My Traffic Dropped Significantly All of a Sudden

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bbgolferposted 10 years ago
Dears

Since 1st of August, all my hubs traffic dropped dramatically. I checked my ranking for some hubs that were always in the first page of SERP, however, they all GONE!!.

Any ideas of what I can do to overcome this problem?

Thanks
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1. 96
  susi10posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I think it is just a bug, it happened to me before, and the next day it was back to normal, showing normal statistics once more.
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  joyfuldesignsposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Mine has been significantly bad for a week maybe two, and still no upswing
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  bbgolferposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I hope so, I heard that Google is changing the way it index Hubpages hubs....
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  susi10posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Or you could have been hit hard by Panda. Keep writing more hubs, your traffic should rise again.
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  sgbrownposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  This is what mine did in March! It still hasn't come back. I have NO idea what happened. If you find out how to fix it or even what happened, please let me know!
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  Sue Baileyposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Me too! It's been a couple of months since mine started steadily dropping. At an all time low now and no signs of recovery.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Mine have dropped also, but some are still on page one of Google...go figure!!
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  IzzyMposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Were you signed out of Google when you looked for your hub?
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  Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Are your Hubs still featured (available to search engines)?
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I had a hub last week get 2,000 hits, but the hub score went DOWN from the upper 90's to the mid-80's. It may have kept going, but when it hit 85 I finally decided to start moving hubs.
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  Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  The Hub Score system is flawed. It's not at all based on what Google has stated publicly is its system of quality grading. Hubs are scored by people paid 5¢ to read a Hub and many of them say they don't understand the QAP table and can't take the time to read an entire Hub for what they are getting paid.
  
  Yes, it is ironic that when a Hub ranks #1 on Google for its targeted keywords and is bringing in the traffic from that search engine, the Hub Score often goes below 90 and sometimes below 80. What is HP thinking? When you pulled your Hubs you took some great traffic with you. (I see you've moved most of them now.) I agree with you that a low score like that gives the signal that HP doesn't want your work. What else are authors supposed to think? I have a Hub that brought in 3,000 views a week from Google. Its Hub Score is 82! But I'm not going to change it in any way because Google loves it.
  
  HP encourages people to keep changing successful Hubs and that's rather like middle-aged woman who have too much plastic surgery; eventually they look disfigured.
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I have moved most of my hubs as I have considered doing for quite some time. I just do not trust this site anymore. The most logical conclusion at this point is that someone is paying the management to bankrupt the company! LOL It just feels like a three ring circus around here to me anymore. The hub had 1,200 FB likes on it and about 400 of those were from last week while the score was dropping more than 10 points.
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  That was only one of several factors that has caused me to finally move my hubs.
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  Boisegalposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Exactly what mine looks like...mine dropped off on the 5th of Aug and is just now trickling back slowly. I did go back and make all my Amazon capsules contain just one product. Hubpages is urging folks to do this so as not to look spammy to Google. I did this update yesterday, and today it's up slightly.
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  Boisegalposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Nevermind, it's not trickling back. The only traffic I get now looks to be from hubpages, so 1 or 2 views a day. From 150+ total views a day down to 13 or so. No google views any more. This stinks!
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  socialcxposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I see at Squidoo they encourage you to use 5 amazon products in one module although the total number of product modules per lens has been capped.
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  weezyschannelposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  That looks almost like my graph!! No visitors hardly!! Went from 65 visits on my best hub to 1!!!!
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  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  That's a classic Panda slap. Google has penalized your account for some reason.
  
  You have two choices - start learning about Panda so you can work out why you've been slapped and fix it, or accept defeat and move most of your Hubs somewhere else.
  
  I see you've got a golfing blog of your own already, so my question is - why are you posting so many articles on HubPages in the first place? In the long run, your blog is where you have the best money-making potential, so my recommendation would be to move the Hubs to your blog. It's important for a blog to look like an "authority" site, which means it needs good content and a LOT of it, so those Hubs will be an asset. Move your Hubs gradually - republish one a week, say - so your blog stays "fresh". Leave half a dozen Hubs here - your best performing ones - and make sure each one of them links to your blog.
  
  The problem is that no one really knows how Panda works because Google won't be specific. So trying to guess why you've been slapped, and fixing it, can be a frustrating and ultimately unsuccessful project.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Marissa: Some blogging questions. My new one is now up and running with 15 posts so far on blogger. I want some way to link articles to a table of contents, but cannot find a way to do it. I have set up pages with accompanying articles listed, but they do not link to the articles. Also, I set up a deal with vig link to put affiliate ads on my blog, but can't get it to work. Have contacted them, but so far no help, and now I can't get the code to remove! Also, I'm not sure Adsense is working for the blog, either. There are ads on it, but I don't see any sign of income from them. I've had 400+ views this first week. Any advice?
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  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Fifteen posts isn't much, so 400+ views is doing well! However, remember Adsense isn't HP Ads - you only get paid if someone clicks on your ads, and only a small percentage of your readers will do so. Especially if readers can't even see your first ad unless they scroll way down the page. Your header is far, far, far, far too big!
  
  Your header is too big for other reasons too. Google judges your site partly by how much useful content is visible on the screen when it visits your site. Right now, when I visit your site, all I can see is a huge picture and one sentence! Look for a Blogger template that lets you use that photo as a background photo, and have a plain header with just the title, and you'll do much better.
  
  Before you signed up with Viglinks, did you check to see whether they had any RV-related merchants in their stable? It's going to be pointless otherwise. You don't want to link to merchants which aren't relevant to RVs, unless it's a bookstore.
  
  I know you may be anxious about the technical aspects of signing up for affiliate programs, but it's probably not as bad as you think. Why not try to sign up for one or two and see how it goes. Here's a couple to try, which could be a good fit for your site:
  
  http://www.campingworld.com/help/affiliateprogram.cfm
  http://www.rvlifestyleexperts.com/affiliate-program/
  http://www.rvbasictraining.com/
  http://www.goodsamclub.com/affiliate.aspx
  
  Most of them will give you attractive banners which you can add to your site.
  
  Don't worry about deleting the Viglinks code. You should be able to turn "off" the Viglinks Convert program on their website, and if you do that, then the Viglinks code will be harmless.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Marissa: Thank you, thank you and thank you! I'm not sure how to get into the viglinks code and no I did not think to check and see whether they have RV related links or not. I tried simply selecting and deleting their code, but it did not work. Maybe I should dump the adsense advertising also. Doesn't seem like it will do me much good. I'll see what I can do about the header. I knew it was too big, but I just love the way it looks and the words I used on it. I'm not sure how to make it smaller, but will do my best. You have SO much know how about this stuff that it amazes me. By the way, those 15 hubs were not 15 from the start...I've been adding them one or two a day all week, so number 15 just went on tonight. I love this project, but wish I was more savvy technically. I wanted to be able to have a linking table of contents, but I guess that is not possible? Thanks for your input, I really do appreciate it.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Marissa: I was unable to dump the code because their site does not give me that option, but I do need to get rid of it. However, it did not install correctly, so ads are not showing. I also turned off Adsense, removed the photo (sigh) and removed the google+photos. Take a look and see what you think. Thanks.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Timetraveller, unless Viglink has changed since I used it, Viglink doesn't create any ads on your site whatsoever. All that happens is that if you create a link to one of their merchants, that link will be turned into an affiliate link without you having to deal with affiliate code.
  
  If the code didn't install directly, and is definitely not working, then don't worry about it. It's not creating any odd stuff on your blog so it's really not worth worrying about.
  
  I wouldn't turn off Adsense. It may not be doing much now, but it may improve. IF you find some better ads from affiliates, that's the time to get rid of it - but you may find you've got room for both.
  
  If you take a look at the "templates" on Blogger, you'll find one where you can put the photo in the background instead of in the header. Take a look at Bard of Ely's blog and you'll see what I mean.
  http://bardofelysays.blogspot.com.au/
  
  If you're stuck, PM me. I set up Bard's and I'd be happy to do the same for you, it's pretty quick. You'll need to trust me with your username and password though.
  
  I realise I didn't answer one question - about a table of contents. There is a way to do this, using "labels". Think of "labels" as your categories or groups, NOT as tags. Then all you have to do is put a Label widget in your sidebar or footer. Just don't make Bard's mistake and create too many labels!!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I removed the HTML for Vig Link, so it is gone. Adsense is putting refrigerator ads and all other sorts of unrelated things on the site, and I'm not even sure I'm signed up correctly with it to be making any money at all...but I'll add it back in. You have totally lost me with the lingo of widgets, tags and labels. I simply wanted two things: to be able to put the indian photo somewhere at the top of the hub with the wordage in it, and to create a table of contents that can link to articles so people do not have to sort through all of them to find those they might want to read. This is why I posted the pages ... at least there the articles are listed by name and category...but people cannot click on them to get to them. Is it not possible to set up something like this? I'm beginning to think not!
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  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Yes it is.
  
  Now, take a deep breath. There is a learning curve to all this stuff but you can do it. I didn't start doing all this stuff till I was over fifty, so age is no barrier!
  
  First, remember Adsense doesn't match ads to your content - it matches ads to the person looking at the content. So don't fret if the Adsense ads make no sense, that's how it works. You can check here how to get Adsense on your blog:
  https://support.google.com/blogger/answ … ic=1697709
  
  Unfortunately you can't put the big Indian photo at the top of the site - you wouldn't be able to do that on any site. There's a reason HubPages has such a narrow top banner - because to impress Google, you need to start your content high up on the page. Like I said, it is possible to put the photo as a background, as Bard did - that's the closest you can get.
  
  You can create the table of contents by adding "labels" to your posts. Think of "labels" as "categories". I used the word "widget" incorrectly - I should've said "gadget".
  
  http://www.elizabethcastro.com/blogvqj/labels.pdf
  
  Like I said, I'm more than happy to get your template up and running, including the gadgets. I've done it for a couple of other Hubbers. Just send me an email.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Marissa: I have been trying to find my password and ID info but can't seem to do it. Where would I look? I usually write this stuff down, but must not have done so this time. Would it be my Google+ info? I am linked to them through Blogger. I am getting SUCH a headache! I have emailed you so will wait to hear from you.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Well, Marissa I have been working on the blog all day and finally figured out how to do the labels. They still don't "link" to articles, but at least they separate them into categories. Can you take a peek and see if you think I did everything right. This was a massive job for me. Thanks.
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peachpurpleposted 10 years ago
mine were bad since May 2013. I think lots of people are having bad times too
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EricDockettposted 10 years ago
My guess is you've been Panda'd.

You're writing short Hubs about a very popular, big-money, highly competitive topic and including several Amazon products in each. There is a strong chance G is seeing this as a spammy.

You can write about golf, and you can sell Amazon products, but you need to write stronger Hubs with more content. And it's not about adding fluff or extending articles unnecessarily. Really think about building pages that meet G's quality guidelines. Working from HP's checklist will help a lot.

I tell you this from experience because the same thing happened to me on one of my first accounts here. There is a way forward, but it involves a little work.
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  bbgolferposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks a lot for your reply. So, what did you do to gain your rank back? And was it useful?
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  EricDockettposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I improved my Hubs. I read and learned as much as I could about creating content on the web post-Panda. I established a set of standards based on that info and worked hard to get my Hubs up to that level. I deleted Hubs that weren't salvageable. And yes, it did work.
  
  One thing I can tell you is this: If you want your niche to be golf you have a tough road ahead of you. If I were you I'd make every page as strong as it could be. This means a couple thousand words of content organized in a logical and useful way, a few YouTube videos demonstrating what you're talking about, pictures, useful links out to authority sites, and strong interlinking with your own articles. You need to build pages people are going to absolutely love when they find them, because there are soooo many other authority voices out there on golf, golf equipment, golf swing, etc.
  
  It's also probably worth it to spend some time on keyword research and see if there's a way to come at it from another angle. Maybe there's a niche within your niche that isn't as competitive.
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  bbgolferposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your reply and recommendation. Best of Luck.
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TripleFitnessposted 10 years ago
A bit of hope for you: I had a huge drop in traffic on one of my subdomains after around 3 months too, very devastating.

It came back about a month and a half later, after I did some improvements (not criticisms of your articles, just what helped me):

-Ensure there are only a handful of Amazon links per article.
-Take advantage of Google Webmaster Tools integration and take their HTML suggestions
-Google seems to hate the word 'Best' these days. Use more natural terminology like 'my favorite', 'great', fantastic', etc.

Ultimately it's part of the Google dance. Mine came back after just over one month.
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  bbgolferposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Many thanks indeed, you gave me some hope !!
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  DrMark1961posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  How do you know Google does not like word 'best'? I have seen many persons on these forums stating what Google likes or does not like, but very little evidence.
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younghopesposted 10 years ago
Even i am witnessing a fall in traffic
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Good Guyposted 10 years ago
Now this is a mystery to me. I checked my top 10 hubs and they still appeared on first page of SERP, but their traffic is still sliding downward.
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  weezyschannelposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I'm about ready to give up on Hubpages. I've made five bucks this month. I'm getting one page view where I was getting 30 to 50 on just one hub. In fact in my account of hubs listings there is mainly zeros is far as page views in one day it's disgusting. I see zeros almost all the way across the board. May be a couple ones and twos. I worked hard I did a lot of research and most of my hubs are from my own experience. Sure there's a few that are just regular hubs not worth anything but the ones I put my heart and soul to are just gone
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WriteAngledposted 10 years ago
I have not even reached a dollar yet.
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  weezyschannelposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I was making around 2 bux a day (which I am not trying to make a living here anyway) but it's nice to have a little compensation for all the time and effort I go through. I have been a member for several years now. I quit writing hubs due to illness, but I always go in and update periodically and check for broken links, Title tuner, etc..about every 4 to 6 months I will due a title tune..other than that, this is ridiculous..I made .20 cents yesterday which is discouraging and it seems like a lot of hubbers or facing this and I wish they could find out what is going on with Google. Before, all I heard was Google loves Hubpages..wonder what's going on?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  weezyschannel: From what I've heard, you are not alone with those types of figures. There was a big Panda update awhile back and many authors got hit badly from it. The team is trying to fix things, but so far nothing has come of their efforts except the desire to remove people's best hubs back to the HP domain and out of subdomains. So far, it's hard to tell whether this will help or hurt. These days two bucks a day is almost an impossibility for most of us here.
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  Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  If I break wind on Bubblews I get 20 cents. More for a real humdinger.
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  Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  hahaha from kittydog!
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AMAZING THINKERposted 10 years ago
I am not getting any traffic. I've published only 4 hubs, how long does it take to start getting a little traffic?
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  Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  You have to bring the traffic to you.
  If you have a Facebook page, start by posting your hubs there.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  The problem here most likely is NOT that any of us are "bad" writers. Especially if our work has been continuously featured for long periods of time. Something big is happening between Google and a number of sites, not just HP and until the team figures out what needs to be done, things will stay static around here. It is very upsetting, especially for those who count on the income from HP to help support themselves, but it is what its. I thought my views and money were low until I read some of the posts here...yikes!!
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SpaceShantyposted 10 years ago
After reading this post I did a quick check and one of my huibs which was in position 2 or 3 is now on the second page of google. Maybe as i haven't updated the Hub for a few weeks its ranking has dropped.
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AMAZING THINKERposted 10 years ago
You guys don't have to worry; this has happened before. Even professional bloggers lost traffic on their blogs due to some update from Google, but in the next update apparently the traffic comes back.
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  LeanManposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Or it could drop further! The whole of HP has been on a steady decline for some time now....
  But will give the staff here the benefit of the doubt and see if they can make the changes to make Google see HP as being a good site. Meanwhile I will have a look at my old hubs and see if there is anything they need!
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Will Apseposted 10 years ago
I would check your 'style tip' warnings. You have long lists of barely related products at the end of each of the hubs I looked at.

HP will dial these back automatically but frankly you would be a lot better off without any affiliate ads at all, unless you really think a reader will find them helpful and they are placed directly next to the place the products are mentioned in the text.

How do you know if a reader is finding your ads helpful? They click on them. So no clicks, get rid of the ads.
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Solarasposted 10 years ago
I spent yesterday morning removing Amazon links etc. Further decline is my reward. I looked at my pageviews just now..the horror, the horror...
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Nell Roseposted 10 years ago
The stupid thing is that I can see people have read my hubs because of the red going up signs, but I still have my hubs dropping like stones!
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ologsinquitoposted 10 years ago
Solaris, I had the same experience. Deleting made my search engine traffic plummet. You're not alone. Perhaps I deleted too much at once. Too many changes.
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mactaversposted 10 years ago
Traffic still going down and down. A week ago, I rewrote and fixed, the next three days, I checked several times daily. By today, worst yet. I have vowed not to look at HP period for the next week. I've been a Hubber for two years now, but if after next week, traffic has not improved, I'll delete my Hubs and spend my time writing and reading elsewhere. Maybe this month is a "wake up call" to move on.
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  Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I appreciate how you feel, but maybe you could at least give it until Labor Day in America because these next two weeks are historically low traffic months for everyone on the Internet dealing with American websites.
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  Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I'm just letting it coast. Maybe to a standstill. If I decide to start moving hubs, it will be one at a time, one week at a time. Is my hub polluted and contagious??? I will want to see before I sink a seafaring ship.
  
  I really don't understand this. 2 weeks after the Panda update my views doubled. Yeah - I am on the right track... now its down 65% from 2 weeks ago. I can't stand to look anymore... I will take Writer Fox's advice and try to be patient - which requires my not looking...
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  AMAZING THINKERposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Mactavers, don't give up that easy, I understand the frustration, but you might regret that you did. read my hub How To Get Things Done, and Not Give Up! if it helps.
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Will Apseposted 10 years ago
HP have spam warnings from Google, now, and will act on them soon. This should help the site enormously, especially combined with the benefits of QAP .

You are likely to regret moving stuff as it will take a long time to get traction elsewhere (if it ever does). Better to start new projects elsewhere and come back to HP when it picks up.
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  Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Hey Will. What spam warnings? Please tell.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  You have not been reading your HP emails or blog posts with due and dutiful attention. Which is forgivable in these bleak times, I suppose.
  
  Anyway, the email:
  
  As Robin mentioned in her latest Blog post, Google has just released a new tool that allows webmasters to see if their subdomains have incurred spam penalties. This tool is incredibly useful for HubPages and for Hubbers because it allows us to identify some of the things that Google considers spam. It also allows Hubbers to make changes to the problematic content and resubmit it for review. Here’s how to check for spam penalties in Webmaster Tools:
  
  Go to Webmaster Tools and sign in (or sign up if you don’t have an account yet).
  Click on your subdomain. Click on “Search Traffic,” then “Manual Actions” in the toolbar on the left.
  Any manual actions for spam on your HubPages subdomain will be listed.
  Once you have reviewed and fixed the spam penalty issues in your content, click the “REQUEST A REVIEW” button to have Google review and reconsider your Hubs.
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  Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  WHAT'S A SUB-DOMAIN?!
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  lol.
  
  This week's task:
  
  Read and memorise the first 2 thousand pages in the learning center.
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  snakeslaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Beth37 is a subdomain (of Hub Pages). I hope I have that right.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  You should both be kneeling on dried peas.
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  snakeslaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Hahaha, Will you sound exasperated.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Not at all. I just like to imagine people kneeling on dried peas...
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  snakeslaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this
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  Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Im kneeling on wet cooked carrots... is that close enough?
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Actually, yes, that will do nicely. lol.
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  Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Will. No manual spam detected. Two short meta descriptions. Given that one is a Hot aunty hub and the other How to sell toasters I'm not sure how much it is worth fixing,.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  The algo complained about the brightness of my halo but that was it. So we are both OK.
  
  Seriously though, this could make a big difference. I have been banging on for years about extreme caution with affiliate links. Google dumped so many of my pages out of the search index with its affiliate related spam penalties, before I reformed myself and learned to be a responsible money-grubber. Now the whole site is going to get reformed, like it or not.
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  Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Maybe. But if they expect each spammy Hubber to check and comply with webmaster tools - will that work?
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Paul says they are reducing the number of affiliate links that you can cram together in one place. That will help.
  
  HP will also know which subs have spam penalties. Ultimately they could terminate subs if warnings are not heeded.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Incidentally, the latest blog post has pictures of HP's new compliance drone. Looks up to the task!
  
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  Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Lol Will. So they don't even need an Mturker piloting it. Fantastic.
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  Mark Knowlesposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Pretty sure they should actually be targeting the "Five Best Amazon Wotzits I have Never Touched" reviews..... When I started it (and stupidly announced how well they were doing) it was doing rather well. Now? Not so much.
  
  Been saying for years that fake reviews of untouched Amazon products were bringing the site down and should be deleted ASAP.
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  IzzyMposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  LOL LOL, who could you be referring to?? lol
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  Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  You forgot to say something negative and slightly hateful.
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  LOL!
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  rebekahELLEposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Do you think spammy hubbers even have a WMT account?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I have never used many affiliate links and currently use only two ebay links per entire hub. Do you think I still need to go back and reduce them to one? I cannot see where this would be considered spamming.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Are you getting much traffic from Google?
  
  Do you make worthwhile money from those ads?
  
  If the answer is 'no' to either question, I would seriously think about getting rid of most of the ads. You can always put a few back later if it turns out they were a big part of your traffic problem.
  
  It is hard work getting pages monetized with Amazon or eBay to deliver.
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Timetraveler, I got those warnings with as few as TWO Amazon products on a 2,500 word hub. Since HP crammed so many ads on the page, it appears writers are being discouraged from adding their own Amazon links. Even without a single Amazon link added I personally think the hubs look "spammy" anymore.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I stopped using Amazon a long time ago. I only use Ebay. Do you think the problem is the same for Ebay? I checked and I have no warnings to date.
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  habeeposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for this advice. I checked my sub, and I don't have any penalties. My traffic has dropped anyway, however.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  My traffic seems stable at around fifty per cent of what it was before the latest hit.
  
  I'm refusing to get panicky or react too much at all for at least another couple of months. I would like to see more Panda runs and also give the changes in Google's index time to settle before I decide my pages here are doomed.
  
  It is a little depressing to hear that your traffic has dropped because I think there are maybe a couple of hundred subs here that keep the site afloat, and yours is one of them.
  
  Anyway, I am going to wait it out and hope we all see improvements.
  
  Incidentally, was it the EC pages that suffered or the sub-domain pages?
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  PaulGoodman67posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  My traffic is very stable at just below 50% of what it was. It's not been this low for 2 years. I am not panicking either, although both HP and Squidoo are both in the doldrums, which has screwed my earnings. As always, it's difficult to know what will happen next. The assumption is that things will get better, through actions by HP and/or Google. But I also am looking at ways of branching out.
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  Mark Knowlesposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Why would you make that assumption? The overall traffic figures are disastrous at the moment. Back down to 2009 levels.
  
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  No, it really does not take a long time to get traction. I have had blog posts (even on a free blog that is six months old) with the same title as hubs and not even full paragraphs of text outrank the hubs now! So no one can say it must be quality. The postings were pointing to the hubs but outranked the hubs in more cases than one!
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  ologsinquitoposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I saw your blog on narcissism. It's great!
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  Gail Meyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks!
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93
vespawoolfposted 10 years ago
I have also been editing per HP's recommendations and removing Amazon products so my Hubs won't look "spammy" to Google. This weekend, when I usually have my highest views, my traffic has dropped by 20%! I don't know what to think. Maybe editing isn't such a good idea.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Did you get a spam warning in your webmaster tools?
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  vespawoolfposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  No, I didn't get a spam warning. Strange, huh?
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I don't have one either but I do have pages get dropped by Google from time to time for reasons that must be spam related. Keeping an eye on these (and deleting them if you can't fix them) is an important task.
  
  Paul Edmondson's post is worth reading if you have not seen it yet: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115572#post2455614
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  vespawoolfposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  That's a great tip. I'll look into it. Thanks!
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suziecat7posted 10 years ago
Those of you who are moving your Hubs - where are you moving them to?
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ologsinquitoposted 10 years ago
TIMETRAVELER2,

I'd probably recommend just revising a couple a day, and not all at once in one day. But I could be wrong about this. I'm only going on my experience and a few other postings.
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1. 86
  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I checked WMT and found nothing that would indicate they think I am spamming, so I'm planning on just waiting. Last time I followed through and then discovered that a ton of people just ignored the directives. Just today I saw a hub that had more than 12 ads on it. When those people dump their ads, then I'll do mine again. I'm exhausted from all of this chaos!
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63
Scribenetposted 10 years ago
Personally I figure it will work out...this may be something that is needed. All Hubbers are lumped together with the rest right now and suffering. Sounds (from these posts) if you are "not spamming"... eventually the big Google will smile upon you. Let's hope.

I figure when it becomes "worth it" I will revise and post new Hubs. Meanwhile the rules just keep morphing. It really is a matter of my time. Figure if a Hub is that bad...better to delete and start over.

Willing to do that, but not entirely sure where this is all going? Everybody needs to take a deep breath, bite the bullet and wait. This constant changing is probably as detrimental as doing nothing. Let the dust clear...hard for those invested...but for the rest of us....go put eggs in other baskets...see if it is just you or the site!
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  Mark Knowlesposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Ahm a thunkin u int made no money here n dont care innit? B like will innit wot int made no money n dint give a shit?
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  Scribenetposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Wot? will dint give a wot?
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Rock_njposted 10 years ago
It's been a tough month for HubPages, that's for sure. Quantcast indicates page views are down 25% over the past month and the popularity rank of HubPages has gone from under 100 to 123.
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1. 86
  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  And yet there are people here saying that they have not been affected. For me, everything is down by 66% yet my hubs are rated well and are consistently featured. I wish I knew how to read all of those tech charts like you do and am glad people like you are here to guide the rest of us. Thank you so much.
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  psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, the are a few people unaffected by this months dive (myself included), most people somewhat affected, and some people flattened. But clearly there is a big problem over all.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  psycheskinner: I just took a look at your profile and can see why you have not been affected...your topics are unusual and pique interest. Don't know where you found all of this information, but it is good that you did. Very clever of you, I think. Congrats!
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Writer Foxposted 10 years ago
Traffic to the site has certainly fallen in the past year and significantly so in the past five months. However, there are still 1/2 million visitors every day. If your traffic is down from Google, check to see if some of your content has been stolen. Then, analyze the SEO elements of your Hubs to determine why they are not ranking well. Do new keyword research and apply the results to your Hubs.
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1. 94
  Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  My content that was stolen on the All topic site and the rank site were my best performing hubs. They were still performing well until I complained to Google. These site s are gone now and so is my traffic. Any thoughts on a connection or is this just a coincidence?
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Solarasposted 10 years ago
While we are all trying to figure out what Google wants, I will share an experience of mine. I was searching for information on best brain foods, and the 3rd site returned on page one Google search was from shape.com - 10 Best Brain Foods or something like that. I clicked on it, and there was no content, just the title for the article and links to other shape.com related articles. Oh, and some ads too.

Please explain to me, SEO and Google Gurus; how does this fit into the mantra, content is king? I get a lot of crummy returns on my searches these days.

Similarly, I searched for info on InfoBarrel. Someone here was touting it as an alternative to HP. A Bubblews article came up a head of a Hubpages forum discussion of InfoBarrel from 2 years ago. The Bubblews was from this month. So the hubpages article was still ranking well, and btw not a positive recommendation for InfoBarrel... So I will stay here for the time being.
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SANJAY LAKHANPALposted 10 years ago
Solaras is right. Lot of sites on page one of Google are bogus. They are either without content or poorly worded. I do not know how to report it to Google. The hub pages certainly has a quality content. Wait and watch. Keep writing.
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vespawoolfposted 10 years ago
I wasn't affected by the traffic drop until just this week...right after I followed the advice to remove excess Amazon capsules. I also removed links to my own hubs that were all grouped together, and instead tried to integrate links within the text. Right after I started editing, my views dropped drastically. Do you think the drop was caused by removing the lists of links to my other Hubs?
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1. 31
  Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  When links are removed, it has a detrimental effect on the Hub you linked to because it tells Google that a webpage which once recommended the Hub no longer does. Every link to a webpage is factored in the Google algorithm for search rankings.
  
  To remove out-bound links from a Hub tells Google that your Hub is no longer as good a reference as it was before, if the removed links were relevant to your Hub's content and valuable to visitors.
  
  Any time you substantially change content on a highly-ranked webpage, you are taking a risk that rankings will be adversely affected.
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  ologsinquitoposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I foolishly followed this advice and removed too many links at one time. It was as if my traffic fell off a cliff. I'm seeing a bit of recovery today, but I never should have done that.
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  DrMark1961posted 10 years agoin reply to this
  In the short time I have been here I have seen recommendations to shorten titles, use titles that contain all search words, remove hubs with low hub scores, delete hubs with low google searches, move hubs to your blog, do not bother moving hubs to your blogs as they will lose their authority and aging, eliminate hubs if you have over 69 on a profile, publish as many hubs as you can to a profile, remove products, add more products, publish in a niche, publish many articles in many niches, etc, etc, ad nauseum.
  The best advice? I certainly am not going to give it. Everyone else on here seems to have the correct answer.(The only people I listen to are those that have an accolade for 10 million. They are doing something right.)
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  Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  LOL - I feel you pain. Based on that advice I unpublished some low performing hubs that were featured, and now I think I will republish them, since the train wreck keeps piling up derailed cars.
  
  I tried to find your original Bubblews question to add on to my response but could not find it anymore. You might try the cool category for your lists and names and humor for the funny pet articles.
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  rebekahELLEposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I think it's very hard to correlate any drop of traffic with any one thing that we do right now. HP is definitely going through traffic loss at this time, but I don't think we can pinpoint one action as cause.
  When you refer to getting rid of links to your hubs that were grouped together, what do you mean? Were they listed in a capsule together? Grouped together in regard to topic so that they show at the bottom of your hub? If they are grouped together because they relate to each other, there is no reason to get rid of those links. In my understanding, that is the primary function of links.
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  vespawoolfposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, I had grouped them together in a capsule. They were links related to the Hubs. The new "style suggestions" that come up had said they weren't necessary and should be removed, but now I'm thinking I should have left them.
  I agree on the traffic loss. It's another rollercoaster ride.
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Michael Willisposted 10 years ago
I have a hub that traffic is up big time. It has stayed at 100 for weeks. Today traffic is up more, but Hub score dropped 8 point instantly! Of course it is not about traffic or quality...quality does not change hour by hour or day by day. Duh.
Guess today's Mturk readers were not interested in sports.

Hope traffic stays up this fall winter season. If not then I am taking everything elsewhere. Tired of fighting all the HP changes and outside hp judging of hubs by unqualified readers on specific subjects.
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Gossda Cnposted 10 years ago
wait
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meloncauliposted 10 years ago
I see nothing has changed! I took time off for a few months because I felt so defeated with plummeting view numbers every few months. I completed the apprenticeship, followed all the guidelines to a T. When I write a new hub, it usually takes me around 4-6 hours all told with research, finding photos and writing. It's a lot of hard work to end up with 20 views a day for 78 hubs - and not all of those are from search engines! I have made less than two dollars this month and we're almost at the end of the month.

What is going on here? Why does nobody ever seem to know the concrete reason all this should happen...continuously, and more importantly it would appear it only affects some people. Well, I can tell you that it picks on me every single time.
I have had two HOTD, love writing but it's nice to get a little bit back for all your hard work. I keep coming back to see if anything's changed but it seems it just goes on and on. It's frustrating to say the least. I wrote a hub yesterday in desperation to see if it even got "any" views at all. Yes folks, my stats are that bad that I don't even expect to get traffic any more.

Something is very wrong. Does anyone really know what that something is and why some people would get affected and not others?

I made more in one week on Bubblews than I make in a month on here!
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  Good Guyposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  And the elegant silence from hp people. As they said, the silence is deafening!! And utterly disappointing and frustrating.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  That is not completely true or fair. HP are helping some people with the EC hubs. They have also realized that affiliate links need to be used a lot more carefully and are doing something about that.
  
  My main concern is that they are not putting the strongest pages into the main domain. They are filling it with unproven apprentice hubs which might turn out to be strong in the eyes of readers and search engines, or might not.
  
  Could be months before before the main domain really benefits anyone.
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  Good Guyposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for clarifying, Will Apse.
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Cheeky Girlposted 10 years ago
Since Google now favors longer-form content, and more now being shown in searches, and having seen a rise in my traffic I am happy with things. People need to find honest ways to promote their work, and some are even doing it by word of mouth. Whatever works...!
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  meloncauliposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  I have used Pinterest, Delicious, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, Stumbleupon, Digg and others to promote my work on here. I got around 10 extra views a day by doing that and within a week of sharing with these sites the 10 would dwindle to 3 or 4 views a day....hardly a money spinner!
  There is also a time factor in all of this. If you don't have a job and have nothing better to do than sit at the pc 8 hours a day, you might be able to make sharing and linking work well. If you have a life outside of HP I feel you are at a huge disadvantage.
  
  It was starting to become a full time job for me with all the tweaking of hubs, editing, promotion etc. I started out on HP wanting to write some articles and perhaps see a few bucks for my efforts. I never expected to make a lot of money. I feel more let down that every few months a huge majority of my hubs get next to no traffic. I followed advice. I ended up on the first page of Google searches in a good few instances. It all looked right on paper but produced very little. It's that awful sudden dip down from 80 views a day to 20. I never got hundreds or thousands of views per day.
  I conclude that my subject matter has fierce competition and yet I used the Google Keyword Tool to make sure I stayed within HP apprenticeship guidelines.
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  Will Apseposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Are you sure that your avatar and name are helping you in your quest for traffic?
  
  I cannot decide if I should be misreading your name as 'melanoma' or 'melancholia' and the surgical steel (is it surgical?) that appears to be buried in someone's eye is pretty disturbing too.
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  meloncauliposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Ha! I have actually had messages to say people like the twist on the name and I honestly don't think a thumbnail of an eye with a pin in it would draw traffic or turn someone away. People turn up on your article page because they are interested in the subject matter. In a vast majority of instances I doubt they even look at that thumbnail. When I read someone's article from a google search I have forgotten their name as soon as I have left the page!
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Goodpalposted 10 years ago
I really empathize with you and understand your agony, but sometimes a little philosophy helps.
"Do whatever best you can do and leave the results to fate, god, Christ, Buddha, soul, super soul, creator of the world, or whatever else you believe in."

In other words, don't waste your energy on expecting results, which is a big drain. Even if you conserve energy by staying neutral, the results are going to be the same!!!

Do let me know if it helped.

Have a wonderful day!
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  meloncauliposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for your kind words Goodpal. The reality is that I took a few months out and I don't get overly stressed about any of it to be honest. I personally think it's worse for those who have been through the apprenticeship because we supposedly learned how to get the best out of an article.
  Believe it or not it's quite hard work writing 8 quality hubs a month for 6 months and meeting all the requirements of the apprenticeship.
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  Goodpalposted 10 years agoin reply to this
  It is certainly hard, as you describe. But the issue is degree of "expectation" that leaves people disappointed. After writing the best quality hubs, the result is still less than "best" because google can be unpredictable. It is not the stress of hard work that leaves us disappointed, it's expectations that take away energy.
  
  Despite google's treachery, Enjoy writing great hubs!
  reply report

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