Do comments count as updating your hub?

1. 89

   Amber522posted 6 years ago

   Do comments count as updating your hub?
   
   I have read a few hubs and articles that recommend updating your content frequently, because this will help the Google ranking. I was wondering if new comments counted towards this idea or if the changes needed to be made to the actual content of the Hub?

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2. 97

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 6 years ago

   No they do not.  I do tend to see, however, a bit of a surge in Google traffic whenever new comments show up on an old hub - so while it's not what you would consider "updating a hub" - it IS a web page getting "new content."

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3. 94

   Rochelle Frankposted 6 years ago

   Thank you for asking that. I have wondered, too. And thank you, Wesman Todd Shaw, for your response.
   
   I know that one thing comments do, is to bring your hub up on feeds-- which might, in turn, inspire some people (who didn't see it before) to share.  So, comments can help, even though they may not influence traffic 'directly'.

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4. 61

   Eric Newlandposted 6 years ago

   I figure in order for it not to count the Google 'bots would need to differentiate between your hub's content and the comments based purely on the HTML code it sees. I don't see why it would, though. If your hub is still being talked about that seems like an indicator that its content is still relevant.

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5. 98

   Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

   Are you sure about that, Wes?  The comments capsule is just another capsule, so it seems to me that changes to it should count as "fresh" just like changes to any other capsule.
   
   Also, Google wants to see that your SUB-DOMAIN is regularly updated, it's not worried about whether you update individual Hubs. 
   
   If it was true that individual Hubs need to be regularly updated, then every blogger across the net would be updating all their old blog posts all the time.

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6. 93

   Au faitposted 4 years ago

   The date you last updated any of your hubs is printed on every hub and you can also find it on your Stats Page.  On your Stats Page, just look at the last column labeled at the top, “Changed.”  The next column is the “Featured” column.  Look for the date in the “changed” column across from the title of the hub you are interested in.
   
   To find that same date on your hub, go to the area just above where readers can vote on your hub, up or down, useful, funny, awesome, beautiful, or interesting.  The date you last updated is directly above this section and to the right.
   
   Comments do not cause that date to change.  Only changes to photos, maps, text (even just punctuation or a change in a few words), or adding or subtracting capsules for various purposes will cause that date to change.
   
   You cannot see the date of your last update in the “edit” mode.  You must be looking at the hub like any other reader to see it.
   
   When Google lists the latest date that you have updated your article, it will list that date above the voting section and that is also in the “changed” column on your Stats Page.  Google doesn’t always list that date, or any date, in the description of your hub on their search page, but sometimes it does.  I do not know why that date is sometimes listed on Google and sometimes (most often) not.
   
   I hope this will be helpful to you.

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