Message about too many product capsules

1. 61

   SusanSaiesposted 10 years ago

   In edit mode for my Non-Surgical Bunion Treatment hub, I keep getting a message saying I have a large number of amazon products and that each one should be relevant to the adjacent text.
   
   I've gotten this message for a long time, even though I've edited the hub several times, and took away a couple of Amazon capsules.  For a few weeks now, there have been only 4 products, but I still get this message.
   
   The hub is over 1300 words long. The main product has over 300 words of text, another one has over 200 words, and the other two have well over 100 words each. Each product is relevant to the topic of the hub.
   
   Why do I still get this message? Is it just a glitch?

   replyreport
   1. 31

      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That message usually appears when products are listed one right after the other, although I've seen many Editor's Choice Hubs that have Amazon products displayed that way.
      
      On your Hub, however, you have them spaced correctly and adjacent to individual text capsules, so I don't know why you are still getting the message. 
      
      You might send an email to the team and ask:
      http://hubpages.com/email/help/alert/qapnopass

      replyreport
   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds like a style tip not a warning.  Style tips aren't mandatory, they're just tips. If you feel the best place for the capsules is close together due to the nature of the text, you can ignore it.
      
      You will often need to have multiple capsules close together, for instance if you're comparing several products side by side.  There's no rule against it. 
      
      The rule is definitely one capsule per 50 words - but it says NOTHING about where the capsules should be.  So for instance if you have 500 words and 10 capsules, those 10 capsules could be at the beginning, at the end, in the middle or right-floated all the way down the side.  They would all be "legal".   They wouldn't all make sales, but that's a different subject.

      replyreport
      1. 93

         jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Although style tips are not mandatory, I wonder if it's a mild way of saying, "if you want to increase your chances of your hub being rated as 'stellar,' follow these guidelines." You think?

         replyreport
         1. 90

            Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I think it's a style tip. It appears either above or below the text, 'Need Some Goals'. I've just had a look to see if I could find the tip or 'message' on one of my pathetic, unrevised old hubs in order to quote exactly what it says, but I seem to have got rid of it on all hubs.

            replyreport
         2. 72

            brakel2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I think all the style tips have to do with a stellar hub but are not mandatory. I have been trying to follow some of them to get a better score. Does anyone know what an 8 in QAP would equal in a score? I know  the score may be later lowered based on low traffic. Right?

            replyreport
         3. 87

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, but they are very general and don't apply in every circumstance.  So for instance, I like to put a "Further Reading" capsule at the end of my Hub rather than citing in my text.  That will give me a warning about too many links listed together - but I just ignore it. 
            
            Similarly, I would usually agree with not having too many Amazon capsules lumped together - but if I want to compare several products side by side, it wouldn't make sense to do otherwise.

            replyreport
2. 93

   jansharesposted 10 years ago

   Does the message start with, "Uh oh, it looks like you have too many Amazon or eBay capsules . . ." I just got through rearranging capsules in my hub for the same until it went away. If the ad capsules are too close in proximity (more than 3), the irritating message will not go away. You have to put enough images and text between them to make sure no more than 3 are "touching."

   replyreport
3. 61

   SusanSaiesposted 10 years ago

   Yes, JanShares, it's that "uh oh" message. I'll try to add something in between a couple of capsules and see it that pesky message goes away.
   Thanks for your advice.
   
   Thanks also to you, Writer Fox for that link to support.

   replyreport
   1. 90

      Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Is this message appearing on old hubs? I've been away from HubPages for a long while, but when I came back and started revising some of my old hubs, I also noticed that message. So, I opened the capsule, and where it says 'Maximum number of items to display', I changed the number from 4 to 1. The message then went away. There was only ever one item displayed in the capsule, anyway.
      
      I see the Amazon capsules are different on my new hubs, and don't ask how many items to display.

      replyreport
4. 93

   jansharesposted 10 years ago

   Yes, Jayne Lancer. I recall confusion about that last year when the rules changed saying we could only have one or two ad capsules in the hub. Many hubbers, including myself, were scrambling to delete ad capsules from their hubs. It had something to do with HP trying to reduce the number of links on the site to get back into Google's good graces.
   But sometime after that, it somehow changed to "we can have as many ad capsules as we want?!" I think the misunderstanding has to do with other factors like length of hub and # of ads, as well as ad placement. I ended up putting back several ad capsules that I had deleted and it was fine. I hope someone else will chime in on this for clarification if I'm wrong.

   replyreport
   1. 90

      Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes. I remember something about being allowed to display only one Amazon item per 50 words.

      replyreport
   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That was never, ever the case.  I think what happened is that one or two people misread the rule and caused a panic.
      
      When the rule changed, it was to say you could have only two Amazon PRODUCTS per capsule (at the time, you could have 3 or 4).  A lot of people misread it as you can see from this thread:
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/114701

      replyreport
      1. 93

         jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         That's it! Thanks for the memory jog, Marisa about having several within one capsule. That's probably what I was deleting.

         replyreport
5. 31

   Writer Foxposted 10 years ago

   The rule is still one Amazon or eBay product to 50 words of content. I have a Hub with 46 products and that Hub has over 4,000 words.

   replyreport
   1. 93

      jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you.

      replyreport
   2. 90

      Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds like quite a hub!
      
      I'm pretty sure I changed my hubs back then accordingly, but thanks for letting me know that it still applies.

      replyreport
6. 72

   brakel2posted 10 years ago

   Doesn't it still have to do with using the URL  Writer Fox?  I went to a hub where capsules were removed and layout all out of kilter. It was such a mess, I unpublished it. Also, I found one hub where list price was higher than Amazon price. I need to visit the Learning Center. Can you clarify?

   replyreport
   1. 31

      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I don't quite understand what you mean by "Using the URL."  I do remember when the change was made that the Amazon capsule floated to the right was much larger than it used to be, so Hubs ended up with a lot of white space on the text size.  You can still see this on Hubs which haven't been updated since the change was made.
      
      I haven't noticed the 'higher price' issue, but other people have.

      replyreport
   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Did you think you had to write 50 words for each capsule, so you've got a short paragraph and the right-floated Amazon capsule is too big?  That's not how the word limit works.
      
      You can have one capsule per 50 words but that's OVERALL - i.e. you look at the TOTAL words in your Hub, divide it by 50 and that tells you how many capsules you can have, and those capsules can go anywhere you like. 
      
      Personally, it would be very rare for me to go anywhere close to the limit.
      
      As for the list price/sale price - odd pricing happens on Amazon, and when it does, I try to find an alternative product.

      replyreport
7. 72

   brakel2posted 10 years ago

   Something about choosing specific products made a difference in the number you could have. Maybe that is not a current issue. Do you remember?

   replyreport
8. 61

   SusanSaiesposted 10 years ago

   Just to jump back in here, I've made changes to my hub I referenced at the start of this thread. I've added two youtube videos and a simple text capsule between the last two product capsules, plus other extra text.
   
   This hub is now over 1,500 words, but I'm still getting that "uh oh" message saying I have too many products, etc.
   
   I'll use that link WriterFox posted and hopefully get this message removed.
   
   Also, thanks to Marisa for her information. I won't worry about this message, but want it removed anyway.

   replyreport
   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Did you read this post:
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/120672#post2557698
      
      If it's an old Hub, you may have the capsules set to show multiple products.   The automated filter counts how many products the capsule is set to, not how many are displayed.  Open each capsule and set each to "1" and the warning will go away.

      replyreport
      1. 90

         Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Exactly. That's what I've done, and it works.

         replyreport
9. 61

   SusanSaiesposted 10 years ago

   Marisa, thank you!!!
   
   Although I had updated most of this hub more than once, the very last amazon capsule was still an old one, and it did show "3" instead of "1".
   
   As soon as I changed it, that bothersome message went away.
   
   Oh well, I think the extra work I did on the hub made it better anyway.
   
   Now...if Hubpages would quit giving me a warning that a new hub is in danger of being substandard just because I've only chosen the url and haven't worked on it yet (and certainly haven't tried to publish an empty hub!), I would be totally happy!
   
   Thanks again, Marisa!

   replyreport
   1. 90

      Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I recently edited an old hub, and got that style tip.  I thought the number of capsules I had was fine, and the problem was the same one you mentioned.  All those "number of products" had to be changed from 3 to 1 since there was only one product in each capsule. That is strange that they couldn't get a program to do that when the other two are blank.
      
      It is depressing to see a substandard warning as soon as you start a hub.  Calling me a failure before I've had a chance to redeem myself.  But I then remind myself that it is substandard in its current state.  My job is to make that warning go away and make the best hub I can.

      replyreport