Editor's choice losing Facebook likes?

1. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 10 years ago

   People are reporting that if a Hub gets made Editor's Choice, it loses its Facebook likes.
   
   This sounds like a real issue to me.
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115381

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   1. 88

      NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Just looked at a Hub that's an editor's choice Hub (I'm deducing this from the fact the URL shows it on HP's domain and the Hubber shared it in the feed), and it still has more than a hundred Facebook likes; either they fixed the problem or it's not a problem for every Hub; it's possible it got that many likes all of a sudden, but I don't think so. I already opted out last night. All seemed too risky to me, decided to keep everything where it's at on my subdomain.

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      1. 91

         jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Me, too, NateB11. I did the same today. Will opt back in next time.

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         1. 88

            NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I'm thinking I'll opt in next time too.

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   2. 39

      ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I've noticed this with Pins too. I had one hub that is EC and previously it had thousands of pins - now it shows 5 - wow. I think that can't be good, but I will wait and see if it irons out.

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   3. 69

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It isn't that your Hub loses likes per se, but that the Hubs likes, pins, etc. start over again on the new URL.
      
      As far as I know Facebook references the specific URL, so if your Hub was liked on your subdomain and then it is moved to HubPages.com the absolute URL may show up as no longer existing.
      
      Search traffic and ranking tends to do better on hubpages.com rather than on subdomains.
      You should take this into account when you decided about the Editor's Choice option.
      
      I think for many people, the possibility of increased traffic will have to be weighed against not seeing the old URLs pin counts, likes, etc.
      
      All this is related to the current state of the system.
      We are working on a solution to preserve the old counts of likes from the old subdomain URL.

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      1. 58

         Mark Knowlesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Probably shouldn't have forced us onto subdomains then huh

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      2. 85

         aa liteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         So I have a question.....will the link from FB, pinterest etc still work (through the 301 redirect whatever that is?).
         
         I don't really care what the statistics show, but it would be sad of the pinterest pins didn't go anywhere. 
         
         As to improved traffic, right now it is great.  I am ofc worried that it is temporary.

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         1. 69

            Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Right now we are returning a HTTP code 301 (permanently moved) and redirecting to the new URL.  So the old URL should still work.
            You can enter any URL here and see the return code.
            http://www.axandra.com/free-online-seo- … s-code.php

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            1. 39

               ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Oh good, glad to know the pins will all still work that would have sucked. I'm happy with increasing traffic though so I'll stick to the changes and see what happens. new counts aren't a big deal.

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            2. 58

               Mark Knowlesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Go ahead and ignore what I said. Prolly the best way to do it. lol

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            3. 68

               Michael Willisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               What I am worried about is the "re-indexing" by Google, Yahoo and Bing. I am starting to see a vast growth to the seasonal traffic I always see in August.
               Last year around this time, HP had the black-out Friday and there were some changes made and I lost my rank with yahoo and bing and never recovered at all from these two. I recovered only about half from Google after changes of last year.
               Will the Editor's Choice bring about the same results with the URL change? If so I need to immediately opt out. If it has no negative impact, it could be a good thing.

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               1. 69

                  Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Michael.
                  The reason for Editor's Choice is that we did some testing and found that many Hubs do better as far as search traffic goes on the HubPages.com domain rather than on subdomains.

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                  1. 68

                     Michael Willisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     That does make sense Matthew. My concern is if we have to get 're-indexed" before seeing results. In my seasonal hubs(NFL), timing of a hub is crucial.
                     Last year I hit an all-time high in traffic before the black-out day and changes. I never recovered fully after just a day black-out and what was a small change due to being re-indexed. NFL is a short season. My revenue last year was less than half than the year before.
                     I am trying to just do what is best for my "money-making" hubs. I am certain in long term that the EC is the best way to go. But am concerned about the next several months and what the change could do to hubs.
                     I have one phrase #2 on Bing and #4 on Yahoo on page one. These two search engines are not easy to move up with after a drop. It took until this August to get back to where it was last year.

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                     1. 68

                        Michael Willisposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        I decided it was to my best interest to Opt-out of the Editor's Choice program. Maybe after my seasonal period is over I will give this a try, but after last year...it is not worth the risk.

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      3. 91

         jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         "You should take this into account when you decided about the Editor's Choice option."
         Matt,
         I can only speak for myself but it was not fully understood what the advantages were to have our hubs eligible. I opted out after seeing all the threads of uncertainty about how the change may affect one's status.
         
         It does not clearly state in the Learning Center/Blog Post the difference between hubpages.com url performance vs. subdomain url performance. I think most hubbers became privy to this explanation after the fact in the forums.The description of the award focused more on the recognition of quality work. It says you can opt out but not why. Why would I want to opt out of something that will benefit me?
         
         Anyway, I think it rolled out really fast, hubbers responded accordingly, not really knowing the pros and cons or really understanding what it means. I guess my question is (yes there is a question) why were we given the choice of opting out?

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         1. 69

            Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            "You should take this into account when you decided about the Editor's Choice option."
            That sentence was mainly to explain that right now there is an issue with likes for the old URL coming across to the new location.
            We are working to address this minor issue.
            
            Our rational is to that EC is a great opportunity, but not to force anyone into using the program.
            
            The simple answer is that we wanted to give authors a choice.

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            1. 91

               jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Okay, I appreciate that, but I thought it extended from the prior sentence about search traffic. Anyway, by opting out, I'm taking advantage of the time to improve existing hubs and write more. I will opt back in the next go round and take advantage of the opportunity, if I'm selected. Thanks again, Matt.
               (if this is duplicate, disregard)

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      4. 95

         Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         No one told me this, how is that fair? It just happened and I wasn't asked to 'opt in or out' and I had no idea there would be consequences. In addition, my traffic appears to be DROPPING now with the EC.

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         1. 91

            jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry to see what you're going through, Melissa.

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               Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you, will opting out make it go back? And how do you opt out?

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                  jansharesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't think so since your hub has already been picked. You can still opt out though, meaning no more of your hubs will be picked or " are no longer eligible " when you choose to click "no." Then you can change it in 60 days. Go to your profile, edit mode. It's at the bottom, can't miss it.

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                  1. 95

                     Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank goodness, it came back. My traffic seems to be lower out of all this but it's possible that's just a coincidence. This site needs to let me know when they find a way to keep my pins and likes before I consider opting back in.

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2. 88

   NateB11posted 10 years ago

   Oh, man. Not good.

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3. 91

   jansharesposted 10 years ago

   One hubber on the thread said that hers reset, but she's still not liking it.
   There's a part of me that's relieved that I haven't been crowned with an Editor's Choice Award. I'm thinking of opting out. Can't lose what you never had. It will give me 60 days to see what happens to everyone else. What do I have to lose?

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4. 85

   aa liteposted 10 years ago

   Darn! One of mine had recently had a brief period of interest from FB and gained 50 likes, and now it is back to 0! 
   

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   1. 95

      Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I LOST 700 LIKES. Is this reversible?? I'm confused. It's not everyday that I get a hub this successful and they screwed it over. I'm beside myself right now.

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5. 92

   Susana Sposted 10 years ago

   This happened when we first moved to subdomains and I lost thousands of likes, so I'm not surprised it's happening for those hubs that are changing url again.

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6. 92

   agilitymachposted 10 years ago

   This worries me too.  I have a hub with 4.7k FB likes.  I'd like to keep those likes.   I'm wondering about opting out too.  HP said it would take two weeks to hand out the Editor's Choice awards, and I'm wondering if it will be worth it to loose the "likes" numbers.

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7. 92

   agilitymachposted 10 years ago

   I've opted out of Editor's Choice awards.  I don't want to lose my FB likes, and I don't want my hubs' domain being changed.  I'm doing great with the Google Panda (up 300%), and I don't want to mess around with things as I'm happy as they are.  In 60 days, I'll re-evaluate based on what others are seeing.  If I feel there is a benefit, I'll change the setting.
   
   If my account was down, I'd be all for the EC award.  As it is, I'm happy without for now.  I'm glad they gave us the option to opt out.

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8. 72

   toptendealsposted 10 years ago

   Yikes this does seem like an issue.

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9. 82

   ologsinquitoposted 10 years ago

   I was also worried the Editor's Choice changes could affect sub-domains that were doing well. I hope this is a groundless fear. One tech-savvy hubber believes it may be.

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   1. 91

      Jean Bakulaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have been reading the forums and two people who know a lot seem to think our fears about the subdomains are baseless. I never got a Facebook A/C though, because several in my family share the same computer, and don't log out, so I didn't want to keep getting their FB page by mistake. Plus the people I know who are interested in what I write find me. It gets to the point I have so many passwords and accounts, I can't even remember them!

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10. 84

    rebekahELLEposted 10 years ago

    When subdomains switched before (and back again), I don't recall losing FB likes, but possibly I did. Overall I think the domain authority of HP plays a much bigger factor with ranking than social metrics.

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