Hub traffic "ranting" time again...?

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   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   My traffic has taken a major nose-dive beyond what I would normally expect for a weekend. Also, HubPages US rank on Quantcast has suddenly gone from mid 70's to 81. Is Google picking on us again or is it something else?

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      Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Quantcast shows this weekend was better for HP traffic than the last weekend.  Check your Hubs' rankings for keywords on Google.  If your Hubs are still holding the same rank, it just means that search patterns have changed.  My traffic always goes down at the end of the working day in the U.S. on Friday and comes back to life Sunday evening.

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         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I noticed that too as to the Friday versus Friday. As for the rest of the weekend, that little party is still in progress...
         
         And I'd like to know who the 4 to 6 websites are that suddenly jumped ahead of us. Leastwise we're still beating CNN; that ain't bad.
         
         Come to think of it, I bet Target was one of the 4 to 6. The holiday season is indeed beginning...

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            Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Here's the list:
            https://www.quantcast.com/top-sites/US/1

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               paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Yep, want to make any guesses besides Target?
               
               I just had another thought. I don't have any sales hubs. I could very well be doomed for the rest of the year.

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                  Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Would you believe that my website is #48 on that list?

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                     paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     Darn it! You beat me. My main website is #59.

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                        Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        There are two more "hidden", so who wants to claim the other ones?
                        
                        I always wonder what those sites are.  Obviously, they don't need traditional advertising or they would want the attention.  I have guessed that they must be porn or gambling, but I really have no idea who they are.

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                           paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           I have likewise wondered. G and P are indeed likely suspects.
                           
                           I also just realized that there are absolutely no .gov sites listed. One would think the USPS and the IRS would definitely be in the top 100. Are .gov sites excluded? Or are they two of the hidden? Interesting.

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                           lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           Both mine are now on the list. One always was, it's dropped down to 85, but the other one is now 89 out of nowhere !!

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                     Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     That is impressive.

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                        Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        It was a joke.

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                           Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           Oh. I wondered how you could do that.

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                        lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        

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            2. 57

               Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Man!  I viewed the list and was sorely disappointed that my blog was not in the top ten!  How is that with the awesome material I have there?  Eureka!  Must be due to Planet X or something!

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            3. 89

               Cardisaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I noticed that no other content site ranked higher than HP, unless the hidden sites were. I think the hidden sites are adult sites so HP is still the highest ranking content site.

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                  lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Yup, personal experience and traffic among the popular ones indicate HP does the best for me by far

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                  paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Agreed. Squidoo used to give HubPages a run for the money, but not since Google took them out behind the barn.

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                  Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I found one of the hidden sites.  The government Obamacare site which opened 3 weeks ago, healthcare.gov, conceals its Quantcast data.  What happened to Freedom of Information?
                  http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/23/so-mu … the-owner/

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            4. 98

               Gordon Hamiltonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Interesting to note on that list that Hub Pages is Number 25 in the UK. I would have "assumed" (stupid thing to do - I know!) that it would always rate higher in the US.

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            5. 79

               tillsontitanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Hmm, where is HP on that list?  I missed it.

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                  Au faitposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  #79

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   2. 85

      rebekahELLEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think our future lies in mobile search.  HP is ranked 23 on the US mobile web list.  I know that Paul E. has stated that new changes are in regard to making HP more mobile friendly.  It's good to keep that in mind when publishing new hubs or refreshing/updating older hubs.
      If you take a look at the mobile competition, it's interesting what kind of sites are ranking well.

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         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Going mobile isn't good enough.  The focus now is on 3D. You will see this on phones and tablets in 2014.
         
         http://www.livemint.com/Companies/HOU1I … eport.html

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2. 62

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Hey! HubPages rank just went from 81 to 79!

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3. 62

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   I just noticed I have not dropped below my October 31st total, which is my low for the last 30 days. So, not circling the wagons yet.

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4. 62

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Well, earnings just updated. I knew it... My impressions have just hit a new 80+ day low. I want my teddy bear.

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      lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There There

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5. 62

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   23 is awesome! Yep, I think I remember HP spotted the mobile trend early and put it as top priority some time ago. HP can be quite coordinated at times.

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      Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      All that WTF stuff is part of a deep strategy. And it's working. Except, perhaps, for you.

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      1. 62

         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I've actually been wondering if those 2 hubs I added WTF to have something to do with this. If things don't go back to normal by the end of the week, I'm going to bail on that.

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         1. 88

            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Could be, PDS.  My traffic is up considerably both Friday and Sat. over other weeks (same day) for at least two months.

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   stewwalkposted 11 years ago

   I only have 4 hubs and they suck. So i know why I am in the dirt with traffic )))) and what is WTF

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      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Here's the HubPages WTF adventure, http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/118359

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7. 85

   Millionaire Tipsposted 11 years ago

   Things are indeed in flux.  I have as many blue arrows as I do red ones.  Times are a changin'

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8. 75

   CelebrateUSAposted 11 years ago

   I worry about the new domains being offered by GoDaddy. Will all writers earning money pay for their own .blog domain? Will this hurt our traffic here?

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      psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      What is your concern?  You can have your own domain or use a free one.  There is always a choice.

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9. 67

   edas88posted 11 years ago

   Actually, my traffic tanked on the 16th as well. For about 70%. It seems that Google is not listing results from my subdomain at all. This happened to one of my articles before, and it bounced back to the same position in about a day or two, but this now is beyond concerning.

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      Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think almost every one of your hubs has Amazon ads. It's not a good idea.
      
      https://support.google.com/webmasters/a … 6465?hl=en
      
      'Affiliate program content should form only a small part of the content of your site'. Or in this case subdomain.

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      1. 67

         edas88posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yep, I know. This is exactly why I strived to have 1500 words per article. I was just wondering if a traffic plummet like this is normal (overnight drop). Oddly, the first site that got dropped was purely informative.

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            Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not quite sure what has happened from your description. If you have only a few pages now that are getting traffic and many that are not, that sounds like a Panda hit (no idea if there was a Panda run though, you would need to look) or maybe a manual spam penalty.
            
            You can look for a penalty using this advice: http://blog.hubpages.com/2013/08/how-to … -products/
            
            I would dump every ad that does not routinely sell products just as a matter of course. And think about dumping pages that have always had poor traffic.

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               edas88posted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Here is what happened - I was ranking really well with most of my hubs. Some of them were on page 1 and 2 on Google. Literally overnight, all of my pages (except 2) disappeared from Google search results entirely.
               
               I checked Google Webmaster - no manual penalty. I am going to go through all my game reviews and drop all adds to leave them completely clean. I will do this for all my informative articles, and then some. I'm not sure it will help, but it's definitely worth a shot.
               
               I also checked if someone duplicated anything just in case. It seems fine. I was thinking if it was Panda that my pages would drop in ranks (no matter how significantly), but not disappear entirely.
               
               Thanks for your replies, btw. I appreciate any opinion.

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                  Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Best of luck. Just before Xmas is a bummer.

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                  Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  There was a major update in Google rankings on November 14th.  Mozcast, Serps.com and SerpMetrics.com all reported a significant shift. The bottom line is that webmasters who use SEO property had no complaints. If you lost rankings, check your SEO against the competition which is now ranking for your keywords. Also, delete any comments on your Hubs which were made by people using keyword rich user names.

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                     Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     What exactly do you mean your SEO? What are you talking about?

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                        Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        I wrote a Hub about the main elements of SEO. Will, SEO means 'search engine optimization.'  My Hub explains what to check.

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                           Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           So really you are just trawling for trade? And have nothing to offer in the forum?
                           
                           edit: since WF did not trouble to come back, it might be worth making a guess at what he recommends. He is probably suggesting updates and improvements to page quality. Also, knowing WF he is probably suggesting that people crowbar keywords into picture captions, headers etc... Which is entirely optional as far as I am concerned.
                           
                           Frankly it annoys me when people just recommend reading their hubs. Sensible people wanting SEO info would do better to go read stuff on Google, Search Engine Land, Wired whatever. But someone willing to take a look at problem pages and make a real, specific suggestion can be very helpful.

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                              Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                              Will, SEO can't be explained thoroughly in a quick forum comment.  That's very naïve. If you want to know what I recommend, then read the Hub.  If you'd rather just widely guess, you'll be wrong.  But I told you months ago that you had problem pages that were plagiarized on the Web and you haven't bothered to have the content removed.  No one can help you until you are willing to accept proven advice and act upon it.

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                  aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I've had something similar happen to my hubs twice now.  An almost complete Google blackout, even of hubs that ranked really well.  Luckily the first time this happened it lasted a week, then it all went back to normal. 
                  
                  The second time it happened (around this time last year), the blackout lasted two weeks.  I remember SimeyC (who gets a lot more traffic than I do) posted in the forums that the same thing happened to him. 
                  
                  Of course one can never tell whether what is happening to your traffic is the same.  But there is hope that it might come back in a week or two.

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                     edas88posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     Wow, that sounds exactly like what is happening to me. Let's hope it's the same deal - I did have one page disappear and re-emerge, but this is an entire subdomain.
                     
                     I am taking some steps to up the quality of all my articles - and that can't be bad any way I look at it. Thanks for this info!

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