A big thank you to all who helped me this past week.

Jump to Last Post 1-9 of 9 discussions (53 posts)

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TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years ago
So many of you jumped in with good advice to help me after my hubs crashed and burned last week that I was overwhelmed. I love this community! I know, too, that many of you have been reading my work to help me "up" my numbers, and I also thank you for that. So far I have completely reworked about 20 hubs, but I have more than 120 to go. Numbers seem to be slowly rising, so apparently what you told me to do is working. Of course time will tell. Again, thank you..thank you...and,oh yes...THANK YOU!
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  Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Good stuff, glad to hear it. I don't think I was much help except in talking about the mental keyword programming. What do you think the main issues were?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Suzanne Day:
  
  Well, for one thing, the team casually mentioned that Google "might" have changed the way the determine their rankings!!
  
  Another is that I needed to start changing the way I do my summaries and key words.
  
  I also am slowly getting rid of all the bolded letters.
  
  In addition to that, I suddenly realized that I have been putting some of my articles in the wrong categories.
  
  Sooo...whether changing all that is starting to work or whether it is just the end of the Labor Day weekend, I am not sure. Also, because HP and Analytics count my own views and I'm editing a lot, it is hard to know just how much improvement there really is.
  
  I know that there is some, but until I finish all of this updating, etc and let things sit a bit, I really will not know.
  
  It has not helped that HP has been so slow with updating the stats pages, either.
  
  And frankly, your advice actually woke me up to something I had no idea I was even doing...so thanks!
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  Brie Hoffmanposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Speaking of categories. I wish HP would come up with more categories because sometimes I have a hard time fitting some of my hubs into them.
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  Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Just suggest them to HP staff. Sometimes they will take you up on it, sometimes they won't. It depends on if they think lots of hubs will be written in that category. There's no point in having a category with only a couple of hubs. Categories need to have 20 hubs in them to feature properly.
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  Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Lovely to hear back from you! Sounds like it's not too hard of an edit, (relief!) removing bolding, fixing summaries etc. I do think there has been algorithm change as the pattern in traffic with hubs not usually "noticed" getting steady traffic now point to that.
  
  Good luck with it all. I think Google is panting down the hill away from anything it considers spammy, so maybe that's why the bolding and too many keywords thingy is an issue. I think Amazon capsules may become an issue again in the future, but we will have to wait and see.
  
  I usually forget keywords, write the hub in Word (without even researching any words) then if I plan to use keywords, I add them at the end when crafting the title and URL before transferring to Hubpages. By not researching any words until after the hub is written, you can often avoid keyword programming....
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  Brie Hoffmanposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Like +
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Alison Grahamposted 9 years ago
It's great that the help you have received has made a big difference, the Hubpages community is a great one to belong to - I was just wondering whether Suzanne has made a hub about what can be done to improve Hub rankings - if so, please point me to it, if not, is there a possibility of writing one please?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Allison Graham:
  
  I can't answer that question, but I do know that many have written on this topic and also that you can find info about it in the Learning Center.
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  Suzanne Dayposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Hi Alison, I tend to only write the odd HP hub because it takes me a long time to write hubs. I might look at doing that topic for the next one (after about 5 more of mine). Unfortunately with only so many hours in the day, I need to get a few more under the belt before writing a HP hub again. But best advice I can give is:
  
  1. Write long hubs that delve into the subject properly
  
  2. Use bold, italics, subheadings, bulleted lists etc a little sparingly (don't splash them all around)
  
  3. Try to make it interesting enough to hold people's attention to the end of the hub (eg pictures, polls, sectioning)
  
  4. Follow the HP suggestions for a stellar hub (top right in editing mode)
  
  5. Write naturally, forget about keywords while doing the actual writing. If you're going to use keywords, put them in when finished.
  
  6. Write 100% original text - Google loves it. Even if you have to take a fact and rewrite it into your own words every time. Do not copy even one sentence from another website. In fact, I try not to use other websites for researching information at all, because you can find yourself subconsciously programmed to accidentally use their words - this lowers ranking on your hub. I find rewriting facts from books in your own words, adding your own experience and making connections between facts to create something new to be much better for coming up with original text.
  
  7. Figure out if it's an organic search hub or a social hub and promote it appropriately.
  
  8. Write more. The more original (ie the angle hasn't been covered yet online) the more Google seems to like it longer term.
  
  I'm sure you know all this already!
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  Alison Grahamposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Suzanne, I appreciate your reply and thank you for the helpful tips. The categories question is one that I have struggled with too - so the tips here from other Hubbers have also been very helpful
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  Linda BookLadyposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for that advice. I've printed it out for ready reference as I work on my hubs.
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Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years ago
I was really impressed at the feedback you received as well. I want to thank you for asking the question, because I learned things that will be helpful in my hubs as well.
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Writer Foxposted 9 years ago
Remember this?

"Why? Because we love you!"
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox:
  
  Awwwwwwww
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firstdayposted 9 years ago
Brie you are right. Several people have been forums saying they are not sure which category to use and I must admit at times I wonder too.
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  Brie Hoffmanposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I just wrote to the HP team and asked them to add a couple categories for me. Don't know if it will help but I write a lot of articles on homesteading and off-grid stuff and there is no good category for that. I also write a lot on making money through self-employment and I always have a hard time with that too. I can't remember if there is an alternative medicine category but that would be a good one as well. Anyway, can't hurt to make a suggestion.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Brie:
  
  I contacted them about a similar thing, but they refused to add anything. So, I just do the best I can.
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  Brie Hoffmanposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  They helped me..For my new series of articles titled Is (ADD STATE) a Good State to go Off the Grid..they said to use Home, Green Living and then they are going to add sustainable living as a sub text.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I find that the categories are often there, they've just been created as a sub-category of something you wouldn't expect. I find it helps to look at other Hubs on the same topic and see what category other people have used, and often there is a suitable one, I just hadn't been able to find it.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  With the beginning of the EC program and the change in navigation, we are no longer able to see the categories on most Hubs – just the main Topic.
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rebekahELLEposted 9 years ago
It's nice to see the community coming out to help! It's not always easy opening a thread asking for advice. You have to take what you think may apply specifically to you and see what happens.
As much as the collective community knows, none of us really can pinpoint exactly why you had such an immediate drop in traffic. I'm glad to hear things are looking better for you.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Update:
  
  I have now updated 75 of the hubs in my main niche, and while my hub scores have risen and my hubber score remains the same, I am still down 75% in both views and income from what I had prior to August 25.
  
  I thought numbers would increase as I improved, but not those from Google, I'm afraid.
  
  I have been told that Google re ranks articles once a month, so may be on September 25 I will see a change. This has been a maddening experience, but also has forced me to totally rewrite several articles and titles to make them better.
  
  We'll know in a few weeks.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It's going to take some time. While you're waiting, here's a good article to read about the process:
  http://searchengineland.com/confusion-g … hes-202875
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox:
  
  Thanks for sharing this with me. I know these things take time, but it is so hard to work and work to improve and see nothing happening. It is almost worse than not knowing what caused the problem in the first place!
  
  I keep checking WMT for insights, but there is not one message or one breath of a penalty from them. This really sucks!
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It's good that there's no penalty or warning. That means that the regular algorithm update was at work. Did you ever find the data on what keyword queries were bringing you traffic before the slump?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I did...but I pretty much knew what my most popular queries were. Now they still bring queries but not many of them.
  
  Have you ever heard of a site called crazylanderror.com? They have linked to my work almost 350 times yet I cannot find them on google search and have no idea who they are. Could this be some sort of spam connection that may have brought me down?
  
  Also there is one called teamwakeforce.com that linked 423 times and marriagerefresh.com which linked 223 times, both of which I cannot look at because they say entry is forbidden! One with a 403 and another with a Port 80.
  
  I have no idea what these are but cannot help but feel they may be the basis for my issue. Any thoughts?
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Does this look familiar to you?
  http://goo.gl/BFP6J5
  
  It sounds like a Google Penguin algorithm to me. All you have to do is use the Disavow Links Tool. You can find out how to do this on my Hub about Google Penguin. Be sure to watch the video there.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I clicked on that link but have absolutely no idea what it is and the site it linked to looked like insanity! I don't see how that connects to my issue, but I'll try doing what you said and hope that it works! Thanks.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Apparently that is a forum and Crazy Error is a Playstation game.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  http://searchenginewatch.com/article/23 … savow-Tool
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  She was referring to this link:
  http://goo.gl/BFP6J5
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Marisa...this scares the you know what out of me!
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  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Why? It's explaining about Google's Disavow Links Tool (which is part of Google Webmaster Tools) - which WF has told you to use.
  
  I thought it was important for you to understand that when you use that tool, it may look like nothing has been fixed - but it has.
  
  The article also explains that the Disavow Tool doesn't get the sites taken down, but it does attach a flag to the link so the link doesn't hurt you any more.
  
  Google does say not to use the Disavow Tool unless you really have to. However for sites you can't contact, there's really no option.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox:
  
  I watched the video and also read Marisa's link info and feel as though I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with this. I am afraid that if I try to use this tool, I will mess up my already badly messed up site, and if I don't, it will never recover.
  
  I have yet to get any bad link messages from Google, so am not even sure if my situation requires disavowing some links. I have traced three of them to cloudforce and another three to Enom.com and one more to Codero, which seems as though that one might be OK. Some of them refer you to a site called FactVibe, and others do not even exist. Crazyerrorland is not nor has it ever been a registered domain name according to WhoIs.
  
  According to Marisa's link, Google does not remove those links or even penalize the people who spammed you, which is totally insane, I think. All it does is make them "no follow", but I do not understand how that will help me.
  
  We need to talk more about this.
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LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago
crazylanderror cannot be found on IE, Google Chrome, or Firefox.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  LindaSmith1 Yes...this is an issue of concern for me...big time. Thanks for looking.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I am now seeing numerous sites that I cannot access that say things in relationship to errors, such as errorzap.com. There are also some others with the word "marriage" in them. I think I have a very serious problem here, so if anybody can help, I'm all ears. I have written the team about the first three but I fear there are dozens more and from what I have read, getting "unlinked" is almost impossible.
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The Examiner-1posted 9 years ago
If I was one of the ones to help you with this, I give you my congratulations for your results. :-)
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The Examiner-1:
  
  Right now, things have taken a down turn if you look a bit further up this post. Things are not good because I think somehow I got some spammy backlinks that my have messed up my numbers...but I am not certain of that...or of anything else at this point. But thanks, anyhow.
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  The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  No, TIMETRAVELER, I did not look at the forum. I just saw your opening remark on HubPages and posted my comment. I am sorry about your problem, I hope that you are able to mend it soon.
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Writer Foxposted 9 years ago
Go here and ask, giving the names of the linking sites and the numbers of links:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/ … g--ranking
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox: I did that 12 hours ago and nothing happened
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You mean that you posted a question and no one responded?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox:
  
  Yes. Six people viewed the post and nobody responded.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox:
  
  If a bad link has attached itself to an article and I remove the article, does the link remain in Google's eyes?
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  If the article is gone and the cache is gone, it's history and the bad link gets a 404 if anyone clicks on it (which means it goes to a page which doesn't exist).
  
  Are you really going to remove content because of this? Why not just remove the links following the instructions on the Google Link Disavowal Tool?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox:
  
  I am not yet certain about which links are causing the problems and am first writing to the domains that I can reach to ask them to fix the problem, as Google suggests.
  
  Also, this does not sound as simple to me as you say it is.
  
  Finally, I am not sure if the links are the problem because Google has not sent me any messages about this.
  
  What I am trying to do first is update every hub, remove nonproductive ones, reorder them in appropriate groups, and then, if all else fails, write to Google and ask the to reconsider my ranking.
  
  I know you are very good with this stuff, but I am not, so I need to make sure I do this right because I think it is my only chance.
  
  Furthermore, I am not sure if this loss of views is because summer has ended because 75% of my views and income come from my RV hubs, and my loss is also 75%. Ironically, I just checked to see where my most popular article was on Google Search by typing in some of the key words, and it is sitting in first place on page 1 right now...but I am only getting 50 views per day, whereas before I was getting around 200. This makes me think it might not be the links or quality or any of the other stuff that was discussed in this post. It is very confusing.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  What led you to think that the links might be the problem, I must've missed that somewhere?
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Read the thread.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Update:
  
  Well, boy, have I got a problem...much bigger than I at first thought, and I am amazed that WMT had no warnings or penalties for me about this.
  
  Tonight I took a closer look at the list of sites that have linked to me...there are 88 of them...at the present time, I have identified at least 40 that could be considered unethical or spammy in one way or another. I am sorting through them one by one via WhoIS and when I get a complete list, I will email the hosts I am able to contact. They do not have to remove the links, but if they do not, then I am justified with sending the entire list to Google using the tool Writer Fox gave me above. It will take forever for Google to get rid of them, and this will be a ton of work for me, but I have no choice.
  
  I thought it was just a few of them, at first, but now I see that there are tons of them. Many..and I mean many...are linked to Enom, Go Daddy and NameCheap. I had an account with Enom until...just about the time I closed it a few weeks ago. I wish WMT would put dates on those sites but they do not. Just wanted to put this out there to warn all of you to check your links on WMT to make sure they are legit. This has to be part of my problem.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  TT2, you don't have to get rid of the sites. As WF has told you, all you have to do is "disavow" the links. Then Google will put a flag on the links and they will ignore them, and then they can't do you any harm.
  
  That's what that article was saying, the one I linked to.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Marisa Wright:
  
  If you watch the video WF linked to with Matt Cutts explaining all of this, you will see that before using the tool Google wants you to personally contact every site FIRST to request that they unlink before using the tool. Just finding the offensive user on Whois is extremely difficult, and here's why:
  
  Company A sells a domain name to Company B who then sells it to Company C. Company C may be in China, Russia, Panama, Bogota or France. It may or may not have an email address or phone number. Who do write to to make your request? The initial seller or the third party user? And even if you do have the info, if the user is a malicious site and you email them, what would keep them from giving you even more trouble?
  
  Also, MC stressed again and again that using the tool is tricky and is not for "mom and pop" computer users, but rather for experts and that if you do it wrong, you can really mess your site up.
  
  As I understand it, to submit you must go through each domain on the WMT list, find out all of that information, find out which articles they linked to and THEN submit the list to Google. Even after all of that, Cutts says Google may or may not take action, and even if they do, they will not remove the links from the WMT list, they will only make each one no follow...and this could take a very, very long time.
  
  My other thought is that if I submit 40 or so domains to them for reworking, are they going to penalize me in some way for doing so?
  
  So you see, this is very complicated. I could avoid the whole thing simply by shutting down about 20 articles, but of course people would steal some of them, I would lose a bunch of potential money, etc., etc.
  
  Wouldn't it be nice if Google WMT just had a little box next to each domain name titled "disavow" that you could just click? If they did, I'd be there right now clicking away like crazy!
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