Factors that determine hub scores and page rank

I am writing this hub as an answer to a question I have seen many times on the hubpages community forums and question and answer segment. People often times ask why their hub scores fluctuate especially whenever there is a downward review of their hub scores. Hence I am sharing some knowledge I have acquired about the causes of fluctuating hub scores using some of my hubs and those of other hubbers as my case study. Hub scores and page rank are not synonymous but they have similarities in the factors that affect their scores and ranks respectively.

To start with hub scores are typically calculated and updated every 30 minutes meaning that your hub scores no matter how good they may be are typically going to fluctuate even downward. There is an irony with higher hub scores I have come to notice and it is in as much as traffic to a hub is determined by visibility only hubs with high scores are visible to most visitors to hubpages. Its like saying the more your hub is seen the higher the score and the higher the score the more your hub will be seen where as if you don’t get the much needed high hub score in the first place you will not have any pageviews.

Here is a list of factors that the hubpages team uses in calculating hub scores although the method they use in arriving at the computations is still a mystery;

Quality of hub

The quality of a hub determines to a large extent its score. A quality hub is one that is informative, relevant (hub title and content complement each other flawlessly), original and well written.  Typically quality hubs are answers to questions people often ask or make request and enquiries about. Most quality hubs are lengthy (700 or more words) and instructive or have a strong readership appeal causing readers to want to comment or give a thumbs up rating.

Length of the hub content

The length of a hub can also affect the hub score. Hubs with 700 or more words tend to have higher scores than those with fewer words. If two hubbers were to write on a subject with different lengths the lengthier hub tends to score higher. For instance see these two hubs – how to dress like a real nerd by paulipopo and how to dress like a nerd by gymerie the first hub has a much higher score than the second.

Sources of traffic

The sources of traffic to a hub also determine its score. Usually organic traffic (traffic from search engines like google and yahoo) ranks higher than in house traffic (hubpages). If two hubs have equal number of pageviews but with one having higher organic traffic, chances are that the one with more organic traffic would score higher. An example is with the hubs how to identify Lagos Nigeria scams which has a higher hub score than how to create a money making hub since the former has greater organic traffic than the latter.

Volume of traffic

What is the amount of page views received by a hub in question? A hub with a higher page view regardless of its traffic source has chances of being scored higher than one without much page views.

Frequency of visits

How quickly and often do visitors get to read your hubs? A hub with a high frequency of hits or visits will naturally have a higher score. Imagine if two hubs on the same topic have different frequency of visits, it is the hub with more visitors coming in on a 24 hour, 7 day or 30 day period that will rank higher.

Average time spent on hub

How long do visitors stay on your hub? The longer the average time visitors spend reading your hubs the greater the chances of your hubs earning a high score. The average time spent on a hub is indicative of the quality of the hub.

Comments and feed back from readers                                                                                                                               

Comments made by fellow hubbers and outside visitors as well feed back in the form of thumbs up or thumbs down rating or flagging also determines whether your hub will get any scores or higher scores.

Conclusion

In as much as hub scores are not definite and might appear random, however there is a sort of consistency involved in that hub scores after a while tend to fall within a range with the best hubs typically falling within 90-100 and other quality hubs especially those with high organic traffic scoring from anywhere between 70 and 100. However that a hub has a high score of say 85 doesn’t mean it has high organic traffic just that other factors may have weighed down heavily on its score. Regardless of the case always write with the aim of providing quality, informative and search engine friendly hubs as this tends to guarantee a high hub score with time.