Does Google keep HP articles in a separate category

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   Ben Aidooposted 10 years ago

   In the past 5 months I've searched for thousands of words on google, never once have I seen an article from HP. Then learning from a post in the forum, I searched for a keyword on google and added "hubpages". For the first time, I saw one of my articles on the first page on google. It's an understatement to say I was surprised. I'm wondering if google keeps all HP featured articles in a separate category, accessible only when you add "hubpages" to your search. Anyone has a clue why we rarely see HP featured articles on the first, or even second page on google search?

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      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No, it is the same search library as everything else.
      
      I've got several hubs that show on the first page, and there are many more throughout HP.

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         Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         What a relieve, wilderness. I guess I've got my work cut out for me to meet that goal. Thanks for the motivation.

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      relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No, Google does not do that.  But your situation really illustrates just how easy it is to have a title or keywords that aren't making your content stand out.

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         Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         When you're writing about the Atkins Diet, it's pretty tough to find a better keyword than "The Atkins Diet". On my title, perhaps I should have spruced it up a bit by saying "10 Sure Fire Tips On The Atkins Diet". That would get me a couple of readers, but I doubt it would impress the google crawler, which is mainly interested in keywords, original, highly researched and engaging information. Thanks anyway, for refreshing my thoughts on keywords and titles.

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            calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            there are already 1234765453452433242 webpages about the atkins diet, that's your problem.

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               Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Those who see problems as reason to do nothing remain at the bottom of the hill. Those who see problems as stepping stones, with effort, find themselves at the top of the hill. It's your choice how you see a problem.

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                  calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  okay ben, best of luck in your future endeavors

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   LeanManposted 10 years ago

   There are many keywords that you will find hubs featured on the first page of a Google search. Certainly I have many that are on the first page and even the first position. However you have to understand that if you use keywords that are high competition such as "Atkins diet" you are very very unlikely to ever see yourself on that page. There will just be so many other sites and pages that you are going to be competing against; many of those sites will also be specialist established sites unlike hubpages which is a general site which anyone can use.
   
   The trouble is if you use those "long tailed keywords" such as "10 sure fire tips on the Atkins diet" how many people will now be searching for your keywords? You can easily rank number one in Google for "How to keep a soft skinned lesser spotted green bellied gecko"; but then no one would ever search for it.
   
   The skill of writing online is finding those keywords that have searchers and also have little competition......

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      Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hey there, LeanMan. My understanding is that we should not shy away from keywords simply because they are "high competition keywords" pursued by "specialist established sites". That if we wrote about a topic from a unique perspective, we had as good a chance as any other site to appear on google first page. To support this view, if you read any three of these specialist established sites articles on a topic, it would seem you are reading the same information presented in different words.
      
      You may say, yes Ben that's a good argument but it will bring you no traffic. And yet if I chose a keyword with less competition, as you pointed out, I could appear as number 1 on google first page, and still get no traffic because nobody would be searching for that keyword. So what did I do. I wrote a unique article on the Atkins Diet, even threw in a brand new weight-loss plan, and put my chips on rolling with the big dogs, so to speak, hoping that the google crawler would abide by its promise to "let the best man/woman win". Do you think I'm naive thinking this way?

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         paperfacetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         My new strategy is to use those keywords with less traffic to work up some visits, comments and possibly backlinks from the Internet. Once you have some traffic work up every couple of months with higher traffic keywords. Looks organic to the engines and slowly gives your article authority.
         
         But honestly, I was thinking HubPages has some kind of red mark against it. I am a Squidoo transfer and I have decided those articles need all new authority. I'm taking the steps above. Some articles will never do well, but some will work up to 1st-2nd page. I hope.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Why not leave "Atkins Diet" out of your title?  Refer to it as "a very well known diet" or "a popular way of losing weight" and then bring the name into the body of your article?

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            Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            TT2, on reading your comment I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair from your suggestion that I should refer to the Atkins Diet as "a very well known diet" in my title. Now, talking about a wild goose chase for traffic, I can think of no other wilder than choosing the title you suggest. How would the google crawler know what I'm writing about if the main keyword is missing from my title?

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         calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         you need to find the happy medium between insanely high competition and utter obscurity, the sweet spot. you are pursuing one extreme.

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            Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            The issue of falling traffic is a major concern at HP, and there is no escaping the fact that it is driven by competition. Google crawls millions of articles from authoritative and specialist writers and media outfits all over the world. Our articles are put in a search library where they must live or die in competition with the best of the best in the internet content business.
            
            Some find the falling traffic and the need to raise it daunting and perplexing. Some have embraced the challenge, and by doing so we may find ourselves changing the nature of the "article". An article will no longer be a piece of writing that you read and put aside. An article will become a compelling "reference source" that you would go to again and again for helpful information.
            
            The article of the future, born out of fierce competition will not be one built around a single theme, it will be one built from related multiple themes, finding its usefulness in the degree to which it highlights in the mind of the reader the relatedness of the multiple themes of the article. In a small way, I think my article on the Paleo Diet is the closest to the future than I realize.
            
            In the era of the Google Panda, the competition is upon us, and there is no "sweet spot" in which to hide.

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               calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               what you're describing is wikipedia.
               
               it seems that since you cannot find the sweet spot, you conclude it does not exist.

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      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I've got one of those - google "rotten egg pie" and I'm #2, just under the dictionary definition of rotten eggs. 
      
        Used to be #1, though, and now Bing has me at #4.  On the plus side, if I Bing it in quotes, I have 4 hubs on first page.  Wonder what that means?   And if I use quotes in Google I'm #1 while #2 and 3 are pins of the hub!  Hooray!

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   Mark Ewbieposted 10 years ago

   I'm not very interested in diets.
   
   Now a hub on pies.  That would be great.

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      Ben Aidooposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If you search hard enough you will certainly find a hub on pies, no question about that. ME. Just keep searching.

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