Sometimes I write a hub, then later tweak it...a lot. I change the title and sometimes even make major changes to the focus and content. In the end. the original URL often does not match the content. My question is...does this matter in any way? Will Google downgrade my sub domain for this reason? If you know, please advise me!
It matters a LOT. Look, Big Daddy Google is going to view your page as misleading if the content doesn't match the title.
I've done exactly what you described a dozen or so times, and even worse, I've made stupid typos in the creation of the URL....sometimes a thing will get buried in search results for this; other times based on other factors, it'll do okay.
Suffice it to say, it is a bad idea in general, and not good at all in principle to have titles not matching content.
As for penalizing your entire subdomain, I'd have to think it is possible, but it would likely depend upon things like how often you do this ...
As usual, someone has to say it....nobody TRULY knows what Google is doing, as of course, their search algorithm is secret.
As long as your title continues to support your hub content, you should do just fine. The URL is not nearly as important as it used to be years ago. Google is looking at content and keywords these days as well as structure.
I have several well performing hubs that the URL did not match the title at all.
Dale, you've confused me. I am not just talking about title, but also content. Is your answer still the same?
Paraglider and Dale are right. In a perfect world, both your URL and your title would use your keyword search terms. But it's no biggie if they 're not. What's on the page is far more important than what's in the URL.
I'd agree with that. The Title (inside the file header), the H1 header on the page and the content have to match, but the filename (the only bit of the URL that you get to create on hubpages) doesn't matter. In fact, many content management systems name files automatically, not with a reader-friendly name but with a machine generated unique identifier that might look something like this:
ajdbthy5bnw74nbs85nswu4n8n6nft3n.html
In other words, a 32 character unique string. They do this to ensure that no two files in their system can accidentally have the same name. The content management system maintains the database that links the friendly name to the unique ID.
I hate to sound stupid, but what is an H1 Header and what is a file header? I am not tech savvy and these words are Greek to me? Please give me a visual example with an explanation so I know what you are talking about. In my situation, on several occasions to keep from having to delete an entire hub and start it again with a new URL, title, photos, etc...I simply rewrote the title and refocused the content to match it. I am thinking I should not have done that IF it is going to hurt my subdomain or my my views in some way.
Well, as an example, ages ago I created a hub called "Make Your Own Wine". The URL that was automatically derived was "paraglider.hubpages.com/hub/Make_Your_Own_Wine", and it still is, even though the title is now "How to make Wine from Supermarket Grape Juice with no Special Equipment or Ingredients"
A web page has two main sections: the Head and the Body. The Head is not displayed on the screen, but it contains information about the page and how it should be displayed. Among other things, it contains the TITLE. I've just checked, and can confirm that HubPages makes sure that this hidden TITLE reflects your latest edit. So my hidden title is the long winded one about supermarket grape juice.
The BODY contains all the displayed information (text, pictures etc). The displayed title is also called the main Header, or H1. Subheadings of sections are H2, H3 etc in diminishing order of importance. HubPages does not allow two H1 headings (correctly). It ensures that your H1 and your TITLE automatically match.
All you have to do is ensure that your content matches your edited title. Your original filename (in the URL) doesn't matter.
Having said that, it wouldn't be sensible to have no connection at all. For example, it wouldn't be clever for me to delete all the content and write a new hub about Russian Hamster Breeding on top of a Make Your Own Wine URL!
Hope that helps?
Yes...big time...and a great big hug to both you and Dale for saving me hours of work! Thank you!
Just found this comment thread and I've gotta say thanks. I was wondering the same thing about matching title/URL and now have a little more peace of mind
by Teeboy1 12 years ago
I am trying to publish my first hub on here. But i have got a little problem. There was a box that reads give your hub a unique url web address. Please how do i go about it. I dont want to mess up everything. I kinda need help.
by Tessa Schlesinger 3 years ago
I've forgotten.If not, is there any way I can change the URL?Otherwise I have to delete the one article and do a complete rewrite.Thanks.
by mjkamrul 8 years ago
Hello Hubbers,I've updated some of my hubs some days ago when I changed the title of my hubs and put some new keywords in the content. In the meantime the hubs went quality assessment process and finally published again but the URL were unchanged. Now the title and URL are different. so how the...
by Dorsi Diaz 14 years ago
When I first started writing at HubPages I was under the impression that one should make the url and the first title of their hub the same.So my question now is: When trying to write the url for maximum traffic, how much should you really deviate on the main title? Or does it even matter if the key...
by DatsNice 11 years ago
If I revise my hub, how do I change the URL so it matches the title?
by Liz Elias 7 years ago
WTH is going on, here?I've published many hubs before, including 2 new ones in the last couple of days. No problems!Today, I'm trying to publish another, and in the box for the title, I put the title. Never had a problem until today. Now, I'm getting an error message when I try to...
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