Bottom of the barrel hubs

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   jansharesposted 7 years ago

   Do you have hubs that stay at the bottom of your hub list no matter what you do to them? Is it the unappealing subject matter, boring content, too short, oversaturated topic, poetry, or something else?
   
   I have about 5 or 6 at the bottom of my barrel of 83 hubs. I'm curious about why and wonder if others have the same experience. These are not bad hubs, not poorly written at all. But they just never got off the ground.

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      aaslposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think it has to do with appeal. Like I wrote about the media and terrorism and it didn't accumulate as many views as I was hoping for. But on other articles I wrote they were slam dunks. I'd say if it's important to you, update it and republish it. It can't hurt. 
      
      Hey check out my page if you like what you see follow me. I'll do the same for you!

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      1. 90

         jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         One of my "bottom of the barrel hubs" is about terrorism, specifically the Paris attack. It's currently #83 and stays there. Good point. My media hub on breaking news actually does well. Thanks for your input.

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   2. 71

      manatita44posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think they go there even if they are excellent but very few traffic. Having said that, having a video, poll, summary, decent pictures and the appropriate number of words do help. Use sub-titles and watch the arrangements of the pics. I have quite a few and generally know what to do. They sometimes tell you also, Just time needed and interest in my case. Carry on!

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         Faith Reaperposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Those are excellent points, Manatita,
         
         I do have some that stay at the bottom for some reason, but it seems they do pick up when I tweak the title (even poetry) and then I share on Pinterest, Twitter and G+ and it does seem to help.  I've been adding at least three legal images (usually more), a poll, a video and all of that too.
         
         However, here of late, HP seems to be going through the phase of unfeaturing for lack of views, and that is when I tweaked the title and all other required additions, if the hub was written four years ago when I first joined, and I notice I haven't update it since. That usually works like a charm, but I just had two very short poems that have been featured since over four and a half years ago when I first joined and then they just now went half circle, and so I tweaked the titles, and shared.  They received views on the other sites, but then HP made them full circle for unfeatured?  I'm wondering why had they been featured for so many years and now not?  I guess times are changing.  I hope all the poets with their short poems don't experience such!  Well, we always say HubPages, but it may very well be Google.  So, I just unpublished them.  They had tons of views and comments, but ...

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            manatita44posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            The word that Faith used is a good one: 'Change.' They are a business and are watching competitors we may not even know! They keep changing to stay ahead... on top. This includes changing or teaching new staff as they admit, and that can affect things.
            
            Still twig it, do the necessary or relaunch as Cam does occasionally. Trouble is that one can have so many and so little time! Much Love.

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      2. 90

         jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, excellent points and advice, Manatita. Faith, I've seen the same when I tweak one, either a poem or otherwise. It goes up for a few days, then sinks right back down to its low spot.

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   3. 92

      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      My music hubs stay at the bottom, but when one of them was moved to Spinditty, it did a lot better. They are so low traffic, I fear that they will never be moved to niche sites until I recommend them myself.

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      Jackie Lynnleyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I have one that stays low but has over 93,000 reads so I just can't delete it! Should I? How can that be I wonder?

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         jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Are most of those views from years past? I wouldn't delete simply because it's a big chunk of your overall total, especially if reaching milestones are important to you.

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            Jackie Lynnleyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            No, it says 1 day views 196! I have tried my best to get the answer on this because I know it is dragging my average down yet the one people look at most. The system here is one big mystery...to me.

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            1. 90

               jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Me too, Jackie. I don't fret over it too much anymore.

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               1. 86

                  Jackie Lynnleyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't Jan and now I am at Jodah's poem site and do some editing there I really am not here that much and it has taken the concern from me that I previous had. A better way to be...lol

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            2. 92

               Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               What do you mean it's "dragging my average down" ? If you are talking about hubscore, I would ignore that. Traffic is the important number, the score is meaningless.

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   5. 98

      DrMark1961posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I have quite a few, but according to HP team it is better to spend your limited time improving those Hubs that already get a lot of traffic and leave those bottom feeders to fend for themselves..
      (I do not feel there is anything wrong with a lot of them, but there is limited interest in some areas and no matter how much I improve them there is always going to be limited interest.)

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      1. 90

         jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the confirmation, DrMark. I have a feeling the biggest issue is lack of interest which we cannot change.

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   6. 86

      NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The ones I have that have never gotten much traffic are always at the bottom due to lack of appeal. There are no keyphrases that will make them rise and they are just not what people are looking for on the Net. I learned my lesson a long time ago that, if I want traffic, I have to write about what people are looking for and use keyphrases they will type into the search engine.
      
      Although my own blog that is basically on the same subject matter gets much more traffic and better earnings than those Hubs; mainly due to the fact that I have articles on that blog that are part of a subcategory that gets more traffic and seems to attract more clicks.

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      1. 86

         NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Those low traffic Hubs I wrote way back when I started and didn't understand the game.

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            NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Also would like to add that that more successful blog flies in the face of most SEO advice out there on such things as ad placement and page speed. However, it has the right keyphrases. This taught me that, really, keywords are, well - the key.

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               jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, Nate, for your very valuable input.

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   7. 82

      peachpurpleposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      yes, I have 12 hubs that had been staying at the bottom of the list for 6 years, no matter i tried to change and edit the hubs, still stays, there...but i don't really bother about them anymore

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2. 98

   chef-de-jourposted 7 years ago

   Yes I do have hubs like this and I've been wondering what to do with them for a long time! Do I delete them and use them elsewhere? Do I let them stagger on indefinitely? It's tricky. I think at some point in the not too distant future I'll decide on a cut-off point - say hubs that only attract 10 views a month will be axed - but is ok to leave hubs that hardly ever get going? Perhaps the bounce rate is affected and they undermine the whole? Not sure. Please let me know what you decide.

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      jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I sure will, chef-de-jour. When we get attached to some of them, it's hard to decide. My gut says if they're not hurting anything, let them be for now.

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      1. 84

         Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I think the most important question is - if I delete this Hub, what will I do with it?
         
         If you can't think of another place where it could be put to good use, what is to be gained by deleting it?   If it's Featured, then it is earning something even if it's only pennies.

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3. 95

   FatFreddysCatposted 7 years ago

   Yup, I've unpublished about a dozen of my lowest performers recently, they just never got much juice no matter how many tweaks/edits/shares I gave them.

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   wildernessposted 7 years ago

   I think we've all got a few.  Some of my own:
   
   A couple written for hubbers.  Unfeatured, I leave them as a service to the site.
   
   Several on holidays.  I leave them (featured) because they do get traffic for a few weeks per year.
   
   Several older "sales hubs", full of Amazon capsules.  They've made sales in the past, but I suspect they are for the chopping block as they will never, ever be transferred to the niche sites.
   
   A small handful that I just plain like.  Comedy, creative writing, etc. 
   
   And finally quite a few that only get a handful of views per month as the topic just doesn't generate interest.  I'll keep them in the hopes they will be put in the niche sites eventually, but if they aren't they're gone too.

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   1. 81

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The ones I wrote for the internal audience (Hubbers) don't do well, either, and they get unfeatured. I keep them around because so many Hubbers said they were helpful - I just hope they don't pull my traffic down without my knowing it.
      
      Some of my worst (worst) performers are from the Exclusives titles the site had a few years ago. I know the site likely got burnt by those, too (I am sure the invested money in what they thought were titles hat had been vetted for good SEO potential). I spent quite a bit of time writing those duds. They're well-written, and I hate to delete them, but they do nothing for me or for the site at this point.
      
      I feel badly for HP that they got duped (I believe) when they acquired the titles and made them available to us. They weren't around very long, so some of you (many of you) may not even know of that sad happening.

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      1. 90

         jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I remember that, Marcy. I think it phased out before I got here. Was that related to the thing in the hubtool where suggestions were given to change the title of your hub? I think I'm recalling two separate things. In any case, most of us seem to have duds for whatever reason.

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5. 90

   Will Apseposted 7 years ago

   It is very difficult to judge the value of a page on the main domain. Various penalties are crushing the site and every single page. Even if a page has poor read times, of the kind that suggest readers find it unsatisfactory, it can merely reflect the fact that the page is unable to reach the audience it is intended for.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Very true, Will.
      
      However I think my worst performers are at the bottom of the barrel simply because they're on subjects that people don't search for much.

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   Glenn Stokposted 7 years ago

   I think Will Apse had a very strong point about hubs on the main site. As more and more quality hubs get moved to network niche sites, the ratio of low to high quality left behind is increasing. That larger percentage of lower quality is most likely affecting the remaining high quality hubs.
   
   Therefore, I wouldn't be so quick to delete hubs that are at the bottom of the barrel. I have a few too. If I were you, I would wait until those hubs get selected and moved to niche sites. You can always submit one of your choosing every 60 days, in addition the ones that HubPages is selecting on their own.
   
   In the meantime, I am constantly upgrading, analyzing GA reports, experimenting with title changes based on what Google shows me people were typing as search quiries, and even adding more content to those poorly performing hubs.
   
   And most of all, make sure each hub is a stella hub with all the requirements for selection to be moved to niche sites.

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      jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you to all you vets for your excellent input on this phenomenon that seems to hit us all.

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   Jodahposted 7 years ago

   I usually upgrade or move my lowest scoring hubs to try and raise my average hubscore, but it never seems to change. Say for instance I have an average score of 73. I move any hubs lower than 65 expecting that to cause my average to rise. It doesn't It seems my highest rating hub scores are then dropped so that my average is still 73.

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      jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting.

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   RonElFranposted 7 years ago

   Yes, I have several that just languish at the bottom, getting a few views per month. You can't really predict which will take off and which won't. I have one hub that I remember wondering if it would ever get to 100 views (it seemed stuck at 99 for the longest). Now that hub has just experienced a social media run that produced about 7k views in the past week. And for no particular reason that I can see. That's why I never delete seemingly moribund hubs. You can't tell when they may suddenly take off.

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   1. 90

      jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly, Ron. It pays to wait. That "100 views" milestone is a marker for me as well. I'm happy to say that all 83 have at least that. But I'm still waiting for a viral hit.

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   Rangoon Houseposted 7 years ago

   My novice opinion Jan, is to stick with your gut feeling and keep the low rankers. You put effort into writing them, and you obviously felt a connection with the topics, so don't delete them. Maybe tweak them and if you have another forum to post them to, maybe consider that, but don't delete them. You would be deleting a part of you.

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      jansharesposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, not thinking about deleting them.

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10. 90

    Will Apseposted 7 years ago

    If you don't write pages from time to time simply because you want to, you will soon get tired of writing. Who cares if that kind of page gets traffic?
    
    You learn a lot every time you write a page. You can reconnect with something that you once were. You can catch up with subjects that once held you in their thrall.
    
    When I was desperate for money a few years ago, I wouldn't have said that, of course, and I sympathise with anyone who just needs to make a little extra.
    
    But how people use their writing, is entirely up to them.
    
    If you publish anything here, you will be obliged to abide by their rules, of course.

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