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Improving Your HubScore

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By relache


ABOUT HUBSCORES

The first thing that any Hub author needs to learn (and accept) is that HubScores go up AND down.

Read that first sentence again, or even a few times if you wish. The HubPages website re-calculates statistics throughout the day and many new authors immediately freak out and go running to the forum to post a message with a headline screaming "help, my HubScore is going down...!"

Just take a few deep breaths and let yourself know that you can stop panicking. There's nothing that's happening to you that doesn't happen to the rest of us. HubScores are based on a variety of factors and, as these fluctuate, so does the score. Over time, you might even notice that your Hub has peak and off-peak times. I've got Hubs that regularly move up and down across a ten or fifteen point range during the course of a single day. And, as a result of these changes, your Author Score will also go up and down. It's all perfectly normal and is precisely how the system here was designed to work.  You can't make a HubScore stick at any certain level or score.

The HubPages FAQ can tell you how HubScore is computed. No, it won't give you an exact formula. That would make it too easy for spammers and bad players to game the system. However if you're looking to build a strong Hub or want to improve the score of one you've published already, here are some suggestions that can help you based on my own experience here at HubPages.


No-Follow Threshold

There is one way to tell that you're not performing very well with HubPages: the no-follow threshold. If a HubScore or HubAuthor Score is too low, HubPages will apply no-follow tags to any links in your Hubs, forum posts or comments

The HubScore threshold is 40 for individual Hubs. The HubAuthor score threshold is 75.

If you have Hubs that score below 40 or if your personal score is 75 or lower, what you are creating on HubPages is not considered to be quality content and you should review it based on the suggestions made in this Hub.

Straight From The HubPages' Mouth!

A lot of new and potential Hub author find themselves contemplating just what it is that makes a great Hub

When a post in the forums asked about lenses being flagged as spam, HubPages then-Marketing Manager Jason Menayan answered with the following:

Are all of your Hubs being flagged as spam? If not, are there differences between those that are being flagged, and those that are not

  • # of links to a single domain
  • length & genuine utility of content
  • originality of content

His question make it really clear as to what criteria HubPages are using to weight and judge Hubs and their content. To make a great Hub, write your own original content, make it genuinely useful/helpful/informative and include a variety of resources (video, links, pics, feeds) from a variety of web sites.

The Hub Rules - Plain and Simple

Many new authors seem to click past this screen without reading but really it tells you exactly what NOT to do when making a Hub.  The number one place new Hub authors blow it is by not paying attention to how HubPages defines spam.
Many new authors seem to click past this screen without reading but really it tells you exactly what NOT to do when making a Hub. The number one place new Hub authors blow it is by not paying attention to how HubPages defines spam.

FOR A BETTER PERFORMING HUB...

Have a good title and summary.

  • Really good titles are three to five words, and are a statement, NOT a question. (That only really works on the TV show Jeopardy) Jokes or clever phrases might seem fun, but something that really says what the Hub is about works much better. Make sure you've written your own summary text too. You want a few short and to-the-point sentences that say what the Hub is about and includes some good keyword phrases.

Have effective and relevant Hub tags.

  • The tags you use on a Hub should relate directly to the Hub topic and content. Most people do not search by single words anymore, so make sure to use "keyword phrases." These two and three word combinations work best when also happen to be found in your actual Hub content. Do not try include every phrase in the world that you can think of as this too can hurt your Hub.

Have a good variety of content.

  • Do you have a mix of content capsules as part of your Hub content? Having a few pictures, a video that goes with what you wrote about and links to other resources help provide a really good mix of info for your Hub visitors. There are nine different types of content capsules. Having five or six of them is a good way to ensure you have diversified your content sufficiently.

Review your Hub occasionally.

  • This not only refers to checking your content periodically to make sure it's still relevant and updated, but also your links. Whereas HubPages has a built-in checker that will find broken links, I've found that sometimes websites rearrange or reorganize their content and what HubPages reads as a valid link is now a redirect on the other end, taking you to a front page of the linked website and not the specific page you originally selected. This can be especially true of large sites with big archives. It also is a good idea to revisit the products you are recommending for purchase and offer something new in those areas as well.


What's happening at HubPages?

ALL HUBS NEED...

Time

  • A just-published Hub is going to have a low score. They tend to start out somewhere in the 40s. During the first few days, this slowly climbs until the Hub finally develops it's natural HubScore range. It takes a bit for the HubPages system to study and learn the new Hub, and it's proably not even been recognized by the major search engines yet. I let new Hubs grow on their own for anywhere from two weeks to a month before I consider what their score is and if I want to try and boost it. This also allows for a useful amount of statistics to gather so that I have good information and feedback. If your Hub starts out in the low 20s range, there's a good chance that too much of the content is duplicated elsewhere on the web, and most likely, that HubScore isn't going to go up very much until you add lots of original writing.

Traffic

  • The biggest factor many people overlook when it comes to Hub performance is traffic. If your Hub is getting a few visits per day, it will easily be outranked by Hubs on the same topic that are getting hundreds or thousands of visits. If people who are interested in your topic aren't finding your Hub, you're not getting meaningful traffic. Getting fellow Hub authors to visit is NOT meaningful traffic. You really want to attract people from outside of HubPages. If you write about things you truly enjoy and like, you probably have friends who share your interests or other websites where you talk about the same thing. Tell those folks. And if you are building backlinks, make sure they come from a quality site or they won't actually help your Hub.


How to Create a Link

What's A "Hot" Hub?

According to Paul Deeds,

"Hot hub rankings use many of the same factor as HubScore, but are skewed toward newer hubs, hubs that have growing traffic, and hubs that have comment activity. A high traffic hub that has steady traffic for many months will probably have a high HubScore, but it may not be very high on the "hot" list."

IF YOUR HUB IS LAGGING, WATCH OUT FOR...

Linking multiple times to the same resources.

  • HubPages doesn't want you to just promote some other website. That's their #1 definition of spam. If that's all you're trying to do, there are plenty of other places that will let you build landing pages (that's what those sorts of pages are called). Once you have more than one or two links to the same web domain on a Hub, you start to negatively impact your score. Also note that HubPages defines spam as being when all links on a Hub point to the same site. That means you might get a Hub flagged as spam if it's only got two links and they are pointing to the same site. Linking to the same domains repeatedly across all your Hubs will also have a negative impace on your HubScores.

Linking to poor resources.

  • You're going to get the most benefit out of your links by making them go to other great resources on your topic. Linking to a site that search engines consider a "bad neighborhood" can also lower your score. Using cloaking in your links turns them into "wildcards" that add to the domains you are showing and tends to trigger Hubs into being considered "overly-promotional.

Duplicate content.

  • HubPages runs a filter to see if your text appears somewhere else on the web. If it does, that too will cause you to have a lower score or even get your Hub unpublished. Some peole complain they can't help but use quotes or other prevalent content to make their hubs, but it's just a matter of keeping the quoted stuff down to a very small percentage of your page. And if you stole the copy from someone else (plagiarizing), that person can contact HubPages and have your Hubs outright deleted and your account might even be banned

Being a soapbox and not an informed opinion.

  • Hubs are not blogs. (Repeat that to yourself a few times) If all you've done is post a personal rant, it's not going to be as attractive to a reader as an informed argument that includes links to facts and other information, or a helpful guide to something. You'll get more comments and better reader interaction from something that resembles an intelligent discussion more than a one-side monologue. Hubs can get flagged as "substandard" if they are just an chunk of opinion and not a well-informed and researched article that's of genuine interest and use to everyone else.


Using Hub Metrics for a Quick Check-up

HubPages provides some in-house stats and feedback about Hubs. These are just some quick estimates and possibilities but they offer a quick way to do a check-up on the state of your Hubs.

These stats are found via a link that only the author can see at the top of the Hub, right after the edit and delete buttons. Five tabs open when you click to view the stats. Most of it is basic traffic, showing daily, weekly, monthly and total page views for the Hub. These shows the main domains that are referring traffic to your Hub.

The last tab reads "Hub Metrics" and displays four values. The first is "word count" and it refers to how many words are in the Text capsules and Photo capsule captions. Essentially, it's the content that's been originally created by the author. It's suggested that you have 400-500 words to start, but if you really want a better performing Hub, it's best to get that count up to the 800-1,000 word range.

The second value shown is "revenue potential." This is showing you the potential for Hub earnings using a graphic of dollar signs ranging from one to five signs. The more dollar signs you see here, the better your content is hitting keywords that carry higher-earning ad potential. If you think you'd like your Hub to show more dollar signs than it shows, you'll want to rethink what you are talking about or what words you are using.

The third value is "incoming links" and shows between one and five asterisks. Less asterisks means your Hub has very few other places on the web that are linking back to it. Lots of asterisks means your Hub is well-linked. It can take several weeks for new links to have an effect on a Hub so if a Hub is new, you'll have to be patient. If a Hub is older and only has one or two asterisks, you'll want to get out there and do some promotion for your Hub.

The fourth metric is "view duration." This gives you an idea of how long a visitor stays on your Hub. Only one asterisk and it means your visitors are quickly clicking away from your Hub to somewhere else. Five asterisks mean they are hanging around to actually read, and hopefully interact with, your content. If you don't have many asterisks, it means you're not giving your visitors the type of information they are expecting or looking for when they come to the page. If that's the case, you probably want to rethink and rewrite your content, or it means you need to get a different audience for the content that you do have.

Has any of this advice helped you? If so, let me know!

RSS for comments on this Hub

poetlorraine profile image

poetlorraine  says:
2 weeks ago

thanks for the time you took to write this, it is helpful

Blogging Erika profile image

Blogging Erika  says:
2 weeks ago

Awesome info, thank you so much!

Laura du Toit profile image

Laura du Toit  says:
3 weeks ago

Thank you so much for sharing this information. As a newbie that really is putting a lot if effort into my Hubs I can't thank you enough for this excellent advice.

sandwichmom profile image

sandwichmom  says:
4 weeks ago

This is great information- thank you

xquisit1985 profile image

xquisit1985  says:
5 weeks ago

i am addicted to hubbing, ha i just cant get enough love love love it! thanx for the tips i will be employing some of your techniques in my next hubs!!! thanks for the great hub

jdaviswrites profile image

jdaviswrites  says:
5 weeks ago

this was super helpful. copy and print! thanks

bloggerad1970 profile image

bloggerad1970  says:
5 weeks ago

I didn't realize hubbing took so much effort. But it is definitely fun. Thanks for the tips!

Song-Bird profile image

Song-Bird  says:
5 weeks ago

great tips - I am bookmarking this!

relache profile image

relache  says:
5 weeks ago

jgronseth, to understand "Really Simple Syndication," try here, http://hubpages.com/guide/hubtool/capsules

jgronseth profile image

jgronseth  says:
6 weeks ago

Great article. I made a lot of notes.

Please write an article explaining how the capsule RSS works

urwarrenout profile image

urwarrenout  says:
6 weeks ago

That was very cool information. I'm just beginning with article marketing. I really like Hub pages. I've been getting some good traffic for a newbie. I must admit I have been puzzled by the page ranking.

Thanks for clearing up my confusion. Steve Warren

Kids Science Proj profile image

Kids Science Proj  says:
6 weeks ago

Great Info! Thanks for the insight and links!

Jennitasia profile image

Jennitasia  says:
6 weeks ago

I am horrible about writing opinionated hubs! Thanks for the advice!

Rik Ravado profile image

Rik Ravado  says:
2 months ago

Useful information Relache - thanks!

T. A. Northburg profile image

T. A. Northburg  says:
2 months ago

Great info here. There are a few things I learned about how my hub gets scored. Thanks.

Samantha Red  says:
2 months ago

Great information. Thanks a lot!

jacobkuttyta profile image

jacobkuttyta  says:
2 months ago

Thanks for the information. It would be a great help in writing future hubs.

Thanks

viryabo profile image

viryabo  says:
2 months ago

Another great hub. This is your 2nd hub i just read tonight and im going to work on my stats. Been around for nearly 8 months and never had a clue of how to interpret it. Now i know. Im not writing anymore hubs this week until i've checked each of my hubs and rectify accordingly.

Thanks for this hub Relache.

like_2_write profile image

like_2_write  says:
2 months ago

Thanks, very good information.

JYOTI KOTHARI profile image

JYOTI KOTHARI  says:
2 months ago

Hi,

Interesting hub with useful info. First time I came to know about metrics. I will go there to check it. Do you forget to write about about comments?

Thanks again.

Thumbs up!

Jyoti Kothari

pinkdaisy profile image

pinkdaisy  says:
2 months ago

This is great advice - thanks!

Raggits profile image

Raggits  says:
2 months ago

This is great information. Wish I had read this when I started 3 months ago.

GiftedGrandma profile image

GiftedGrandma  says:
2 months ago

Well done and very informative!

N.Q profile image

N.Q  says:
2 months ago

Very good information. Thanx for sharing.

techguy profile image

techguy  says:
2 months ago

Thanks for nice information

GeneralHowitzer profile image

GeneralHowitzer  says:
2 months ago

Useful Hub you're a Great Hubber indeed.

DeBorrah K. Ogans profile image

DeBorrah K. Ogans  says:
2 months ago

Great tips and more great ideas.

Blessings

intissar profile image

intissar  says:
2 months ago

i really like this hub, very useful :)

HWP profile image

HWP  says:
3 months ago

This is great - some excellent tips in here that I am going to go through and make sure apply to my Hubs! Thanks for taking the time to explain stuff so clearly - much appreciated :-)

safety profile image

safety  says:
3 months ago

Thanks so much for a good, easy explanation to hubscores!

Very useful.

J Burgraff profile image

J Burgraff  says:
3 months ago

I am a new hubber and know I will benefit from your tips. Thanks!

JunkerBob profile image

JunkerBob  says:
3 months ago

Also bookmarked, great info!

MRdivman profile image

MRdivman  says:
3 months ago

Thank you for the many useful tips you've posted. I was wondering if Hub Pages ever tried a mutual link sharing program, within categories, to insure user relevance?

Win2Win profile image

Win2Win  says:
3 months ago

Many thanks for this, lovely and clear now. You can learn enough in this game.

Smireles profile image

Smireles  says:
3 months ago

Very helpful. I will come back to this hub as a resource.

finsofts profile image

finsofts  says:
3 months ago

great post and this teach me a good lesson thank you

Dolores Monet profile image

Dolores Monet  says:
3 months ago

Hub metrics? Sometimes I think I must be partially blind or something, how long have I been here and not seen that! Thanks for all the great tips!

lakeerieartists profile image

lakeerieartists  says:
3 months ago

This is very thorough and helpful. I had found most of this information on my own, but it is great having it in one place.

relache profile image

relache  says:
4 months ago

What order the comments post in is an option of the guestbook that can be customized. I just chose to put them in that order.

free4india profile image

free4india  says:
4 months ago

How come your comments are in reverse dated ? Many blogs I found the old ones were at the top?!

kasanova profile image

kasanova  says:
4 months ago

good stuff.thanks

Davinagirl3 profile image

Davinagirl3  says:
4 months ago

You've cleared up a lot of questions for me.

Ultimate Hubber profile image

Ultimate Hubber  says:
4 months ago

I didn't know all this before. So this is why you have such good hub scores. Thanx for sharing the information with us.

aniketgore profile image

aniketgore  says:
4 months ago

Very nice and informative hub. I will follow the instructions. Thanks for it.

Richard Ring profile image

Richard Ring  says:
4 months ago

Kind of makes sense for it to fluxuate; if it didn't people, who reached 100 would have no motivation to keep putting good content up. As it is this just keeps you on your toes ;P. Good hub I didn't know about the stats page and what was in it i'll look into that as my Hubs mature! Thanks

relache profile image

relache  says:
4 months ago

Eaglekiwi, those blue links as you call them are Hub Groups. You can create your own to help connect and organize your Hubs.

Staci-Barbo7 profile image

Staci-Barbo7  says:
4 months ago

Relache, Thank you for demystifying a little of the Hubscore process. I have been trying to figure out why my Hubscores vary so much over a day's time. Staci

Eaglekiwi profile image

Eaglekiwi  says:
4 months ago

Great advice in easy speak language ,Ive got some revison to do (again!) lol

I was wondering something, you know how at the end of your hub you have ,backlinks (I think its called that) to your other hubs, blue font and arrows ,well how can I do that with mine? thanks again ,thumbs up!

Ladybird33 profile image

Ladybird33  says:
4 months ago

Great advice and I bookmarked this one. Thanks.

Marie Dwivkidz profile image

Marie Dwivkidz  says:
4 months ago

Very good indeed - off to review a few low performing hubs based on your advice. Thanks.

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