HubPages losing rank on Google ? Lost traffic by 50% !

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   alternativetoposted 10 years ago

   Hey guys, i think HubPages is losing it's rank on Google, i have multiple accounts here and all are experiencing decreased traffic by 50% !!! .
   Anyone experiencing similar problems? Or did Google introduce any new algorithms?

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      susi10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      There was a Panda update. That's probably why.

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         alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Panda took place long time ago and Hubpages recovered from it by using subdomains.
         I lost my traffic this month and i think someone is trying to take down hubpages or may be it is because of Squidoo's joining with Hubpages.
         
         Thank you susi for your info.

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            lisavollrathposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Panda is not one update. It's a series of them. Apparently, Panda 4.1 started rolling out a couple of days ago.

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               alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you for the info, i didn't know about that. But why is it affecting Hubpages? What Hubpages say about this?  Hubpages was the only trustworthy online thing for me and i don't know why Google is doing this !
               
               Google despite all these Panda updates  was not able to put the spammers and fake link builders to a an end , last month one of my accounts was attacked by a spammer and he blasted my account with 5000 spam links and with in a week my pages went down on Google.

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            susi10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Google will always keep rolling out Panda updates for a very long time. However, I think they are getting less severe each time.

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Susi:
               
               Not this one.  This one was a real ripper and hit very, very hard.

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            goweb99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            One of the google employe confirmed about panda update Yesterday:
            https://plus.google.com/115984868678744 … CWs3a3yoeY
            
            But i dont think hubpages loosing their traffic by panda update. Maybe its because of quality content?

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               alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you for your info. In my opinion there is nothing called a quality content because if such things exist why would spammers rank on the 1st page of Google promoting spam links? Google is aware of this and they are helpless !
               
               Spammers are using spun content to build backlinks and are are ranking for the keyword of their choice, they are using automated tools to build 1 to 10 million backlinks to their new website with in a single month and are ranking in the first 5 positions.
               
               Google says content is the king but the truth is backlinks are the God !

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                  goweb99posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I agree with you Content is king/queen of a site and backlinks are god.
                  But that churn-burn/blackhat thing works only for few days or few months(Its a short term result). After that Google penalyse them and bring back quality sites on top 10. Well that was the ranking part. Hubpage is a authority site and it dont need any ranking to get traffic as i see.
                  I was talking about the quality content what people likes and what dont.
                  In my opinion Hubpage loosing traffic because of the quality content not ranking. Its means if hubpage start loosing traffic means your hubs loosing traffic.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            You write about techie subject so I'm surprised you don't know that Panda is an ongoing thing, it has been updated multiple times and the most recent started a few days ago.

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               alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Hey Marisa i didn't know about it because i am so lazy to read things that doesn't make any sense. I know there were different updates like the Panda, the Penguin, Hummingbird and i am not interested to know them at all because all these updates are still useless none of them even the latest update was not able to take down spam websites from the search results and why on earth is Google still supporting pirate websites like Piratebay and other torrent websites which are famous even a school kid knows they are pirate websites?
               
               Google is not actually looking for quality content what they are doing is they are arranging things for their own good or what is easy for them to manage. And thanks to Google for making the seo field more and more competitive that only the one with large pockets who are able to manipulate Google ranking factors will survive in the updates . What ever update Google is going to release in the future none of them will not be able to get rid of negative seo and spammers because Google is relying on backlinks to rank content and it will be like that in the future unless Google introduces some artificial intelligence to their algorithms.
               
               I have proof that spam websites are still ranking in top positions in Google for competitive keywords and are using Google Adsense to monetize their websites. You can look at their backlinks and their strategy to build the backlinks and the sources they are using are all low quality sources but are high quality in the eyes of Google because of certain factors in their algorithm that they can't change and these are the loopholes that spammers are using to rank  a new website in Google within weeks.
               
               If you know any linkbuilding experts or people who are good at seo, ask them how they are ranking the websites and you will be surprised that they are still manipulating Google's ranking factors. Seo itself 95% is manipulating the search rankings, existence of seo services themselves are proof that Google can be spammed despite their Panda or Teddy Bear updates.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't disagree.   All the more reason why good Hubs are getting hit by this latest Panda change though, don't you think?

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      Maina Ndunguposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm one of the most hit hubbers, having lost about 70% of traffic since 4 days ago. I don't care much what is being updated. What I know for sure is that if I don't recover to my normal number of visitors in due course, I'll also update my hubs to conform to those updates. No matter what happens, the future is bright!

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      jimmarposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My page views have dropped by a similar amount, Seemed to start dropping when Squido was integrated. Not blaming Squido, but this is very disappointing. Hopefully it will pick back up. My content views and earnings, although comparatively small, had been steadily growing. This put me back about 2 years.
      
      I see lots of complaints and don't have time to read them all nor the explanations. Doesn't matter to me what the explanation might be, the fact remains I've moved backwards.

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   Mark Ewbieposted 10 years ago

   The forums are full of posts on this subject.  There are a number of different opinions as to why it has happened.

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      alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hey mark, i found some good posts but none of them are recent.
      
      I would like to know if you have experienced decrease in traffic from google by almost 50%.
      
      Thank you Mark

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         Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I have two accounts. This one has improved very slightly.  My other ten page 'informative' one has plummeted.

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         neosurkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Most of these posts are recent. There was a Panda 4.something update this week around last week.
         
         http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/125240
         
         http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/125209
         
         http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/125250
         
         It's worth mentioning that most of the Squidoo-imported accounts (including myself) have seen dramatic loss in traffic. I personally went from 1200ish to just 150ish and it is only getting worse. So that's more than 50%. I want to get geared up for the holiday season and leave all these things behind. I believe Google will see that we are adding more value to their users' experience and not just driving them to thin content as they believe.

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            alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you for the info, so i am not alone in this, i think Google is doing the dance when they rolled out the new Algorithm, I pray to God to put HubPages back in its position.

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 10 years ago

   I've definitely lost both rankings and traffic (much, much more than 50%, I would say closer to 80%).

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      alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Kierstin thank you very much, i guess HubPages staff will react to this question.

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   pateludayposted 10 years ago

   Only Spammers need worry about Updates Panda or Penguin. Building quality link for your hubs and constantly improving or adding contents is the doorway to high traffic. Long tail unique search terms rank first since competition is less.   
   
   I think we should create quality back links for our profile hub page or sub domain as many refer to it here.
   
   Hubpages face the same competition as our websites do on the SERPs.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I don't agree.   Look at any webmaster forums during past Panda updates and you'll see many genuine website owners, with good websites, complaining they've been hit unjustly.   True, when you look into it more deeply you'll find they were doing something unwise - often without knowing it - but that's not true in every case.  The trouble is that Panda is not that accurate.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Lol.
         
         do you really honestly truthfully think that HubPages has been hit unjustly?
         
         Just total LOL.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I didn't say that.  I was responding to a poster who said genuine websites had nothing to worry about.  Generic statement, generic reply.

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         pateludayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You are right Marissa! But we should create quality back links for our hubs, this is one thing that Google certainly likes as a ranking signal.
         
         The automated programs will always have some or the other lacuna. A quality hub page or website always wins one way or the other since the visitors find them somehow and trust them.

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            Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Back links are spam.  Penguin kills them. End of.

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               pateludayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               No back links are not spam! I think we all know what spammy back links are. I think one day search engines will start ignoring spammy back links rather than penalizing them.

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                  Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh right. You are going to drop your non-spammy links onto other people's sites by saying "This might be of interest".  Good luck with that old game.

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                     susi10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Backlinking is a spectrum. It goes from one extreme to another.
                     
                     Some think backlinking is spamming forums or buying cheap links.
                     Others think that backlinking is recommending genuinely useful content to others (outreach, infographic submission sites, .edu sites).
                     
                     I have to agree with the latter. If your content is genuinely amazing, there is no reason to stop backlinking.

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                        Mark Ewbieposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        No one has amazing content.

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                     pateludayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Dropping back links on other peoples sites without permission is spam. (Blog Comments are dead)

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                        alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        I think you are mistaken, spam in the eyes of Google is different from spam that webmasters and normal people consider. To Google spam is something that you do to Game the search algorithm to get better rankings and there is no difference in Good and bad sources.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry, I disagree. I am not a "spammer" by anybody's definition, and I got hit hard!

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         susi10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It's just the rankings being shaken up. After a Panda hit, there is usually an earthquake in the rankings until things stabilize again. It can take a couple of months until the rankings get back to their usual manner.
         But then, they get hit again.
         
         Pretty much everybody is hit, which is a huge shame. You are an excellent writer and you don't deserve it at all!

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         sabrebIadeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah that's crazy.
         Tons of good sites get creamed in the updates.
         Google makes out like it's only bad people which is BS.

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      alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think you are saying it straight out of the book ? Link building itself is spam because links are created when someone shares the content elsewhere on the web and what you are suggesting is that we should build links ? Why on earth can't you see it is spam ?

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   Oswalda Purcellposted 10 years ago

   Yes, suddenly lost traffic by 50% over the last few days.

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   ChristinSposted 10 years ago

   I haven't had too major of a hit yet - but I've also been using Google webmaster tools to disavow certain links.  Seeing who is linking into my hubs was an eye opening experience for sure.  I recommend disavowing links to any spammy sites.  For example, there were several questionable "arthritis" domains linking to one of my hubs on natural remedies.  I have disavowed all those links (and if I ever *find time will request certain sites remove links to my content). 
   
   I am hopeful that will help me continue to not get bitten every time a new update rolls out. 
   
   My primary website has experienced a 30% drop in traffic since last months updates, so I'm going to go have a look and do some disavowing of links there as well. 
   
   I'm definitely not a guru with this sort of thing, but several sites have said this process definitely helps.  If any of you experience major drops have spammy sites linking to your hubs, you may want to take action on it.

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      alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Webmaster Tools will not be of that help like you think because webmaster tools doesn't show all the backlinks that you are getting. In my case when i got hit by negative seo from spammers, webmaster tools didn't show the spam sources and i discovered the spam sources by using Majestic Seo and and it is not easy to disavow 5000-10000 links. There are cases where webmasters are hit by 200,000 links by spammers with in days and only with the help of professional tools like Majestic Seo you will be able to find and disvow those links. And it is not possible for normal bloggers to pay 100-500$ per month for services like that when you don't get that much money from blogs.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         What I do not understand is that Google knows that spammers do this, and yet it penalizes the recipients of those malicious links as though they were somehow responsible for them.  They have algorithms for everything else, so why don't they create one that finds and disavows those sites before they attack other sites!  This makes no sense to me!

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   Rochelle Frankposted 10 years ago

   How do we disavow links? How do we find the spammy links in the first place? OK, maybe the question should be, "how do we find the webmaster tools?"

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      Rochelle Frankposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      OK I found it, I think. Thanks

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         ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Glad you found it. For anyone else who wants to know, it's in the Google Webmaster tools.  If you link that up to HubPages then you can see who links in to your hubs and use the tool there.  You have to save it as a text file and upload it.

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            Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Ok I'm on the webmaster tools. Where do I 'disavow' links?

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               TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Disavowing is not as easy to do as you may think.  You will not find a "tool" for doing this on GWT...you have to search for it, and it takes a lot of work to separate the good from the bad so that you can eventually disavow.  If you want to do this, get ready to spend many hours.

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                  ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  For clarity, I meant the webmaster tools - not a tool to do that specifically.  I did say you have to put the links you wish to disavow into a text document.  People need to spend time familiarizing themselves with the Google webmaster tools a bit before just digging in. 
                  
                  There is info that will tell you how to do it and definitely don't disavow good links - just the spammy ones!   Many of them you can tell by looking at the domain that they are junk; others you need to investigate first.  It didn't take that long for me - about 2 for just my hubpages account.  I disavowed around 40ish links, but I plan to go through and be more thorough in my investigations.  Hopefully it helps - time will tell.

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                     TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Christin S:
                     
                     Really?  It took me almost a month!  Google wants you to show that you have made meaningful attempts to get rid of links before they will even consider allowing you to disavow...and even then, Google does not guarantee that they will make those links no follow.

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                        ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        All I know is I was able to go through the links and create the .txt file and submit it - that's what I did.  Hopefully it will help - if not, I'm not that concerned as I build traffic from social media anyway, but thought it was worth a shot. 
                        
                        I'm not going to spend months of my life chasing down everyone, but a couple of hours worth of work isn't a problem.  When I have time I'll go after more, having people remove links.  I spend too much time as it is chasing down plagiarists and don't need anymore major tasks . 
                        
                        If it helps great, if not - oh well, I'm resourceful I'll find other ways.

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                           TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           Christin S:
                           
                           Perhaps your idea of "going through the links" and mine are different.  How can you know that a link is malicious unless you click on the site, find the domain owner and his location and actually see if what he has linked to seems legit?  Some, of course, are obvious, but others not so much.  When you find a questionable one, you are supposed to email them and request removal, take note of who you wrote to and when, and show Google that you did this.  If you only have a few questionable links, yes, you might be able to do this in half a day or less, but when you have thousands, the whole story changes.  I hope your method works for you, and I hope mine does, also.  If you have other ways to deal with Google hits, that's great.  Me?  I have very few.

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                              ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                              As I said, I did about 40(ish) of them.  It doesn't take that long to do dozens as opposed to 100's. Many that were affecting me were very apparent by the domains or doing a quick look at them.  When I get to my main website, I'll have to do a lot of them and will take more time with it. That site is 12 years old and has hundreds of links to it, so definitely I'll spend some time on it.
                              
                              Here, it was more of an experiment to see if it helps me or not.  I didn't lose excessive amounts of traffic here though - just down a little.  (The bulk of my traffic comes from other sources though)
                              
                              Others who are seeing major drops should of course consider investing more time and resources into getting rid of junky links.  For me, if this works and helps at all; I will know it's worth pursuing and then do it on my primary websites where I earn the most money.  I lost over $100 in revenue last month from one of my sites, the biggest hit I've taken since a couple of years ago. That's a lot to be losing, so I'll have to figure something out and I'm sure it will be a more painstaking process.

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                        Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Actually, TT2, that's not entirely true.  Google asks you to make that effort, but it doesn't check to see whether you've done so.   You are told you can put comments in the disavow file to document what you did, but that's for your reference only - Google never ever reads it. 
                        
                        So in the case of spammy links, where you know, just by looking, that the site is never going to respond to you, then you can save yourself the effort.

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                           ChristinSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           That's the way I took it too.  I saw it as a suggestion, not something you have to do and I did put some comments on some of them, but mostly I just put the links down.  If it works great - if not, back to the drawing board and I'll try something else.  I definitely don't see the worth of wasting my time chasing down spammy sites.  Even with DMCA's I tend to just go straight to the host anymore and don't even bother contacting site owners unless I think there is a good chance that maybe they genuinely don't know the content is stolen.

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 10 years ago

   I think this is a combination of Panda and Squidoo. I'm no expert, but integration of Squidoo may be lowering Hubpages rankings as a whole--watering down the content so to speak. I also think that because of that, all of our pages are ranking lower and lower in Google because Panda filters through the "thin" content and suddenly, Hubpages looks "thin" to Google thanks to the flood of new content.

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      alternativetoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you, Squidoo doesn't have that much quality content like HubPages do and a lot of people are promoting their affiliate content on Squidoo and building links to rank them in Google. Squidoo combined with HubPages will surely make Hubpages to go down.

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