A Handy Hint: Before editing-checkout GROUPS

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   paperfacetsposted 10 years ago

   Under the Account Tab is a Subtab called GROUPS. Put all your hubs into tightly related groups. They show up at the bottom of the Hub for readers to click on. This is in addition to the RElated HUbs list that some think are not so related.
   
   It is very easy to use. Add a group title and then drag the Hub from the list and release.

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      goatfuryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great tip!  Thanks for the heads up - I just categorized all my hubs.

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         Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Categories and Groups are two different things. You need to place your hubs in appropriate categories. This helps relate them to the proper subject matter. Groups are optional, but highly recommended.
         
         Without using groups your hubs will remain orphans. An orphan hub will not be listed under your other hubs, but when you place them in groups they will appear as a previous and next thumbnail before the automatically assigned list of related hubs.

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      colorfuloneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Very cool tip that works just like you said it does, paperfacets. Thank you!

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      favoredposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I saw this on the dashboard but couldn't figure out how to do it.  Does someone have a video showing how to do it?

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         Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Just click "Add New Group" on your Hub Groups page and give it a name. You can make as many groups  as you need. Then drag the hubs with your mouse to the desired group. See the help link in the top right corner of that page for more details.

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      2. 87

         paperfacetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Favored, click on "add new group" put in say flowers or a name that matches a niche of yours,then return.
         
         Now you will see "flowers" at the top of your list of hubs..
         
         Any hub about flowers click and drag it up and directly under the group flowers.

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            favoredposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I'll give that a try. If it doesn't work you know I'm not shy ... I'll be back   Thanks so much.

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      Kylyssaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      What a great tip!  This feature is awesome and I'd have never bothered with it until I was done editing everything and bored if you hadn't explained what it gets used for.

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   julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

   I like that feature. And, it is also handy to see your orphan hubs! I must say, I have more than a few that are in a group all by themselves. So, it can be an incentive to produce related hubs ... or heaven forbid, remove the singular hub.
   
   So, that must be the two thumbnails I am seeing at the bottom of my hubs before the comments!

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   1. 95

      Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Those two thumbnails at the bottom of your hubs are specified as previous and next. You can actually control the order of these by dragging them into the order you want in your group listings.

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         goatfuryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Great tip, Rob!

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3. 87

   paperfacetsposted 10 years ago

   Also, in the blue box before your list of account hubs, you can search for your groups.
   
   Much better than going through the whole list if you have more than a hundred hubs for these editing jobs.
   
   There is a whole section about it in the learning center, but how come the info went over my head?
   
   It is easier to learn about it in the forum.

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   robertzimmerman2posted 10 years ago

   Since many of mine are music related I just did this yesterday and I can see how the two <-> show up at the end.

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5. 75

   Lionrhodposted 10 years ago

   Also, if you have a bunch of hubs that don't fit into the larger groups of subjects you usually write about, make a group for "Misc" and they'll direct between each other.
   
   Oh - a question too - why do some of my articles appear indented in the groups list (as if they were subgroups or something)? Does it matter? If it does, how do I fix that?

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   julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

   I was wondering what to do with my orphans -- too bad you can't do more than one group to categorize.

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      Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      AGREED! - I'd really like to be able to group things in more than one group when they cross over.
      
      I just took my own advice. When I originally made my groups, I just made a list of things I usually write about, figuring eventually I'd add to those groups.
      
      I took a look at my groups again, and realized that a few of my hubs were in a group alone.
      
      I had a few book reviews but only one movie review and one product review, so until I write more movie/product reviews, I'll keep all my reviews in one big "review" group.
      
      For the others that were lonely, I stuck them in a Misc group until I do more in the category they belong in. It's great that we can move these things around so easily!

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      Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That is wrong. You can make as many groups as you need. I divided my hubs into 16 groups.

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         Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I think what she meant is that you can't categorize a particular page in more than one group.
         
         I have several pages (many still unfinished and unpublished) that I could see putting into more than one of my groups.
         
         For example, do I put a book review of Starhawk's Spiral Dance in Wicca, Witchcraft and Paganism or in Book Reviews?
         
         Do I put my review of Frozen in Reviews (where it lives now) or in self-help (pretty much the subject of my take on the review)?   
         
         As I go along there are going to be even more hubs that belong in more than one category/group.

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            Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I see your point. But if you know how grouping works then you'll realize that this does not help with placement of the previous and next thumbnails that appear at the bottom on your hubs. You need to specifically place a hub in ONE location so that it "belongs" between two other hubs. If you were able to place it in more than one place, how in the world would the thumbnails work?

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   julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

   So, I am wondering ... let's say you are categorizing music hubs into groups. Would you opt to only have so many hubs in a generic "music" group or would you create groups like: "music-jazz," "music-pop," "music-rock," to even out the spread on your hubs in those groups?

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      Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'd say it depends on how many music hubs you have. If you've only got one or two in each category I'd lump them all together. If you have many in each, you can separate them.
      
      Another trick I've seen used on HP - make a links list and float it to the right somewhere in your article. You could title it something like "Do You Have Eclectic Taste in Music?" Then list some of your best hubs in different music genres.

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      robertzimmerman2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Mine are in two groups right now, Musical Instruments and Percussion. The hard one to group will likely be "Best Rat Traps!"

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   julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

   So, that other trick would be acceptable because there are no link limits to other hubs? Would that not be a style warning on the hub to have a list of hub links in one capsule? I can see where you would make a column on the right, perhaps blue background, and make a suggestion of say 3 other hubs.

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      Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly: I'd suggest only linking to maybe 3 other hubs. Then have each of those hubs link to 3 different ones.
      
      I'm not sure what the link limit is regarding other hubs, but you obviously don't want it to be so distracting that it takes away from the hub you're working on.
      
      The way I've seen it used so far was in various articles on making money on HP and on some recipe hubs. They'd include a brief links list with links to other hubs of theirs.
      
      Here's an example http://rebeccae.hubpages.com/hub/Make-M … d-Hubpages

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   julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

   I'm thinking we've strayed off the topic -- can you perhaps start another discussion to explore your suggestions?
   
   Back to GROUPS! Say, I've been busy in my groups list trying to think of them a little differently; i.e., in perhaps directing the reader's interest to more related hubs and being sure with the order in the groups. And, also thinking in odd numbers. So, if the one hub is featured, the other two will show as "previous" and "next" ... that's 3. Thinking optimally, 3-5-7 [at most].

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      Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I shift my previous and next around from time to time. I examine the traffic and when I see a hub in a group is not getting much attention, I move it within the group to position it next to one that is doing well. This increases the odds that readers will notice the underperforming hub in the thumbnail links of the previous and next.

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    julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

    Glenn, I've got a variety of groups now -- I did a bunch of modifications. And, yes, I rearranged my order with the hubs in the groups. Now, to see if it has a positive effect on getting more views!

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    julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

    Yes, Lionrhod, you understood what I was saying. Now I am wondering about something related to GROUPS. With the benefit of those hubs appearing at the bottom of the other hubs in that particular group, do we want to have many very niche-like groups as opposed to any with a lot of hubs? I think so; i.e., many niche groups with a few hubs.

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    1. 95

       Glenn Stokposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       That depends on how many niches you write in. Keep in mind that the more niches you cover, the less authority Google will recognize you have in any one of them.

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          Lionrhodposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Well...much as that might be the case...
          
          Most of my writing falls in one of 3 categories: Wicca/Witchcraft/Paganism/Metaphysics, Self Help, Writing.
          
          I'm a very prolific writer and I'm pretty sure that I can grow my "brand" despite the fact that a) my original (and very high-ranked) wicca/witchcraft website bit the dust after a house fire a few years back b) I've written about writing under a different pen name for a few years (I intend to delete that blog and bring anything worthy to HP).
          
          That's not going to stop me from writing the occasional article on something else that tickles me. I'm going to have to trust that somehow Google figures it out.
          
          While I totally appreciate your wisdom, knowledge and advice:
          
          I will be as quirky and crazy and original as I want to, and there's no way that I'm going to take "web standards" or Google as my newest god.

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    julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

    Glenn, if there were more than one group allowed, I think the display would work in the same manner, but I guess luckily, there isn't more than one group in which to categorize a particular hub.
    
    So, as a P.S. about the authority thing, I guess I am too far gone now to worry that way. And, like Lionrhod said, "I will be as quirky and crazy and original as I want to, and there's no way that I'm going to take "web standards" or Google as my newest god." I would have to say I echo that remark.
    
    I think running through our exercise of GROUPS really showed us a lot of interesting information! And, after I handled my authority niches, I found that I must have been rambling with those other orphan hubs that didn't really fit into the other groups.

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       TonyPayneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       The Groups seem to work in a similar way to the Lists on Squidoo. Very handy to use, especially when you have a lot of hubs.

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    julieannbradyposted 10 years ago

    Tony, you know I never got into using lists or labels on my Squidoo lenses? Don't know why, just didn't. But I do see that Groups has a public benefit in that it shows the related lenses at the bottom of our hubs.
    
    Bob, you still have rat traps? Perhaps you need to expand that topic ... my mom actually has a rat hub but she would be in the same predicament; i.e., having just one to group. Ah, rats!

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14. 0

    debW07posted 10 years ago

    I'd forgotten about Groups – thanks for reminding me; I just grouped all my Hubs.

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