QAP Update: Improving the quality of ALL Hubs!

1. 89

   Greensleeves Hubsposted 10 years ago

   Since joining HubPages in early 2011, I have seen my traffic steadily and more or less consistently rise to a level of between 600-800 per day, a couple of months ago. Since that high point however, traffic has slumped to between 300-400 per day with no sign of recovery yet. Of my 99 hubs, only one is currently unfeatured and this is due to traffic, not quality. So fundamentally I don't think there is much wrong with my hubs, and nothing very significant that can be done to improve them. It's presumably just a result of Google updates.
   
   I know I am not alone in experiencing this particular slump, but it is the most disheartening thing which has happened to me since joining the site, and I am sure that slumps like this must be a major reason (perhaps THE major reason) why people leave this site. It is however, heartening to see this correspondence and Paul Edmondson's open and keen participation in the discussion - it has become clear over the past year that HubPages staff are trying very hard to ease these kinds of problems, and I am sure some of those who write here have considerable knowledge of Google's practices and HubPages will benefit from this exchange of views.
   
   Not knowing very much about Panda, I can contribute little. But I just wish it was possible to get definitive advice from Google - either covering the entire HubPages site or the subdomains - which would enable us all to avoid these slumps and setbacks. It would be nice if our hubs thrived or died solely on their individual merits, but it seems at the moment that we are playing this game blindfolded and with our hands tied behind our backs.
   
   I wish all hubbers best wishes, and hope that the current slump ends soon, and that one day soon we will be able to write here without this constant fear of the next damaging update.

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      Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Greensleeves, the numbers you gave for your rise and slump are exactly the same as mine. I also have no unfeatured hubs because I put a great deal of work into each one. I think the slump has to be a hubpages problem and not our doing. There have been a lot of changes recently. I've noticed more ads on the pages; I don't know if this is true, but it could have a negative effect.

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2. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years ago

   I meant illustrators....Some way to connect people that can create custom illustrations at a Hubbers request.
   
   @janderson99 what hub are you referring to?  Typically pulling a hub out of the index won't hurt it's rankings when it returns.

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3. 81

   HollieTposted 10 years ago

   @janderson, I'm not, for one minute, suggesting that highly trafficked hubs be Zapped! Not at all! All I'm saying is, that I've had hubs in the past which have received a fair amount of traffic, but before the idling and such, they suddenly lost that traffic overnight, just gone! That was G's decision! Why?
   
   So many sites are just shooting in the dark, because they don't know what G wants and like I said before, want G liked yesterday is not necessarily what they'll like today.

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      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      All I am saying is if Google decides to change things and a hub slips down the SERPs that is a good signal to make changes to fix it.
      But if HP decides it has 'poor quality' in its eyes, despite getting wonderful traffic and de-indexes it so that it stops earning income the author is forced to make changes to something that Google loved and cherished, despite a few warts and blemishes.
      Forcing changes to satisfy HP may ruin it as an earner. (ham fists)
      Just part of the collateral damage I guess, but it hurts the author much more than it hurts HP.
      HP please don't de-index hubs that are getting good traffic and earning good income - Please, pretty Please!

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         HollieTposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I absolutely agree that hubs which are receiving good traffic should not be idled/unfeatured, whatever. At the end of the day, isn't that we're all chasing, traffic?
         
         My point was really about when changes occur which have been enforced by the site, coincide with that of Goggles updates/refreshes. We're left wondering which ones have caused the problems.

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4. 89

   Will Apseposted 10 years ago

   The quickest way of improving the quality of hubs would be to provide a quick and easy proofing/editing feature.
   
   There are competent people who are happy to read a page and correct typos for a very small fee. Investing a fifty cents or a dollar a page should be a no brainer.
   
   If HP provided a way of allowing someone to edit a page, and the author to accept or reject the edit, it would be attractive to at least a percentage of users.
   
   If the proofer had a few other guidelines, like pointing out a page needs photos, links, ads are not related, etc that would also help.
   
   A system that allowed a writer to rate editors would give confidence to anyone worried about parting with their money.

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      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      http://www.grammarbase.com is an excellent tool spell check + grammar - Quite Good and FREE

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      1. 89

         Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I think you need fine judgement to decide if a machine's recommendations are worth employing. That machine wants you to write like a machine. Or a twelve year old.
         
         Also, it doesn't seem that free beyond the sample text.

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            janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Insert your text here, then press “Start checking” - Its free! It helps!
            
            

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               Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               You have proven my point. I wouldn't use any of those suggestions. I'm in patrician mode today.
               
               Also, it missed the only real typo 'a fifty cents'.

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                  MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I love these kinds of things...
                  
                  
                  
                  In case you can't read it here is the text:
                  
                  "In a life principle in hand and yours we face our ordinary heads. They concern, thank deity, only worldly things. The public presentations  cut down to grotesque horizontals, has increased surgeries, our cognition to fund destroyed, polity of all kinds faces with an earnest chemical reaction in financial gain, sharing media group is frozen in the incumbents of trade , the withered farewells of developed endeavor lie everywhere, sod busters find no securities industries for their creations, and the monetary fund of many years in cardinals of families are gone. More important, a concourse of discharged nationals face the stern head of universe and an evenly great effort with little phenomenons. Just a jockeyed optimist can repudiate the Stygian realities of the time."
                  
                  The problem?  Apparently endeavor is a cliche...

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                     aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     I completely agree.  It read great until I came "across" endeavor", obviously it is spelt "endeavour".

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                        MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Obviously
                        
                        On a side note, that's how I would have spelled it...

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                  2. 0

                     Motown2Chitownposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     I love the Stygian reality of our times.  It sounds so much nicer than the 'dark' reality or just plain 'black' reality, after all.  This whole passage is actually quite poetic. 
                     
                     

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                     janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     This is another one that I use. Has free version and pro is inexpensive.
                     Ignore the "second language" title. It is a robust and good tool. The pro version stores your text on their server for later edits etc.
                     http://spellcheckplus.com/
                     
                     

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5. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years ago

   @I am rose.  Thanks for the examples.  I took a quick look and put two back to get rated again.  I didn't look at all the data, but generally, the healthy lunch Hub is getting lower scores for substance, but your grammar and writing look good.  A iittle more depth and you'll be fine.  Also, all content in your Hub is rated, so when someone sees a "signup for HubPages" link they tend to get lower scores because it factors in to unrelated content.  I'd suggest leaving out all unrelated links/content.

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      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Now that's an interesting comment on the HP link.
      
      I know some hubbers put that into each and every hub, and have considered doing it myself to try and get some signups.  Maybe not such a good idea - I had not considered the "unrelated content" factor.

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      I Am Rosaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Paul;
      
      Thank you for the tips and for putting my hubs back in the "rating pool" :-)  I removed the "sign up" links (they don't work anymore and I've been weeding them out anyway).  Two of the three are now featured.  The restaurant one still isn't up to "quality" :-/  Still would like part of the rating process to include a checklist for the author to see and refer to when making adjustments and still clueless as to how to fix the "low engagement" hubs, but I do appreciate your help and useful feedback on these three hubs.

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6. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years ago

   There are a handful of items that should be avoided
   
   - tacking on content at the bottom of Hubs that doesn't directly support the hub.  We see a few common patterns here (adding links to unrelated content, tacking on amazon/ebay, adding a go to this website for more). 
   
   What really helps is:
   - breaking the hub into multiple capsules with crisp subheadings
   - adding depth (especially to recipes and types of information where there is a ton available online)
   - surgically inserting products in the context of the hub that ads value
   - adding photos that support the content

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      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Paul - just to clarify - are you referring to 'inserting products' by mentioning them in the text, where appropriate?  This would not be through a hyperlink, right?  Only the name of the product?
      
      Related to that - should we look for opportunities to list products very specifically, (such as the Dell 9000 Whizbang Processor), or just by brand name (Dell)?
      
      Thanks!!

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         wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I don't hyperlink amazon products as I believe the capsule with it's pretty picture does a better job.
         
         From an SEO stand point, the specific list is superior.  You will NOT rank for "Dell", while you could well rank for "Dell 9000 Whizbang Processor) if that's the subject of the hub.  As an aside for short sales pitch or capsule, probably not, but as a topic of discussion it is quite possible.

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            Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, Wilderness - I think you are right.  I guess we can use this to title the capsules.

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            Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I don't reckon you should be thinking about SEO when you insert ads. You should be thinking, 'will it help readers if I find a product and insert a link to it?'
            
            Everything on a page should be there for the reader. Get rid of stuff that no one uses. It will just be in the way.

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            1. 96

               wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Disagree about the SEO.  One of the biggest problems I have seen with using copyscape is that it comes up with "duplicates" arising from amazon capsules.  Google most definitely sees and reads the text in those capsules.

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   2. 54

      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      @Paul
      tacking on content at the bottom of Hubs that doesn't directly support the hub.  We see a few common patterns here (adding links to unrelated content,
      
      Fine, but HP continues to add unrelated links (Discover More Hubs) to the bottom of the page which the author has no control over. Please remove these as they are damaging our ratings. Authors suffer from these inappropriate links and have no control over them. Why is it OK for HP to add this junk?
      Some examples below. Why not remove them for a month a see if traffic improves?
      
      Texting While Walking - Dangers, Hazards, Injuries and Deaths
      
      How to Merge Properly When Driving Onto a Highway or Freeway
      Texting and Driving - Hang up the Phone Texting and Driving - Hang up the Phone
      Want To Know If Your Boyfriend Is Texting His Ex Girlfriend?
      How to Deter Tailgaters and Bully Drivers from Tailgating
      Don't Engage - End Road Rage!
      Opinion-Penalties For Drivers Who Text While Driving
      How To Survive a Car Crash
      
      How Phones are Hacked and Prevention Strategies
      
      Cancel Your Home Phone Landline, But Keep Your Home Phones and Landline Number.
      How to Do a FREE Reverse Cell Phone Lookup
      How to Find a Cell Phone Number Owner
      Smart Phones Can Make People Dumb
      Are Smart phones making us mentally lazy?
      Is technology making us dumb?
      Social networking dangers
      How to Find the Owner of a Mobile Phone
      
      How to Make a Protein Shake
      Jillian Michaels and I: A Love/Hate Relationship
      Foods to avoid for migraine headaches
      Yeast Infections - Natural Relief and Cures
      The Candida Diet Part V The Candida Diet Part V
      Foods to Lose Weight Fast Foods to Lose Weight Fast
      Liquid Recipes for Weight Loss or Post-Surgery Diet.

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         janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         There is a unfortunate consequence of choosing a narrow topic and niche that few other articles have been written about. You do all the research and write a great hub about an obscure subject that you know will get traffic. Fine, but the HP Discover More Hubs tool can't find anything related to such an obscure topic and so just adds junk. Hubs written in saturated areas will have related hubs that are OK. So HP punishes the smart hubber who spends hours finding obscure narrow niches in which they can compete, by HP adding unrelated links. Please remove them!!! Thanks

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            Bill Yovinoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            How about letting the writer select the related Hubs from a list of suggestions?

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            Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Write more hubs on your obscure topic!

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               janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Here's some links for one of your hubs (sorry for snooping, but I want to make the point)
               Easy Rustic Pasta Sauce Recipe Made With Fresh Tomatoes
               Discover More Hubs
               Quick and Easy Chili Macaroni and Cheese
               My Dummy Guide - How to make a Delicious Barbecue Mushroom Turkey Burger in 10 easy steps
               Quick and Easy Homemade Macaroni & Cheese Casserole with Egg Noodles and Homemade Cheese Sauce
               Easy Eggplant Parmesan
               Easy Homemade Lasagna
               How To Make A Great Cheeseburger
               Easy (And Low Budget) Dinner Ideas & Recipes

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7. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 10 years ago

   I'm referring to capsules. Placing them where you discuss them is much better/helpful than putting out of context at the bottom or overdoing it with many listings.

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      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Ahhh!  I am glad you clarified that, Paul!   If there are any tips regarding 'specific product name' vs 'brand name,' please share.  Thanks for the clarification!

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   psychicsphoneposted 10 years ago

   It is really good to check featured or not, nice job!

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