What a time to be slapped by Google.

1. 88

   SimeyCposted 11 years ago

   There I was seeing my traffic go up and up and up - plenty of sales coming through Amazon, lots of HP Ads revenue and Google Revenue - seeing 30+ viewers on realtime and then I wake up this morning and "BANG" 75% of my traffic or more gone!
   
   I follow one of my hubs very closely and watch its ranking - it has been 2 or 3 on Google for the last six months or so, it's now on page 2! This has happened before and it usually comes back within a week - but not the best time to see this happen!
   
   Anyone else see a huge downward trend in traffic today?

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      theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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         theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Simey, I just checked my top performer which had been #1 for months now, and it's also at page 2. What the heck?!

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      aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Funny, I was wondering whether there's just been a Google update, because my traffic is down.  It is not enough "down" to call it a slap, but it is not good.  Of course my traffic is tiny compared to yours.
      
      Not sure exactly when this happened but I think Saturday was the usual low point of the week, nothing unusual about it, My weekend recovery usually starts on a Sunday, but last Sunday was subdued and there was none of the big climb I usually get a Monday. 
      
      On the other hand, traffic to my Squidoo lenses seems to have improved at about the same time.  One of my lenses is soaring, ok it is seasonal, but it was seasonal last week as well. 
      
      So this might not be just a personal slap from Google to you, Simey.  I have the sinking feeling that there's been another Google update and the HP lost some of the ground it regained, while Squidoo seems to be doing better again.  I hope this is temporary.  We were all excited about HP starting to do better but honestly looking at Quantcast over time it hadn't regained all the ground it lost this year!
      
      Back to writing Squidoo lenses!

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      Cardisaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am sorry SimeyC, my traffic is rising too. Weekend performers are dropping but my weekday performers are rising along with new growth from other hubs. Some of my hubs which were written in the AP program seem to be taking off really well along with one of my poems. I never knew that I could see a poem getting 70+ views per day. I hope you recover soon.

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      wqaindiaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am  new to Hubpages . I am trying to be familiar with the Hubs. It is a nice platform . Though I am not a technical person but formatting below explains nicely. Three cheers for the developer team of Hubpages.
      
      

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   SimeyCposted 11 years ago

   Something happened at 6PM last night according to analytics - (I'm assuming that PST) - was there an algorithm change again!?!??!?!

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      theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hmm. I was just looking around online, and some people are thinking Google might be comparison testing with last week. I didn't hear about any algo updates, but maybe that's just me.

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         SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Last week I saw a nice rise in traffic - today though my traffic seems it's gone back to pre-October levels!
         
         How long do these comparison tests run? Hopefully not more than a few days!

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            theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Same here... According to the chatter, it looked like about a week. I wish I had taken down the URL.

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            CASE1WORKERposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            sorry to hear this- mine have stayed where they were last week which is almost double that of October- hopefully your down turn will be short lived

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3. 75

   CloudExplorerposted 11 years ago

   My traffic is exploding, and I believe its because Google's latest panda update has made it so that if you don't update your web pages ever so often, its bound to take a hit on the regular now. However if gives a huge boost to those locations that get optimized for smarter SEO, well balanced keyword usage, and not stuffing, as well as each time you choose to update your articles, but it need to be a improvement overall of the web pages visual appeal as well as relevance criteria thats search worthy.
   
   Also Google's new algorithm is no joke. So the way I fight it all is by continously making efforts to improve one hub at a time that's been idled, and I had 100's of them maybe close to 200 of them that got hit all at once, both by hubpages and Panda just as many other folks have here.
   
   I'm currently winning the uphill battle, and have huge progression in the last 2 weeks, and its not dropping yet, its still headed up and up. I will not quit at self optimization, at improving my grammar, and trying my hardest to bring out the best quality hubs that I can crank out day by day, I refuse to lose.
   
   Thanks for asking, I due hope that everyone else is at least still trying to improve on their hubs, and all. We cannot allow some silly search engine to stop our true earnest efforts to achieve success. This is my outlook on it all, and I shall be victorious in the end, so help me God. More power to us all!

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      theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hmm.  only have about 72 hubs and have been here less than a year. Might that make a difference? 
      
      All my hubs have been updated fairly recently, with decent evergreen content and layout, and none are stuffed. Of course I'll keep writing (as I love it!) but even a small, momentary setback can be a distraction.

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      jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Good advice, CloudExplorer. I just got done editing/updating a couple of hubs with very low traffic to prevent idle status right before I came to this forum. Hope I'm on the right track. So far, SimeyC, my traffic overall is steadily rising, earnings increasing by the pennies everyday. Keep hope alive!

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      Sarra Garrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Amen.  Never Quit!!!

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   HoneyBBposted 11 years ago

   My traffic has gone down also and I do continuously update my articles so I'm wondering if it could be something else.

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      CloudExplorerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I use at least 5 images per article, plus a video, and polls, and when I can add a map I do such a thing as well. I got that info from the Stellar Hub article in the learning center, maybe give that one a try if you haven't yet. I also read deeply into the self optimization article there as well.
      
      It has helped me to boost all of my web traffic as a whole pretty much, and I hope other folks think about taking them two learning center pages seriously. It will work wonder for us all if so, good luck any how and I wish you much success here on hubpages.
      
      Oh and at least 3 text capsule, up to about 5 max, since I write so much and all

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         summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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5. 88

   Will Apseposted 11 years ago

   My traffic is very good still. Fingers crossed.

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6. 87

   divacratusposted 11 years ago

   Nothing has changed for me. Still the same, no loss of traffic. I haven't individually checked my hubs to see where they are ranking now in Google but as long as the traffic is coming in I guess I don't have to worry as much. Hope it gets back to normal for you, SimeyC.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 11 years ago

   My traffic seems to be on the "up" today, after being in the tank for the past several days.
   I have officially given up trying to figure out the hows and whys of traffic flow around here. I just keep postin' stuff and letting the chips fall where they may. There are less headaches that way.

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   ptosisposted 11 years ago

   Here's a link on google
   
   http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com/ … eo-basics/
   
   "Regularly Update Content – Google bots go coo-coo for fresh content and so will your readers. Post up as much relevant content as you can and you’ll be able to distinguish yourself from your competition and provide value to your customers."

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      Greekgeekposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Good as far as it goes, but be cautious about advice from that site. Casino affiliate programs are often  used by Matt Cutts, Google spokespundit, in his examples of "don't do this."
      
      I have been seeing a slight traffic drop-off, but it was so mild that I kept chalking it up to "typical fluctuation" or maybe just my usual weekend traffic drop. But my earnings have fallen back below the average daily rate needed to get to the magic $50 at month's end, and they had been comfortably over $2/day since the Panda 22 update improved our fortunes. I  wouldn't be surprised to hear of another update late last week.

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      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My benchmark hub that I use to tell if there's been an update was recently updated - it got moved back by ten or so positions in the SERPs. My Squidoo Lens which is very very similar and hasn't been updated for a year has never moved from position one in Serps.
      
      It's frustrating to see that the rules are not being applied consistently - if those are the rules, then great I'll keep on updating - but make sure everyone has to do the same thing to keep things fair.
      
      I'm lucky that I still get a fair amount of traffic and I'm sure it'll flip back at some point - there are people who have lost all their traffic and never regained it - so I'll keep on trucking!

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         aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I would be surprised if the "fresh content" rule was applied uniformly.  Matt Cutts has said that Google recognises some topics need fresh content, but others don't.  So it depends on how good G is at recognising ever green.
         
         I have seen a site on keeping geckos, that hasn't been updated for years, keep its high position in the SERPs, I honestly don't think it is as simple as "update frequently" or you will lose traffic.
         
         Nobody has ever said it, but it would make sense if Google gave some positive weighting to a site being occasionally updated as an anti-spam measure.  The fact that you occasionally go and update and improve your page, could be an indication that you care about your readers, as opposed to a spammer with a "quantity not quality" mindset.   But I think the once a month update that Squidoo demands of people is excessive.

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            SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            The point though is that two articles on exactly the same subject with very similar content are being treated differently. That shouldn't happen.

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               theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I agree, and since my most popular articles tend to be about 1200 words and full of actual content, it is especially disheartening.

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               aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Yep it shouldn't happen, and it shows how Google is far from perfect in recognising quality content.
               
               But Google doesn't just consider the page itself, it takes into consideration the "quality" of the whole site, that is the purpose of Panda.  For a long time Google seemed to think that Squidoo walked on water (bad metaphor I know) while it couldn't get enough of slapping HP.  If Google didn't mind duplicate content, I bet you if you published the exact same stuff on Squidoo and HP, the Squidoo page would outrank HP.
               
               It could also have something to do with the site architecture, interlinking, directories........
               
               Except that HP seemed to be slapped less after the November update and Squidoo lost some traffic, so the newest developments are strange. 
               
               I have a page about the giant waxy monkey frog on HP.  I also have a page about tree frogs in general on Squidoo which briefly mentions that specific frog.  At one point the lens outranked the hub for the keyword "giant waxy monkey frog". 
               
               I don't really think it is a question of fairness.  I think it is a question of the Google algorithm not being very good (or maybe being very good but not perfect if you think about what it is trying to do). 
               
               I also don't think it is a question of rules not being applied equally to different pages.  I think they are, but there are so many rules, and the algorithm is so complex that it is hard to work out what the rules are.  It's like the human body,  two people are exposed to cold rain, one person has the sniffles for a week and is fine, the second person gets pneumonia and dies.

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                  theclevercatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Great explanation! I sure hope we don't develop pneumonia... :-)

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                  SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Agreed! The complexities of Google are mind boggling! I still think that there should be no comparison between other articles in the same website - if an article is brilliant then it is brilliant regardless of how many other article the author has written or how many poor articles are on a website.
                  
                  Imagine if they did the Grammeys, Oscars or Nobel Peace prize using the same criteria. Well Mr X you're work on solving starvations is incredible - however your previous work has been very bad so we won't be giving you the award this year! Have Google never heard of one-hit wonders?
                  
                  BTW I'm not saying my articles are brilliant btw!

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                     aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     I agree.  Incidentally I think they are already doing this for the Nobel Peace Prize, but in the opposite way.

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   Dame Scribeposted 11 years ago

   Well, Google did have a outage that may have required a change in their systems. Something to do with the 'syncing' got messed up and caused crashes. Just a thought. Hope your traffic improves.

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10. 89

    Howard S.posted 11 years ago

    My Google traffic bottomed out on Tuesday the 11th--I mean fewer from Google than from Bing or HubPages. That makes seven up-down cycles in 16 months, typically down longer than up.
    
    The most recent "up" phase was three months, starting the day they began the Zzz feature. That un-featured half of my hubs, which remain that way. I don't think they are supposed to hurt me if they are non-featured. I haven't had time to improve them yet, but did work on some of my better featured hubs.

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11. 88

    Will Apseposted 11 years ago

    I got a hit today. All the gains of the last few weeks disappeared. Disappointing.

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    andyozposted 11 years ago

    Same here, my view are back to where they were a month ago. The past month' big boost certainly came at the right time of year though.

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    aa liteposted 11 years ago

    
    
    
    The Google Cliff.

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14. 88

    SimeyCposted 11 years ago

    Looks like there's a little tinkering going on.
    
    My benchmark hub usually sits at 3 to 4 - a month ago it went up to 2. December 10th it went down to 16th. This morning it was 23rd - this afternoon it's 15th. Usually it is pretty consistant and perhaps moves one place every week up or down!

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       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I'm down, too, Simey, though not to point you seem to be.
       
       My benchmark hub is usually at 2 or 3, now it's at 7.  Interestingly, all the higher ranked results are for products (books, etc.) that my hub makes unnecessary.  Products, in other words, that give the same information, plus one video.

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    Rosie2010posted 11 years ago

    My traffic is also down by 35% from Sunday.  Wednesday is my best day, but yesterday my traffic was lowest since October.  From my stats, the loss in traffic came from google.com.  Yahoo, Bing, and Pinterest, are keeping my traffic afloat.
    
    As you said, what a time to be slapped by google.

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       SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       My experience in the past when my benchmark hub moves like this is that it goes back to 'normal' in a week - so with any luck we're still in time for Christmas! When I look at the increase I had in November and December and the lows I am getting now - on average if things go back to normal I'll probably end up with the same traffic!

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          Rosie2010posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I hope you're right, Simey.  At least for now, I'm hoping the fall stops.  It's making me sick.

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16. 88

    Will Apseposted 11 years ago

    And suddenly my visitor numbers start to take off again... lol.
    
    Well, whatever happens in the next couple of weeks its been a good year for me in HP. In fact, I might just decide not to look at any more stats until the New Year.
    
    I have a house that needs painting and the good thing about paint is that it stays put. You don't wake up one morning and find that half of it has disappeared.

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       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       !!??  Mine, too, Will.  Just in the last couple of hours it has suddenly increased.
       
       Interestingly, I only saw a large drop in the last two days, and both days show a big dip in traffic between 3 and 8 PM.  The rest of the graph (analytics) looks normal, with jagged variations each hour, but that time period on both days shows a large dip - enough to cause loss of 500+ views both days.  What in the world?

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    karthikkashposted 11 years ago

    Why doesn't someone kick Google in the Cajones? Google is always looking forward to do something to hurt common bloggers. My traffic doesn't radically drop, but I too am seeing a bit of reduced traffic on my hubs. I had almost 1,800-1,900 views on a single day and when I thought thing are back to normal, suddenly in the past two days, it goes down to 1400+. I hope that the traffic rises back to normal.

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