So many unfeatured hubs.

1. 89

   Jodahposted 10 years ago

   I have only ever had one featured hub before but when I checked my account today I was shocked to find I have 13 in featured hubs due to low engagement. This is proof that traffic has fallen greatly. It's not just my lowest scoring hubs either..it is right across the board. Is anyone else experienced a dramatic increase in the number of unfeatured hubs?

   replyreport
   1. 86

      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, dear... Jodah, I am sorry that has happened.  You have published a lot more hubs than I have published, and so really 13 is not that high of a number in my mind?  However, all of my hubs stay featured, as I allow mine (by not publishing too many) to circulate around to where they get viewed eventually a lot due to all being able to be viewed on my first profile page.  I unpublished some of mine on my own if I am unhappy with them myself.  All you have to do is change one word in your titles or reword your titles and that will usually work to get them featured again, and then share them on all social networks. If I happen to notice that any of mine are dropping way down in score, I will (on my own) change up the title to a more Google friendly title, and then share on tweeter, G+ and Pinterest, and then I notice the score on the hub will jump way back up.  I have learned a few tricks over the past two and a half years ... just playing with it and seeing what works and what does not work.  Just take a few minutes to look over those hubs for legal photos, grammar, spelling, and maybe a better title, etc. and you will be surprised at how fast they will all be featured. I truly believe they will be featured, and for "lack of engagement" you must share them so that people will be engaged once again and your followers will share them as well.  I always love supporting those I follow by sharing, as that is what we are all here for to support one another.  I hope it works out and I will share them if I know they are featured again.  I know you cannot say which ones here on a forum, etc.  Blessings

      replyreport
   2. 0

      lambservantposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This doesn't make sense. I'm with the others, you write good hubs. Why they weren't featured before is baffling.  Most of my hubs are featured but the few I have that aren't aren't good quality and I've never gotten around to fixing all of them.
      
      Get in touch with hub leaders and ask them what's going on. If you got them featured that's a good thing, but lowering traffic is a constant thing on HP.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason. Don't be discouraged Jodah. We love you dude.

      replyreport
      1. 61

         puerdycat lmposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi, my hubs were just transferred in. Could you tell me how to contact leaders?.
         Thanks a bunch.

         replyreport
   3. 93

      Rochelle Frankposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm thinking that you mean "un-featured" if so...
      
      Yes, I had it happen several weeks ago-- after I have had 100+ featured hubs for at least 18 months. I went in and did a quick edit of about 12 suddenly-unfeatured hubs -- changed some titles, fixed broken links,  some misc. tweaks,  tweeted a few, etc.
      Suddenly everything was featured again, and continues to be.

      replyreport
      1. 89

         Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I have to do that Rochelle. It was just a shock for it to happen all at once.

         replyreport
      2. 86

         Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, that is all it takes really.  Great!

         replyreport
   4. 82

      oceansnsunsetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I can echo that some, Jodah.  It was kind of surprising.  I hope that things will pick up before long.

      replyreport
      1. 89

         Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks oceansunsets, me too.

         replyreport
   5. 86

      MelRootsNWritesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This has happened to me as well as some of the ex-Squidoo folks in the last week.  I thought perhaps it was only hitting those transferred accounts.
      
      I have about 8 right now, but it seems each day as I work on them, another one falls unfeatured.  It's difficult to keep up.

      replyreport
   6. 84

      ecogrannyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, Jodah, I've had a bunch go unfeatured in the past couple of weeks. In all the time I was on Squidoo, even when I didn't participate much there for two years, I never had lenses go unfeatured, and I always got some traffic, but lately, according to HubPages, I'm getting almost no traffic at all.
      
      Google Adsense seems to report more traffic, but I don't understand Adsense well, so I may be reading those numbers incorrectly.
      
      As more and more of my hubs become unfeatured, I am less and less motivated to keep putting in the hours to reformat my former lenses so they fit better here. It seems like a waste of time.
      
      All that to say that, if such an experienced, well-known hubber as yourself is having this trouble, I can certainly sympathize.
      
      Seeing the other comments here, I begin to wonder if this is a site-wide issue. Until now, I thought that I might have lost my writing mojo, that I don't write well enough, or that I don't understand SEO, which I don't, for sure. But if it's site-wide, then maybe there's hope we can work together some way to fix it.
      
      Thanks for posting this thread. In an odd way, it is comforting to know I'm not alone.

      replyreport
      1. 67

         sockiiposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I've been feeling the exact same way. This week I found about 16 or 17 of my 200 former lenses, now hubs, most all of which I've put considerable time into reworking here since the transfer, had been unfeatured. I'm just debating with a number of them moving them to my own sites as there seems little reason for me to keep them here. My traffic and earnings are about 10% of what they used to be on these same titles at Squidoo (even WITH the way Squidoo had been earlier this year). I don't have anywhere really BUT up to go with these articles if I transition them to my own sites.
         
         It's just...more work than I have time and energy for right now.

         replyreport
         1. 60

            LindaSmith1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            This is why I am totally puzzled.  I am familiar with Socki, BritFlorida and others from Squidoo who did well there, but the same content is dying on Hub Pages!  Why??? Frankly, I am tired of the answer being, add more content, add a ton of photos, add videos.  There are sites and articles that are doing well without videos, a ton of photos, etc.

            replyreport
            1. 67

               sockiiposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Indeed, Linda. Many of the ones I had unfeatured totally fit supposedly everything HP claims to want: more than 1250 words. At least 3 photos, often quite a few more than that. Video or other modules if and when appropriate. No style tip warnings. What else can be done with them? I'm not going to add fluff and useless extra capsules that add nothing to the topic.

               replyreport
               1. 86

                  Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Socki, if they're unFeatured for lack of engagement, it has NOTHING to do with quality or meeting HubPages standards.
                  
                  It simply means the Hub isn't getting enough traffic.
                  
                  I wrote a Hub explaining what it all means, and what to do with unfeatured Hubs.  You'll find it in the slider on my profile.
                  
                  What's complicating the issue right now is the drop in traffic  caused by the most recent Panda, so Hubs which once got traffic suddenly aren't ranking.  I'd say that's why Hubs are getting unFeatured.

                  replyreport
                  1. 67

                     sockiiposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Marisa, I understand that - it's not as if I haven't been writing on line for many years at this point.
                     
                     The simple fact of the matter is, a body of lenses which used to get me 400-500 hits a day, even at Squidoo's lowest traffic, are now only getting me about 100 a day. And with many of them dropping to unfeatured, I feel little impetus to keep them here. At least on my own websites I have better control over my work and I'm tired of the shuffling and re-working things for others' platforms right now for very little return on my work.

                     replyreport
                     1. 78

                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        sockii:
                        
                        Then you have come up with the resolution to your problem!

                        replyreport
                        1. 67

                           sockiiposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           Yep! And the charming, welcoming atmosphere at HubPages in general only makes me more certain about that decision.

                           replyreport
                           1. 60

                              LindaSmith1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                              Sure has me thinking!  When I see things like this happening to those that I know they know SEO better than I do, have been able to maintain a good amount of traffic, and then see them come here to see traffic go in the toilet, has me thinking again about making more sites, after I just got rid of most of them and finding other sites that are doing better than HP is.

                              replyreport
                           2. 74

                              Barbara Kayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              I'm not from Squidoo, but have 3 unfeatured. After being here for over 4 years, I am tired of all this. Eventually I'll just move them to one of my sites or blogs.

                              replyreport
                              1. 60

                                 LindaSmith1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 I got one yesterday, sent it through QAP three times.  Over 1300 words, videos, photos. First published in August, now all of a sudden defeatured for quality.  Paul Edmonson told us to send them to him if we disagree.  I did that, but no response.
                                 
                                 I have already moved most of mine. The rest will be going after we get payments this month. This one is one of the highest of hub scores, red triangle of increased traffic, after they unfeatured it.  Makes no sense. HP is not worth the headaches anymore, and the guessing game has gotten old.

                                 replyreport
                     2. 37

                        Jadelynx-HPposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Amen, I am also tired of wasting time reworking and redoing and generally fixing things that aren't broken.  First on Squidoo and now here.  I am tired of trying to satisfy the rules of others.  2015 is going to see some big changes in the location of my work, methinks.

                        replyreport
                        1. 86

                           Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           At the risk of sounding like a broken record, do please bear in mind that a blog or website will fail unless it concentrates on a single topic.  It can be a very broad topic, but all the content must be completely relevant to that topic, and every advertisement and link within it must be relevant.   Google doesn't like generalist blogs.
                           
                           Your Hubs seem to cover a wide range at the moment, so you need to look at which topics are working best for you (or alternatively, which topic you're most passionate about).

                           replyreport
                           1. 60

                              paradigmsearchposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                              My infamous blog/website covers every topic on the planet. And it gets visitors from Google each and every single day. Apparently, Google is treating each of my posts there as if it was a hub here. Go figure.
                              
                              So, general purpose blogs/websites do get traffic from Google. I just make sure to SEO the living daylights out of each of my posts.

                              replyreport
                              1. 86

                                 Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                                 I'm not saying they'll get NO traffic, but everything's relative.  What kind of daily traffic are you getting?

                                 replyreport
                                 1. 60

                                    paradigmsearchposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                                    Not enough to entice HP to put their Ad Program on it.

                                    replyreport
                     3. 86

                        Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Sorry I misread your post. I thought you were suggesting you'd have to make your Hubs longer to get them Featured again - which suggested you thought they weren't meeting HubPages standards somehow.
                        
                        It seems like Squids have been hit by the perfect storm. 
                        
                        First, many of you have multiple 301 redirects on your lenses/Hubs - which doesn't hurt, but it means that the full value of your lenses' reputation and backlinks is not being transferred.
                        
                        Second, many of those 301 redirects seem to be broken. 
                        
                        Third, the new Panda has hammered HubPages (even Paul Edmonson says virtually all sub-domains  lost traffic this time, unlike previous Pandas).
                        
                        On top of all that, I'm beginning to get worried that traffic from the 301 redirect is being treated as Internal, which means it doesn't count towards the traffic count for Featured status. I may be totally wrong but it would be great if some Squids could do some traffic analysis to see if that's possible.  It's unfair if it's the case. 
                        
                        However, I've always said that in the long run, your own sites are a much better bet than writing sites, IF you have a specialist topic and IF you're prepared to put a lot of work into admin and learning how to monetize effectively.

                        replyreport
                        1. 67

                           sockiiposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           I have two focused blogs which are already both bringing me in far more in adsense than the pathetic amount I'm getting from my transferred-to-hubpages lenses right now. So I just plan on moving the appropriate articles to those sites as and when I have time, and will decide if it's worth starting up more focused topic blogs in the future.

                           replyreport
                        2. 68

                           makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Marisa - the fact of the matter is there are a LOT of very disillusioned ex-lensmasters from Squidoo who have records of the traffic and earnings that their lenses got on a failing site - and now find that on Hubpages they are doing much worse. My situation is not as bad as Sockii's but my traffic has more than halved as has my income.  (Incidentally most of the discussions about HubPages by ex-lensmasters is NOT taking place in these forums).
                           
                           At the same time people have been moving their ex-Squidoo content to new websites and blogs and finding that it is generating both traffic and income and on the whole they're doing much better in places other than HubPages.
                           
                           Right now, I don't think many of us have got a lot of energy for another move - however come the New Year I think HubPages is going to see a lot of the quality content which transferred in heading for the exit sign.
                           
                           I mean - if you KNOW your content has done better elsewhere plus you have some extensive experience of building blogs etc and making them work, why wouldn't you transfer content from a site which is not performing well?

                           replyreport
                           1. 86

                              Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              I'm not sure what point you're making relative to my post - seems like we agree.

                              replyreport
                              1. 68

                                 makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 Indeed - I'm more and more convinced that the days of the article sites are numbered and that people need to be focused on topics they are expert in and be writing about them on their own sites.

                                 replyreport
      2. 70

         Fiorenzaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You are definitely not alone @ecogranny.  I've increasingly had this happen to mine, even one that I fixed early on.  Still trying to work through them and update which is not easy given the different rules; and I wasn't one for shopping cart lenses.  The traffic is just much lower than on Squidoo for whatever reasons, probably Panda among other things.

         replyreport
   7. 82

      peachpurpleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      me too, i have 120 hubs, 10 unfeatured. So, i remove the broken links, changed the photo, add in polls, video and more words. Now they are featured

      replyreport
   8. 84

      bravewarriorposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      John, not too long ago some of my featured articles got the half circle. I shared them on social media to get them re-circulated and that did the trick. I'd start there and see what happens. Now I only have one unfeatured article and it's because it's basically a video and that's it.

      replyreport
      1. 89

         Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes Shauna, I have started to share them, add some videos etc. We shall see what happens in a couple of days.

         replyreport
   9. 38

      ijdmtoyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I echo that some, Jodah. 
      It was quite shocking but  I hope that will pick up before long.

      replyreport
   10. 61

       puerdycat lmposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Perhaps the (is it? ) rating has been affected by all the Squidoo accounts (now hubs) that were just transferred in.

       replyreport
       1. 89

          Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Hi puerdycat, maybe you are right. There could be a few different forces at work, but that could be one.

          replyreport
2. 86

   Michael Kismetposted 10 years ago

   I've never had any hubs 'unfeatured', but I've only been here four months with 48 hubs.  But the last few days have been the worst ever in regards to traffic and earnings, for me personally. 
   
   To put things in perspective, I earned more when I had published my first 10 hubs then I am currently with 48.  Strangely, my hub scores continue to skyrocket, despite plummeting traffic.  Maddening. We can only hope for the best, I suppose--but it's definitely taken the wind out of my sails, as far as adding more content goes..

   replyreport
   1. 86

      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      So true, it is not quantity but quality.  However, Jodah has high quality hubs.

      replyreport
3. 89

   Jodahposted 10 years ago

   I just re-read my original post. It should read "unfeatured" not "in featured" ..auto correct being difficult.

   replyreport
4. 58

   Kenzcocposted 10 years ago

   Is it possible? My hubs are often featured even most of them aren't attracting traffic (most probably due to the topics I've chosen). I'm sorry for what happened to you though.

   replyreport
   1. 78

      colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I believe if you keep the hubs updated every so often they will stay featured. That could be time consuming for hubbers who have many, many hubs.

      replyreport
      1. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes you're right, it does get time-consuming - because if you edit a Hub to Feature it again, it won't stay Featured unless it starts getting traffic.  So then you have to edit it again, and again.  It becomes pointless if the edits don't result in more traffic.

         replyreport
         1. 68

            makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Or you you could just move your content to another site where the way your content ranks reflects how many genuine followers it gets or how well it does in attracting traffic and sustaining rank.
            
            Real "hard core" stuff!

            replyreport
            1. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               If you read my Hub on what to do with unFeatured Hubs, you'll see that's exactly the advice I give. 
               
               The whole point of HubPages is that it should be passive income - if you have to do constant tweaking, the hourly rate just isn't worth it.  So if your Hub won't stay Featured on HP it should be moved elsewhere IMO.

               replyreport
               1. 68

                  makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Spot on!

                  replyreport
5. 96

   Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years ago

   So sorry to hear that, Jodah. It seems like you get more traffic than most hubbers. This is hard to understand why any of your hubs are unfeatured.
   
   PS: are those unfeatured hubs similar in category or really old?

   replyreport
   1. 89

      Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Some poetry, some short stories Phyllis. All around a year old, but I have hubs that are 5 years old that are featured. Weird that I have only ever had one un-featured before in 160 hubs and suddenly 13 at once.

      replyreport
6. 0

   Snakesmumposted 10 years ago

   Yes Jodah, I've had a few more un-featured hubs this past week.  I've been working on bringing the old Squidoo stuff up to HP standards, so haven't been working on traffic.  Looks as though traffic is down again.
   
   Today I didn't get any more un-featured hubs, so was able to update the last of the Squidoo lenses.    Now I'll have more time to devote to getting traffic.
   
   Sorry you're having this problem - you write good hubs!

   replyreport
7. 99

   chef-de-jourposted 10 years ago

   Jodah, you have to tweak and edit and scan for typos. Rework titles, tags and presentation. I hope it won't take much to get them all featured again. I wish you well. Keep creating new hubs! And there's the new design coming out soon which hopefully will give everyone a fillip. Take care.

   replyreport
   1. 89

      Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks to everyone who has replied. It's a relief to see it isn't just me that this has happened to. I have been going through my lowest rating hubs and revamping them by adding videos extra content etc and reshare, and have been successful in raising their hub scores, but this all happened quite suddenly. There are a few hubs like my micro-poems that I will be able to combine into one larger hub, probably reducing my number of hubs by about half a dozen when I have time. I can now sympathise with those who had to update their squids when the transfer to Hub Pages occurred.

      replyreport
8. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   Hub scores, hubber scores is something we will never figure out. Essentially, they don't mean anything to anyone but HP and of course those of us who are driven nuts by the scores.
   
   Recently, I checked all of  my hubs to see where they rank on Search engines.  I have a dozen hubs that are ranking on page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, in search engines, while their hub scores are  in the 60's.  A hub can be scored a 90 one day, and 60 the next.  Hub scores have nothing to do with how a hub ranks in the search engines. Hub scores don't draw traffic to our hubs.
   
   How these scores are scored, etc is a total secret which will never be revealed to us by HP.   Over and over, hubbers have increased HP activity, added videos to hubs, etc only to see hubber score as well as hub score go down, rather than go up as they should according to what learning center tells us to do to get scores up.   But what do these scores really mean?  Who knows!!!!
   
   Decent content, getting views, having a decent ranking in search engines is what we need to focus on,  not scores given by some coumputer!!!

   replyreport
9. 70

   BritFloridaposted 10 years ago

   Yesterday I edited and promoted 75 unfeatured hubs. Today I find I have a bunch more to do. One of hubs that was unfeatured consistently gets 500 hits a day. (It used to get double that on Squidoo). That's 'lack of engagement'?

   replyreport
   1. 91

      Ramkitten2000posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      500 visits a day and yet unfeatured for lack of engagement--a half-filled circle icon? Definitley sounds like a bug of some kind. If it were me in a case like that, I'd write to HP.
      
      Totally different thing, but I have a hub that's marked with the little red copyright notice, saying it looks like someone may have stolen my work. I click it to see the offending URL and it's the Squidoo URL, so the redirect for the exact same hub. So you click it and it goes right back to the hub itself. Weird.

      replyreport
   2. 78

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yesterday Paul wrote in a post that the team is bringing in new ways to reduce spam, etc. here and because nothing has updated here in several days, I suspect that is what is going on right now with the servers.  This may be having some negative effects on the wrong people...BUT...Jodah, although I love your work, you do know that poetry is generally not well received and often does not get good views, so this may be part of the problem.  That's just a guess, though.
      
      I am currently finishing a complete update of my entire site...I have about a dozen articles left out of  the original 147 that got hammered in mid August for reasons that still have not been made clear.
      
      I was shocked to see how many typos and other errors I had, and correcting them has t has improved my hubber score and my CPMs and none of my articles have been unfeatured...so far!  My views still are nowhere near where they were, but somehow I am still making some money . 
      
      It is disheartening when things like this happen, but you just have to push through them until you come out the other side.  I wish you the best and hope things turn around for you soon.

      replyreport
      1. 89

         Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks TIMETRAVELLER2, Yes I know poetry doesn't do well in regard to general popularity and views (I'm doing my best to change that by writing poetry that's more fun and acceptable to the general audience) and I always work on my poetry hubs by adding extra info and videos etc. The thing here is that quite a few of my unfeatured hubs here are not poetry. I have managed to have three of them re-featured since I started this forum.

         replyreport
         1. 89

            Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Now that the stats are supposedly working again. Two of my hubs that are unfeatured due to lack of engagement are shown in stats as having no views in the last 30 days. Both have comments from two days ago so how can they have no views? The note at the top says stats are up to date as of two hours ago.
            From the original 13 unfeatured I now only have three.

            replyreport
         2. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            It's easy to get your Hubs re-Featured - if you edit them, that sends them back through QAP and if they pass, they get Featured again.
            
            However if they're not getting enough traffic, they will soon fall back into unFeatured and you'll have to edit them again - and again - and again.

            replyreport
   3. 95

      PegCole17posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That is absolutely amazing. How can a hub with that many hits per day become unfeatured for lack of engagement? Something is definitely wrong with the traffic stats.
      
      For a fact, under traffic sources, I'm still seeing -5 and -1 numbers. How can something be un-viewed once viewed?
      
      Jodah, I'm so sorry you've experienced this. It always feels like a slap when that happens. And yes, I've had this happen recently out of the clear blue on hubs that always were featured in the past. I wish that fixing the broken stats would become a priority here.

      replyreport
      1. 89

         Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Brit, I have since updated the offending hubs and they have all been "featured". In addition my Hubber score has risen from 87 to 92 without having published any new hubs. So I recommending refurbishing and updating your hubs.

         replyreport
   4. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No, that's definitely NOT lack of engagement, and you should report it to HubPages - either on the Technical Problems section or via email.
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/category/3001
      
      If a Hub can get unFeatured with that many views, there is a bug somewhere and HubPages need to know.  Remember, staff do not monitor the community threads so posting here isn't going to get their attention.
      
      It's really important because if this is affecting you, it could be affecting everyone.  Perhaps 301 redirects are not being counted?

      replyreport
10. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    BritFlorida:  You usually have an answer.  Hope you can answer this one!   Why has your content, when on one platform, done well, but once moved to another platform, the traffic drops.  Sometimes hubs will not do well on Hub Pages, yet a hubber may move those hubs to their blog, website, and then see those hubs soar in traffic and earnings.   I don't get it!!!

    replyreport
11. 70

    BritFloridaposted 10 years ago

    Hi Linda,
    
    Weird, isn't it? But something I don't understand is why hubs become unfeatured just as the buying season is starting.
    
    I can understand why people aren't interested in my Halloween articles or those about 9/11 or Valentine's Day but for general hubs with products, it doesn't make sense.
    
    Unless of course, the whole idea is to get people promoting their work for the buying season. If so, it's a strange way to go about it.

    replyreport
12. 70

    BritFloridaposted 10 years ago

    I wrote to HP and enclosed a screenshot of my stats showing unfeatured hubs with plenty of hits but I only got the standard 'edit and promote' email in return.

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       That's not good enough. Someone should look at it. How can 500 hits a day be lack of engagement?

       replyreport
    2. 91

       Ramkitten2000posted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, I wrote to them about the copyright notice error (kind of a "circular" error, I call it, like a dog chasing its own tail) and got a generic, cookie-cutter type of reply as well.

       replyreport
13. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    Brit: That is sad!!!  It seems like: If we have an issue with site not working properly, etc. we are told it must be our computer.  Is
    sues like yours, or traffic in general, we are told edit and promote!
    
    Edit:  Take out a word, a sentence, put it back in the hub, and then hit done editing. 
    
    Stats are not up to date to begin with, so why are hubs with a lot of views being hit for engagement?

    replyreport
14. 60

    Erin Mellorposted 10 years ago

    I shifted four "unfeatured" off HP yesterday and updated a couple of others.  Today five more have a circle of doom.  I'm not convinced that constantly updating for HP is the best use of time as these hubs had traffic and sales last year, it just seems like HP isn't a good home for a lot of what I'd written and I don't know why.  It's a shame to lose their "web maturity" but I do need to think about which will work here and which I'll evict.

    replyreport
    1. 70

       BritFloridaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       On various social media circles and groups there are many ex-Squidoo writers saying exactly the same thing. It seems that there's a huge exodus going on. All the writers I know have their own sites so it's preferable for their work to be under their own control rather than have to deal with bugs, glitches, stats not updating, unfeatured hubs etc.
       
       I've also noticed that there is much more plagiarism from HubPages. I spent the best part of a day filing DMCAs recently.

       replyreport
15. 86

    Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years ago

    Paul said in this forum that there was a bug in the featured / unfeatured process. 
    http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/126735

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I just read that link by Paul, but it said the bug related to hubs that were supposed to be unfeatured being made featured. This is the opposite to my problem.

       replyreport
16. 72

    ocfirefliesposted 10 years ago

    John,
    
    So glad you asked this question for the answers you have received have been really helpful.  Thank you!
    
    Kim

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       My pleasure Kim. I thought if I was having this problem, others would be too.

       replyreport
17. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    I do know that Google does not favor sites with bugs because they see it  as a site not being maintained.  I am not sure about the plagiarism and  how it affects sites.   I have hubs with low traffic, months old that are ranking well in Google searches.  I don't understand how an article can do well on one site, then do badly here. I wonder if the lenses from Squidoo lost their ranking with Google search engines even with the 301 redirect?

    replyreport
18. 70

    BritFloridaposted 10 years ago

    One of my sites has a 200 word minimum. Every article usually has three images and three outgoing links. It has made three times more money this month than my hubs have here.

    replyreport
19. 65

    Billrrrrposted 10 years ago

    Hubpages is much like Nantucket Sound, across from my house.  The tide changes every few hours.  Driftwood and assorted flotsam  wash ashore with the occasional jetsam.   Some things already ashore, are washed away. with the outgoing tide.   
    
    That is my long winded way of saying that Hubpages seems to change its mechanics very frequently.  Whatever happened to you was  something 'they' did. 
    
    I do not fear or resist change, but I have never been very impressed with the alterations they make.  For me, simple is better.
    
    I always had a great number of both featured and un featured hubs and I never really cared. Truly I was writing mainly for myself and to keep in practice.   I still managed to get over 100,000 page views before I pulled most of my work.
    
    I did Fiverr for a few months and made way more money on that site than on hubpages - but the work got too demanding and I shut my little stand down. 
    
    I then focused on re-purposing much of my writing as Kindle books and have gained a wider audience and am making  more money with Amazon than with Hubpages.
    
    I never had a hub with 500  views in a day, but my books have approached that level!  I reached number one (in my genre) with one of them during a free promotion.  Another rose to Number 20 in paid books, in its category. 
    
    This is something you may want to consider.  I can help you with book covers.  I have made some pretty good ones so far.
    
    Keep on writing - What ever you do Jodah, like a flag, you will always be; at the top of the pole. 
    
    your pal,
    
    Bill
    .

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the kind words Bill. Congratulations on your well deserved success on Fiverr and then Kindle. I had two paid gigs on Fiverr which led to more with the one client, but have had no other takers there. I do write mainly for my own self-improvement and my followers on Hub Pages rather than Google so I can't complain about traffic. My main aim is to keep my hubs featured so I just have to work harder at that obviously.

       replyreport
    2. 89

       Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for those kind words Bill and congratulations on your success with Fiverr and now Kindle. I should get serious and compile a book but I want it  to be something different..a mix of poetry, short stories and articles. I am trying to have some sort of revelation as to how to compose it.  When I do and need a cover designed, I know who to turn to. Thanks.

       replyreport
20. 60

    LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

    l know if I hop hubs, I hope right past poetry hubs. I don't even bother to read them.

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Well in my opinion you are missing out on a lot. I know poetry isn't everyone's cup of tea, but poetry hubs are the ones I am most likely to stop and read.

       replyreport
21. 71

    LeanManposted 10 years ago

    Hubs are unfeatured if they do not receive traffic through Google - the reason for this is to avoid penalties due to Panda....
    
    Panda will assess your whole site (or HP subdomain) and will judge your whole site based on your weakest content. So if you have some articles that Google does not like Google will reduce the rankings of the other pages on your site also...
    To get around this HP uses Google itself as an indicator of the quality of a hub - if Google does not send any traffic to the Hub then obviously it does not like that hub! Very simple.... However it will also unfeature hubs that are well written but are in areas that no one is actually searching for. Being unfeatured does not mean that your writing is poor!
    
    HOWEVER if you are not receiving traffic through Google having your hub unfeatured will not affect you! You will still get the same amount of traffic to that hub - zero!!
    
    
    If you do not get traffic through the search engines because no one is searching for what you have written which is often the case with poetry and short stories then it does not matter what site those pages are on they will not get traffic....... Who is going to go onto Google and search for "An ode to my purple hamster" or "The amazing adventures of whizzo the schoolboy wizzard". People use search engines to ask questions like "How do I use an apostrophe?" or "Where can I buy a Pizza" or "How do I change the fan belt on my Mazda"...
    So if no one is searching for what you have written you have to go to the people to get traffic - this means finding places to share your work with people that will appreciate it. So sharing on specific facebook groups, tweeting, joining relevant forums etc..
    
    Being unfeatured makes no difference to your traffic if no one was searching for what you wrote!!

    replyreport
    1. 78

       colorfuloneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       That does make sense.
       BTW, I see you have a One Million Views accolade.
       You walk the talk. ~ Congratulations!

       replyreport
    2. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks Leanman. I know all this but it wasn't my point. I was here on Hub Pages for 4 years before I had my first unfeatured hub, now I suddenly have 13. I realise it is probably a result of Panda and that's ok, just saying it was a shock to have 13 suddenly unfeatured at once. I do all those things you say, share my poetry on about 6 different Google+ poetry groups and other poetry forums, and my other hubs in a few different Facebook groups etc. I have now only three unfeatured out of 160. My latest point is the stats show no views when if there are comments during that period there have obviously been views.

       replyreport
       1. 86

          Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Now I am wondering if the frozen stats for five days have any bearing on your hubs being unfeatured?  I dont think that HP should penalize anyone due to their problem. Just a thought, but it may be that all other stats are frozen too and no more hubs should be unfeatured?

          replyreport
          1. 89

             Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             Yes Faith, that is what I was worried about. I can understand if they have been unfeatured due to no "engagement" but if they have comments though the stats are frozen and show no views you begin to worry that they are being demoted unfairly.

             replyreport
             1. 60

                LindaSmith1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                All I can say is when I do a new hub, and it is not featured yet, my stats show number of comments, but says zero views until it is featured.
                
                Weird, comments on stats, but stats not updated.

                replyreport
22. 60

    fpherj48posted 10 years ago

    Jodah....scuse me honey...but you confused us.  read your statement.....you say you have "13 in "featured" hubs.....I didn't reply because I couldn't make sense of what you were saying.....I actually thought that I was reading it wrong.....(in case you get comments that don't make sense to you.....that's probably why....lol)

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Yes Paula, somewhere along the way I corrected that...predictive text changed my "unfeatured" to "in featured" and I didn't notice until later. Thanks for that comment.

       replyreport
23. 60

    fpherj48posted 10 years ago

    OK Jodah......just being a "Mom" as usual and looking out for you!! 

    replyreport
24. 91

    Minnetonka Twinposted 10 years ago

    Hi Jodah-I too am having this same issue of my featured hubs becoming unfeatured. I share them regulary through the different sites, so I don't understand why it's happening. I guess it's bee about two months or so that this has happened. I use to have almost every hub featured until this issue. I am confused right along with you.

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I see Matthew Mayer wrote on another forum about the same topic that hubs need to have a mix of traffic from both social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well as Google to stay featured. If they only get traffic from one and not the other they may be de-featured.

       replyreport
25. 78

    Shorebirdieposted 10 years ago

    Seems like this is happening a lot, lately, even when hubs are getting traffic.

    replyreport
26. 61

    Daisydotposted 10 years ago

    The most annoying thing about this is that the Googlebot may visit while it is unfeatured, see the noindex tag and then not bother to visit again for a month, because in the rest of the web, a noindexed page generally stays noindexed, so pointless for the bot to waste time revisiting.
    
    I wish hubpages would find some other way - perhaps put a "revise this" icon besides the hub, but not noindex it unless it had stayed unrevised for a month after the notification to revise.

    replyreport
    1. 89

       Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks Daisydot, that suggestion sounds good to me. Perhaps HP should issue a warning something like "Warning! This hub is in danger of being de-featured. Please update or review". Then we have the option and it isn't a shock to find a whole group of hubs suddenly un-featured.

       replyreport
27. 89

    Jodahposted 10 years ago

    Just an update for everyone. I have revised all of the hubs that had been un-featured and all are now featured again except one that is still pending. Thanks to everyone who replied on this forum. My Hubber score has also risen by 5 points since revising even though I haven't written any new hubs.

    replyreport
    1. 96

       Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Awesome! Good for you, Jodah. I came here to check on your status, so this is good news. I found it so hard to believe that you had any unfeatured hubs.  Weren't you voted the "Most Lovable Hubber" or something like that? LOL (I know, Best Poet).  It seems like my email notifications have more of your hubs on the list than anything else.  Glad it is clearing up for you. 

       replyreport
       1. 89

          Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          You are too kind to me Phyllis, "Most Loveable Hubber" I wish. As has been said, my hubs are not generally "how to's" though I do have a couple. So I am not a Google favourite but as long as I have friends and colleagues who enjoy and appreciate what I write, I am happy. Check out my "coffee in the Morning" hub if you have time. I added a paragraph and photo of me holding up the mug I received for "best poet." Stoked.

          replyreport
          1. 96

             Phyllis Doyleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             I will do that - how exciting and what a nice way to commemorate your poetry award.

             replyreport
          2. 78

             colorfuloneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             Tipping my cupa' coffee to ya', Jodah and Phyllis.
             That is a very nice looking poet's pottery mug.

             replyreport
             1. 89

                Jodahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                Thank you colorfulone. Cheers.

                replyreport
28. 60

    topbestreviewposted 10 years ago

    Nope, i have not noticed that. Maybe because i was a little lazy. Will publish some articles today and see what happens!

    replyreport
29. 89

    Jodahposted 9 years ago

    Well it looks like the stats are up and running again or at least been updated. I have one hub that has had 412 views in the last 24 hours but only 415 for the entire month. Talk about going viral. That's usually how many views one of my hubs gets in a year.

    replyreport
    1. 78

       colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       In my book HP those are bragging rights, Jodah.
       A nice surprise I'm sure.

       replyreport
       1. 89

          Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Just checked my accounts page again and Hub Page have been doing a shuffle again. Some of my lower scoring hubs have now shot to the top with scores higher than they have ever had while some of my leading hubs have dropped. The overall average score is higher though an all featured so all looks goo.

          replyreport
30. 60

    shellys-spaceposted 9 years ago

    I had some increase in traffic today...maybe because it is Cyber Monday?

    replyreport
31. 68

    J - R - Fr13m9nposted 9 years ago

    I don't think that I have however I have experienced receiving comments on a hub before it has been approved by those in charge.

    replyreport
32. 81

    ILoveLegosTooposted 9 years ago

    I had a hub in the last month change status to "Not Featured - Traffic", which was receiving a lot of Pinterest traffic (500 hits per week).  What I found is that when this hub status changed occurred, the Squidoo redirect was removed and I lost all of my Pinterest traffic as well.  It seems like HP is shooting themselves in the foot by immediately removing Squidoo redirects upon this status change. 
    
    So basically, all the previous holiday pins are crap since most of the hubs go inactive during the off season.

    replyreport
    1. 78

       TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       I would contact the team about this.  Surely this is a mistake?

       replyreport
       1. 81

          ILoveLegosTooposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          I have a second thread here where HP acknowledged the problem and fixed it right away.
          
          http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/133286

          replyreport
33. 81

    passionatelearnrposted 9 years ago

    i don't have any unfeatured hub.though one of my hubs has very low traffic.

    replyreport
34. 60

    flpalermoposted 9 years ago

    I have 19 featured Hubs and not a single one has been made public here at Hubpages.
    (Zero exposure to the membership). I sometimes wonder if I should continue writing.

    replyreport
    1. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       FPalermo, what do you mean by "made public"?   Are you sure you understand what "featured" means?

       replyreport
       1. 60

          flpalermoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          when I publish a hub, and it  is "featured," I don't see it posted so other hubbers can see it, as it was done before. Yet, I noticed that a new hubber member published her first hub, and it was posted in 48 hours.  I am  didappointed at Hubpages. im beginning to lose interest in HP.

          replyreport
35. 86

    Kristen Howeposted 9 years ago

    The first hub usually takes the long time if it's pending, or have been resubmitted for issues. It happened to me a year ago. Any other hubs will have quicker published times, usually within the first few hours. So don't ditch HP just yet. It takes time for it to pass QAP.

    replyreport
36. 81

    passionatelearnrposted 9 years ago

    I think you need to improve the quality of your hubs.

    replyreport
37. 78

    Shorebirdieposted 9 years ago

    I'm having a problem with a lot of unfeatured hubs, but I don't think it has to do with quality. Instead, I think it has to do activity and promotion.

    replyreport
    1. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       There are two reasons to be unFeatured.
       
       One is quality (but that only gets checked when you write the Hub, or if you edit it - otherwise it's left alone)
       
       The other is "lack of engagement", which just means lack of traffic.  Promotion may help improve traffic, but probably only a temporary boost.  If you want to improve traffic long-term, you need to look at the Hub and see if you can improve its searchability.  Titles are especially important.

       replyreport
       1. 78

          Shorebirdieposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Mine were all featured with no problem for a long time. They only became unfeatured when I stopped putting in a lot of time here and stopped promoting them.

          replyreport
          1. 86

             Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, but what is the type of unFeaturing?   Is it for Quality or for Lack of Engagement?
             
             I assume it's lack of engagement, which just means lack of traffic.  If you are active here and share links socially, you'll get a dribble of extra traffic which will prevent them being unFeatured - but as you're finding, that's not a long term solution, it's only a temporary fix.
             
             If you want a fix that could keep them from going unFeatured without you having to constantly promote them, then you need to learn a bit about SEO and use it to improve your Hubs, especially your titles.

             replyreport