I Don't Understand Why This Hub Was unFeatured

Jump to Last Post 1-7 of 7 discussions (22 posts)
  1. Rock_nj profile image91
    Rock_njposted 11 years ago

    I woke up this morning and one of my Hubs (Visiting Fort Myers Beach, Florida) was unFeatured.  Normally, it's no mystery why a Hub is unFeatured, as the ones that fall into that category have no traffic.  However this one has decent traffic.  The traffic is not great by many Hubber's standards, but enough to indicate that it has a heartbeat, which is what HubPages recently said is why Hubs are unFeatured, because there is no heartbeat.  It is also well written and has plenty of pictures. It was also unFeatured at a most inconvient time, in the middle of South Florida vacation season when people are actually searching for terms like "Visiting Fort Myers Beach".  This is what is upsetting Hubbers about this unFeature / NOINDEX program.

    This is the recent traffic for Visiting Fort Myers Beach, Florida:

    1 day 2

    7 days 9

    30 days 15

    Could anyone at HubPages staff explain why this Hub was unFeatured?

    1. Jenn-Anne profile image75
      Jenn-Anneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I share your frustration. I just had a hub go idle that has had traffic recently and another stay featured that has had less traffic. Both hubs are seasonal in nature. I know there is talk of tweaking the idle process so seasonal hubs aren't hurt as badly, but no official word when that might happen. In the meantime I'm trying to decide whether to edit and try to get the hub featured  again, or give up and move it elsewhere. It is hard to know what to do!

      1. Rock_nj profile image91
        Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        Thanks Jenn-Anne.  From what I've been reading here over the past month, many high quality Hubbers are struggling with the same decision you are regarding editing a Hub or moving it elsewhere to avoid this idling policy.  This is the first time I've seen a Hub of mine idled (unFeatured) that had decent traffic, so I was scratching my head this morning?!?  What to do?  The Hub is getting traffic and it doesn't have any quality issues (ironically, this is the one and only Hub I ever submitted for quality review on the section of the forums that is set up for that).  I'm not sure what else HubPages wants us to do to keep Hubs from being idled?  To make matters worse, this Hub is about a topic people are searching for this time of the year (which is why it's getting some traffic), so the unFeature couldn't have happened at a worse time.

    2. SimeyC profile image87
      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I was told recently that hubs with 35 or less views in 30 days have a good chance of being un-featured.
      I do note that Simone keeps on saying that this IS being reviewed "We're still adjusting the manner in which Hubs may lapse out of Featured status for traffic reasons," - so hopefully it will become a less important factor....

      1. Rock_nj profile image91
        Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        That's a pretty high hurdle to get over for each and every Hub, but if we at least officially know what the hurrdle is that knowledge would help guide us here at HubPages (or perhaps help some Hubbers decide to move their work elsewhere).

        1. SimeyC profile image87
          SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I don't think it is the only factor as I have other Hubs that have less views still featured - I think it's just one of the multiple 'tests' that a hub must fail in order to be un-featured...

        2. wilderness profile image95
          wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I highly doubt that you will ever be given any specific number.  To make that knowledge public will just mean that it will be gamed - you might ask a few friends, for instance, to visit a hub just to get those last few visits for the month.

          1. Rock_nj profile image91
            Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            A little more traffic to HubPages from people's friends.  What a shame!  Keeping up with all this idling stuff is just a distraction from what most people came to HubPages to do:  write and publish online.  This was a well intentioned policy that has been poorly implemented, partly because it was misrepresented as an effort to improve the quality of Hubs, when it has now been revealed that it is traffic, not quality, that causes Hubs to become idled.  Just give people a fair warning to make changes and keep the traffic bar low enough so it is reasonable, and I think they'd find few Hubbers complaining or deleting their work and moving elsewhere.

            1. profile image0
              summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

              +1

            2. wilderness profile image95
              wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

              Just a suggestion, but keep an eye on your stats.  Sort them by the 30 day column.

              When you see one that isn't averaging 60 views per month, edit and improve it.  I highly doubt you'll have anything idled for traffic reasons. 

              If, on the other hand, you want your hubs to be at the rock bottom of the grading system then I would say you are wanting the game the system rather than provide hubs that actually work.  Which is what I was trying to get at; given specific information people will game the system to remain just inside the accepted borders, which is not the purpose of setting those limits in the first place.

    3. Len Cannon profile image88
      Len Cannonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      How many of those visits were from a search engine?  How many come from HubPages? From yourself?  It probably matters a great deal where the traffic is coming form.

      1. Rock_nj profile image91
        Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        None from me.  I hadn't touched it in months until today.  I just checked the stats.  Over the last month about half from HubPages and half from organic Google and Bing search engine traffic

  2. That Grrl profile image73
    That Grrlposted 11 years ago

    Just because a Hub post is not featured does not mean it is not there. I get traffic on various post which are not featured. But, I run links to them from other sources rather than relying only on HubPages. If it's not featured that just means it isn't found in a search on THIS site. I really don't place a lot of importance on the Featured thing because I can pull in my own traffic as long as the post is still on the site. Which is also another reason I have them all visible in my profile - that's the link I share in my writer profile on other sites. Featured or not, the links are then findable through my Hub profile.

    1. Rock_nj profile image91
      Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      While I agree with you that it's important to post links to Hubs elsewhere, getting the unFeatured slapped on a Hub has consequences far beyond just losing a feature on HubPages.  When a hub is unFeatured, it eventually gets a NOINDEX tag attached to it, which tells Google to not index the page, which can be very bad for hub traffic.  I hadn't done anything recently to promote this Hub, so the traffic appeared to by organic Google traffic, and if it gets the NOINDEX tag attached to it that will be impossible.  I just updated it, so hopefully I will avoid the NOINDEX tag.  I do want to know per HP's guidelines why this hub was unFeatured?

  3. Simone Smith profile image87
    Simone Smithposted 11 years ago

    Hi Rock_nj! Sorry for any frustration and confusing. The QAP is still very much a work in progress.

    I see you've already edited this Hub, so it will once again be Featured for a while.

    We're still adjusting the manner in which Hubs may lapse out of Featured status for traffic reasons, so it's not useful for me to explain what's going on with specific time frames and numbers, but the key to your situation (and what you should focus on most with this and all Hubs) is making it more search-friendly.

    A lot of that has to do with the title, so that's where I'd start. Did you look at the competition for the keyword you're targeting in your title when you started the Hub? How does your Hub rank for that keyword now? What can you do to beat the present competition that's beating you?

    Are you being flooded out by location results? Sometimes there's just no beating those, so you'd want to re-target your title.

    At any rate, those are a bunch of things to consider. Hope that helps a bit! smile

  4. psycheskinner profile image83
    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    I think the question is more a long the lines of: if it isn't low quality, and it is getting traffic, on what basis is it idled?

    Will all our hubs now need to get multiple hits every day to stay non-idled?  Because that would wipe out about half my hubs. So it is worrying.

  5. sweetzara profile image76
    sweetzaraposted 11 years ago

    I don't understand why certain hubs are unFeatured. One of my hubs has over 130 comments and it gets consistant views, yet it is unFeatured! Go figure.

    1. Rock_nj profile image91
      Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It seems as though, like many other things at HubPages, their software that scores Hubs and decides which ones to idle has gone haywire!

  6. psycheskinner profile image83
    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    35 hits in 30 days?  If that sticks I might as well quit now.

    1. SimeyC profile image87
      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I just checked back - it was 35 hits in two months - so on average 17 hits a month - the hub probably had diminishing returns so the most recent month probably had less...

      1. psycheskinner profile image83
        psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        Okay, that is much more do-able. [Suspending premature panic mode].

  7. psycheskinner profile image83
    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    The ways of QAP are irritatingly mysterious.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)