Why Not Mine HOTD and Editor's Choice for Niche Sites?

1. 94

   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   I've noticed that I keep seeing HOTDs that fit the niche sites yet weren't chosen for the niche sites because they still have HubPages URLs.
   
   Why not save some time in the selection process for the niche sites and mine all the recent HOTDs and all of the Editor's Choice hubs for use on the niche sites?

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   1. 81

      sallybeaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I agree it would save a lot of time.

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2. 94

   jansharesposted 8 years ago

   I have a feeling that criteria standards for niche site hubs are higher than the earlier criteria for HOTD and EC hubs. I don't mean "quality" necessarily but things like links, Amazon capsules, etc that have always been acceptable are no longer as acceptable for niche site hubs. So there may be several excellent hubs that are passed over for niche inclusion. Maybe they are starting with the hubs that are easier to snip/edit to get the site site filled as soon as possible. HP staff will tell me if I'm wrong.

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   1. 94

      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I've seen a HOTD in the last week that would fit in Bellatory.
      
      It really sucks if HOTD now only means a hub that is one of the best of the hubs that are not good enough to move to a niche site.

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      1. 82

         Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         It may be that they are using the same criteria as they did for Editors Choice. Only one article on each topic will get moved, probably the one with the most Google views.  So your better hubs may be getting edged out by someone getting higher Google traffic than yours on the same topic. Or they just have not gotten to those topics yet.
         
         If you update a hub you think should be moved, it will get new eyes on it for possible inclusion.

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         1. 94

            Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            This makes sense except that they moved one of my less attractive hubs that I don't think would ever qualify for either HOTD or Editor's Choice.
            
            When I used the word 'mine' in the thread title I did not mean something belonging to me, but to mine as in to dig for something. I'm not whining that my hubs aren't getting chosen, just suggesting they look at the hubs that are already labeled as higher quality that they can easily pull up. Or whoever chooses HOTD could just talk to the rest of the team. It's weird to see a newly-chosen HOTD that fits one of the niches perfectly, yet isn't on it.
            
            Again, I'm not talking about wanting my own work to be moved (I have little hope for the majority of my hubs), but about using hubs they already have tagged as higher quality to make their jobs easier. Currently, they are apparently slogging through the brand new hubs first and if you've ever hub hopped, you know that's a mixed bag, one far more mixed than hubs they've already given quality accolades.

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      2. 79

         LuisEGonzalezposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         The process seems skewed to say the least.

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3. 92

   lisavollrathposted 8 years ago

   On paper, this sounds great, but there has been SO much complaining about the quality (or lack of quality) of the HOTD and ED hubs, I can't imagine it would really save much time. What has worked here in the past may not fit the model for ideal hubs on the new niche sites.

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   1. 94

      Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The hubs getting moved to niches aren't really the best, either. The hub I'd consider tied for my second to the worst food hub (one I'd been meaning to spruce up a lot when I got the time) got moved to Delishably, but my better written food hubs with prettier pictures are still here. It's certainly not good enough to be a HOTD.

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4. 95

   SmartAndFunposted 8 years ago

   I am under the impression that for the niches sites, HP is mainly moving hubs that get a certain amount of traffic, in addition to being high quality. I assume high quality hubs that don't get moved are staying put because of low views.
   
   Maybe someone on staff will chime as to whether or not that is true.

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   1. 100

      chef-de-jourposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I'm puzzled. A hub of mine made it to a niche and it is a low traffic, unspectacular member of the species. So why choose that one? I'm not sure about the criteria for inclusion but from my angle it's certainly not traffic!! Wonder what it is?

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      1. 95

         SmartAndFunposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Well there goes the validity of my assumption! Who knows? Maybe it's some mystery algo no one really knows or understands, like the scoring system here.

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      2. 94

         Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Some of my hubs that moved to niche sites are low traffic hubs, too, so your guess is as good as mine. None of them are really my very best hubs, either.

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         1. 87

            Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for answering a question I had. I was wondering if it was worth adding new hubs now, but didn't think to go on the hub hopper and see what people are writing.
            
            Most of my hubs with high views are being snipped, but does that necessarily mean they will be moved?

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            1. 94

               Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               They really need to be getting as many hubs as possible transferred to niche sites as soon as possible, so we can only hope they are only editing hubs that will move to niches.
               
               I'm curious as to where they'll move the atheism hub of mine they've snipped if our guesses about snipping are correct.

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         2. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            My theory, (and it's just a theory based on comments made by HubPages staff), is that they create categories for the niche. Then they look for high-trafficked Hubs to fill those categories.   If they can't find enough high-trafficked Hubs to fill some categories, they will look for others.

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            1. 79

               LuisEGonzalezposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               That's (traffic) probably isn't the criteria either. The hubs for the so called 'photography' site have almost no comments and probably less traffic with some made by authors with little time on HP, only a handful of hubs to begin with and  almost no followers.

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               1. 86

                  Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Comments are no indication of the amount of traffic a Hub is getting.  Most comments on HP are from other Hubbers, which (as you know) is a tiny fraction of the overall traffic.  Most of my Hubs get very few comments from outsiders, unless they are asking my advice about something. 
                  
                  I also understand that they are putting brand new Hubs on the new sites, since they have to go through QAP anyway so they can make a decision on them at the same time.  So that would explain the new Hubs appearing there.

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                  1. 79

                     LuisEGonzalezposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Comments do not matter much IMHO but they do reflect some sort of visibility. The problem that I see is that the staff have a level of expertise based on other things besides writing,music,poetry,gardening photography etc. For example they look at stats and more than likely that is how they decide on what to move and what not to move. Stats alone should not be the deciding factor in what gets moved. It would have been better, I think, to at least ask authors to suggest which hubs to move. In my case I would look at photo related hubs and give my opinion and I would definitely not have chosen at least two of the current ones now featured on the Felt...something site.

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                     1. 86

                        Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        If the comments are from outsiders, then yes they give some idea of visibility.  If they're from other Hubbers, then they're meaningless because Hubbers get notifed of new Hubs and also see them in their feed. 
                        
                        I agree stats should not be the deciding factor but as you know, HubPages is obsessed with pleasing Google and that is the goal of the niche sites.  So naturally they want to concentrate on Hubs that "please Google", i.e. the ones that get the most Google traffic.

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                        1. 79

                           LuisEGonzalezposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           And you are right...like always but it still seems like we are being completely ignored. Hope this move works well in the future as I really like it here( I rant I know, but still like it).

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                           1. 86

                              Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              You've also got to consider the time constraint.  They need to get these sites up fast to stop the business hemorrhaging money - they don't have time to sit down and canvas opinions.

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                              1. 86

                                 Sherry Hewinsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 That's true. If they poll all of the members every time they want to make a change, it will be non-stop debate with no consensus. This way we can bitch all we want, after the fact.

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                                 1. 79

                                    LuisEGonzalezposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    lol.....that's so true.

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                              2. 82

                                 Solarasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 It may be that the main site will implode with so much good and decent content and traffic being siphoned away at this stupendous rate.  Links are being removed between hubs (I had links to many of my hubs that were related in a suggested further reading that are being removed). All of this should have the algorithms doing back flips - a machine would say that these are very bad signs for the HP site.

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                                 1. 86

                                    Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    That's one of my points.  HubPages says they won't abandon the main site - but the main site is a failed business model, that's why they are undertaking this huge project to create all the niche sites.  Given that, why would they worry what the changes are doing to the main site?

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5. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   If HP doesn't snag my one and only HOTD for a niche site by the end of the week, I'm transferring it to my website.
   
   When HP sees this post, they will no doubt tremble in fear at the loss of 37 views a month.

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