Photographs used by the writer of the HUB

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   psycheskinnerposted 7 years ago

   "Spammy" means promoting webpages or other entities that you own or are involved with.  I don't think the'r name you use is the issue when it comes to what is "spammy".

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      claptonaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I understand. My website is under my  "pseudonym" and that I think creates the problem.
      Thanks for your input.
      Cheers

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         psycheskinnerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I am not sure that is it.  Confirming the site is yours would tend to make linking to it more spammy rather than less.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I agree with Psycheskinner.  I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it's how HubPages works.
            
            If you're just linking to a website because you're crediting a photographer, that's absolutely fine.  If you're linking to your OWN website because you took the photos, then it can be seen as promoting yourself and that's not allowed.
            
            So obviously the way around it, is simply not to admit it's you...

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               claptonaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Yup,
               The more I thought about it, I came to the same conclusion as you, Marisa.
               I didn't link it to my blog but if you type in the name I did use, it would immediately bring up my blog.
               So, I can understand the "spammy" comments from hubpages.
               I'm just going to use my name.
               Thanks,
               John

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Now I'm confused.
                  
                  Spammy elements always refers to links of some kind.  It may be a link to another website, or to another Hub that's about a different subject, or to an Amazon product that's not sufficiently relevant.  You will never get a "spam" warning for simply mentioning something or someone without a link.
                  
                  The most common cause of a "spammy elements" warning is an Amazon capsule.  If you use one in a Hub, you MUST say why you are recommending that specific book or product.  If you don't, it's spammy.

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   Will Apseposted 7 years ago

   This is what Google search considers to be spam: https://www.google.com/insidesearch/how … -spam.html
   
   Quote:
   
   'Thin content with little or no added value
   Site appears to consist of low-quality or shallow pages which do not provide users with much added value (such as thin affiliate pages, doorway pages, cookie-cutter sites, automatically generated content, or copied content).
   
   Unnatural links from a site
   Google detected a pattern of unnatural, artificial, deceptive or manipulative outbound links on this site. This may be the result of selling links that pass PageRank or participating in link schemes.
   
   Unnatural links to a site
   Google has detected a pattern of unnatural artificial, deceptive or manipulative links pointing to the site. These may be the result of buying links that pass PageRank or participating in link schemes.
   
   User-generated spam
   Site appears to contain spammy user-generated content. The problematic content may appear on forum pages, guestbook pages, or user profiles.'

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      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think you're just confusing the issue.  We know exactly what "spammy elements" means in an email from HubPages  - it's always about links or Amazon capsules.

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         Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I imagine the many lost souls who pass through these forums will always need you to interpret the will of the Gods, Marisa, but some of us like to peep behind the veil.
         
         Also, there are a lot of folks who like to portray HP as irrational in the standards that it imposes on writers. It is pretty clear to me, that HP is simply trying to adhere to Google guidelines and some of the lost souls might like to know what they are.
         
         As to Solaris's question about 'curated lists', I don't know why HP is so hard on them. I reckon they suspect that any page with a lot of links contains some kind of link spam and since the eds cannot check them thoroughly, they ere on the side of caution.
         
         My personal objection to curated lists is that, often, they do not answer searchers' needs. If someone writes a page titled 'Great Breads of the World' and fails to describe a single loaf of bread, but merely links to other peoples pages, I am unimpressed.
         
         Of course, some link lists are genuinely useful, especially if the page has a lot of info that acts as a good intro to the subject.
         
         Anyway, currently giving up smoking, so IQ is plummeting, brutality is increasing and soon I will be a lost soul myself, lol.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I am not disputing your definition of spam.  What I'm saying is that, if you get an email from HubPages saying you have spammy elements, it ALWAYS means there is something wrong with either your hyperlinks or your Amazon capsules, or both. 
            
            That means there's no need for the Hubber to start struggling with the definitions of curated lists or doorway pages etc etc.  They just need to improve or remove their links and capsules. End of.

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            Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I am still interested in the question: what is the difference between curated lists (which MaM says Google loves) and doorway pages (which Google will flush down the toilet). Is it that it has a good introduction? I was wanting a table of contents type of page on my blog for a certain subject, now I am concerned that it might be something evil that will sink the site.

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               Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Pages with a lot of links to various sites or other pages on a site are just about the opposite of doorway pages, as far as I understand. Doorway pages usually just point in one direction, usually to a page that is financially important for a webmaster.
               
               Someone creates an affiliate page, or a sign up page, or whatever, then spends time getting pages (often on different domains) to rank in search engines that point to that page. In other words, it is a kind of funnel that shepherds searchers in a particular direction.
               
               These curated list things are usually pretty innocent unless they created specifically to direct link juice, illicitly.
               
               If you want a way of organizing content why not use the navigation menu, or a related content sidebar to do the job? Not that a central article which acts as an intro cannot be used to point to more detailed discussions elsewhere.
               
               Mostly Google decides something is spam if is not serving the reader but consciously attempting to manipulate search engines or give readers the run around.
               
               p.s. bought a vaporizer, lol. I think nicotine is my perfect partner if only I can get rid of its deadly friends. It is charging as I write. Tomorrow I will be superman or suffering serious buyers remorse.

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                  Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I know a bunch of people who quit ciggies with the e-cigarettes.  They love them.  It's not the same, but it helps with a couple of cravings.  I bought one, but the juice for it tasted like sweet cigars.  So I put it in the drawer with my other buyer's remorse goodies.
                  
                  Thanks for answering my question!

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                     Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     I was slightly drunk when I wrote that comment but it seems more or less coherent. I will be honest, I remember doorway pages from ten years ago (they were commonplace and drove you mad by refusing to give the info you needed) but I haven't seen any for a very long time.
                     
                     Incidentally, the vape seems the biz, I rather like the taste, but I realize that I overpaid. Never shop whilst drunk, lol. Also, worth bearing in mind that the vapour can kill cats according to my more sober research.

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                        Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                        Also, never grocery shop whilst hungry.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Will explained doorway pages well, here's Google's version:
               
               https://support.google.com/webmasters/a … 1311?hl=en
               
               You can see it's nothing like a curated list.
               
               The thing with a curated list is that Google likes them if you're creating a list of resources from other websites.  So a table of contents page for your OWN site would not be a curated list, it would just be a rather inefficient method of navigation.
               
               If you're going to create curated lists on your own site, then remember they can't just be a list of links - you need to write some details about each of them and make sure each list is on a coherent and useful niche that's relevant to your site.

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                  Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  My problem is that Blogger is an efficient platform.  However I just changed over to a dynamic template that gives me much more room for "pages" on the navigation bar.  So I may abandon the table of contents idea, which I had not gotten very far on anyway. Page views are up 15% with the new magazine style template.
                  
                  However the dynamic template means I can't use Amazon Native ads as they won't display unless I get very tech savvy, and Amazon is fixin to do 12% commission on Native ads in November.
                  
                  I also added page level ads.  These ads are illegal to use on any other platform as they are sticky, but it seems Google will bend the rules for themselves and their Blogger users.  The first day they were implemented Adsense $$$ were up 400%.  I will let you know if that gain maintains over the week.

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     Aha, now I understand.  Blogger is good but the one thing it sucks at is navigation.  Labels are all you've got (date archives are absolutely useless, when does a reader ever search by date?).  So yes, I do agree that a table of contents page would be an excellent idea.

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                     Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     Lot of buzz around native ads but I can't see me being an early adopter. Please let us know how it goes.
                     
                     Just to point out that Blogger, Adsense, Google search etc are all separate entities. Adsense may recommend a technique to boost conversions and Google search decides it is spam and dumps users by the roadside with bullet in their site. Not sure Blogger adoption means sticky ads are blessed by the search spam team.
                     
                     Anyway, hope it works out.

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      Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Good luck with quitting smoking. What a painful experience you are having.

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   Solarasposted 7 years ago

   How does a doorway page differ from a curated list?  Would a list of articles on a particular site qualify as a doorway page?

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