How to improve HubPages as a website...

1. 80

   jackclee lmposted 7 years ago

   Over the past year or so, I've been watching the steady decline in ranking of HubPages on Alexa, from 1000 down to 1500. Despite the great work done by HubPages staff and the efforts of many Hubbers, it seems the trend is not in our favor. The question becomes, how do we turn it around?
   What I also noticed is the strong reliance on Google search as the primary vehicle for external traffic to our hubs. I've always been puzzled by this and didn't understand why. It seems to me, we need to target all search engines to increase HubPages presence. That includes Bing, Yahoo, Baidu and other less known search engines. Even though Google is the most popular search engine, it is not a permanent fixture. Things change in the internet and what is hot today may be out tomorrow.
   On my recent trip to China, I learned that Google is blocked. That means 1.3 Billion potential readers are not participating in HubPages. Many of Chinese, especially the young, do speak and learn English as a second language.
   I want HubPages to succeed and to that end, I suggest HP try to target other search engines in addition to Google. There is a huge potential out there.
   Let's do all we can to promote HubPages.
   I am also soliciting ideas from other hubbers.
   There is a diverse comunity here with vast experience and talents.
   Let's brain storm and help HP going forward.
   I was on Squidoo for 5 years before being transferred here.
   I like many aspects of HP and hope it doesn't suffer the same fate.

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2. 91

   Chriswillman90posted 7 years ago

   The niche sites is the direction HP is headed and that's the way the site has to go because content farms are no longer lucrative. This site will serve as a main base but it's the niche sites that will generate profit.

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   1. 80

      jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps, the jury is still out. Good content will win in the end wherever it resides. The niche sites are still new. It takes time to establish a following. So far, HubPages has the dominance due to the google connection. Unfortunately, HP is at the mercy of Google's ever changing ranking algorithms...
      Perhaps, another search engine will pick up the slack. Personally, I think global penetration is the way to go. So far, most readers of HP are from the US and Canada by my estimation.

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      1. 88

         lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Wrong estimation. According to Alexa it is:
         
         US
         India
         China
         United Kingdom
         Pakistan
         
         And HP is optimized for all search engines not just Google. Just that most traffic comes from Google

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         1. 80

            jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Very interesting... I see that from Alexa.
            How does China figure 7.4% when Google is blocked in all of China except Hong Kong?
            
            I guess I was estimating based on my own hub experience. Perhaps there are more hubbers from Canada than the rest of the world?
            A certain percent of traffic does come from HubPages and other hubbers.
            Google is the primary external source but Amazon is a 2nd source.
            
            I am not sure how true it is by your last statement.
            When I perform searches on some other sites such as Bing and Yahoo, I don't get the page ranking as I see from Google. Something else is going on here, I'm not sure what...

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            1. 88

               lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Well I'm not sure about you, but all my hubs are ranking either the same or better on bing when I perform searches for the keywords most people would be using to get to them.

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         2. 60

            paradigmsearchposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            An interesting side note, Quantcast still tells us the US ranking and uniques for HubPages' remaining hubs.
            
            https://www.quantcast.com/hubpages.com?country=US

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            1. 80

               jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I thought Hupages stopped subscribing to Quantcast a few months ago.

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               1. 88

                  lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Yup, it's not Quantified, but they still have good estimates.

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