Going Nowhere Fast

1. 87

   Jacqueline4390posted 8 years ago

   I know exactly how that hamster feels. Running on that little wheel just as hard as it can but not doing anything but exerting a great deal of energy. The harder I try here to write; the more frustrating I become. I'm too old for merry go rounds. At least I can say I gave it all I had. Now that I've got that off my chest I'll close and find something more rewarding to do; like concentrating on my novels. Bye!

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   1. 91

      Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      What is it that is causing your frustration?  You've been here for a while and have written a bunch of articles.

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      1. 87

         Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I guess what is causing my frustration is seeing my "personal score" steady drop. I call it a personal score, I don't know what that thing is. I'll keep my hubs available because of the Pinterest folks that read it; but I am not writing one more article.

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         1. 91

            Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The Hubber Score is not that important. As long as it is over 85, everything is okay.  People have reported that it drops a bit when they publish a hub, but it goes back up after a bit.

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   2. 76

      Barbara Kayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      89 isn't a bad score at all. Personally, I'd just ignore the hubscore. It is based on some strange computer program that has more to do with how many comments you make and get, how many questions you ask, and multitude of other strange things. It has nothing to do with your writing.
      
      If you aren't getting the traffic you'd like, just be patient. The more hubs age, the more Google seems to like them.

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   3. 0

      guyrichieposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      so sad you leaving...

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      1. 87

         Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks. My hubs will still be here, just not anything new.

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2. 92

   Jodahposted 8 years ago

   Jacqueline, for the amount of hubs you have and time you've been here 89 is a good score. Mine goes up and down but it is only 86 at the moment and I have been here over 4 years and have 150 hubs, over 10,000 views and each hub gets lots of comments.I am happy with that, but it doesn't suit everyone I guess. If it's the money you are interested in, that can be slow coming. Glad you are leaving your hubs here anyway. Good luck.

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   1. 87

      Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have been at 95. It steadily drops and I have no rational reason for the drop. I worked in government and if I didn't meet a certain level my supervisor would give me a nudge asking me what's up? Without rules there is confusion. I personally like to understand what's up.

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3. 72

   relacheposted 8 years ago

   What was your goal in writing Hubs?  My goals all have nothing to do with my HubScore.

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   1. 87

      Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I have a love of writing. I guess I am equating my scores to my college days. High score means I am doing what is required. Reduced score means I have fallen short. If there was no score I wouldn't care but there is.

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4. 61

   firstdayposted 8 years ago

   Jacqueline4390
   
   My score is not over 85 and I am ok.  Well, the last time I checked. My request is that you stick it out Jacqueline4390 and forget about your score.
   
   Maybe you just need a break like I am doing.  Actually I am in learning mode at the moment.  Besides enjoy the forum and then when you feel like it write. 
   
   Do you need a good score from Hub pages to do what you are good at?

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   1. 87

      Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe I do need a break. I've been a Type A person for too long. Somebody tell me how to relax. Overachiever, I am guilty as charged.

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5. 61

   firstdayposted 8 years ago

   Jacqueline4390
   
   I worked in the hospital and I always said without rules there is chaos.  LOL
   I had no idea that any government people said that.  Let's face it in the world the rules are what we say they are.  Make a new rule today that you will lightened up on not only Hub pages, but more importantly on yourself. 
   I have a hub on coping with stress titled:  "10 Ways to Cope with Stress AKA Balancing your life in your spare time".  I thought I would plug it.  Later…see you around the Hub water cooler.

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6. 82

   electronicianposted 8 years ago

   These things are impossible to understand on Hubpages. My hubber score isn't dropping, but I've noticed that my first few hubs here all got really high scores, but now every new hub I publish gets a much lower score, and it seems to be getting worse, even if I write something which feels at least as high quality to me if not even. I think after I've been here another year I will probably be getting a hubscore of 10 for everything I publish regardless of how good it is.

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   1. 61

      firstdayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      electronician,
      
      I believe since you guys are already good writers the score is here to motivate you.

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      1. 87

         Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Didn't work ...

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         1. 31

            Writer Foxposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            

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   2. 90

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      electronician:
      
      A short time ago HP changed the scoring system, and hit many of us very hard who were used to having higher scores.  I recently discovered that Google also changed its algorithm around the same time, and I suspect this is the reason HP got tougher about this issue.
      
      They have promised to revisit this issue, but right now are buried with the Squidoo thing, but at least they are aware that they have upset some people and are willing to rework the scores.
      
      Although they are not considered to be "important" by many because they have nothing to do with readership and income, they are a bit hard on the ego.
      
      Also, I feel that they are an indication that improvement may be needed on some hubs.  However, this is not always the case.
      
      For me, the big thing is getting people to read my work and then, hopefully, earning some money from it.  It is very hard to earn here and takes a great deal of time, but hub scores do not affect that.

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      1. 92

         Jodahposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I was shocked by the new scoring system at first but now actually embrace it. Admittedly new hubs start off lower but some of my older hubs rose dramatically and ones that fell initially did rise again. I feel as though I have more control over my hubs now. If I revise my lowest scoring hubs and add some extra content, a video etc they rise In score within 24 hours. I don't feel I ever had that much control before.

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      2. 89

         Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         TimeTraveler2, I don't see how the two can be connected.   Google didn't announce this update in advance, and refused to explain what it had done afterwards.  No one can work out what they tweaked, so HubPages would have to be psychic to know what to do!
         https://www.seroundtable.com/google-upd … 18980.html
         
         Besides, Google makes several of these changes every year, and I've never seen HubPages adjust the score in response before.  Why would they choose this, relatively minor, one to respond to - especially when they don't know what it changed?
         
         Personally, I think they just decided they were scoring too high. Under the old scoring system there were simply far too many Hubbers and Hubs crowding in the 90's.  I guess they could have extended the scoring system up to 150, but instead they chose to adjust the scale.  We all just have to adjust to the fact that the 80's are a good score now.

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         1. 90

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Marisa Wright:  I'm sure you are correct but the timing was suspicious to me, so thought I'd throw my thoughts out there.

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            1. 89

               Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I think the first time we noticed the HubScore drop was when Janshares posted about it 4 weeks ago, so it must have been changed before August 14th. 
               
               The Google update happened on August 8th, and since it wasn't announced, no one really knew about it until a day or two later when their stats changed.   
               I doubt changing HubScore is something that can be done in a day, so I don't think the timing is suspicious in any way, shape or form.
               
               My concern about posting suspicions is that online, it's all too easy to read a post and miss the replies, and it only takes one person to take the suspicion as fact and spread it, and it soon becomes widespread.

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               1. 96

                  jansharesposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  According to Paul Edmondson, it was late July. See his second response in this forum thread:
                  http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/123705

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               2. 90

                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Marisa:
                  
                  I am now sufficiently flogged.  I apologize for my faux pas and urge every writer on HP to totally ignore my  comments about this issue.

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                  1. 89

                     Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Oops, sorry if I sounded a bit harsh!

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                     1. 90

                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Marisa Wright:
                        
                        Forgiven!  Yes, what you said did upset me, but I realize it is because you are so passionate about all this stuff.
                        
                        You already know that I suffer from some memory problems, and as part of that, I either do not remember or do not pay attention to exact dates when things happen.  At this point I am exhausted, my numbers are terrible, my income here has dropped drastically, nobody knows what happened to me and Google has not one thing on WMT that even gives me a hint of what I may have done wrong to cause such a drastic drop, so I am searching for any thread of something that might explain what happened.
                        
                        I was just trying to make some sense of my mess, and this seemed like a vague possibility to me.  I wish I knew what you  and a few others here know about the technicalities of online writing, but I do not.  All I know is that it does not make sense to me to be, finally, climbing to the top of the heap and then suddenly have the bottom fall out for no apparent reason.
                        
                        Bottom line, I'm getting too old for this s- -t!

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                        1. 87

                           Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           I can emphasize on that ... my point exactly!

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7. 63

   taiwokareemposted 8 years ago

   i should have killed myself when my Hubscore was at 43. When it dropped drastically annoyingly it took so much effort to persuade myself not to care about Hubscore anymore. I see people with a 100+ hubscore but I'm grateful for the little score i was given. Its now 74

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   1. 87

      Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      When HP quality checks your articles; you never know if something you wrote could have been better in what way because it is never "spelled out." This has always been a problem for me. It's like when you turn in a paper to your teacher and s/he tells you, "It's wrong--do it over." Okay, what's wrong with it. (Moment of silence here.)

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      1. 89

         Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         We do have one indicator now:  the check boxes in the top right hand corner of your Hubs in edit mode.  I notice a very strong correlation between the number of check boxes and the score of the Hub - so if scores concern you, that's one avenue you could look at.

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8. 89

   WryLiltposted 8 years ago

   Scores don't mean anything. They're there to stop spam and keep down dofollow links.
   
   What counts? Traffic and money. That's what I write for

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   1. 87

      Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I really like to write but if it was mainly for the money I would make more standing on the corner with a cup and a pair of sunglasses. I guess I've reached the "fed up" stage. No new post for me.

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      1. 89

         WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Titles are 75% of your SEO. Your titles are using broad words and are unlikely to rang higher in Google. Simply changing your titles to be more Google friendly would likely increase your traffic

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         1. 87

            Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            What are google friendly titles?

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            1. 89

               WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Titles that people are actually going to find when they Google something.
               
               Say, you have an article on a black cat. What would people type into Google?
               
               "My Black Fury" - Well no one would type fury into Google looking for a cat.
               
               "My Black Cat" - Too broad. You're competing with every witch and bad luck site on the internet.
               
               "Black Cat | 15 Cures For Angry Bad Luck Felines" - You're using lists, which Google seems to like, pipes (which I've recently learned do better than colons/dashes), you're using black cats, you're mentioning the bad luck thing, you're narrowing it down to them being cranky and you're using a synonym, felines.
               
               Example only, as I have no idea on the competition for black cats!

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               1. 91

                  Suzanne Dayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  The pipes are a boon - I changed a few of mine over for instant traffic!
                  
                  With pipes, it separates the title into 2 different parts with 2 different places to put keywords.
                  
                  With hyphens, all of the words are included in the key word phrase.
                  
                  I've been seeing a lot of other bloggers doing this, now I know why!

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               2. 87

                  Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  That's interesting but why should this affect your score?

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                  1. 89

                     WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Why do you care about score? I care about traffic Google can't see scores.

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                  2. 89

                     Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     It's not going to affect score to have good titles - but if you were seeing traffic and earning income from your Hubs, you would soon start measuring your success by them, instead of worrying about silly scores!
                     
                     As Relache says, HubPages is a long term investment.  What you write this month may not start to earn income until next year, but if it works, it has the potential to earn for a long time after that.  But strong titles are vitally important.   You have to forget the old idea of writing "catchy" or clever titles, and consider what people will type into Google to find your Hub, then use those words. 
                     
                     I wrote a Hub on how to optimise your Hubs to make money, you'll find it in the slider on my profile.   It's intended for writerly Hubbers who would like to make their Hubs more search friendly, so it would be relevant to you.

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                     1. 91

                        Suzanne Dayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Pipes etc have nothing to do with hubscore. But I was just commenting above that they do increase traffic quite well! Forget using : and use - instead too.

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9. 92

   Michael Kismetposted 8 years ago

   WryLilt, I like that statement. To thine own self be true.

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   1. 87

      Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly, my philosophy to the "T"

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10. 90

    misterhollywoodposted 8 years ago

    Sometimes, I try to take a break when I am in the space you are talking about Jacqueline. I've been there more times than I can shake a stick at!

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    1. 87

       Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks, that's encouraging. I am going to try the break thing without the need to write except for pure pleasure. I need it.

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11. 0

    guyrichieposted 8 years ago

    You need to have a leave of rest...

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    1. 87

       Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       So true ...

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12. 0

    robertzimmerman2posted 8 years ago

    As a new Hubber (former Squid) I lurked around here and read up on these topics to learn that the Hubber score is not that important relating to profitability.
    
    That's what I want to focus on.

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    1. 87

       Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Hmmm. How much profit can you make if it takes forever to get $50.00?

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       1. 89

          WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          I make several hundred dollars per month with less than 70 hubs.

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          1. 90

             TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Wry Lilt:
             
             I'm sure you do, but I'm also sure that is because you know how to market your work as well as to how to use SEO and write great hubs.  The average person here is not as knowledgeable as you and thus is not as likely to do as well.

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             1. 87

                Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                Very true.

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             2. 89

                WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                True. In my first six months here I made about $5. In my second six months here I made about $200 I think (however this was pre-panda). Takes time and learning

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                1. 90

                   TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                   WryLilt:  And thank goodness writers like you are willing to share your thoughts and techniques with the rest of us.  I  probably would have dumped out years ago but for masters like yourself.

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       2. 72

          relacheposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          You've been here for 11 months. For several years now, the average time to reach first payout on this site has been anywhere from 9 to 18 months.  If you are way off from that, HubPages might not be for you.  If you are in that same timeframe, congrats your experience is average.
          
          After that, time to second payout often comes faster, but the timeframe varies with the size of the author's Hub pool and the skill set of the writer.

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          1. 87

             Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

             You're right ... it just may not be for me.

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13. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 8 years ago

    LOL Relache   How about 3 years for first payout.

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    1. 87

       Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       WOW!

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14. 0

    guyrichieposted 8 years ago

    Take note, whomever said that slow motion is no motion was just an impatient person. At that pace you can gain even more ground that when time come for you to look back, you will be surprised and say is this me!

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15. 75

    JustLivingOnlineposted 8 years ago

    I get it.  It seems like HubPages is a game that some people have figured out how to master, and others haven't.  A lot of the content is garbage, but the whole purpose is to get hits and money.  People figure out how to rig the posts so they contain just the right words that their articles will show in in Google searches, and just the right number of pictures in combination with polls and videos,ect to get ratings.  It seems the writing has become an afterthought.  Just a factory churning out more and more posts to get more and more hits with pennies flooding in.  Honestly though, if you came here to write good content that you hope will appeal to others and serve a purpose, this is not really the place.  It is a means to an end for most, which is to make money in any way possible.

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    1. 72

       relacheposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Looks at reader feedback
       
       57% useful
       6% funny
       15% awesome
       9% beautiful
       12% interesting
       
       snarks

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       1. 90

          TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          relache:
          
          You have a way of looking at things that is so revealing.  I never thought of looking at the reader feedback on my articles to use them as a measure of how people receive my work.  Brilliant!  I wish I knew what you know because you never cease to amaze me!

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       2. 75

          JustLivingOnlineposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          I guess everyone just loves you.

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    2. 90

       TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       JustLivingOnline:
       
       You just summed up what I have been thinking for some time.  Those who know how to play the game do well, the rest do not.  The problem is that it is very difficult to play the game when many of the rules are kept secret by big  brother Google.
       
       I just took a terrible hit on my work (which was doing remarkably well for the past several months) and am no struggling to regain some ground.  I have no idea why this happened, and as a result, am now reworking all of my 140 or so articles with the hopes that something in there sparked the problem and will be fixed by my actions.
       
       This would be so much easier if  Google would only tell us why they do things like this so we could more easily make corrections.  It is very upsetting, to say the least!
       
       I'm really glad you posted your thoughts here.  Thank you.

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       1. 91

          Suzanne Dayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          It's a bit of a slow month I think - I know when Christmas comes we'll all be having a very Merry time.

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    3. 89

       Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       Rubbish.  Sure, there have always been people who try to game the system - but it's deeply insulting to tar every writer who's trying to make a living with the same brush. 
       
       There is absolutely no point writing if no one is going to read it.  Online, if your articles can't be found on Google or Bing or Yahoo, virtually no one will ever see it - so it's a pretty foolish writer who ignores the need to attract the search engines.
       
       The good writers write to inform their readers first and foremost, but with an awareness of what needs to be done to rank on Google, and also (if they want to eat) an awareness of how to earn an income from their writing.
       
       If you're not interested in earning money or reaching a larger audience, and all you want to do is share your writing with a small group of other writers, then yes, HubPages is not designed for you, though you can choose to use it that way if you want.  However, there are plenty of writers' circles which will satisfy that need.

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    4. 76

       Barbara Kayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       JustLivingOnline, That was insulting.

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    5. 76

       Barbara Kayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       JustLivingOnline, That was insulting. You aren't going to make friends here that way.

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    6. 31

       Writer Foxposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       If it were so easy to "rig the posts" to get high rankings on Google's search engine results pages, every Hub would rank #1 for its targeted keywords. That's not happening.  It's not as easy as it looks.  And, Google spends billions of dollars to determine if the content on a webpage is high quality. Getting high ratings on HubPages QAP is a formula that anyone can follow, but that won't get a Hub highly ranked on Google, nor will it make anyone money. 
       
       If Google decides your content is deemed worthy enough to share with visitors to its search engine, it means more people will read what you have written.  If you don't want an audience for your writing, you might as well just leave it in your desk drawer.
       
       If you don't want to make money, just turn off the advertising on your Hubs.

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16. 85

    CassandraCaeposted 8 years ago

    Considering your only following 15 people if makes complete and total sense why your score won't go up.

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    1. 89

       WryLiltposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       What does following have to do with score?

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       1. 87

          Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          I'd like to know this myself.

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          1. 89

             Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Judging by my score and Relache's, not much. 
             
             Many people assume that following is about making friends or getting traffic, because that's how it works on some other sites.  It's not - it's about signing up to be notified when your favourite writers publish a new Hub.  You don't get rewarded for following people, and in fact you can get penalised for following too many people!

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    2. 72

       relacheposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I am only following 18 people.  You are following 218.
       
       How does this work?

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17. 92

    Jodahposted 8 years ago

    We all write here at Hub Pages for different reasons, some of us just to make money, some to improve our writing skills and for pleasure, some just for the social aspects and community interaction, and some to genuinely help other writers. It takes all types to make this site successful. I have just reached payout for the first time and am happy for that. I write for my peers here at HP and not for Google so to me the actual writing is more important than keywords etc. I checked my feedback as relache suggested. Awesome and Interesting account for more than half, followed by Beautiful, Useful, and funny. What that means I am not sure, but I do know that Hubber Score isn't much to worry about in the general scheme of things.

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    1. 87

       Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I will admit that there is a willing community of people here who will give you answers to whatever your questions or concerns are. I do like that fact because it says a lot about the quality of people that populate here. And I believe that most of you are A+

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       1. 89

          Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Jacqueline, taking a look at your Hubs I third the suggestion that you really, really, really should take a look at your titles. I think you will be surprised what a difference it will make to the number of readers you attract. 
          
          It shouldn't take long.  Just take a look at each title and ask yourself, "if someone was searching for this information, what would they type into Google?"    Then start typing that into the Google search box, and see what the auto-complete says - it's based on the search terms people are actually using.  Choose one that works as a title for you, edit and paste, and you're done.
          
          I know it's hard to let go of what we were all taught - to write eye-catching titles - but they just do not work online. If you use a catchy title, the article won't appear on Google, and therefore no one will ever see the title and therefore can't be attracted by it!  So obvious candidates for change are titles like "Trounce the Vicious Twins" and "Another Designing Woman", "Writing the Romantic Short" (that one would work if you added the word "Stories"!).   I would also consider changing all those "-ing" words  (Managing, Identifying) to "How to .... (how to manage, how to identify).

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          1. 91

             Suzanne Dayposted 8 years agoin reply to this

             I can vouch that this really works, recently adjusted a few of my own and it's much better, traffic wise!

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             1. 87

                Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                Thanks, it's especially good to know it has been tried by others and it works. You people ROCK!

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          2. 87

             Jacqueline4390posted 8 years agoin reply to this

             Point well taken ... I have been looking at just that. I appreciate your input.

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