Referral trackers suddenly show up as broken links

1. 96

   Sue Adamsposted 10 years ago

   Referral trackers which are supposed to give us a share of the income of people who sign up to HubPages via our referral tracker links on our hubs and have been in place for many years suddenly show up as broken links.
   
   
   
   What's going on? Are we now supposed to get rid of referral trackers? Has anyone else encountered this problem?

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   1. 92

      Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My referral trackers are fine. Maybe the particular page you are linking to has moved/been deleted?

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2. 96

   Sue Adamsposted 10 years ago

   I may have found the answer here from HP help pages about referral trackers:
   Appropriate Use of Referral Trackers
   "Referral trackers were designed for use off of HubPages. Adding "Sign up for HubPages" links on HubPages is not recommended and could result in your Hub being moderated. As a side note, these links rarely convert to sign ups, are unrelated to your content, and create an inconsistent design - all things that we want to avoid."
   
   So it seems we are no longer allowed to put referral trackers at the bottom of our own hubs, only use them on external websites. So I have now removed referral trackers from my hubs.
   
   Still doesn't explain why they became broken links though.

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   1. 32

      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have referrals on my Hubs and I don't show broken links on my accounts page.  Is that where you are seeing a broken links notice?

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      1. 96

         Sue Adamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Do you mean referrals for new sign-ups?  I removed all mine now.

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         1. 32

            Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yes: my referral trackers for new sign-ups on HubPages.

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   2. 93

      PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If the hubs where the referral links are located have become Editor's Choice hubs, then the URL has changed. Your old link was probably to your sub domain. This may be why they're showing as broken.
      Just a wild guess...
      

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      1. 96

         Sue Adamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         No, these hubs were not EC hubs, besides all EC hub links work the same way as those in the original URL.

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         1. 93

            PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Okay then. Your guess is probably better than mine.
            

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         2. 86

            IzzyMposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I saw the same thing but on just one of my hubs. The link when I looked at it was all messed up so  I just took it away.
            I think I removed the rest a while back, then again I have a few broken links I've not yet looked at.

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   3. 71

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That is the suggested use of referral links.
      
      I did take a look at your account and didn't see any broken links indicated.
      You should be able to see them here.
      http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/broken-links
      
      Sometimes you can clear the notification by clicking the "Check for Violations Now" here.
      http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/stats
      
      If you have any further questions, please email us at team at hubpages dot com.

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   4. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Not so.  The rule doesn't say referral trackers in Hubs are not allowed.  Just that they were "not designed" for that use.   It's only the "Sign up for HubPages" link that isn't recommended, because it could be seen as "unrelated". If you're linking to other Hubs on related topics, it's not an issue and is still perfectly "legal".
      
      Besides, that rule has been in place for at least a year, probably longer.  I recall a forum thread about it with Paul Deeds.  So it couldn't be responsible for broken links now.

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