Why do HP editors remove links in Hubs?

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   promisemposted 7 years ago

   Quite a few of my Hubs have related Hubs. I try to put a few links in a Hub to another related Hub when it seems appropriate.
   
   But I see that the editors often remove them. I have tried to find out why in past forum postings without any luck. I assume it's because of loss of page rank. Is that the case?

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      RachaelLeflerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah I wasn't sure why, either. Links are important for me because I like to provide evidence and link people to related hubs I've written on the same topic. But I think maybe they don't want hubs that are cluttered with links, or too many links makes an article look less click-worthy to Google?

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         RachaelLeflerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         They also did away with a ratings capsule in one of my pages, and the page was explicitly stated to be a review in the title, so I thought having a ratings capsule at the end to summarize my point made sense? Hubpages acts like those are only for recipes but I don't even get how to use a ratings capsule in a recipe, maybe to not so much give your own opinion of the recipe but maybe more so that the audience can give you theirs?

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            Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Rachael,
            
            As Marisa mentions, ratings capsules were only ever intended for use on recipe Hubs (there just isn't a practical way to enforce their use on HubPages other than to inform writers of their intended purpose). A ratings capsule is part of a microformat that signals to Google that the Hub is a recipe and allows certain additional info to display in search. Google stopped honoring the microformat settings on HubPages altogether because that capsule was so commonly misused in articles that were not actually recipes. Since Editors are already looking at individual Hubs for sites, we are being more strict about its use there.

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               RachaelLeflerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               But a rating is a way to give a visual shorthand for either your opinion on something or your audience's, so I don't see why that had to be labeled as a "recipe" capsule in the first place and doing so was understandably confusing.

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                  Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Because Google specified certain guidelines for the use of this particular module (with code attached that the readers don't see) that identifies it as a recipe in keeping with Google's recipe microformatting requirements which was intended to allow readers to see user ratings of the recipe in search results.
                  
                  In other words, the Rating Capsule isn't simply an image of a star rating. It contains recipe-specific data that only Google sees, which is why Hubbers get a warning when trying to use it for other things. As a penalty for the misuse of this code, Google no longer honors HubPages recipes with the additional visibility the ratings capsule was supposed to provide. We remove it where it's not used appropriately to make sure this doesn't happen on our new Network sites.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Goodness, why was that never explained?
               
               I was active on HubPages when the recipe capsules were introduced and I remember discussions on the forums with Jason (the moderator at the time) explaining how they worked.  We were actually being encouraged to use the ratings capsule in all reviews, so obviously the staff didn't understand the implications at the time. I remember going back to my product review Hubs to add the ratings capsule and I know a lot of other people did, too. 
               
               What a pity.

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                  Millionaire Tipsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I remember the staff telling us to use them for recipes only, many times.

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                  Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't believe this was originally the case years ago that Google was as strict with the Recipe Ratings capsule, but this is why we included the automated message when using recipe Capsules that asks if you are creating a recipe when writing or editing a Hub.

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      Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hi promisem,
      
      It's most likely that an Editor considered these links unrelated. Links must directly relate to the Hub's topic. For example, if you're writing a Hub about how to clip a cat's nails, you should only link to other resources and supplemental information that directly relate to the subject of clipping cat nails. Other Hubs on cats or cat grooming that aren't about clipping cat nails are considered unrelated and are classified as spammy.

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         kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Hi, Christy,
         Thank you for enlightening me on this question. I finally spelled your name right. Sorry for the misspellings on the Team HP notes. So I now understand that ratings capsules are NOT for ratings on shows, etc. hubs, so when we review a show, we just type something at the bottom . . ."I rate this show, "Fun With Elmer's Glue," three stars," . ..right?

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            Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, exactly! If you want to let your readers know what you think on a scale, it's a good idea to say something like "I give this show 8/10" etc.

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               kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Christy . . .Ahhh, now the lightbulb goes off above my head. Thank you. And peace to you, my friend.

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         promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Hi, Christy. That may be the guideline on when to cut, but all of my links go to relevant HP pages and external sites.
         
         I link a multi-word keyword phrase like "Singer Island vacations" in an article about Singer Island Florida that goes to a site about Singer Island.
         
         A section in the same article about visiting Singer Island before or after a Florida cruise lost a link to an HP page about Florida cruise ports.
         
         I understand differences of opinion and judgment, but some of these cuts are pretty baffling.
         
         It also seems logical to link from a low-ranking page that will never see the light of day in Google to a high-ranking one for the sake of giving it a boost.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Your link may be relevant to the words used, BUT are they relevant to the subject of the Hub?
            
            The standard for relevance is very restrictive.  One practice that's common on blogs is to make a reference to something in passing, and rather than explain it, you'll create a link to a site that does explain it.  That kind of link is likely to be snipped, because the reference was only incidental and not essential to an understanding of the Hub topic. 
            
            Was the Florida Hub the one about cruise ports?  If so, you could link to sites about the ports but not to sites about other places. 
            
            I'm not sure why they would snip a link about Singer Island vacations on a Hub about Singer Island vacations though!

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               promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Marisa, your point about a restrictive standard for relevance is well taken. I believe they are relevant links, but how relevant can be a matter of opinion.

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               jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Does everyone who have hubs moved to niche sites seen the suggested related hubs on the right hand side? Do you agree with me that these choices are not the best for the topic of the hub?
               It seems to me, I as the author of the hub, knows which other hubs are more related to my topic than what is chosen at random by Hubpages.
               My links were clipped before moving over to WanderWisdom.

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      jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, what's the point of having a link module if they are discouraged from being used.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   Actually, the ratings capsule was originally introduced specifically for recipes and it's intended for your readers to rate the recipe.  However we've always been able to use it to rate things ourselves so I don't know why your rating would've been stripped.  Unless they've decided to change it back to recipes-only.

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      DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      If it's that big of a deal to use it for 'recipes only,' then I think it would be a simple enough matter to program it so that it is grayed out, and not available on other types of templates.

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         jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Where is this rating capule found? I don't see it in the insert module.

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            DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            It's off in the right-hand sidebar in the compose article mode.

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               kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               DzyMsLizzy, I am going to keep my head down and follow the advice about rating shows or movies and leave the 'ratings' thing alone.
               I'd rather be happy than right.

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         Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         We have no systematic way to tell if a Hub is a recipe (since Hubs in food topics can be informational-- like "How to Select Steak from the Grocery Store"-- and do not necessarily include recipes). We do include warnings when selecting recipe-specific capsules that they should only be added if the Hub is a recipe.

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   Venkatachari Mposted 7 years ago

   I think that you may have tried to link to your own hubs. This may not be encouraged by HubPages. But, if you link to other hubber's articles, then it should be okay.

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      jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Why is linking to our own hub a no-no? This is one of my pet peeves. Just because Google view this as potential spam, does not mean they are right. I see no problem with linking any hub, as long as the subject matter is closely related. Especially when you examine the trailing hubs at the end of any hub which is put there by HubPages. They are random hubs by the author.

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