Deleting Old Hubs

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   carol7777posted 11 years ago

   I have about 20 hubs with low scores and low views, Should I keep them or delete them.  I have revised them all and they just seem stuck. Any ideas about this?

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      badeggposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Recategorizing the hubs to attract a different audience helps considerably. Sometimes doing that and changing the title can do wonders for your traffic and score. Give it a try!

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      Sophia Angeliqueposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I delete mine.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You've only been here 2 month and you're thinking of deleting hubs? You haven't given them a chance. Unless you really HATE them, and don't want them ever associated with your name, leave them alone and see what happens. Some of my best performing hubs were slow starters, and some of my first ones, that never did well, have started to gain a foothold.

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      shara63posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      "racers with slow  starts mostly win the  race"....i'm here since 2 yrs. and still dreaming for a big hit ...so dream on to chase it some day!

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   WryLiltposted 11 years ago

   It can take up to 6-9 months for hubs to start seeing decent Google traffic. HP staff say hubs don't reach their full potential till up to three years.

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      carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for responding to my question.  Sounds good to me.

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I've probably deleted over fifty hubs.
         
         I do NOT like the idea of wasting my stuff, so when I delete something here - I generally move it to blogger, or "blogspot." (same thing)

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      hazelwood4posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This is SO SO SO true Wrylitt! Most of the pages that I published when I first started the site are just now starting to see a steady stream of traffic.  You must have patience being a online content producer.

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   Nesbyteposted 11 years ago

   If YOU think the hubs are good, keep them up and ignore the scores. It's not as if they can do any harm.

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      carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for that.  I guess it is silly to just get rid of them.

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   Arlene V. Pomaposted 11 years ago

   You have only been here a short while, and to delete them would be a big mistake.  Hubs need time in the system in order to earn you traffic.  You can unpublish them, fix them, and republish them.  Or move them.  Keep them in a file or use them somewhere else.  I have unpublished and deleted my Hubs.  If you delete them, the traffic and comments that they earn goes with them.  I have no problem unpublishing or deleting my Hubs, but I wait until I know that they are duds that I will not work on in the future.  I have to lose complete interest in a Hub before I cut it loose (permanently).  This last round, I went from 230 Hubs to 100.  The Hubs were unpublished instead of deleted, so I can bring them back at any time.

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      carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      great response and very helpful.   Thanks so much. This really helps.

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         Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Carol, Be patient. You haven't been here long enough to even know how a hub will do. At 2 months, the hubs are really young yet.

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      WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You don't need to unpublish them to edit them. That risks them being de-indexed by Google.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 11 years ago

   The issue is quite complicated when you get into it.  Unfortunately Nesbyte isn't correct in my experience.  Since the Panda updates, Google does assess your entire subdomain/portfolio of hubs and just a handful of bad ones (in Google's opinion) can bring down your entire subdomain. 
   
   Traffic and hubscores can act as indicators but they don't tell the whole story.  For instance, I might write an excellent hub reviewing the three Indian restaurants in my home town - it might be top quality but it will never get a lot of traffic because it is too specific for general viewers across the US and the world, who aren't going to search for such info.  Its hubscore, which is partially based on traffic, might also not be good.  Google is unlikely to rate this hub badly, however.  On the other hand, I might write a hub that does relatively well, but Google assesses it as being "over-commercial" or "low quality" and rates it negatively - hubs like this can bring down the entire subdomain. 
   
   There is more info on this stuff in the HP learning center.
   
   At the end of the day, you take an educated guess over when to delete and when not to.  There is no simple yes or no answer to your question, but the more you know, the better your chances of getting it right.

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My experience is the same.
      
      One day I deleted maybe as many as a dozen low scoring and low traffic hubs - I moved every one of them to different blogger blogs....and my traffic increased steadily for a bit.
      
      I intend to keep doing just the same thing....when something winds up with a low score and low traffic - if my goal is money, then my subjective feelings about a page have to be adjusted in light of Google's paradigms.

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      Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Carol has only been here two months though. Her hubs should do better yet.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, 2 months isn't very long in hub terms.

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   fpherj48posted 11 years ago

   carol...I am so grateful you asked this question.  It is something I have been curious about, but never got around to presenting for advice.  All of the responses you have received are helpful.  They make the "sense" I was looking for.  Thank heavens we belong to a community of smart, helpful hubbers who are always happy to give their advice.   The best answers come from the experienced!!    I deleted one hub in 14 months....and the reason was that I felt it was simply horrible.....sub-standard per my works.....I'm not sorry I deleted it.  For many reasons, some mentioned right here in the replies...I don't want to delete any others, for the time being.............Peace!!

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   Alastar Packerposted 11 years ago

   Depends by what you mean by revise. Sometimes revamped titles are hard to get re-crawled by google if their hub score stays low--under about 80 or 75. Also, it can take awhile for them to be re-indexed. It can be worth hanging in there with some stories, others that just bottom out despite your best efforts are better deleted and maybe moved elsewhere like a blog as Wesman does.

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      WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Google can't see scores.

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         Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Didn't say they could see 'um. Merely pointed out the fact lower scored hubs are often slower to get re-indexed if at all. If your experience is different that'd be good info to know.

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            WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            If I want something indexed in a hurry I ping or tweet.

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               Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks Wry Lit, for real-  will give the ping another try on one and wait for a miracle lol.

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                  Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  When I first began here there was one hub I didn't put the keywords in the title. Put them in later and the piece was eventually re-indexed where it wound up on the second page of a low trafficked subject. It's now bottomed out and totally hopeless with two or three views a week. Get the title keywords right first thing is the moral of the story suppose.

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   Thelma Albertsposted 11 years ago

   I´m thankful for this question and for the answers here. I was thinking of deleting a hub or 2, but now I´ve changed my mind. Good to know that there are lots of helpful hubbers here in our community. Thanks to all;-)

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      carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The thing is that I have a lot of hubs I wrote in the beginning...mostly recipes and have a score in 60s and 70s.  should I delete.  When I revise a hub it goes about about 3 points.

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         WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Scores mean little to earnings or traffic. Some of my best earners are in the 60s

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         relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I'm really amazed that you think that something that has only been in existence for weeks is old, un-fixable and should be thrown out.  It's barely gotten started.  Did you know that some of the smaller search engines can take three months just to find new pages and get them properly indexed?
         
         Sure, I've deleted Hubs, but these are things that I've allowed to mature and have tweaked on and off for two to three years.  One of the components to successful web writing is patience.  If you need something that moves fast and then gets discarded in a matter of months, I recommend the popular fashion industry.

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            carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Actually they are almost three months old.  I am patient but just inquiring.  That is why I asked the question because I didn't know.  There is a long learning curve here and I am learning more each day. I have found when I go back to old hubs how little I knew in the beginning..adding more content, photos and better organization is what I am working on.  Thank you.

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               WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Same difference. Successful hubbers talk in years not months, usually.

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                  carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you...

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                     PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     Certainly in the past, the older the age of a hub, the better.  However, Google have become more concerned with "freshness" in recent months, so it's no longer quite as completely straightforward as it once was.   We are all still trying to fully understand what Google's concept of "freshness" means, but it may well not have any impact on things like recipes, which I notice you write a lot of.
                     
                     I would take into account what hubbers say and read around the topic.  Most of these issues are about weighing up different, sometimes opposing factors. 
                     
                     Another factor is stats - the longer a hub's been posted, the more accurate stats you can access about how people came across the hub (search engines, links etc.) and how they interact with it (time on page etc.)   This also helps you to work out the value of a hub.

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                        WryLiltposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        Google has always liked a little freshness.
                        
                        But in the end, older means more time for Google to monitor bounce, backlinks etc. Freshness is always going to be for big news sites.

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                        carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        Thanks for the help and ideas.

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   Arlene V. Pomaposted 11 years ago

   I have no emotional attachment to what I write.  Delete, delete, delete?  No big deal for me.  But since you just started and are probably overwhelmed at all the information that you are trying to absorb, at least give your Hubs a chance.

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    Peggy Wposted 11 years ago

    From what I learned at a HubCamp in Houston, it takes a while for a new hub to even get indexed at Google...so be patient and don't delete hubs quickly.  It may take a while to catch on...but might end up being a good earner for you if you wait...even a year out or so.  Write evergreen topics which will stand the test of time.

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       carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you Peggy: We used to live in Houston--9 years.  I appreciate the comments..Lots of information here so If I wait I have nothing to lose.

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          teaches12345posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Carol, I think that if you just update your hubs with new capsules, videos, charts, etc. or replace photos with new ones, it  would be better than deleting them.  Updating the content, editing or changing is one way to increase the traffic.  Use the search features on google adwords to help you find the right words in the titles.  Hope this helps.

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             carol7777posted 11 years agoin reply to this

             This is excellent advice..I just kind of figured why give up a hub that could some day bring traffic.  I got rid of one that didn't have a chance.  Great advice and I really appeciate it.

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