by 5, so its the highest it has ever been. I did edit ALL of my hubs though (4 days work)!

    replyreport
22. 86

    Buildrepsposted 8 years ago

    The best thing you can do is gain traffic, this will increase scores and earnings. When you re-edit all your Hubs in order to improve them the scores will increase even more. Make sure all boxes are checked!
    
    But I guess you've all heard this story already a thousand times by now

    replyreport
23. 61

    SkelbimaiTaipposted 8 years ago

    realy?

    replyreport
24. 73

    brakel2posted 8 years ago

    My hub scores are back to 70s and 80s but no 90s. My total hub score is better now than when everything dropped. I think it is because of updating hubs, writing new hub, my activity on site and more engagement on hubs. It is uplifting but may change at any time.

    replyreport
25. 61

    JNQuinonesposted 8 years ago

    Hi everyone! I'm new to HP and I'm really trying to understand what exactly Hub scores and Hubber scores mean. From what I could tell with the blog post Christy Kirwan linked, I'd say I'm doing alright with all my hubs in the low 70s. I've just discovered the forums and I didn't really think about reediting my work since I asked two of my friends to edit before hand. However, only one of my hubs is above the recommended 1250 word count, and it's actually my lowest scored Hub! I imagine I have to reedit that one for sure, but as for my other Hubs, should I try to increase all of them to high word counts? Is this something that readers want?
    
    I read an article before starting my first Hub that said it should be between 700 to 1200 words to keep the readers engaged without losing their attention. I don't want to get too lengthy with my articles, but I also feel the need to have high Hub scores! Suggestions?

    replyreport
26. 81

    moonlakeposted 8 years ago

    I was checking my hubs today and noticed one of my hub scores hit 90. The strange thing about it is that it was an unpublished hub.  It happens to be one of the hubs that had dropped into the 60’s and I had unpublished it and had not published again.  How does that happen that the score can go up like that on an unpublished hub?

    replyreport
    1. 86

       Buildrepsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I guess it's still measured by the quality algorithm of HP.

       replyreport
27. 61

    The Examiner-1posted 8 years ago

    moonlake, Then try writing a different type of Hub. Or you could try upgrading one or two of the current Hubs to see if that makes a difference.

    replyreport
28. 80

    sabrebIadeposted 8 years ago

    I quit worrying about Hub Scores ages ago.
    I worry about traffic.
    Some of my highest traffic Hubs are my lowest Hub Scored ones.

    replyreport