Traffic Declining Slowly, but consistently!

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  1. David 470 profile image80
    David 470posted 11 years ago

    I understand that traffic can fluctuate during different times of the year. Seen it happen myself -- traffic decline in summer and rise near holidays. However, I fear something is wrong like I have either been affected by a Google algorithm or something else. My traffic has been continuing to decline over the past month, slowly but steadily. sad This is stressing me out because I do not know the cause and new topics that I thought would be successful are not (at least not right now).

    Admittedly, I think I have gotten lucky on HubPages in the past. And what I mean by that is I never used any keyword tools that much, but it did not seem to matter too much. However, I think I might have to get some type of program or something to help me find niches that will bring me traffic consistently?

    Has anyone else been experiecing a traffic decline (A SLOW one) and have not been having success when writing new hubs?

    1. PaulGoodman67 profile image96
      PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I have.  There are two issues for the site as far as I can see: slow but steady decline of traffic since December of last year and sudden crashes which have intensified since April/May.  I have suffered from both issues.

      I am hoping that the recent idling changes with help with one or both of the issues, but we probably will have to wait until the next panda update is run towards the end of the month in order to see.

      (I have stopped writing new hubs for this account for the time being.  Instead I created two new accounts, and new hubs work okay on those.)

    2. IzzyM profile image86
      IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Well, as everyone now knows, I lost most of my traffic over a year ago and it has never returned. In fact, it has drifted slowly downwards..

      Most of the new hubs I put on that account after the slap have never (even to this day) seen a Google view.

      Like Paul, I went on to new subdomains and some of them are doing OK.

      But HP as a whole has been in decline too. Just a slow decline, just like you report your subdomain is experiencing.

      This is what the new 'on idle' hubs is hoping to halt; reverse even.

      We are all awaiting with baited breath for the next Google update, or even the next Google bot visit.

      1. David 470 profile image80
        David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

        So Google does not look at individual hubs -- only the entire account? I thought the subdomains fixed that even though it seems it did not workout for everyone.

        If HubPages is in a decline what is the reason? Are spammers partly responsible?

        There are still idiots that make HubPages accounts that have poor content, have copied content, or write hubs to promote their website. This has to make HubPages overall look bad even though there are people who write legit.

        1. IzzyM profile image86
          IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I don't know the reason, but its always handy to keep an eye on Quantcast results - http://www.quantcast.com/hubpages.com - it even seems to be a bit better this past week. Site as a whole that is, not me personally.

          The sleeping hubs thing I think is to weed out both substandard and hubs that don't get traffic. I hope it is just an experiment which will be reversed if it doesn't work.

          It is hardly worthwhile putting the effort in to write 1000+ carefully researched articles on the off-chance they will attract traffic.

          Whereas before, if they didn't work right away, you sort of half knew that one day they could do well.

          Now, all hope is gone. If they don't work, they'll be put to sleep sooner or later by which time half the world will have stolen them.

          That's what happened to me.hmm

          1. David 470 profile image80
            David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            That's how I feel about writing articles....I put in the work and know the articles have the potential to bring in revenue, but some of them end up getting wasted because they get indexed so far down in the search engines no one finds them.

            And I know for a fact some of my hubs could be doing better because they might get let's say one gets (25 views daily for a while) -- I know it could perform way better because it is already a SUPER low rank. If it was higher it would have the potential to get hundreds of views.

            I enjoy writing, but feel some of my articles go to waste, while 1 hub may be 100 times more successful than 50 hubs combined.

    3. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I've noticed something that I think may help hubbers but am not sure if it's a fluke or not.  Instead of writing new hubs, I've been spending time reworking my old ones, but only the ones I don't think are that great.  It doesn't take many to kick start my page views, and I'm not sure why this is.  I've taken two big hits in the past 4 months or so, but the first time my views came back and then some.  This time, they're coming, but much more slowly.
      I write a new hub when I feel the urge, but I spend more time on the old ones...and this seems to help.  Who knows?

  2. wilderness profile image94
    wildernessposted 11 years ago

    I saw a slow decline beginning in February.  I expected that (only a little earlier) but it went on until mid may, when it bottomed out and began a slow rise which has persisted until now.  I lost 60% of my traffic, which has now recovered to a loss (from January) of 40%.

    The only thing I did was write 2 hubs in Jan., 0 in Feb, 4 hubs in March, 4 in April, and 8 per month (in the apprentice program) since then.  I've never seen the massive sudden drops.  All the hubs written this year put together don't account for the rise since June.

    Who knows?  I'd like to think Google has decided I'm worth something after all, and will continue to feed me traffic, but who knows?

    1. David 470 profile image80
      David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I was affected by that Google Panda earlier this year in April I think? I never fully recovered, although my traffic maintained, but is now slowly dropping.

      Months ago, I expected to be doing much better right now. hmm

  3. David 470 profile image80
    David 470posted 11 years ago

    I just checked one of my newer hubs and it is ranking terrible in the search engines! Last year at the end of 2011, I would have prob ranked way higher for the keywords I am targeting.... sad

  4. Lauryallan profile image70
    Lauryallanposted 11 years ago

    I am experiencing the same thing as you David.
    I found that it was really easy to rank hubs when I was writing back at the beginning of the year. Now it's a lot harder and my hubs rank way done in Google. This was before they brought in the Idle hub thing too.
    Now I am dreading seeing what happens with new hubs after the introduction of the idle hub status thing and the 24 hour delay in my hub even being presented to google for indexing.
    Hubs have become a hit or miss thing (more often misses) and I am finding myself becoming more and more frustrated with HP as time goes on.

    1. David 470 profile image80
      David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Call me naive, but what are people referring to when they say "idle hubs?"

      I have not been in the forums as much and have not heard about this.

  5. psycheskinner profile image83
    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago
    1. David 470 profile image80
      David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Are these idle hubs supposed to be a good thing? How will they ever move up in the search engines if they are not even there?

      1. shuck72 profile image79
        shuck72posted 11 years agoin reply to this

        Idle hubs are meant to weed out oeople who have accounts here that write a crappy hub or two then disappear never checking in again.  And things like poetry etc that google is not interested in.  The theory as I understand it, is that if hubpages cleans out some of the nonmarketable hubs by making them idle Google traffic will return.  If you have a hub that is idle you can always edit it and it will automatically go live again and get re-evaluated, such as, say Christmas related hubs.

        1. David 470 profile image80
          David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Oh I see how idle hubs could possibly benefit HubPages reputation with Google. Because there are a lot of people who make an account and write several hubs that are substandard (spam, only write 100 word hubs etc).

          I sure hope it helps overall.

  6. Len Cannon profile image89
    Len Cannonposted 11 years ago

    What idle hubs are meant to do is to keep Google from noticing what it is believed they consider to be "bad" or otherwise undesirable content. Low traffic, poor spelling, whatever. By making it invisible it, presumably, lifts up other Hubs on both the subdomain and the site as a whole by making it more reputable.

    1. wilderness profile image94
      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's my take on it, too.  I think that overall it's a good idea, although some bugs need to be worked out.  Some of my hubs that are in the AP program and have had several proofreads by other apprentices have gone idle.  It takes time to gain google traffic for many hubs and they just aren't getting it.

      On the other hand, some hubs I wrote mostly for hubbers need to be idled - they don't get google traffic at all and probably are hurting my subdomain some.

      1. profile image0
        Arlene V. Pomaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        My account looks like a war zone.  I am spending all this time moving Hubs around or deleting the ones that I had unpublished over the summer.  Not exactly my idea of "passive income."  I would much rather be working on new material than working on Hubs that are already published.  What is already working against me is my time in (15 months).  I have a handful of Hubs that draw traffic regularly.  I don't worry about those.  But having to go back and do nothing but work on old Hubs so they can gain traffic?  Certainly not my idea of a good time.

        1. janderson99 profile image55
          janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          This is my feeling exactly. I have had five waves of ZZZs, but none in the last two days. I have requested a checkbox be added to show when all your hubs have been checked and when the next review is due. Because the NOINDEX is added immediately, if you don't act fast the hub can be de-indexed and take days or weeks to be re-indexed. This amounts to 'death by a thousand cuts' especially as the review process is likely to occur again and again. No advice is given as to why the ZZZ has been applied to an individual hub and what needs to be done to stop it happening again. One bizarre twist is that it is better to allow a hub to go ZZZ and then edit it , as a bonus reprieve is applied. If you edit hubs to improve and refresh them in the hope of keeping them awake there is no guarantee that they won't get ZZZd. All of my hubs had been updated in the last 3 months but this did not stop the process. One hub was ZZZd that was first published in July . Its clear to see why many of the established writers are looking elsewhere for publishing their articles.

          Aa' lasser en lle coia orn n' omenta gurtha
          - Elvish for "May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown"

  7. hecate-horus profile image64
    hecate-horusposted 11 years ago

    I'm feeling the pain.  I took a month or so hiatus from Hubpages because I had other "eggs" in the works.

    I think I was actually making more money during my hiatus! 

    I've put much more effort in last month and this month, and my traffic is going down.  I'm promoting the heck out of everything, revising old hubs, writing new ones...and the traffic goes down.   

    Not a very good incentive to keep trying.  My goal was to make $20 this month.  I'll be lucky if I make $15. sad

    1. grinnin1 profile image70
      grinnin1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I also was on hiatus this summer and my traffic boomed. As soon as I got back on and started working, it seems to have slowed down again. I just keep plugging away. I guess getting another subdomain will help, but I'm not there yet.

  8. paradigmsearch profile image61
    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    "When all else fails... Hug the dog."

    Pinterest: 81 likes 5 comments 418 repins

    1. Hollie Thomas profile image60
      Hollie Thomasposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      'Tis official, Holliethomas.hubpages.com has died a tragic death. No Google traffic whatsoever, even from the local Googles.

      1. paradigmsearch profile image61
        paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        I sincerely hope it is temporary. That's been known to happen before.

        I am likewise at a loss as to what to write that google would at least like if not love.

  9. profile image0
    Arlene V. Pomaposted 11 years ago

    "Beating a dead horse" is more like it.

    1. paradigmsearch profile image61
      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Now... Now... lol

  10. Healthy Pursuits profile image80
    Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years ago

    My views are way down from before the last Google change. I even unpublished the ZZZ's. Hasn't helped to stop the slide. I wouldn't mind it if HP would lie to us and say they've found the answer. Even though it would be a lie, it does help temporarily until you realize the truth. I mean, the politicians do it all the time and they manage to stay in business... smile

  11. janderson99 profile image55
    janderson99posted 11 years ago

    HubPages Endless Road Works (layout, profile, idle etc.) has caused massive pile ups and traffic crashes on the Internet FreeWay (it ain't free no more, if it ain't broke don't fix it). Where's the benefit?

    http://www.a1niches.com/trafficHP.jpg

 
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