Might start using a new style on hubs

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   Glen Kowalskiposted 9 years ago

   I am trying to improve user experience on my hubs.  To that end I'm thinking about using header 3 format to highlight each new idea within a body of text.  here is what I mean.
   
   http://glenkowalski.hubpages.com/hub/Speckled-Trout
   
   All of the subheading withing each area were added today.  I think it will help users quickly skim the text (which tends to be a bit long) and find exactly what they are looking for.  In theory.  The downside of course is my average page visit duration will likely suffer . 
   
   I'm making this change after seeing that most of my organic search hits result in very short page visits with near 100% bounce rate.  Some of this may be because google is not doing a good job of sorting page results or the user isn't using good search techniques but some of it is probably because a guy wanting to know when to use a top water lure for trout doesn't want/have time to read through the whole section on artificial lures for trout and couldn't easily find what he wanted.
   
   Does this make sense?  Should I go back and edit all the hubs the same way-or is it distracting and 'tacky' looking?  Is there a way to highlight text in a different color as well-that could be useful as well.  thanks for the help
   Glen

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      Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Creating headings for each section is a good idea - it helps the reader skim easily and helps Google figure out what your article is about.  As to what font you use, I doubt it matters, but I don't know for sure. Your experiment may help figure out if it does.

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      calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Just to answer your last question, there's no support for colored text or color-highlighted text.  It's not in the text editor and you can't do it manually by editing the html because it gets stripped out when you hit save. 
      
      You could also create a table of contents to make it easier for your readers to navigate.

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   3. 93

      Glen Kowalskiposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the replies-to me it looks kind of 'tacky' but I prefer to write more AP style than you typically see on the net.  I'll let you know if I notice any difference in traffic from Google.
      
      No text colors is a bit of a bummer since it is a nice way to highlight a phrase but bolding the phrase works just as well I guess.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I thought the "headings" which were actually bolded sentences looked tacky.  The actual headings looked fine. 
         
         I think your problem is something else altogether.   People come to your Hub looking for tips on how to fish for speckled trout, but when they arrive on your page, they think they've arrived at an article about the habitat and feeding habits of speckled trout. 
         
         People are giving up on your Hub because you're asking them to scroll down too far before you even begin to give them what they're looking for.  I think you need to do a couple of things. 
         
         One is to add a short introduction, two or three lines - perhaps above the picture (and get rid of the extra heading above the photo BTW).  Remember, the Summary isn't visible on the Hub! 
         
         The other is to do something about the habitat and feeding habits section.  If people are coming to your Hub for fishing tips, you need to jump right in and impress them with your fishing tips!   If it's important to include the habitat and feeding habits, then at least make it sound less academic - instead of Habitat, call that section, "Where to Find Speckled Trout".   Does the information on feeding habits help the fisherman? - if so, rewrite it to explain how.  Consider moving those sections further down the Hub, too.

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         1. 93

            Glen Kowalskiposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I actually recently changed the hub title from "speckled trout" to "speckled trout fishing tips".  As an experienced fisherman I think one of the advantages I've had over my contemporaries was that I understood fish.  I studied them not only from an anglers perspective but also from a scientific one, allowing me to 'get inside their heads' so to speak. 
            
            I will shuffle the order of the modules around though as you suggest and see if that helps at all.  For now I'm going to leave the bolded sentences in place and see what happens.  If nothing happens (or nothing good) then I'll remove them. 
            
            Thanks for the advice,
            Glen

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            1. 85

               Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Always remember that it can take a long time for Google to react to whatever changes you make, so don't be too hasty to judge the results.

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   Uninvited Writerposted 9 years ago

   Thank God they don't allow different color of text, reminds me of all those badly designed websites that hurt your eyes.

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   Writer Foxposted 9 years ago

   This might help you understand how soon Google will evaluate the changes you have made:
   http://searchengineland.com/confusion-g … hes-202875

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