How to make a hub more feature-worthy?

1. 89

   SimeyCposted 11 years ago

   These two Exclusive Titles publsihed in the last three or four months are not featured:
   
   http://simeyc.hubpages.com/hub/Biography-of-Green-Day
   http://simeyc.hubpages.com/hub/What-is- … ware-Suite
   
   I cannot change the titles - what else can I do to make them 'searchable' - they had a little traffic but not a lot - that's I assume why they were un-featured. What can I do to make them featured again.
   
   I do not want to simply change one or two more words as they will simply un-feature again eventually.

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   1. 60

      mercuryservicesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's too bad that they took those hubs down.  They are both well written and informative.  Out of all your 396 hubs, were those the only two that were un-featured?  I'm also curious about how many views those hubs currently have and when you published them.  Just wondering if HubPages often un-features a hub if it doesn't get enough traffic.

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      1. 89

         SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         greenday - 118 in 2 months 4 in last 30 days.
         office - 45 in 6 months 3 in last 30 days
         
         I do have others non-featured but those I agree with - these are exclusive titles so were researched by Hubpages - IMO they probably will take at least a year before they get decent traffic....ah well - will have to add some 'phrases' to make them more searchable I guess..

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         1. 96

            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I just had one go idle that had 55 views for the month.  Something that I had not expected.

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            1. 84

               Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               The problem is that we don't know the cut-off.   How much is "enough"?

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               1. 89

                  SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  What confuses a lot of people is that we're told to write ever-green content - from my experience ever-green content can take a year or more to mature and gain traffic - the Green Day (IMHO) is definately better than most of the sites showing in the top page of Google for the relevant search and according to Google themselves - the cream will rise - but this hub was only given two months to rise - simply impossible with this type of content. I spent days writing the hub - I could have produced a dozen average hubs and had them gain more hits but I didn't want to.....
                  
                  ....grip over!!!

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                  1. 85

                     aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     I've read your hub now and it is really good and thorough.  Although I think the beginning is slightly 'generic'.
                     
                     I completely agree with your gripe and it doesn't really make much sense. On the one hand HP staff profess completely confidence in the Mechanical Turks assessment of hubs, on the other hand, they still unfeature hubs that pass the test.  Doesn't make much sense.
                     
                     2 months seems like a really short time.  I think the amount of traffic to stay featured is quite complicated and variable.  I've wondered whehter the 'grade' a hub is given through QAP might affect its future fate.  So if your hub passed QAP but didn't get a very good mark, which would be unfair but not impossible, then it might be unfeatured quite quickly if it doesn't pick up a lot of traffic.  A hub that is given a glowing mark might be given more of a chance? Not sure if tha is happening, but if you republish it will go through QAP again, get a higher grade and be given more of a chance.

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               2. 96

                  wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Just so.  There are very obviously other factors - I've got several hubs that are in the single digits for monthly traffic but are not idled.  I never expected that one with 55 views to become non-featured.

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   2. 85

      aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I've had an 'exclusive' title unfeatured, it hardly had any traffic.  It might be possible for you to 'improve' them so they get more traffic, but I have serious misgivings about the title suggestions, I would love to know what kind of keyword research they do to pick these titles and what their criteria are.
      
      I checked a few of title suggestions that they came up with, using market samurai, stealth, looking at the first page of Google etc. and I did not think they were very good keywords.  Of course I could be wrong, I am far from an expert.
      
      If you  really have a lot of faith in your Green Day hub, and think that it is better than the competition, and that it would eventually rank, maybe you should just do a minor change to get it featured again.  Hopefully it hasn't been de-indexed by Google yet.  And then do that again if it falls out of featured again.  I know it seems pointless, but in fact this would keep it indexed long enough for it to "mature" and "rise up the ranks".  If it is really good, there is a possibility that it would attract organic backlinks that would impress Google. 
      
      Or if you really feel that there isn't much to make the content better, maybe just give up on it.

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   3. 63

      kohuetherposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Ya, I would just make a change even if it is minor to both of those hubs to see if they will get re- featured. They both look good! Maybe add in more keywords?

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2. 68

   relacheposted 11 years ago

   So that they get featured again the content contained needs to be improved so that it is superior to the hundreds of other webpages on the exact same topic.  If you don't have a unique take or presentation, you'll just keep having the same problem again at some future time.

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   1. 89

      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      relache - did you take a look at the hubs? I can probably see the Office one being improved - but I would say the Green Day one is far better than 95% or more of similar sites. As it's about Green Day it will take time to rise up the rankings...

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      1. 54

         janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Shhhhhhhhhhhh!
         I asked nicely, but insistently, and had the exclusive title changed for me.
         Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

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         1. 89

            SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Shhhh OK!!!

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3. 84

   Marisa Wrightposted 11 years ago

   If you have an existing Hub that has dropped out of Featured, it's 99% certain it's not about "worthiness".
   
   Simone has stated clearly that if an existing Hub falls out of Featured, it's purely because it's not getting enough "reader engagement".    We did wonder if that meant something complicated, but Derek has since posted that it just means "traffic".
   
   If you've edited the Hub in question, that's a different story:  if you edit it, it goes through some aspect of the QAP.  But if you haven't touched it, the reason is probably traffic.  There is a small possibility it's been picked up in a random check, but that's all.
   
   There have been a few threads about this and I've linked to Derek's post a few times, but I can't find it now (sorry).

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   1. 89

      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sometimes they say traffic is a factor - but we shouldn't worry - and concentrate on producing quality hubs and creating decent headings  -but this was one of their headings!!!!

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4. 71

   Reality Bytesposted 11 years ago

   The Green Day hub is awesome!
   
   
   Do Green Day fans actually Google the word biography? 
   
   
   What is Green Days life story?  A biography of the band?  What is their personal history?
   
   
   That would be my title choice and I would move the whole thing to a new title, but that is just me.  FWIW

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   1. 58

      MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah... some of us know fancy words

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      1. 71

         Reality Bytesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         And have the ability to outrank sites dedicated to biographies?

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         1. 89

            SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I think that is the problem - I'm competing with wikipedia, Rolling Stone etc....  I'm going to do some research and pester Hubpages to change the exclusive title!!!

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            1. 71

               Reality Bytesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I  like to incorporate a buffet of search terms in my titles.  The keywords that I end up with sometimes surprises me.

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               1. 96

                  wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Me, too.  I will nearly always have at least two, and if I can word it appropriately might end up with 5 or 6.
                  
                  Because you're right - doing that can end up with some surprising (and pleasing) keywords being sent my way.

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   2. 89

      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I may ask for that to be changed - I've amended some of my sub-headings to more searchable items so hopefully that will help!

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5. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

   The Green Day hub is well put together, but I would change a few things from a quick observation and a quick google search of your competition.  I would change the title.  I would probably go with something like History of the Punk-Rock Band, Green Day or reverse it and use Green Day in the key position.  Green Day: History of the Punk-Rock Band.  Your first sentence has to say something different from the other results that show up, perhaps a not so well-known statistic about one of their records, something that makes the reader want to keep reading.  I'm almost certain Green Day (a band) is considered a collective noun, so you would say, Green Day is.  I'm sure with a few changes, it will again be featured and start picking up more views.  Perhaps move the top pic and start with text and highlight a text capsule next to it with some interesting, quick stats of record sales or something similar. 
   I've heard they are great in concert! One of my best friends is an avid GD fan.

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   1. 89

      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I;ve requested a change of title to History of Green Day - which is still pretty generic, but is far less populated than the Green Day Biography - I'll then add the heading you suggest to start it off - thanks for the advice - gonna mess around now!!!

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      1. 54

         janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Try
         'Green Day Music History'  Jaaxy says its better!

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6. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

   Oh, I missed that is was an exclusive title. I would definitely ask HP to change it if that's the only way it can be changed. 
   
   Good luck, it's certainly worth finding and reading!

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   1. 89

      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks - and advice listened too - started with a more unique introduction and added some facts...

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      1. 85

         rebekahELLEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I like the changes.  The fast facts at the top are great, and impressive!  I like how you introduce the topic with a bang, and then go into more basic info, and then get specific. Nice. 
         Politics is spelled wrong.. in your heading.    Also, the first sentence in the paragraph underneath the first pic should read, Green Day is, not are. 
         I would add the author of the quote for, "The only people who should sing...". Quotes are often searched, or parts of them, to find the author.
         I read an article yesterday that I found helpful about how to have our sites/pages pass the 'blink test'.  I'll try to find it and add it here.
         
         I'm so surprised that this hub is not featured.  Even before your changes, it is much better than much of what I saw in the search results.

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7. 65

   Astra Nomikposted 11 years ago

   One trick about music hubs... and it is just a thought... is to look at the Green Day band's songs, and see which of their top 5 songs is the most popular? Then work the song title into the title of your Green Day hub. Then see will the hits on it grow...
   
   Again this is just a small suggestion, Simey. I enjoyed reading the hub.

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