Links are "no follow" if HubberScore is below 85.

1. 59

   Paul Maplesdenposted 10 years ago

   One of the advantages of having an overall hubber score of 75 or above is that we get 'Dofollow' links on our hubs, which are considered more valuable by Google when deciding search results.
   
   My question is, if my hubber score temporarily falls below 75, do we lose those dofollow links? (In other words, do they automatically become nofollow?)
   
   Over the past couple of days, I have been going through and editing all of my hubs, tweaking them for SEO and content, adding elements to make them stellar hubs etc. As a result of all of this activity (similar to when new hubs are published), my hubber score has dropped from 95 to 84.
   
   I am concerned that if I continue to make further edits, and that my hubber score temporarily falls to 74 or below that I will lose the dofollow links and this will impact my search ratings.
   
   Please can someone confirm what the situation is here, before I continue to make lots of edits?
   
   Thanks.

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This is in the FAQ here.
      http://hubpages.com/faq/#linksnofollow

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      1. 77

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I think he was asking whether he would lose them forever or if they would return once the edits are finished and the scores rise again.

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   2. 60

      unique016posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This is very good I will keep this in mind. I am just getting back to writing  articles and I cannot seem to mine published. How many views do I need to be featured or stay put and disappear from view. Thanks LeeNess

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   3. 53

      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Paul. Your Hubber score has bounced back up. What's your secret.  originally 95 , dropped to 84=>89 and now 87. Big yoyo moves! How did you get it back up?

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2. 79

   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   The line for 'do follow' links is 85.

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   1. 59

      Paul Maplesdenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Ah, and there was me thinking it was 75! I didn't know it had been updated, c'est la vie. Well, since i am now at a hubber score of 84(!) this has become an even more pressing question...

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      1. 81

         2besureposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         It was 75 when I first started at HP!  What was the purpose of dropping it 10 points?

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3. 59

   Paul Maplesdenposted 10 years ago

   Having viewed the page source code on some of my hubs, I can see that external links have indeed been marked as 'nofollow' since my score fell below 85.
   
   Guess I'd best work on increasing it again ASAP!
   
   Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have impacted on links to other hubs that I have written (they are still dofollow), so that's good news.

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   1. 53

      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think that there is something amiss with the Hubber score. It appears that authors like you and me, who have been editing hubs or adding new ones have seen a major drop in Hubber scores. I think hubber score may be inversely related to an author's current activity on the site. Weird new penalty! It was rumored that people who add many hubs quickly could be branded as spammers, perhaps it is related to that. What is the solution? HP says ignore Hubber score - but clearly there are consequences!

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      1. 53

         janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I did a quick check - all of the 20 hubbers with hubscores over 95 that I checked have published, none or less than 3 hubs, in the last 4 weeks - looking at the dates in their profiles. This includes 3 prominent members of staff. It appears that HP rewards inactivity and penalises authors who are active! Weird! Sure I don't have access to all the data. But, I think someone should check.
         
         Also I think the reward should be the other way around. Quality writers who are active should be rewarded, those who are inactive should see their hubber score drop! IMO
         
         I think the only way to reverse a plunging Hubber score is to stop any activity for a month or so, otherwise the more you do, the more it will drop. Sad!

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         1. 81

            sallybeaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            In my case exactly the opposite has happened - I am definitely not being rewarded for inactivity - there does seem to be no rhyme or reason for Hubber Scores dropping.

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         2. 85

            DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            According to the FAQ post on the topic, inactivity is not rewarded:
            
            "How do I earn a high Hubber Score?"
            "By frequently publishing high-quality, original Hubs and being a positive force in the HubPages community (helping others in the Forums, leaving insightful comments on others' work, asking good Questions that prompt detailed, helpful Hubs, etc.), you can easily improve your Hubber Score."
            (Italics are mine for emphasis)

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         3. 87

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Well, HubberScore is partly based on an average of all your HubScores. New Hubs start with a low score, therefore a new Hub is always going to pull down your HubberScore.  That has always been the case.

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            1. 53

               janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Actually new hubs often have their highest score at the start, and the score often falls due to a low traffic penalty. Old hubs that you edit in minor ways, can get a very high boost in score, when they go back through QAP. I suspect that the pull down in hubber scores is due to the 'spam detector' test which says that anyone who publishes several hubs quickly or does a lot of editing must be bad, very bad, and their hubber score is pulled down. IMO. The Learning Center admits that it is wayward:
               "My Hubber Score just went down... what do I do????
               As you spend time on the site, you'll see that your personal Hubber Score will go up and down. This is not something to worry about, especially because it's nothing that you can particularly control on a day-to-day basis. Focus on writing good Hubs, ignore the score, and it shall improve in no time."
               Sadly these moves, despite the advice to ignore it,  can have dire consequences such as having links made 'nofollow' - Why doesn't HP fix it?????

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               1. 87

                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I suspect HP doesn't care.  'No follow' links are only hurting Hubbers who write to promote their own sites. All internal links within HubPages remain 'do follow'.

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               2. 0

                  Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Re: "Many Edits"
                  
                  That's actually my Native American name (self-designated, for the purposes of this post)!
                  
                  I was not aware that an over-abundance of edits in rapid succession inversely impacts HubberScore.  I am always hitting the edit button to correct typos and re-word sentences, or add paragraphs here and there after publishing.  In fact, you could say that I'm obsessive about it! (My therapist certainly does.)

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         4. 77

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Every time you edit a hub, it is re indexed.  Also, I've noticed that when i do a big edit, my score drops...but it has never dropped as far or as fast as what you are talking about, Paul.

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4. 79

   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   I think an 85 requirement is just too high.  But what can ya do.

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   1. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. 75 was about right. Spammers usually have a lower score than that.

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      1. 79

         psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         It would help the system if spammers and banned people did not regularly get scores of 70.  That suggests the actual real range of the hub score for someone not doing anything right or anything (detected as) wrong starts there. Automatically zeroing people banned or spammed would be a start and could be done with programming not labor.

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5. 80

   Alphadogg16posted 10 years ago

   I normally don't pay much attention to my score, but it has dropped significantly over the past month. I was at 96, now its currently at 86. I usually publish one hub a week, if that and stay pretty active in the community, so I'm a little baffled myself at the sudden drop.

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   1. 81

      sallybeaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      So was I - really makes me feel discouraged.

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   2. 53

      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Despite the advice 'not to worry about it, ignore it"  there are at least two ways it can affect you.
      1. If your score drops below 86, your links are made 'no-follow" which means you lose 'link-juice' from outgoing links, which may affect the authority of your page if for example you link to a gov page or other reference.
      2. The position of your pages on the topic pages is determined by hubber score as well as a number of other things.
      So Hubber Score does Matter - pity it's is busted!

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6. 85

   DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years ago

   This brings up an interesting question.  I, too, was wondering about the "dofollow", "nofollow" issue, but not quite from this angle.
   
   When making a new hub, (or tweaking an old one) there is now a box to check whether we want an in-text link to be "nofollow."
   
   I don't know what to choose.  If it is an external link, say to a You Tube video, should that be a different choice than if the link is to another of your own (related) hubs--or one of another hubber?
   
   I've been leaving it at whatever the default is, but it would be nice to know how such a choice would affect the article, or even our subdomain in general.
   
   The FAQ's and Learning Center topics have gotten just too lengthy and cumbersome to try an wade through to find this kind of information; it's the proverbial needle in the haystack.

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7. 69

   bigfeetposted 10 years ago

   Actually - the score is now 86.  If your score is below 86, it becomes a "nofollow"

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   1. 53

      janderson99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Whoops! I better stop all activity now and hope for a reprieve!
      Going Going Going ................

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   2. 60

      Martin VKposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Where do you have this information from?

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      1. 69

         bigfeetposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Just from other peoples articles/experiences that I have read/googled.  I may be wrong but I just recently got back up to 87 from 81, and my links are now do follow.

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8. 60

   Martin VKposted 10 years ago

   I have the same problem as some of you. My score is 84 right now and I'm afraid it will have a significant effect on my rankings etc. Better try and get it back up

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   1. 81

      sallybeaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I had the same problem yesterday.  I deleted two featured hubs with low Hub scores.  I wonder what the effect on HubPages is when we all delete perfectly good hubs to help our own Hub Score.  Surely it cannot be in the Interests of the site for us to be constantly deleting Hubs!

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      1. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Why would you do that, Sallybea?   A low Hubber Score doesn't hurt you at all.
         
         The only people who care about "no follow" links are people who write Hubs to promote their own website or blog.   If you're not doing that, then "no follow" links don't hurt you at all.  And Hubber Score has absolutely zero effect on your earnings potential.
         
         So long as a Hub is Featured, there's no reason to delete it.

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9. 72

   LeanManposted 10 years ago

   While I would prefer to have my links to my domains as being "do-follow" I am not going to be really really upset if they are not.
   The power of a link from HP is not likely to be very much as this is a free to use site that anyone can use.
   Google also want to see "No-Follow" links in your link profile.
   
   That being said it would be better if it were a little more obvious what we need to do to get that score into the 85+ bracket!!

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10. 79

    psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

    I don't think there is anything wrong with having promotion of an external site being a secondary goal.  It is for me.

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    1. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       It is for me, too.  I'm one of those people who would worry if my Hubber Score went below the threshold.  Although as LeanMan says, these days Google wants to see "no follow" links in your backlink profile, so perhaps it's no bad thing.
       
       I'm just saying that as far as HubPages is concerned, it's not their problem.

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       1. 84

          rebekahELLEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            It only becomes their problem by the intent of the writer, thus the hubber score threshold.  If every hub published was intended to promote hubber's personal sites, that would clearly not be in HP's best interest.

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          1. 81

             2besureposted 9 years agoin reply to this

             You do want good content on the site, but you also want to discourage those who have written here for several years, only to discover they are no longer making money, because of constantly un-featuring hubs.
             
             I spent a lot of time updating hubs only to go back and find  after complain in the forum  few dozen hubs were no longer featured, many that have more than 700 - 1000 words, images and videos.  I just don't know what to say.   
             
             I used to earn $400 plus a month, now I don't even make $100, even with 175 hubs.  I doesn't seem worth it as I always feel I am swimming upstream.  Writing new content is pointless until things change.

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             1. 93

                jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                Sorry to hear this 2besure. You were one of the first hubbers I followed and got to know when I came to HP in 2012. You were so full of enthusiasm with your spiritually based hubs and happy smiling avatar. I remember when your hubberscore was 95. The changes certainly take away one's motivation. Hang in there. Hopefully, this too, shall pass.

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                1. 81

                   2besureposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                   Hi Janis!  I'm sorry if I am sounding like a big baby.  It can be disappointing when, you put so much time into something and it vanishes before your very eyes!  I have been through something like this before, with another writing site, that ended their writers program.  I started to feel deja vu when all the changes began, so two years ago I took my best-performing  articles and created three WP blogs.  It was very inexpensive, too.
                   
                   I get a lot of pleasure from the blogs and out of the three one earns me enough to pay all my bills.  When you are a writer, you will always write, even if you change venues.  Like Lisa Irby of "To Create a Website" says, never depend on one online income stream.  Always look for several avenues to make money!  I'm just glad I listened when the Lord told me to create the blogs. One good  thing about writing for an online site is, you get to see, which articles and and keywords will be successful, no mater where they are posted.

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                   1. 93

                      jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                      Thanks for the wisdom, 2besure. I wish you luck, blessings, and continued success on your blogs.

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                      1. 81

                         2besureposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                         Thanks for your words of encouragement.  Blessings!

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11. 62

    lilcupcakeposted 10 years ago

    I'm a bit of a newbie here, and i was just wondering how do you check your links for "do follow" and "no follow"? and since my hubberscore is too low, does that mean if i pin my hubs that no one can follow the link?

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    1. 96

       wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       No.  It means the google spiders won't follow them.  Any articles they point to (to, not from) will thus lose out on any "google juice" they might have gained.
       
       The links are still quite usable for anyone interested in clicking on them.

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       1. 62

          lilcupcakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Alrighty. Thank you!

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       2. 62

          lilcupcakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Alrighty. Thank you!

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12. 60

    HuskyChaosposted 10 years ago

    Thank you for all this useful information.
    
    I have a lot to learn still on the HubberScore and how to improve it. I guess it is something to keep an eye on and try to keep it above 85.

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    1. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Only if you're putting links IN your Hubs to another site you want to promote.  Otherwise it doesn't matter.

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13. 79

    psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

    In my opinion frequent edits have no effect.  i am constantly fiddling with hubs and they scores stay on average just the same.

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    1. 72

       jarodlakinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I edit low scoring posts periodically to add new material. It seems a few weeks after I add new material my score on said hub my score goes way up. In my experience content is the king of score. Edits for grammar and punctuation seem to do nothing, which is probably for the best, as we have quite a few non English native speakers up in here.

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       1. 77

          TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

          I do this also, but it does not seem to matter.  Sometimes I feel like I am being forced to "get involved" with the community when I may not be of a mind to do so.  I can write a hub that brings in views, is featured and makes good CPMs but it can still be scored low.  I don't understand this and find it very disheartening.

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          1. 87

             IzzyMposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             Your hubs bring in views, are featured and have good CPMs.
             That is all you need to worry about!
             
             The 'nofollow' stuff only affects you if your sole purpose in writing hubs is to promote another website, perhaps your own.
             
             It makes absolutely no difference to anything else.
             
             I know it is annoying when your score collapses and you don't know why, but it is easier to ignore it and just be happy that you are getting readership.

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14. 84

    rebekahELLEposted 9 years ago

    OK, yesterday I watched my hubber score drop from 85 to 84 after being active on the site. I had updated two hubs, posted in the forum, tweeted an updated hub and then dropped to a no-follow status.  I've never had a hubber score fall this low.  If all I've read on this thread is true, then it's not a doomsday score? 
    
    My questions are, how does it affect ranking of my hubs with a no-follow?
    Why does HP penalize activity on the site? 
    The scoring system seems whacky.  I see hubber scores in the 90's with hubs that are less informative and somewhat repetitive, nothing unique. 
    Is this supposed to motivate me?  I don't want to touch my hubs now.
    I think it should return to 75.

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    1. 80

       Sed-meposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Welcome to our world.
       We, the few, the shamed, the flailing failures. The hows and whys don't need to make sense, you just have to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and then sit back down, 'cause there's nothing you can do about it.
       
       For the "Post-a-fact" thread:
       10 out of 10 hubbers agree that the hubber score "no-follow" range should always be set 10 pts below whatever their current score is.

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       1. 81

          2besureposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Where did you get your statistics from the hubbbers whose score is 99?

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    2. 70

       galleryofgraceposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Responses to year old threads have no bearing on what is going on in HP today!

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       1. 98

          SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          ?????
          
          This issue remains unchanged from a year ago, as far as I know. A Hubber score at 85 or below still renders links no-follow, correct? I don't blame RebekahElle  for being upset and frustrated.
          
          Necroed threads are often outdated, but not in this case.

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    3. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       The only way the "no follow" tag affects you is if you're promoting your blog or website in your Hubs.  If you're not, don't worry, it's pretty much irrelevant.

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    4. 79

       colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       II does make me feel better when my scores are higher, but like feelings come and go...the score rise and fall.

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15. 72

    LeanManposted 9 years ago

    I used to have a score in the mid to high 90's.. Many of my hubs have hub scores in the 80s and 90s.. Yet I have been relegated to having a score that is way on down.. I regularly update hubs, I have few products and yet my score has been sub 85 for a long time now..
    I make payout every month, have healthy traffic with more than a million views and Google seems to like me - but the HP algorithm does not...

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    1. 84

       rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       @Leanman, that's great to hear.  Interesting, isn't it?  I'll see what happens.  The thing I didn't like about having a high hubber score was copied content. But watching it drop and not knowing why is perplexing.
       @galleryofgrace, this thread is still completely relevant, perhaps even more so now with the new scoring algorithm.  I thought about it before I revived it, but there's useful info on this thread.

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16. 73

    Uzochukwu Mikeposted 9 years ago

    I do not understand how the hubbers score is calculated.For me, my hubbers score usually rise when I publish new hubs.

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17. 0

    Lorelei Cohenposted 9 years ago

    Sounds more and more like the old Squidoo method. Jump through hoops and we will let you play. Problem is that the people who do participate in disreputable activity to jimmy their ranking and income are often very willing and able to play the game where as legit writers are not. Some people actually have lives that they need to live.
    
    Ridiculous way to run a business if you ask me.

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