Idle Hubs

1. 71

   William F. Torpeyposted 11 years ago

   It seems I may have placed this message in the wrong place ... so I'm posting it here:
   
   When HubPages designates a hub as "idle" does it still treat that hub the same as active hubs? Does HubPages still keep the statistics page up-to-date? Do they still check for broken links, violations, etc? Or is it treated the same as an unpublished hub?

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   1. 71

      galleryofgraceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      As far as I have determined it is still an active hub but it will not be indexed by google. Readers can still access it if you give them the exact url. i do not know if they will still accumulate hits. Maybe I'll watch mine and see if there are any increases.

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      1. 71

         William F. Torpeyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, galleryofgrace. I did look at HubPages learning center and tried to find out what effect the changes will make, but the information was general and incomplete.

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2. 74

   Kangaroo_Jaseposted 11 years ago

   Idle hubs will receive a 'nofollow' tag in the html code for that particular hub.
   
   This means your hub will not be found on the next update for searching for it in Google. That hub can still be found by all the other usual means. (For example, a link to the hub at the end of a Ezine article)
   
   An idled hub will go through the usual pending process and possibly become unidled when that hub has been edited/updated.
   
   Check out more info in the learning centre. Your stats will still update as normal so long as you are receiving visitors to your idled hubs.

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   1. 71

      William F. Torpeyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate the information, kangaroo_Jase. I am still wondering whether or not a hub would be unidled if it should begin to receive lots of hits -- or if HubPages ignores the hub entirely once it is downgraded (with the exception of  re-editing/updating.The editing/updating route to unidling would inevitably have to be done on a regular basis meaning the hub would never be finished.

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      1. 72

         relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         A distinct lack of traffic is the main reason Hubs go idle, so getting lots of new traffic should work to get a Hub out of idle status.  (I'm waiting to actually try that method out on the next Hub I get that goes idle)  But editing it and refreshing the content will get it back up and featured in a day, and that seems more helpful in keeping it active to the search engines and making the most of any new traffic that comes.

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         1. 71

            William F. Torpeyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I appreciate your reply, relache, but it remains unclear what kind of increase in traffic it would take to pull a hub out of idle status. Would it be a brief jump in traffic or would it require a sustained higher level of traffic? And then how long would it remain active until it is dropped to idle status again? The same question remains in the case of editing and refreshing content. It sounds to me like the edited hub would constantly be dropping to idle status and demanding continual editing an updating. Many topics are complete as written and either can not be edited or updated or should not be edited or updated. If those hubs are useful and worthy, they should be searchable on Googloe. Perhaps there should be a separate category for "complete" hubs.

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      2. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         It can't possibly get lots of hits once it's idled, because no one can find it.
         
         The only path out of "idle" status is to edit the Hub.  All you need do is change two sentences, so it's not a big job - though I agree, it's irritating.  The same thing happens at Squidoo and you're right, it means Hubs can no longer be passive.
         
         I've suggested they set up some kind of email notification so we know when a Hub is going into Idle, so we don't have to be constantly checking our account.

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         1. 71

            William F. Torpeyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you for the clarification, Marisa. That makes it perfectly clear.

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         2. 72

            relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Actually an idle Hub can get traffic if you promote it.  Idle does not mean unpublished.
            
            And at Squidoo, all you have to do is hit the publish button again, even if you don't make any changes on the lens.

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            1. 87

               Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Ahem, I suppose I was guilty of exaggeration there!   I was trying to say that it's unlikely to get "lots" of hits if it's idled because the only way you get "lots" of hits is from the search engine. 
               
               I haven't tried just hitting "edit" and then saving. Maybe I should see if that works!

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3. 87

   IzzyMposted 11 years ago

   Well, I just pulled a hub out of idle by adding a photograph.
   
   It is linked to another account of mine, and started getting 20 -30 hits a day, all from referrals from the other subdomain.
   
   This went on for a few days and the idle status didn't change with the hits alone, so I added a photo.
   
   Now it is featured again and currently has 25 hits, all referrals still.

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   1. 71

      William F. Torpeyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Adding a photo or making a small change apparently unidles the hub, but wouldn't just be idled again in a short period of time if when the hits slow down again?

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      1. 87

         IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Probably!
         
         That hub is down to 6 hits a day, so I expect it'll idle again soon.
         
         This is a very good reason for creating more subdomains and interlinking hubs. When one sub goes down, you still have another working well. If the hubs are interlinked, they are more likely to keep at least some of their traffic (referrals from the working sub).
         
         A lot of my idled  hubs are perfectly good hubs - they are just on the wrong (slapped) subdomain. Perhaps I should just move all related hubs over to the subs that are working well and keep my fingers crossed.
         
         I have a hub on this subdomain that has received 12,000 hits this year.
         
         I have a much younger and similarly themed hub on another sub with  35,000 hits.
         
         I should have moved the first one over. Hindsight is a great thing!
         
         Google still hasn't re-crawled this subdomain since before the idle hubs change, so I still don't know if it is going to work.
         
         At least if it doesn't, I will have loads of de-indexed hubs ready to move, once I track down all their copies of course.

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      2. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         We don't know yet.  However, as rephrasing a sentence doesn't take long, it's worth trying the experiment, don't you think?

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