My Hub Is Un-featured again due to SPAMMY links - I have NONE

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   hypnodoctorposted 9 years ago

   Hi, my hub http://hypnodoctor.hubpages.com/hub/How … em-Knowing has been featured for years. It's even a part of the HubPro program, where an editor edited it and made it better (this happened a few months ago, maybe about 6).
   
   So, a day or two back I edited the hub and added a link to my site. The hub was subsequently de-featured due to "spammy links". I have a separate issue with that because my site is anything but spammy but I'll leave it be for now.
   
   My problem is that when I deleted the link, the hub remains not-featured. And I got another "heads-up" from the editor that my hub could be featured but it isn't due to "Spammy links".
   
   Well ... There aren't any links in my hub.
   
   What gives? I've had a similar issue just a month ago and it cost me a lot of visitors. And now just as the hub picked up again, it gets de-featured again.
   
   Help me out, here. It's getting really frustrating.

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      tsmogposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I am no expert. Did it say Spammy Elements or did it say Spammy Links? I received a spammy elements notification on a Hub written about performance scores. The Hub discussed two different types of properties.
      
      Anyway I identified each property many times in different forms. Plus, I used perform, performance, and etc. many times. There were others too like using property and properties many times.
      
      I had no outbound links to another site. I had no products - eBay or Amazon since it was an information hub. It turned out with scrutiny and editing to be too many keywords . . . I believe. That is considered Spam by Google and HP.
      
      Here is their link to Spammy Elements http://hubpages.com/faq/#Spammy-Elements
      
      I have no idea how the algorithm does it magic for keywords. Who knows what a reader may think at the Turk or Hopper regarding keywords. However, I have a macro in word I use to do a 'word' frequency count I use with articles now. I copy / pasted your article and ran the macro. Here are the results for the top used word frequency and below that for usage of hypnosis.
      
      Again I do not know the magic of the algorithm and this is just my experience with 'one' hub. However, after I edited many of the keyword nouns to pronouns it went through the QAP. Maybe it will offer some kind of help especially if contacting HP regarding the article.
      
      Freq-Word
      63     you
      27      in
      25      your
      23     it
      21     that
      16      hypnosis
      16     can
      15     as
      13     you're
      13    this
      12      have
      12       covert
      11      place
      11     mind
      10      it's
      10     do
      
      Freq-Word
      16    hypnosis
      5     hypnotize
      3     hypnotized
      2    hypnotizing
      1     hypnotherapist
      
      27 Total ÷ 1306 word count = 2% (Does not include the video, poll and the quiz)
      
      It is used in the title and 5 sub-headings.

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      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Your Hub was marked spammy for promotional links in the comments section.
      
      Remove any such comments and you can submit your Hub to be evaluated for publication.

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         janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         "Your Hub was marked spammy for promotional links in the comments section."
         
         If you know what the reason is, why not include it is the original email?? Even a hint as to the cause would be very helpful. Otherwise a writer ends up making willy nilly, hit and miss stabs at potential 'spammy elements' and makes changes all over the place hoping to get a reprieve. It is an extremely annoying process and creates a great deal of ill feeling and anxiety. Having to email the team takes a lot of time. Surely HP staff would be better used doing other things, than replying to emails. Please support the community in this way. Be transparent!! Why the secrecy?  Be Helpful!!!!!!!

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         1. 69

            Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            We do not have the resources to provide individual feedback for each Hub that does not pass the QAP. If an author has a question about a specific Hub they have the option to email us at team@hubpages.com

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               janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Please update the information about "Spammy Elements" re:  promotional links in the comments section. This is the first time I have heard about this one. It is not specifically mentioned in the Learning Section FAQ. http://hubpages.com/faq/#Spammy-Elements
               
               Comments are added by others not the author, and so it is not a deliberate act by the author themselves. Please be helpful. Thanks.

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                  Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I did not say the comments where added by other people.
                  
                  I simply stated that it was a good practice to set your comments such that they need to be approved.

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                     Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I still think it should be mentioned,  because I certainly wouldn't think to check the comments if I got a "spammy elements" warning. 
                     
                     I generally don't approve comments with links, but occasionally I will allow it if I think the site is relevant.

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            2. 52

               janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               "I did not say the comments where added by other people." + elsewhere
               ...makes sure that no spam comments are posted without your knowledge."  ??? even more reason why this needs to be clarified in the FAQ. IMO
               
               I would be surprised that old hubs that get unfeaured for quality are identified via the usual QAP process. In my case, the hubs that get the 'bullet-hole" have all been QAPed, several times before, as I regularly edit my hubs. My guess is that these hubs are identified via a different process - a software test for inappropriate links, for example, run over all hubs on the site, including QAPed ones. Perhaps, now or in the future, for spelling and grammar tests.
               
               If this is the case, then I suggest that various versions of the original email notification be developed giving authors hints about the likely cause for these targeted searches and flagging. No extra work in doing this, which would be very helpful.

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            3. 52

               janderson99posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               @Matthew
               At the very least I suggest that the text of the notification email for 'unfeatured for quality' be changed;
               
               From
               
               Your Hub was likely defeatured because it contains spammy elements. Perhaps it was written for a link or had excessive products capsules or product capsules that were not directly related to the content.
               
               To this
               
               Your Hub was likely defeatured because it contains spammy elements. The most common of these are:  The hub appears to be written to promote another site, via a link. The links in the hub itself, or in the comments, are inappropriate or unrelated to the content. There are too many product capsules, or they are not directly related to the content. There are spelling, grammatical or layout errors.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  +1

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            makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            +1

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         lizstevensposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         So how do you e-mail the team if you think it is a mistake? I'm getting the same thing.  Nothing in the contact US.
         
         Thanks
         Liz

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            Kristen Howeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            You can go to team@hubpages.com.  That's the address I've used, Liz.

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2. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 9 years ago

   The only thing you can do is email the team. It sounds like a mistake.
   
   However, before you do that, I suggest you add the link to your website again.  Your website is about the subject, totally relevant to the topic and therefore can't possibly be considered spammy.  Just make it discreet, don't do a "sell" job on it. 
   
   If you get it checked with the link in place and it's approved, then you're laughing - if you make the enquiry without the link, then you're going to be scared to try adding the link.
   
   Make sure you point out to them that this is a HubPro Hub.

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3. 69

   makingamarkposted 9 years ago

   Do bear in mind that changes in how they are listed following making changes to links can take a little while.
   
   Give it a good 24 hours and at least one update to the dashboard before making a complaint.
   
   (Written from experience of going round and round in circles only to find out that not everything happens instantaneously!)

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   hrymelposted 9 years ago

   Could it possibly be from the links posted in the comments? I know that's not in your hub, but I think they'd still count as links on the page to Google bots.

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      hypnodoctorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Turns out it was exactly because of the links in the comments (one of the moderators here was kind enough to take a look and has warned me). I have deleted those comments and reposted the Hub for re-evaluation. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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5. 76

   hypnodoctorposted 9 years ago

   Thank you for your suggestions.
   
   @makingamark: I'll wait a while before complaining to the team (I don't even know how to do that, I'll have to check). But I'm pretty sure it has been un-featured because I got an email from the editor that my Hub could be featured. What I'm worried about is the "noindex" tag, which will get it deindexed from Google again (as it did a few months ago when I had a similar problem - but then I had "too many Amazon capsules" in the Hub, which was encouraged before the new policy update).
   
   @hrymel: The site was once before approved with the links in the comments.
   
   @Marisa Wright: thank you, I'll do as you suggest.

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6. 87

   Kristen Howeposted 9 years ago

   Hypno, just send them an email stating the issue of your hub with your email address linked to the account. It worked for me, when I've gotten the dreaded NFQ symbol a few times. They've gotten back to me on why it was listed as spammy.

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      hypnodoctorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks! I'll do that.

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7. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   One thing that jumps out at me is the quiz at the bottom which has a link that says "get this widget".  Is that meant to be there?

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      hypnodoctorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's automatic. It's a part of HubPages quizzes I guess. Couldn't take that away if I wanted. Thanks for the idea, though.

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         psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Okay, I guess I just never noticed it before!
         
         I could not find any links in your article. Weird.

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8. 77

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   So now a single spam comment can get one put under the Spam hammer... time for everyone to turn on active moderation of comments?

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      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It is a good practice to set your comments such that they have to be moderated as it makes sure that no spam comments are posted without your knowledge.

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         paradigm searchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         What happened to automatically classifying the comment as spam and simply not showing it? That protocol has been serving us well for years, http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments?co … ilter=Spam

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         makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I agree about the moderation of comments on all hubs at all times is a good idea - so why don't you make that the default for all hubs?
         
         Squidoo had all comments automatically marked up as "no follow" so even if somebody had a naughty person leave a link on their unmoderated lens there was no way it would get that lens in trouble.
         
         Does HubPages actually allow "follow" links in comments? That seems like a major mistake to me.

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   alexadryposted 9 years ago

   Makes sense, there are many spammers just waiting to post their spammy messages. I have also started the "must moderate before comments appear" only thing is that it takes some time now to read through several comments and categorize appropriately. If i miss a few days of moderating, comments start stacking up, but sure worth it to prevent spam as sometimes they still make it through the filters.

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    jackclee lmposted 9 years ago

    It may be due to delay in processing. I have experienced hubs with bad links warning. After I remove the offending links, the status was not updated for days.

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