hub score of 100 drops 35 points--baffling

1. 78

   CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years ago

   My Hub "People Almost Met: Lily at the Pool" recently had a hub score of 100 and stayed at the level for about two weeks.  Now it is in the 60's. It has lots of comments and about average views (for my hubs).  Anyone know what I can do about this?

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   1. 83

      Solarasposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think they just revamped the Hub Scoring system (removed traffic from the formula among other things, I believe). 
      
      As a result, my scores are dropping like flies. Some that were in the high 80s are now in the mid 60s.

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   2. 70

      brakel2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I never heard of a hubscore dropping like that, and I would almost send an email off to staff re this obvious ERROR. Something is not right, and maybe one of their robots that tallies numbers crashed. If it is legit, it is the strangest thing I ever heard. Sorry this stressful incident happened to you.

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   3. 0

      Miran Shuletaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      This is the first time I have heard of a score dropping so rapidly. This is very unfortunate indeed.

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   4. 93

      Thelma Albertsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The hubscores are really dropping so low and just now I discovered that my profile score from 95 (which stayed for a year above 90´s) a few hours ago dropped to 85. I know I should not worry about this but I wonder what is happening here.

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      1. 83

         rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

           A hubber score update.
         http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/129577

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         1. 89

            Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Well it has happened. Mine has dropped from 96 to 90. Oh well at least it's still above 85 so links won't be made "no follow".

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2. 68

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   If this had happened to one of my Hubs, I'd be looking at the Google Analytics stats to see what (if anything) had changed in terms of outside traffic and response.

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3. 96

   SmartAndFunposted 9 years ago

   Sometimes I wonder if hub scores are just a tool that HP employs to keep authors checking into the site and involved with their accounts -- just another carrot to keep writers engaged. It's only a theory but seems applicable quite often.

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   1. 78

      CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I find it demoralizing.

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      1. 96

         SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I'm sorry this is happening to you. The scoring really does seem arbitrary. It has helped me tremendously to never look at scores. If I am happy with how an article has turned out, it is getting views, and the comments tell me that the information has been helpful or enjoyable, I consider it a success. I'm not going to let a flawed algo tell me whether or not my articles are of good quality. I'm open to critiques from real humans, however. Human readers are what count, not a computer program.
         
         You are a fine writer. Don't let a thoroughly flawed computer algo mess with your head. Reject it. High scores are not doing anything for you, nor are low scores counting against you. Your work stands on its own.

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         1. 78

            CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            SmartAndFun--thanks for encouraging comment.  I keep saying I won't look at hub scores, but I can't seem to help myself. I get thrilled when they go up and bummed when they go down.  I thought the new algo would keep hub scores more stable because quality does not change. Alas, no.

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            1. 96

               SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               
               
               Ignoring the scores can be hard, especially for those who are motivated by grades or scores. I'm sure you have no trouble passing the QAP. That is all that really matters.

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         2. 60

            renaissancemamaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I am new and I already find myself obsessing over the scores. I need to stop. It's already killing my enjoyment of the process. Like most people I want to write and make a little money. I can't make heads or tails of this scoring system or whether I need to change already.

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            1. 89

               Ramkitten2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Obsessing over the scores ... that's what I believe HP wants. It's a manipulative game, designed to get people to stay engaged and constantly updating and trying to improve their hubs. That's how I see it. But they won't tell us exactly what the scores mean or why they change so much, which, to me, makes the whole thing utterly ridiculous. Either tell us exactly what these scores mean and why the same, untouched hub's score changes so much, or get rid of them.
               
               It's like giving a kid a failing grade on an exam but never telling the child why, so s/he doesn't learn a thing.

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               1. 60

                  renaissancemamaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Exactly. The more I read, the more it seems this way. I will continue to write for pleasure and income. And let the scores fall where they may.

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            2. 96

               SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Hi rm, I see that you're new here, so welcome!
               
               You haven't asked for my advice, so pardon me when I offer this, but IMO, rather than worry about scores, I think you should read over some of the "stellar" hub examples (http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Elem … tellar-Hub) and emulate them -- meaning, cover your topic completely, include photos, use subheadings generously and split your information into plenty of paragraphs, include your own experiences when applicable, add in a YouTube video if you can find an applicable one, etc. I'm not one for maps, polls, quizzes and tables (and  don't seem necessary for most of the topics I write about), but those are said to add value to an article, too.
               
               From a brief look at your hubs, it appears you are already doing these things, so you are off to a great start.
               
               Also, give your articles titles which are what a Google searcher would likely type into the Google search box. I think your "Mandie" title is a good one, but for your article on anticipating grief, you might want to consider adding something in about "how to cope when a loved one is terminally ill" or something to that effect.
               
               Other than that, don't worry about scores. There is a lot to learn here, so rather than worrying about scores, spend that time reading forum threads and Learning Center articles. It takes time and content to get traffic, so keep writing and build up your account, and you will begin to see more and more traffic as you add more content. You seem to have a lot to offer in terms of your life experiences and the quality of your writing, so write away to your heart's content, and enjoy yourself without worrying about the scores. Eventually your traffic will pick up, and you will start getting comments from complete strangers, asking you for advice and/or thanking your helpful articles. You will also earn a little money. Base your success on these indicators, not on the silly scores. Again, welcome!

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   2. 89

      Ramkitten2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That's what I've been thinking, ever since I "arrived" here several months ago from Squidoo. Seems more like a psychological experiment to me or something designed to keep people active -- actively trying to somehow improve their hubs to chase that carrot of better scores. After all, search engines like "fresh" content, so republishing apparently helps. I do feel like this scoring system that no one seems to be able to figure out is rather manipulative, playing on our collective nature as high achievers to want our content to be "the best." Or something like that.

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      1. 93

         jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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4. 89

   Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years ago

   They recently changed how hub scores were calculated to reduce the traffic measure.
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/129003

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   1. 78

      CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I know about the reduction of influence from traffic. That's why this is perplexing.  The traffic on this hub was not high when it was high rated, and it is about the same now.

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5. 93

   jansharesposted 9 years ago

   I know how you feel, Cahterine. I had one that hit 100 a couple of times, stayed in the high 90s for the past couple years or so. Now it fluctuates between high 60s and low 70s. There are several others that never leave the seventies and eighties. At one point, I had 22 to 25 hubs stabilized in the 90s. I think those days are gone. It's due to changes in HP and in Google. Frustrating but we have to roll with it and not let it define us as quality writers.

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      Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      A few weeks ago I had the most of my hubs ever scored in the 90s now there are only about six. I used to always have a handful in the 50s as well but fobrtunately all the lower ones have risen to over 60. It is constantly changing.

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6. 0

   Lorelei Cohenposted 9 years ago

   I am finding the new Hubscore to be a very demotivating factor for working here at Hubpages. What a screwy system.

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7. 89

   Jodahposted 9 years ago

   I wouldn't worry too much Catherine. I had one hub in the mid 90s for some time, that hub is currently my lowest rated one on 61 about two months later. Others that were in the 60s are now in the high 80s and 90s..it seems to be fluctuating daily.

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8. 78

   colorfuloneposted 9 years ago

   Some of my hubscores are fluctuating from day to day, and some are holding steady. One hub that is consistently staying in the 80's (was 90 for one day) is a puzzle to me, because I do not think it is that good. Perhaps category / topic has something to do with it. I do not try to figure it out.

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      CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think you are on to something colorfulone.  I think the score might include the strength of  of the topic.

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      1. 78

         colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I am curious, if that hub's score has gone back up yet?

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         1. 78

            CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Colorfulone: Nope,  the score is now 69.yet, a month or so ago it was 100 for a week or two. Weird.

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            1. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I don't see it as weird, since the change in score happened around the time when HubPages changed how scores are calculated, so I'd say that is the reason.  I saw a huge change in my Hubs' scores when that occurred.  To be honest, I can't see any rhyme or reason in the scores as they stand now - even less than before!

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               1. 93

                  jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, they are no longer as stable, fluctuations are extreme and frequent.
                  Edit: and much lower.

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               2. 78

                  CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  My hub scores did not change much because they wee never based on traffic.  However, my average hub score is now 2 points lower than it used to be.

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            2. 78

               colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Catherine, thank you for replying and satisfying my curiosity.
               Have the views dropped to that hub as well?

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               1. 78

                  CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  colorfulone: When a hub is first published there are a lot of views; then it drops off to only a few a day.  When I got a hub score of 100 the views were just as they are today, a few a day.

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                  1. 78

                     colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     That is interesting. Even more interesting is that I see very few in the forums who's Hubber Score stays at 100 like your's has.

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                     1. 78

                        CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Thanks for noticing colorfulone: I feel good about that.  It does sometimes go down a little bit, but then comes up again. So my hubber score does not drive me crazy like my hub scores do.

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                        1. 78

                           CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           I guess I got a little too cocky about having my hubber score at 100 for weeks. It was 100 earlier today, and now it is 94.  Nothing has changed. I still publish at lest two hubs a week, read and comment a lot on other peoples hubs, get a fair number of comments up votes and shares on my own hubs, participate in forums, and I am showing a small but upward trend in views. I lost 6 points in an hour. Plus my average hub score is now down 3 points.  Plus a hub that has had a score in the 90s for most of its life has now sunk to the lowest score I have ever had for any hub-62.  I feel like a rat in a maze trying to get just a bit of cheese. Only the game is rigged, reinforcement is random, but I'm only a dumb rat and I feel like I have figured out how to get that bit of cheese. Thank you everyone who writes nice comments because I need some positive reinforcement. If I do something, I want to do it well.

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                              colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Catherine, the Hubber Score Update that happened today is in this post if you haven't seen it yet. http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/129577
                              
                              That is a big drop from 90 to 62 on a hub. I hope the scores will level off. A summer vacation without a thought of hub and hubber scores would be nice.

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                                 Organised Kaosposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 I too had my 100 hub drop to 96.
                                 
                                 But even more concerning, a new one go to 71 when it started at 86.
                                 
                                 Something must be going on in the hubscoring hopper maybe?

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                           2. 59

                              thetruanttrainposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Hi Catherine, I'm fairly new here and think that the whole hubscore thing should be removed or changed. This conversation has been going on for 4 years now as I found a post on this subject that long ago. It's seems to cause a lot of discouragement for writers, which is not a good thing. I almost laughed when my hubscore was always 81 or 82 even after I added another short story, but then within minutes of me adding a photo to this story my hubscore went down. And now again today it went down. This happened since yesterday after months of the same score. I'm speculating that even though I had more stuff I'm not getting much traffic but then I hear other people saying they get more traffic lower score. Here's a message to HubPages change it or get rid of this system because so many people get discouraged about it and I can see why

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9. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   Exactly Ramkitten.  Can you imagine how many hubbers keep going back and doing something to their hubs because of these scores that really mean zip.   Well, Google loves fresh content, updated content.   Hubbers are going crazy over these scores, constantly making changes, etc.  Of course, Google thinks new content, updated content etc and raises rankings.   HP benefits over this paranoia, not hubbers.  Hubs cannot go from a 90 today down to a 70 tomorrow if you have not touched it.   Add a video, or an photo, maybe new information, instead of scores going up, they go down so hubbers go back and play with the hub some more.  It is insane.  Imagine how many articles could have been written while playing this game that you will never win because you don't know the scoring system or how the game is really played.    So happy, I don't deal with this anymore.

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10. 91

    Kylyssaposted 9 years ago

    I ignore the hubscores above seventy because they don't line up with quality as editors and readers see quality. I have noticed that my hubs below a hubscore of seventy generally are a bit in need of some polish or more content.
    
    I have hubs for which I have some strong evidence suggesting readers find them to be of high quality. For example, one hub has been organically shared on an assortment of social media sites, ezines, and blogs by about a quarter of a million people. It generally scores in the eighties, below hubs that haven't been read by more than a few hundred people much less shared by readers. I have hubs that have inspired clients to hire me without advertising my services in any way. One hub which has gotten me over a dozen clients, also sits below those low-performance hubs, usually down in the seventies.
    
    I have hubs that have been picked up by print publishers and hubs linked to by magazine editors. You couldn't pick them out by their hubscores, either.

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    1. 78

       CatherineGiordanoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Kylyssa: I would love to know which of your hubs brought you a client /or a/4 million views.  I need to study those hubs to see if I can figure out how to achieve that kind of success. Altho, if it is trade secret, I understand.

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       1. 91

          Kylyssaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          My money rose hub has around a quarter million shares (1/4 million, not 4 million), mostly on Pinterest. I think its "secret" is just a vivid, interesting photo that got shared by the right person at the right time. It also won me a spiffy Squidoo hoodie and a bunch of cartoon monster stickers.
          
          My hub about ten of the most popular wedding flowers has gotten me at least a dozen gigs, some of which have turned into long-term business arrangements. Oddly enough, it didn't rank all that well on Squidoo, either. Admittedly, one of the gigs required keyword stuffing and embarrassed the frack out of me. I said yes to it before I read the offer over thoroughly. I don't even like that hub all that much; I think it's kind of stiff.
          
          Two of my hubs on homelessness have brought me several gigs each. One of them is now a part of a UK social studies unit for students ages eleven to thirteen. I've lost track of which homelessness hubs have resulted in excellent volunteering opportunities, one of which landed a paying client. Their "secret" seems to be getting read and shared by the right people at the right time.
          
          My hub with love poems on it brought me one gig writing custom poetry. Again, it was seen and shared by the right person at the right time.
          
          My serialized sci-fi novel brought me a gig writing comedy routines.
          
          And my hub on Swiss Army knives got me several very flattering non-monetary indecent proposals from older men. Its secret appears to be that some men of a certain age group think middle-aged tomboys nostalgic about pocket knives are hot.
          
          Several articles and poems published in ezines have brought gigs into my inbox, too. An erotic poem brought me an amazing learning experience in which I learned not to write a word or sign a ND/NC until remuneration and a time frame have been discussed. That took me a year and a half, a few dozen conference calls full of business-speak, and almost two hundred short scripts to figure out. Luckily, the same poem, Grind, also brought me a gig writing custom erotica for a very nice, generous couple, got me a monthly column in the magazine for six months or so, and won a poetry contest or I might have sworn off poetry entirely.
          
          There's nothing to study, really. My writing is nothing special. I just have really good luck sometimes. People see writing similar in style to what they want and contact the writer to produce more of it. If you make yourself easy to contact, you are bound to get such offers, assuming the right readers come along.
          
          Sorry if this is scattered. I'm feverish and I tend to ramble at such times.

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11. 74

    Uzochukwu Mikeposted 9 years ago

    Share the hub on social media sites to generate more traffic. You can also edit it.

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