HP is blocking my hub from Google six days after publication?

1. 74

   Dale Hydeposted 11 years ago

   Okay, I published a hub on the 12th of this month...the lovely "noindex" was immediately slapped on it. A little over 24 hours later on the 13th, the noindex tag was supposedly removed.
   
   Since the time of the removal I have submitted this hub five times to Google Webmaster Tools and FINALLY got Google to crawl the hub.  Result, Google sees the below page.... Thanks HP for truly screwing things up.  You have done something with your manipulating that is blocking, still, Google from seeing my hub. 
   
   How many others are having this problem with the declining traffic and simply are not aware of it?
   
   My "metrics" show that Google has NOT visited this hub according to HP...however, Google disagrees and did visit, but was blinded.
   
   
   As one who has been online for years, this is the first time my material has been censored and blocked from Google...it was bad enough with the "noindex" tag being placed on Hubber's who have a great record of publishing here, but now there is SOMETHING NEW going on that is blocking our material, perhaps material that does not qualify for the Ning Glam Social concept, from Google.
   
   I don't expect a staff response nor an explanation...that is the "norm" here of late.
   
   Now before I get the responses that the hub is showing in Google, keep in mind that it does show up coming from my subdomain....not the hub itself.. it is that cache that is returning the above screen shot.
   
   What is NOT appearing is the hub itself under my Google Authorship listing as all my HP hubs do and my Wordpress material does.  It simply does not exist on its own.
   
   This is a highly informative hub that is beneficial to those undergoing this same extensive therapy that I am undergoing.  It already contains one update..so it is staying "fresh".... I am simply stumbled what else is a person supposed to do nowadays to simply get material out there that Google can see?

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      SmartAndFunposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Dale,
      
      Unfortunately I can't help you because I don't know much about how Google works, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry you're having this problem. Also, I want to bump your post up so others will see it.
      
      My little domain has been chugging along fairly steadily, and like I said I'm fairly ignorant about all this no-index stuff, but I'm wondering if I haven't lost traffc because I haven't published much of anything since the whole pending thing started. I'm afraid to publish anything new because I'm worried that a pending hub will scare google away from my entire subdomain. Please, someone who is informed, is this a valid fear or is it just my ignorance?
      
      A separate but related issue is one that many of us have stated over and over again. I'll put it out there once again for good measure. It is quite unfortunate that writers who have proven themselves over and over again, many who have produced hundreds of quality hubs over several years, are being penalized and assumed to be producing substandard hubs. There's got to be a point at which HP will give established, quality writers a green light to publish immediately. Sorry to be a broken record, HP. I know a few select hubbers have this opportunity and I'm hoping for the good of the site and its writers that you are working on gathering this data on all of us. Maybe the Amazon Turk workers are helping decide whether or not we are worthy of immediate publication for 5 cents a pop, lol.

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   2. 82

      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      One thing I notice is that 'fetch as google' does not follow re-directs. It seems to work for me though, but could it be the switch over to sub-domains that is actually causing this problem rather than the no-index tag.
      
      My experience with new hubs has been fine - I've seen them crawled with the 'no_index' tag -  once they come live I go into webmasters tools, fetch them and then submit them to the Index. All are indexed usually within 24 hours, if not less.

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2. 38

   Michael Guerinposted 11 years ago

   i've stopped publishing articles on hp after they made changes (similar to squidoo) that no index articles. it's not going to help them w/ the latest changes google made on sept 28th or 29th that knocked 5 page 1 hubs to no-where's-ville. google just isn't going to give article directories the love they used to get. period.

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3. 79

   Greekgeekposted 11 years ago

   Michael, there are some exceptions. Take a look at Quantcast.com's traffic data for various sites. Squidoo traffic went into the stratosphere starting around the beginning of September. Their sitewide traffic has sagged a little after the Halloween frenzy died down, but still, they are an article directory getting more search engine love than they used to, not less.
   
   We're talking about three different problems on HP:
   
   --The idle hubs filter is not very good at distinguishing poor hubs from good content hubs that don't get  much traffic but are still perfectly good content.  So idle hubs may not be doing all that much to improve the good to bad content ratio in Panda's eyes. The filter could use some fine-tuning.
   
   -- The pending hubs filter, which is what the original post is about , introduces a noindex code to new content. The result is exactly as expected: search engines often discover the noindex tag on fresh content and do not come back to recrawl it for 2-4 weeks. The secondary effect may be to convince Panda that Hubpages no longer publishes fresh content (although we can't be sure).
   
   -- Panda downranked Google on September 27. There were other changes on Hubpages as well, including the profile redesign which killed a lot of cross-linking. So we do NOT know which factors caused Panda 21 to clobber HP. HP staff does not know, either. We can offer educated guesses, but that is all.
   
   What is not in doubt is that many of us have given up publishing new articles on Hubpages after finding that it's taking 2-4 weeks to get new hubs crawled since the implementation of pending status. This barrier to search traffic often cannot be overcome by submitting to webmaster tools or aggressive promotion methods.
   
   Also, as far as I can tell from my own SEO experience, the use of a noindex tag for newly-published content is unique to HP and unprecedented. Paul Edmondson claimed that Squidoo is doing it (and that may be HP's reasoning for implementing it, since Squidoo's traffic is up), but I have tested it, and found no sign of a noindex tag on new articles whether I published from a respected author or ordinary account.

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4. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

   There is an old saying: If it isn't broke, don't fix it.   Apparently, HP doesn't know that. They fixed what was working, now it is broke down.  I am off to publish my new article, but it won't be on HP.

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5. 79

   Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years ago

   I really don't like the noindex either. You'd think that authors who provide consistently quality content would be given the benefit of the doubt - would have earned our "bones", so to speak. The noindex tag should be saved for new authors who don't have a track record or for authors who don't provide quality content on a consistent basis.

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6. 69

   brakel2posted 11 years ago

   I think poor content is a big part of problem. There was a 4 year guy on here who wrote like a 3rd grader  I flagged his profile twice. Finally,  several others flagged him. His hubs  were gone next day. We need to keep flagging until site gets better. Paul keeps saying poor content is problem. I have an exclusive that I hate to publish

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7. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

   Brake: Poor content????   Why is it published to begin with. There are long time writers finding their hubs sitting in idle, which is ridiculous, but the Trash hubs keep on coming.  But, HP claims that they have things in place to get rid of low quality.  Nah!

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8. 67

   Pearldiverposted 11 years ago

   __   BUMP  __
   
   
   
   @Dale... Good On You mate!  Censorship under any such circumstances & relevant lack of formal (undisclosed) reasons for such actions are totally contrary to the Reasonable (Contractual) Expectations of those parties being censored, irrespective of any later modification of the TOS! 
   
   I'm pretty sure even an average attorney...  knows exactly what that means
   ..... and what mutual duty of care exists!
   
   BTW....  this has been affecting me also! 

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   1. 58

      MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Would it make you feel better to get a daily letter from HP saying "Your hub is not featured because you fail as a writer"
      
      Honestly if you assume that HP is purposefully putting no index tags on specific hubs then you have to also make an assumption to why.  There aren't that many whys that make sense.
      
      Good Luck with that attorney thing though.  Let me know how saying that a privately owned company HAS to host your writing goes.

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         Pearldiverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         WOW..... You missed the point intentionally there - I believe...
         
         You may find that you achieve more by being more productive on issues you understand, instead of feeling wound-up by something which governs EVERY Private Company in the USA!! 
         
         Don't play down commercial Obligations - either HP's - the Writer/Contributors, or Colonel Sander's Chicken private supply companies....
         Clearly you don't understand what I said, or the context of it! 
         
         Kindly don't attempt to broadside me personally for pointing out a statutory requirement for all US corporates including those involved in International interactions with others.... like HP
         Unless of course you are More Qualified on the issue... which, if you were... you KNOW Exactly What I'm referring to!! 
         Learn the Law... instead of ignoring the importance of it! Then you may well find that you understand such issues and do not have to make veiled threats, at those who you don't like, or who make you feel insecure! 
         I was, as others here are.... concerned about what appears to be a highly questionable issue!  What was the point you were making???

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         1. 58

            MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Well...  if you want to question whether I am more qualified than you we can...  I've got an associates degree in law. It goes with my B.A. in English.  The combination is actually pretty common to be a legal researcher (which I was) and to write law centered articles (which I have) Does that make me an expert?  Nope.  Does it make me more qualified than you?  I'm not sure.  Throw out your qualifications.
            
            Now here's what I want you to do.  I want you to pick up the phone at your very next opportunity and call a lawyer.  Tell him the situation and ask him to take your case.  When he is done laughing at you ask him why he won't.
            
            1.  Above everything Civil cases work on damages.  If there are no damages you have no case.  There HAS to be monetary consideration.  So Sport... prove that there were damages.  That should be fun to watch.  To do so you would have to prove that you lost money in that brief period that the no-index tag was on your hub.
            
            2.  Seeing above you would also have to prove that HP was responsible for your work not being listed on  Google.  That would include proving that it was their fault that Google didn't crawl the hub immediately after the no-follow tag was removed.
            
            3.  You would also have to prove that it was ever HP's responsibility to index your hub in the first place.
            
            4.  You would then have to prove that you losses were caused by the gross negligence of HP.  That means you would have to prove that there was no logical reason that HP should have placed the no-follow tag on your hub.  That means proving the quality of your work.  Subjective things like that are always fun in a court room.
            
            5.  You would never find a lawyer to take your case anyway.  The possible dollar that your hub might/maybe have earned because of a delay in submission to search engines would come to a fee of approximately .33 cents.  As I am sure you are fully aware punitive damages could not be attached.  I am positive you know why.
            
            And ALL of this assumes that part of HP's responsibility to you was to promote your work in any way shape or form.  Unfortunately that responsibility simply doesn't exist in this platform.  So everything above is really a moot point.  There simply isn't a reasonable expectation of HP to do ANYTHING for you except to provide a place-free of charge-for you to host your work at THEIR discretion.
            
            Now sport... I'm not sure what veiled threats I made.  If you saw one then that's on you.  Good luck with dealing with that issue as well.  And you certainly don't make me feel insecure about a thing.  My point was basically that you were jumping at shadows and seeing persecution/ill intent when there was none.  I guess I was WAY off the mark with that one eh? 
            
            SMFH

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            1. 74

               Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               So, no staff member but a "qualified" HP attorney?
               
               You are missing the whole point of the original post.  You should address the original post..I think that would be the right thing to do.
               
               The original post clearly states my issues.  I don't really care about your qualifications and such, nor your opinion if you can't address the issue(s).
               
               Now, if you simply want attention, then start your own legal thread, lol!  Good luck on being the most qualified on the site.

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               1. 58

                  MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Not sure if you realize this Dale but none of my comments were directed at you.
                  
                  Also my qualifications were asked for...I specifically said I wasn't an expert.
                  
                  The original point of the post is that you are bothered by the no-follow tag because it is taking you longer to get indexed.  That sucks.
                  
                  But seriously how much money did you really lose?  Enough to get this upset?
                  
                  I personally like the no-index thing because there are a lot of substandard hubs that are being hidden from google by it.  I see at least 50 of them a day.  They are now being caught before they effect the whole site.
                  
                  Are you a substandard writer?  I don't think so.  Have you ever written a substandard hub...  I'm not sure but it's certainly possible.  We all have our bad days.  Would you want it on your subdomain if you did?  I'd assume not.  I read the hub in question.  It's a good hub.  The writing is very good.  However it does lean towards personal.  Not a big deal and I'm sure human review will work everything out.  You shouldn't have any trouble ranking for your keyword eventually either.  It just won't be instantaneous.
                  
                  Now... should we have some sort of "pre-approved" writer status... possibly but it's gonna take a while to figure out exactly who should get that status.  After all that is a big undertaking and there is currently no system at all in place that would lend itself to that kind of identifier... therefore all designations would have to be done by staff review.  Now... how many writers does HP have again?

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                  1. 74

                     Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     My original intent for publishing online was not for monetary gain.  I wanted what I had to share from my understanding and knowledge to be accessed by those seeking such information.  This is the first place I ever published in ten years for profit as well.  It was a side-kick thing...a benefit no doubt.  My issue is not about the hub in question making money, but the masses can not see it..those masses may be few, but the therapy is becoming more popular.  About the hub being somewhat personal, well that is the intent. There is plenty out there about the subject matter published by corporations and manufactures, but first hand experience is not as common.  The hub will never see "high" traffic....it is a very select topic.

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                     1. 58

                        MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        And the masses will see it... just not immediately. 
                        
                        In the old days- and I am old enough to remember them-  It would take weeks sometimes even months before an article would be published and widely available.  I had stuff that was accepted and I received my contributor's copies almost a year later.  Talk about sucking big time as many of those articles/poems paid on publication rather than acceptance.  I remember the frustration of telling someone that I had an article on a subject and it would be available for them to read in 3-6 months.
                        
                        So I get you.  I really do.
                        
                        But... and I say this as gently as possible...  a little patience might help.  I know that seeing your hub in the search results within 24 hours was nice BUT.... with the exception of one hub that went immediately into first place for my keywords my rankings in the SERPs have moved steadily up as my hubs age.  So in the grand scheme of things a week or two probably wont make too much of a difference in getting your message out.

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                        1. 74

                           Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           I am glad that your aged hubs are gradually going up...mine are going down.  It is aged hubs that I am moving that have seen a lot higher views in the past.  Irregardless, if you have been following the forums, I have been rather patience, but what is lacking and what is a concern is the lack of response from staff.
                           
                           My cache should not look like it does...bottom line.  I have never seen that before.  Is it Google or HP?  Well only HP can say it is them or not.  If it is a coding issue or something at the HP level, then I would like to know they are working on it.  If HP was to say it was not a site issue, I would take it to Google. 
                           
                           So we have the cache and the discussion of the noindex tag for members who have proven themselves... All I want is an answer, lol.  The first I raised, the second I have agreed with. 
                           
                           I am just a mere writer who enjoys sharing....and a caretaker of wonderful animals... Life is good overall...however, I think that some answers or concern from HP staff would be great.

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                           1. 58

                              MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                              Actually I will admit that I haven't been following the forums closely for a while.  I have a new baby that has dragged me away.  He's finally on a sleep schedule so I've been lurking more.
                              
                              From what I understand... and please correct me if I'm wrong... is this article is now a week old.  The cache that Google has from a week ago is screwy because of the no-index.  I assume that the cache was made around 6 days ago.  You reported the problem 5 or 6 days ago and haven't received an answer yet. 
                              
                              Now...of those six days two were weekends days.  So we have 3 and a half to 4 working days... during the week leading to a major holiday... in the middle of a major site revision that is-obviously-buggy...  and shortly after implementing a new ratings system which is outsourced.  In addition the problem is obviously odd so the staff are gonna have to take time to nail an answer down... and-again- there are quite a few writers that may be having other problems that don't use the forums that also need communication.
                              
                              Once again--- as gently as possible--- do you think a bit more patience might help?  I realize that it is a huge deal to you... as it should be... but if you are angry about them not empathizing with your problems-once again as gently as possible-- how can you be justified in not empathizing with their situation?

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                                 Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                 To start with that cache is from yesterday...it has yesterday's date on it...so the no index should not have been there.  It is seeing the URL and the HP footer, but nothing else, according to the cache. Today's cache, with today's date also shows the same.
                                 
                                 I simply would expect a staff member to drop by and say they are on it. As posted earlier, it is one of the very few staff monitored forums.  It is not just this post that has been neglected.  Visit some of the other threads... Anyway, all I have is patience. 
                                 
                                 But, as I said, the cache is recent...screenshot from yesterday and today's looks the same. As for the days, well Google certainly should see it in it's entirety in cache one would think....
                                 
                                 Congrats on the new baby. 

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                                 1. 58

                                    MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                    Thank you!  He's an energy vampire himself but he's cute and I think we'll keep him despite that.
                                    
                                    OK... I'm with you on the rude thing.  It would probably frustrate me too... not as much as those automated "we're on it" emails... but still I understand wanting to know that someone has at least read about your problem and it's on a to-do list somewhere.
                                    
                                    I'd still give them the benefit of the doubt just because of timing.

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            2. 67

               Pearldiverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               And once again your 'POINT' is????
               
               I'm Not interested in anyone's self professed paperwork... or their ego... it's all irrelevant to the issue that was being discussed....
               
               If you feel offended by the fact that I mentioned that a Duty of Care exists... and are attempting to mock the fact... then... the issue is indeed highly questionable, as I stated!  As a 'legally trained researcher' then you would (I perhaps wrongly assume) understand that a Duty of Care applies both ways (is mutual) -
               
               Kindly do not intimate that I was slagging off this site... as any business is ONLY as good as it's people... I don't think that there is anything moot about the fact that a HUGE Amount of people have left here as a result of a whole raft of issues, that perhaps (with a more Open and less Hostile Attitude) could have been mitigated more successfully and more professionally...
               By the simple fact that income is derived from the efforts of writers (who enter into a relationship on the basis of a promoted expectation) and by what is 'promoted' as being a mutual sharing agreement... is sufficient to support any evidence of an existence of a Duty of Care.. at the least!!
               
               Clearly HP recognized their 'good faith' obligations enough to change the World wide promoted invitations to join this site.... I believe that was a great thing to do... but the 'relationship' is being more and more stretched (in all directions) every week... By Influences Both Outside of HP's ability AND Within HP's ability to control... I guess you would have Sport consider that to also be a 'moot point' for the sake of fudging the facts!  Every single person showing concern here is doing so for the fact that we have a need to be aware of WHICH issues are External and which issues are Internal... end of story! Any staff PR person qualified or not.. would read that in the rumblings!
               
               Communication is more than the art of gamesmanship, which is clearly something that you are obviously qualified in... as you totally side-stepped the primary issue..
               
               I believe SPORT was making a valid point... clearly a point valid enough that you felt it prudent to number your paragraphs and that it required you within your response to 'sign off' on your response! 
               
               I contend that the 'moot point' is also a questionable issue... and there is nothing moot about the original issue raised by the OP, irrespective of how you argue it..... It simply requires no argument... it requires a valid and transparent answer which does not make an assumption that the person answering is in Anyway More Superior than those asking for the privilege of MUTUAL RESPECT....
               
               So please.... Stop Trolling with this issue and seeking an opportunity to have Sport feel as if you are More Superior...  factually like me... you're just an opinion at this point in time!  I believe Ralph Deeds best sums up what that means!

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               1. 58

                  MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Wow hon... do you really assume that everyone that disagrees with you is attempting to make you feel inferior?
                  
                  You keep throwing around the "Duty of Care thing" but it doesn't apply in this circumstance... no matter how much you think it should. 
                  
                  If you feel personally wronged by HP that's one thing... and if you want to address that go ahead.  But You are the one who brought up lawsuits.  You are the one who asked me what my qualifications were.  You are also the one "screaming"
                  
                  The fact that people are getting mad and leaving is interesting... I guess.  But it doesn't really imply anything other than people get mad.  It is expected anytime there is a change.
                  
                  Obviously the HP organization isn't masochistic.  They don't wish to run themselves out of business.  Therefore any change that make they are making in good faith...  as what benefits you benefits them as well.  They do... afterall... get income from the pageviews that come from our writing.  With that in mind... would you like to explain what you think their reason is for the no-index thing?  Can you think of any reason at all that they would PREFER to have writing sitting...eating their expensive server space... and not being viewed?

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                  1. 74

                     Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     I can and do have an opinion, even though this is not addressed to me.  I have visited some suggested sites that people can publish on.  I see topics lacking on these more "social" sites.  Topics like Religion...and certainly sub-topics like Wicca or Paganism.  Holistic health is another topic you will not see on various sites.  So, keep in mind the little thing in the bottom right hand of your screen.....scroll down....
                     
                     
                                                         NING | GLAM SOCIAL         
                     
                     I think there are topics that HP would like to see off the site that may go against the guidelines or interests of this Ning Glam Social, to make it more of a social site.  Is that good or bad...who knows...but it does make sense to me whose majority of aged and idled hubs are pagan related.  Several with good hub scores and good views.....one was actually the top in Google for the keywords...idled, and moved by me.     So it does go quite a bit deeper when you start "thinking" and putting 2 and 2 together.  No fancy words....it is what I call common sense.

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                     1. 58

                        MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        Well it makes sense only if you don't take into account that HP has the complete authority to remove any content it wants... just because.  They don't have to give a reason.  As you said Wiccan writing doesn't represent a large percentage of their articles... and to be completely honest openly forbidding it would actually probably increase their popularity with Christians (who do represent a large portion) so it would make more sense and take far less time to just openly ban it... if that was their intention.  The effort it would take such a small staff to no-follow every "questionable" subject hub is unfathomable.  There simply isn't the manpower available to do it.
                        
                        With that said... I think it is unlikely you are being singled out.  They just don't have the time for that kind of subterfuge.

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                        1. 58

                           MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           And yes I know I'm replying to myself...
                           
                           I've also noticed that the staff actually leans slightly liberal as a whole.  I'm not sure that catering to the Christian crowd would be personally palatable to them.

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                     Pearldiverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                       Unbelievable! 
                     
                     I don't believe I have any such insecurities...
                     and what I'd really like to say on the 'issues' here...
                     I'll probably relay privately, directly and in person when I'm in San Fran.. next year...
                     that's more professional and more my style!
                     
                     Please... objectively disagree as much as you like...
                     but do us all a favor and stop embellishing the facts and what was said!
                     
                     I am both creative and resourceful.. I'm really sure I know my onions and one hell of lot of recipes before I open mouth and in many situations, far better than most! 
                     
                     This whole thing is Not About Emotion... that's a nice place to conveniently park it.. but does not solve the problem... which I believe started at the beginning of 2011.. and has provided much of the issues that affect us today....
                     Contrary to any opinion offered here...
                     you have completely Missed the Practical Point that was made..
                     If Dale feels a need to walk away.. then I what I have said was perhaps too Subtle for you to see...Check your different place... Sport. 
                     You don't seem to understand real people when they are trying to 'Advise' you.... perhaps it has to do with a genuine issue.... the absence of hearing.. I believe!  See ya in the Spring!

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                        MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        Yes... of course I missed the point. 
                        
                        I'm sure HP staff... and all of San Francisco awaits your coming with baited breath...I wouldn't be surprised if Paul Edmondson himself was waiting at the door to greet you.  Of the 136,487 writers on the site I'm sure you are the one he wants to meet.  Maybe he'll even invite you back to the house for dinner.  There might even be a parade.
                        
                        Let me know... again... how that works out for you.

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9. 74

   Dale Hydeposted 11 years ago

   Thanks everyone for the input with the exception of the one HP cheerleader that I will not name.  I see that many are frustrated and through your responses I have learned even more.  I do appreciate the input.
   
   As mentioned in my post at the beginning, this is a "staff monitored" thread.....no staff... Must be laid off or something, lol.  Afterall, so many have been quick to point out that any issue I raise will not be addressed by staff unless it is in one of the few forums that is staff monitored.
   
   To me there is a technical issue and if the answer is not know by staff, simply admit it and at least say you are working on it.  I have a screenshot that shows there is an issue.
   
   Footnote: I just did the cache search again and come up with the same page as in the screenshot.  Google is being shown under the "Search" tab to have crawled this hub 24 hours ago.  Amazing, lol, less than 12 hours ago that information was not there.  Irregardless...let's give Google the benerfit of the doubt about crawling the hub five or six days after publication....that still does not address the issue that is in the cache screenshot.

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10. 69

    brakel2posted 11 years ago

    Dale. I know how frustrating this situation can be. I am afraid to publish anymore. Thanks for bringing this up in the forum. I keep wracking my brain to find answers. I wonder if we should ask staff again about permission to publish for established authors. I initiated it once. Good luck and keep us posted.

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    1. 74

       Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Brakel, I have wracked my mind and can not come up with anything that makes sense to me.  Maybe I am just really blind to something, but I certainly can not see it, lol.  I have even tried to reason with myself...now that can get scary!
       
       I think there should be exclusions for established writers/authors involving the noindex tag.

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          SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Dale - the problem with any system that has exclusions is that how do you have equality? Writing is a very subjective media; one writer may be considered great by some people but not by others. If you have exceptions then you'll get accusations.
          
          We're already seen a lot of this with the people who are already 'exempt' - they are called pets, or it is assumed they are all apprentices. There simply isn't any way for HP to please everyone. The same goes for the idling system - many are upset - probably more upset because there doesn't seem to be transparency, and as in your case there are major anomolies and problems.
          
          Trying to be objective, and that's not easy in a forum environment, I don't feel that HP trying to answer questions on the forum would achieve anything - while there is no trust, anything they said would not be believed and would probably create more questions.
          
          One suggestion that would help would be to have a 'work in progress' site that at least gave us an indication on what was being worked on - I'm not asking for proprietry secrets but something like
          "Pending algorithm being developed - target completion xx.xx.xx"

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             Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             I was pleased, lol, for months.. I had no issues other than technical issues that I addressed in the forums or via email and they were resolved.  However, the past few months, if it is not one thing it is another.  My contention is why keep changing everything?  It was working..... As you can see from the posts here in this thread as well as the numerous other posts in other threads, something is NOT working.  The majority seemingly are not pleased.  So who is HP pleasing?
             
             All of that aside, doing away with the noindex, especially it being know that some people do not face that "punishment", would be the right thing to do.  I am all for a new member's first few hubs having a noindex tag on it if it in fact can be proven to me that this does not keep Google away long after the noindex tag is dropped.  I have not seen evidence of that yet.

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             1. 84

                aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Dale, actually I don't think a lot of people were pleased this summer with the falling traffic.  In fact I think I might have read forum posts from you complaining about losing traffic, before idle hubs were introduced.  If HP had not done anything about it, I don't think we would have been happy.
                
                Having said that I agree that the no-index after a hub is being published, and the resulting indexing delays are very annoying.  What is even more annoying is that traffic is still down.  I completely agree with you that established writers bypass the no-index would be a very reasonable solution.  I also agree that no-indexing good quality hubs that don't get traffic is painful, and I worry that somehow all these tags going on and off are confusing/angering the Google bots somehow.

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             aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Simey, many Web 2.0 sites, infobarrel, seekyt, Zujava, have a rule that a new writer has to have 3-10 articles manually checked before they are able to automatically publish.  I don't think this upsets new writers on these sites, and if HP were to introduce a rule that once 10 of your hubs passed the M'Turk verification fine, you would not get the no-index tag on your new hubs, I don't think many people would feel that there was a lack of equality.  As long as the rule was consistent for everybody.  New hubs from "established authors" could still undergo M'Turk validation and even be "normal" if they didn't pass, and that could reset the counter.  There are ways of doing it fairly.
             
             I don't think it is so much the no-index tag, as the unintended delay in indexing after its removed that so annoys people.  Personally I have found that submitting it to WMT helps, but I have no reason to doubt Dale or Greekgeek when they say it doesn't always work for them. 
             
             Although the indexing delays are frustrating my main fear is that suddenly slapping no-index on a lot of pages, making all newly published stuff no-index etc. is having some unintended consequences which are really hurting the site's traffic.  I don't really know how it works, but idle hubs were introduced 2 months ago (I thought they were a good idea at the time), presumably this removed all the objectionable "bad content", there is now this  quality assessment process which supposedly prevents "bad content" from being published, and yet the site got badly hit by Panda-20 and traffic is really low.  Something is obviously not working.
             
             It is impossible to know that this is due to the no-indexing, for all we know traffic might be even worse if we didn't have "normal" hubs.  It is possible that, as Paul E thinks, Google is just being really slow about noticing the change, but I worry that something about the way this site is messing with Google bots is affecting the traffic.

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11. 74

    Dale Hydeposted 11 years ago

    Okay...so I get your drift...take whatever, don't report it...the staff has too much other stuff to do.  Thanks for being gentle with me, lol.  To be honest, that is about where I am at.   Ready to cut and run.  I have a headache, and to be honest, I regret I even posted this.  I posted it also for those who may be having issues and would like to check their cache to see if it may be a broader problem.  Again, out of line on my part.
    
    Kudos to the staff and all our great views... long live the overworked HP staff.  Also, good bye to the forums.... Ya'll take care now.

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       MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Oh hon that's not what I was saying at all...
       
       I was just saying that I don't think it's personal and give them time and I'm sure they'll get to it.
       
       My argument with PD was from a different place.
       
       Please don't give up on the forums.  You are unique and that's what makes the online community so great.

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