Find a way to get rid of all the spam hubs

1. 62

   Has_aWayWithWordsposted 14 years ago

   I am seeing ridiculous amounts of hubs popping up that have barely a couple hundred words and have nothing but links to external sales sites. This is going to get so bad it will cause Google to start looking at Hubpages in a negative way if it isn't stopped.  I have already heard people mention revenues dropping and I am sure Google's view of the site has an effect on that.

   replyreport
   1. 58

      MrCartierposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      It generally people using Hubpages for a quick and easy backlink. I dont think that it necessarily does effect hubpages too much, a 200 word post is perfectly acceptable on a blogger site - so why not hubpages? Hubpages also has a pretty effective means of restricting traffic to those hubs, the only place you find them are by searching 'latest'. Google will punish those specific hubs for having - generally - no SEO value. They will almost always drop to a hubscore of around 50, which is never enough to show them in competitive tags, related hubs, or near the top of an internal search.
      
      I can genuinly say that without visiting the latest hubs page, I can go 3 days without seeing a spammy hub. Hubpages has something like 7 employees and almost 1 million members. The rating system and reporting system is the only way that they can moderate over 500,000 hubs......
      
      If you are seeing these in latest hubs, you should bear in mind that the hubpages team probably just havent got around to dealing with the flags. By the time one of those hubs gets to a week old it will normally have a) been deleted, or b) have dissapeared out of view on hubpages and google.
      
      I am yet to see any good evidence which suggests that short posts or affiliate links damage any site. I have certainly not seen this stated by Google. I think that the current system is fine, it is at very least the only viable way.

      replyreport
   2. 84

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Don't panic, this has been going on since before I joined HubPages.  They pop up, they get flagged as overly promotional, they go away.  There are thousands of affiliate marketers out there, all trying it on - it's an endless flow.
      
      It's one reason I suggested a minimum word count - too few words shouldn't just trigger a warning, it should prevent you from publishing.  It wouldn't stop the spammers (they'd just write longer Hubs) - but it would slow them down!
      
      You can help a lot by flagging every one you see (just make sure they meet the criteria for overly promotional - two links to the same site, or one link if it's duplicate content).

      replyreport
2. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 14 years ago

   Unfortunately, tis a near regular WEEKEND event is up to us to flag em once found then they poof. HP staff can't do everything themselves we got do our share too.

   replyreport
3. 62

   Has_aWayWithWordsposted 14 years ago

   Ya I have flagged a few, seems that there should be an algorithm when submitting that catches atleast the obvious ones. Like some article directories hav a 250 word minimum or no external links above the fold etc...

   replyreport
   1. 72

      relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      There are algorithms that catch and/or stop Hubs, but all of those algorithms have thresholds.  If you see something that really screams "spam" to you, flag it for admin to review.

      replyreport
4. 60

   theirishobserver.posted 14 years ago

   I only started on hubpages yesterday and am finding it much more fun than other sites i have been on its is much more interative, I dont understand the whole spam thing, am I allowed to advertise my Hub on forums etc....

   replyreport
   1. 84

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      No, you can't.  If you want feedback on a Hub, post it in the Extreme Hub Makeover section.
      
      By the way, do you understand how HubPages works?  You don't write one Hub and keep adding to it - you write separate Hubs.  Each Hub is like an article in a magazine, about a specific topic.

      replyreport
      1. 0

         Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Seems that most, if not all of the content on the hub in question is a cut-and-paste job from a blog. That explains the unsual format. Soon enough, this blog will be flagged for duplicate content. There is a warning against that every time a new hub is published.
         
         <snipped>

         replyreport
5. 62

   Has_aWayWithWordsposted 14 years ago

   actually that wasn't the one that raised my question but it is a good example. I have seen some pretty spammy hubs, creating a hub with information o something then linking out or having ads is one thing but just blatantly writing out 100-200 words saying nothing more than go here to see this and buy it now blah blah blah   that was actually what caught my attention and created this thread

   replyreport
6. 0

   Website Examinerposted 14 years ago

   More could and should probably be done to prevent this problem. If you would like to write a Hub about it, we can provide feedback before you publish. Or you can ask us a question and request that we write a Hub about the issue.

   replyreport