Keyword advice...

1. 58

   MelissaBarrettposted 11 years ago

   So I have a hub that I wrote before I had any knowledge whatsoever of keywords etc. 
   
   I have read it about 10 times in the last few days trying to decide what it's keywords are. In my best guesstimate... it has none.  Or none that I could compete for anyway.
   
   Its gotten almost 1400 views in the last 10 days or so.  Hub metrics lists NO keywords that it was ever searched for.  In fact I honestly have no idea how it was ever found in the first place.  I pulled it out of idle a few weeks ago but I didn't even reshare it anywhere. 
   
   Since it's now got around 100 facebook group shares and it's been pinned and liked (I have no idea if any of those things provide real backlinks) I would kind of like for it to have a keyword or two.
   
   So how do you retroactively pick keywords? I've went over the article and I've compared it to google keyword tool and no one is looking (and by no one I mean 20 monthly searches) for the subject of the hub.
   
   Is any of this making any sense?

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   1. 37

      wqaindiaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Need not worry about key words. Spread the word through social net works. Start you hub with How, Why, What , Where, Find this or that and you will see the wonders <link snipped>.

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      1. 84

         donotfearposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         I'm going to try this theory and see how well it works.
         Thanks for the idea....!

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   2. 82

      moonlakeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe they're finding it by sensory integration disorder. It's a good hub your getting traffic I would leave it alone. There must be lots of kids out there with this disorder and parents looking for help.

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   3. 72

      Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I can remember reading your hub awhile back. Even though I don't have a child with autism in the family, it interested me. Maybe you could find some Mommy forums or autism  ones where you could add a link.  Be sure to add it to Redgage and similar sites too.
      
      I have a hub about a health problem where the keyword  is just too competitive, but I am still getting traffic to it. It doesn't come up well in the search engines, but it must be shared here and there.
      
      I wouldn't worry too much as long as it keeps being shared.

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   4. 60

      Louise Latelyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Forgive me for being dim, but where so you input keywords to your hubs? many thanks

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      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Keywords are words or phrases that people are likely to be searching for.  You don't "input" them, you use them while you're writing.
         
         Once upon a time, the advice was to find the best keyword  or phrase, then use them in your URL, Hub title, in every heading and sub-heading, and a few times in the text of your Hub.  Do that these days, and Google is likely to penalize you for keyword stuffing!   Your word or phrase should appear in your URL and Hub title, but you are better off mixing things up in your Hub content.

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            Louise Latelyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            That's really helpful Marisa, get it now

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   5. 85

      aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You can easily find out whether you are getting traffic from search engines or through social networks.  I suspect it is the latter.
      
      Honestly I don't think there is a great mystery, if you don't think you are ranking for 'sensory integration disorder' or any other keyword, and it is easy to check that, just google it anonymously and see if you are on the first page, then I think you're hub might have gone mini-viral on FB.  You say that it has gathered a lot of shares.
      
      What I think is that through luck somebody found your hub who really liked it, and was possibly interested in the topic, perhaps a parent with an autistic child who went through the same experiences you described, and they really liked it and shared it on FB or some other network.  If it was a parent with an autistic child, I bet you some of their friends on those networks also had autistic children, so they came to your hub and passed it on.
      
      I guess ~150 views a day is not really enough to say that something has gone viral, probably because it is quite a niche topic, but I think the mechanism is quite the same.  The mechanics of getting that kind of search traffic are quite different from getting traffic from Google.
      
      Now Google is supposed to keep an eye on traffic to hubs and social shares, although I don't know if anybody has any real data on how they do it and to what extent.  It is possible that Google will notice that your hub is getting quite a lot of traffic, and that people are engaging with your hub, sharing it on FB etc. and will therefore decide that it must be a very good article, and it is possible that you will start ranking for terms that you didn't think you were able to rank for.
      
      Incidentally I don't think personal experience hubs are necessarily bad.  I think they can work quite well, as long as they are on a very specific topic.  The problem with a lot of "hubs as blog posts" is that they are really not about anything other people are searching for.

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2. 67

   Pearldiverposted 11 years ago

   Two Things Here!
   
   1/  Can you believe that your first reply slippered your post with a link to his own article?? 
   
   and
   
   2/  Try giving us a More Definitive idea of the article/subject that you are referring to... and Then maybe you will make it easier to help you 
   
   Because you can always 'refresh' works that are published.. (and are Crawled without being deflected) - then you can effectively rewrite your work almost entirely... this then gives you the ability to reconsider where you want to take your 'message' and accordingly, what K/Ws could enhance its net presence...
   
   But... obviously, as a potential reader.... I would like to know what I would potentially be reading! 

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   1. 58

      MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I saw that...  I chose to say nothing.
      
      It's a hub about going to Walmart with a child with autism/sensory integration disorder.  It is honestly bordering on purely personal and I really cannot fathom why it is getting shared. I almost deleted it when it went idle because it seriously goes against every rule of SEO.  The format sucks.  Keywords are non-existent and it is first-person.
      
      I can't hope to rank on "autism" or "sensory integration disorder" And going out with kids with autism or public outings with kids with sensory integration disorder isn't searched for.  I don't think it's really ethical to do a major edit on it (turn it into a different article entirely) because there are so many shares pointing to it now.  I don't want to trick anyone. But making it a bit more SEO friendly to any relevant keyword would be peachy... there just don't seem to be any.

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      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Why can't you rank for "sensory integration disorder"?   
         
         Are you ticking "Exact" when you check the keyword tool?   That term gets 9,900 searches per month globally, which is on the high side but still OK.

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3. 67

   Pearldiverposted 11 years ago

   It's not a matter of 'tricking' anyone... as a skillful edit will always allow the bones to be cleaned and reused more efficiently... don't scrap it... it has bones!  Have a play with the keyword checker and you will be surprised by how 'wide' that subject really is... but you are also not looking at this as a 'reader' and that perspective is required to be more objective in how to seek keywords... Hope you understand what I mean... 
   
   Also.. what search words have driven non social media traffic?? 
   
   I will read your hub as soon as I can and expand on this...

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4. 73

   Abbyfitzposted 11 years ago

   I think you got lucky and struck gold. I say don't fix it if its not broken.  Congrats on so many views on your hub!

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5. 60

   GoingOnlineposted 11 years ago

   I'm going to take a guess and say that somebody who has been on that situation and was at his/her witts end saw your hub, found it useful and shared. Then it went on being shared because there is not much information on the issue, and it's a very important one for anybody with an autistic kid.
   Check Google Analytics to see what keywords or traffic sources are bringing you traffic or use Google webmaster tools to see what do you rank for, and this way you can tweak the keywords in the content accordingly.

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6. 65

   2uesdayposted 11 years ago

   I too would guess that maybe someone who is a parent of a child with this type of condition found it and shared it with others and maybe it was a self help online group or something like that. I think you may have summed up something that they find difficult to explain to other people.  You have communicated what it feels like and offered ways to help, the readers are probably people in a similar situation to you.
   
   Would it not be a great thing if instead of them  repeatedly trying to explain to friends, family and neighbors the reasons why their child behaved in that way sometimes. They could be sending them a link to your hub or even be printing it out for grandparents and saying please read this? My guess is that you have reached out with your words and filled a need that nobody knew existed. Your honesty and writing style most like confirmed that you knew what you were saying in the article from personal experience, so your advice was seen as valid.
   
   Some may be finding the hub by the image, others may just be typing into search something related to your article. I would be tempted to leave it as it is and see if it continues to do well and then a pattern may emerge that is more noticeable.

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7. 61

   LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

   I am with moonlake on this one. I could not even find the hub. So you have apparently done something right.

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8. 61

   LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

   The link that hubber left got SNIPPED, comment is there but not the link.
   
   Not allowed to leave links in forums.

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9. 59

   truebluewriterposted 11 years ago

   You might want to use google analytics no your hubs, I do. Keywords as well as sources show up in analytics even if they don't yet on hubpages own stats feature. I use it all the time to optimize my stuff.

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10. 76

    Hunbbel Meerposted 11 years ago

    A job well done!
    
    Sometimes ago, HP used to show the 'searched keywords' in the stats segment. However, as this is no longer the case, I will recommend you to use Google Analytics for this purpose.
    
    Good luck!

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11. 56

    Relianttechposted 11 years ago

    Thanks for replying to asked question as all replies have cleared my doubt.

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    1. 60

       Brandon Tartposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       ...MOREOVER -- why don't I have keywords on my hubs any longer?
       
       I don't mean to wax Socratic -- But WTPH happened the chance to list keywords?    If you know, send it directly to me please....I won't be following this too closely.  '

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12. 58

    Annie Lee Havenposted 11 years ago

    What is SEO and what are the rules that I should be following? Obviously, I'm new to this and appreciate the help.  Thanks!

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13. 58

    MelissaBarrettposted 11 years ago

    Thanks guys for all the help... I'm sorry I didn't get back here earlier. 
    
    Marisa... Most of the top 10 are high authority sites.  With the exception of a couple of them they deserve to be high authority sites.  The ones that don't necessarily deserve it I can't hold a candle to in google authority. (I'm not taking on WebMd)

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    1. 96

       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I saw that, too.  I don't think you're likely to ever see front page.  A million competing articles isn't too bad, but that front page would be nasty to compete against.

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    2. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I'm not sure that's a problem.    I've looked for information on a few medical complaints in my time, and often I'm not looking for the official diagnosis,symptoms, treatment yadda yadda, I'm looking for the personal experiences of other people.  So it becomes one of those rare situations where I scroll impatiently past all the medical sites without clicking, looking for something that looks like a fellow sufferer.    I'm sure I'm not the only one. Just a thought.

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14. 0

    Aleister888posted 11 years ago

    The best way to go about any sort of "Keyword" optimization for a Hub i personally believe to be the Organic approach,
    
    Review the Hub itself, (the ones you have not previously optimized keywords for) and ask yourself, "What are the natural words that surround this hub, that accuratley describe what it is" take a note of these words, and then pick the most logical appropriate one and make sure it is included in both your title and content.
    
    When it comes to SEO, try to keep it simple and organic, as anything to "over the top" is probably against the terms of service anywho
    
    Hope that helps nice hubs by the way

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15. 73

    Kangaroo_Jaseposted 11 years ago

    Melissa,
    
    If you have listed checkout what Google Analytics is doing with the hub. You will at least see wher your traffic is derived from.
    
    I would also see much traffic gotten from forums (both personal and professional) about this hub for the reasons Marisa pointed out.
    
    Hence i would try to derive more traffic from forums.

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16. 82

    Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

    In my opinion I would say forget keywords and Google. Leave the article alone unless there are any genuine tweaks you can make to improve it for the readers.
    
    The point is that someone liked it and has linked somewhere and people are reading it.
    
    If that happens then you don't need Google. It's not a keyword heavy piece of generic crap - it's a genuine article written by someone - and readers like that.

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