Hub author score dropping. Why?

1. 59

   sannyasinmanposted 14 years ago

   10 days ago I had an author Hubscore of 93. Since then I have
   - published 3 more hubs
   - participated in many forums
   - received 12 comments on my hubs
   - posted comments on others hubs
   - acquired 10 more fans
   
   AND my score has slipped to 88, 86, and now 85 and seems to be still going down. I know scores go up and down but this appears to be one-way traffic. Down. What is going on?
   
   The only thing I can see that distinguishes a low author score from a high score is the number of fans. Is this what its all about, or am I missing something? Am I doing something wrong, and am I being penalised in some way?

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   1. 61

      Drew Breezzyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Is your content orignal? and do you get viewed regularly?

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2. 73

   relacheposted 14 years ago

   HubScores are dynamic, not static.  They move up and down, sometimes a little, sometime a lot.  That's how the system was designed.
   
   From the FAQ,
   
   http://hubpages.com/faq/#hubscorecalc
   
   My own feeling is that fans aren't a big component, as that's something internal to HubPages.  I'd put more of an emphasis on traffic... external traffic to be more precise.

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      Eaglekiwiposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      It does seem to have more to do with trafiic than fans. Fans are important for many reasons ,basically a great support and backlinks ( they tell someone else )
      
      Listen to Relache, shes one of the senior hubber writers

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   2. 59

      sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I know about HubScores, that is not my question. It is about HubberScores (Hub author scores). I know scores go up and down, but my author score has been steadiliy descending for 10 days and as far as I can see, I have done many things which should in fact cause it to rise. This is what I don't understand. Also, there is nothing in the link you provided about Hub author score.

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      1. 60

         deartfuldodgerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         1. dont sweat it! anything above 75 does the trick
         
         2. External traffic does seem to have a big impact on overall hub author score

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         1. 61

            Nail Technicianposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Anything above 75 Whoo whoo... wait... So when you say external traffic, are you guys building links to your hubs and stuff for the search engines, or using twitter, or... what?  I saw it was mentioned that hubbing on topics that people are actually looking for is an important thing... what are you guys doing to get more traffic to your hubs that people are looking for?
            
            Thanks
            -newb newbie

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   3. 0

      Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I agree that external traffic seems to be an important component. When that increases my score increases. I've also been wondering if it matters if Hubpages makes money, off of their cut of the impressions, if it gives our score a boost.

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3. 73

   relacheposted 14 years ago

   AuthorScores work the same as HubScores, but in a more aggregate fashion. 
   
   Are the new Hubs you created about "whatever" or are they things that people/visitors/readers are really looking for at this time of year?

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   1. 59

      sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      My hubs are the same as they were 10 days ago, the traffic is the same, I have acquired more fans . . .and the author score is dropping. I assume that I am being penalised for something. Do Hubpages penalise authors for "whatever" reason?

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      1. 58

         greennicheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Your score isnt at a penalized level ..75 is the score that allows your links to be dofollow - anything above is pretty arbitrary, its not worth your time to wonder, it really really isnt.

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         1. 59

            sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Actually, it really does matter, and it is not at all arbitrary. My question was, why has my author score dropped from 93 to 85, when all the positive things we are supposed to do, I have done, and my traffic is the same or better .
            
            I have since received an email from hubpages staff indicating that I must "revise" one of my hubs for sexual content. The hub in question does not contain anything "sexual" that would lead to an objection, although it does have the word sex in the title - so I presume that I have been penalised for that. I have since deleted the hub in question. We shall see if my score begins to climb.

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      2. 73

         relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         In the three years I've been here, I've seen people penalized for breaking the rules but not for "whatever."  After all, we are all subject to the same algorithms.  However, this is the start of the usual fall "holiday" season and I know the the folks who get more traffic are the ones writing for what people want at this time of year.
         
         Here's the Hub I wrote on HubScores, http://hubpages.com/hub/Boosting-HubScores  My theory is, you get more Hubs to go up, it just lifts your Author Score.

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         1. 59

            sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Nope, it all seems to be about fans. Example: one hubber 30 hubs, badly written, but 385 fans, and the author score . . .97.
            Another: 22 hubs, 377 fans, and the author score . . .96, and this one even writes about "whatever". Find me a hubber with more than say 300 fans who has a low score, "whatever" they write about and "whatever" their traffic, external or internal.
            
            By the way, I now believe that in fact I was penalised. I believe that a passing well-wisher flagged one of my hubs for inappropriate content (just had an email about it). This could explain the situation.

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            1. 73

               relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               HubPages makes the rules really clear, http://hubpages.com/faq/

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               1. 59

                  sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  I've read the rules and I don't see why the hub is objectionable.

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            2. 63

               darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               When someone flags you it does nothing to the hubscore. Absolutely nothing.
               
               What it does is alerts Admin and then Admin check it out and see what the problem is.
               
               If there isn't a problem, no harm done. If there is... you'll be notified. Not everything results in a hubscore penalty. If they push it to unpublished it will be just as if you pushed it to unpublished.

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4. 73

   relacheposted 14 years ago

   You said you got an email about an objectionable Hub, what did it say was the problem?  Maddie has said repeatedly that the messages she sends out on Hubs do state the reasons for them being unpublished...

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   1. 59

      sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Dear sannyasinman,
      
      Your Hub has been flagged by our system as a violation of our Terms of Use.
      
      Adult – Nudity, sexually explicit content and/or links to adult/pornography sites
      
      A link to your Hub: http://hubpages.com/hub/Sex-and-the-Japanese-Man
      
      In my opinion the hub is well-written, even humourous and does not violate any of the above rules, although it is clear that the subject matter is sexual in nature.
      What do you think?

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      1. 63

         darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Seeing that I can't see the hub I can't give my opinion.
         
         But don't forget, HubPages makes the rules. And some of the rules are influenced by that of Adsense. Because without Adsense this place wouldn't exist.

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         1. 59

            sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I accept the rule even though I think that in this case it has not been applied fairly. In fact I have already deleted the hub, plus others which might be construed in any way as inappropriate.  (I didn't realise you could not see the hub, as I still can).

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            1. 63

               darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               When I have stuff that doesn't work at HubPages, I publish it somewhere else.

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      2. 73

         relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Were there pictures on the Hub that were not appropriate for all ages?  Did you have retail modules selling anything that could be considered adults-only?  That's how most "adult" hubs with good content mess up without realizing it. 
         
         I started out at HubPages before there were venture capitalists invested in the site, and there used to be adult content all over the place.  Once the money came on board, that's what was disallowed.

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         1. 59

            sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            There were some books served up by Amazon based on keywords, which I suppose could be considered a bit "risqué". Perhaps that was it.

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            1. 73

               relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Keyword selections can come back and bite you for some topics.  I've seen that before.
               
               I find that hand-picking Amazon items really is the way to go.  Not only can you pick true best-sellers (Amazon tends to offer up "most relevant" but not necessarily what is really selling the most) but that way you can make sure all the products are on the up-and-up.

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5. 69

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   Seriously, who cares? I mean I got a lift when I saw my first 100 score, but that was just an ego thing. Bottom line is that you should worry more about external traffic than internal scores. Unless, or course, you are using HP for backlinks to other sites. But as someone else stated, 75 and up should do the trick.

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   1. 59

      sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      So why have internal author scores at all? Why not just have "follow" or "no follow".
      
      Also, you don't see many (if any) hubbers with a 75 to 90 score featured on the home page, or being showcased elsewhere. Its all 95 to 100 or as near as damn it. And as far as I can see, the author score has more to do with the number of fans you have than anything else, and little to do with quality.
      
      Some of the best stuff I have read is from "75 - 90 score" authors, but they are hidden in the depths of the database and hard to find.

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      1. 71

         sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Quality cant e judged by an algorithm, the best it can do is equate interaction and traffic as popularity, popularity doesnt equal quality.
         
         so your right the score doesnt reflect quality, so dont sweat it to much, and being featured is great and all, but most external traffic will lead right to a hub, the front page is prob seen mostly by other hub authors

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      2. 84

         rebekahELLEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think that's always the case. I've seen featured articles with less than a 95 score. the higher score doesn't always indicate that an article is worth reading.
         I try to remember advice I received at the beginning from some of the best writers to ALWAYS keep in mind "how it would suit you from the readers perspective." (darkside)   
         
         I try to look at my readers as my clients. I want to give them the best I can, so they keep coming back and refer my work. Isn't that what we all want?? It's nice to have the internal support but it's the organic traffic that's nice to see.

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6. 61

   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   Might it be that when new Hubs are written they start with a low score and have to work their way up?  If there were three Hubs written close to one another I'd think they could make the average score down until they started to climb up.  I pretty always know my overall Hubscore will go down for a few days when I write a new Hub or two.

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7. 71

   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   and know your hubscore is back up. most likely from forum involvement and the associated traffic you received

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   1. 59

      sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Sunforged - My hubscore is back up (I think) because I deleted half my articles, and now, relative to the number of articles, I have a lot of fans. My traffic has not changed. I think its all (mainly) about fans. 
      
      RebekahELLE - I see that you have only 9 hubs, but a lot of fans relative to the number of hubs, ie 60 . .and thus a high author score of 94.
      Q. How much traffic do you get each day?

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      1. STAFF

         pauldeedsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I think you are reading too much into short term fluctuations in your Hubber score.  If it's traffic that you are after I can't really recommend deleting any hubs, unless you just don't think they are worthwhile.  Regular participation in the various aspects of HubPages is the surest way to get your score out of the high 80s and into the 90s.  Just keep at it, and your score will take care of itself.

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         1. 84

            rebekahELLEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I certainly agree with Paul. I try to focus on quality and don't think too much about scores. I was gone for almost a week and thought my score would drop below 90, but it didn't. most of my traffic is search engine traffic and I have some high ranking hubs in google search.  my internal traffic went up yesterday and today with a new hub published. and I participate in the community.
            
            It's fun, isn't it?  I really enjoy this site and there is a wealth of knowledge here from others.

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         2. 59

            sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            The hubs I deleted were all creative writing stuff and unlikely ever to gain much traffic or earn much money for me or for you. I will try to publish them elsewhere.
            
            I understand what you are saying, and thanks for the info.
            But are you also saying that the number of fans is not one of the most important factors in calculating author score?

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            1. STAFF

               pauldeedsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Your fans do affect your score, but it's just one of many factors - and no I wouldn't say it's one of the most important.

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8. 77

   frogdroppingposted 14 years ago

   If the hubberscore is more to do with fans, I'll honestly eat my feet.
   
   No kidding. I'll eat them.
   
   You're score is fine, don't worry about it

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   1. 59

      sannyasinmanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hope your feet are tasty! Can I have a bite?

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      1. 77

         frogdroppingposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Ahhh lol I believe that feet are the domain of ralwus. I think
         
         And see sanny - if you started famming - i.e. fanning lots of folks, your score would plummet, even if they return the gesture.
         
         Learn with frog ... it is not fans that hoofs your hubber score. It really is a combination of everything mentioned by others.
         
         And Mr Deeds will not tell you out and out what it is. No matter what you do or say, he'll never give up more than he already has.
         
         1. Read, comment on and rate other's hubs
         2. Deliver quality content - and it doesn't have to be commercial stuff alone.
         3. Spend time in the forum. Be helpul, or potter about generally.
         4. Answer a question or two - or even ask some.
         5. Write a hub based around the weekly HubMob topic and/or Ideabank
         6. If you like a hubber, what they write or something they've said in the forum, join their fan club. And I wish they'd change the name of that. Fan club. *cringes*
         7. Build up your internal readership by following steps 1 thru 6
         8. Play around with a hub or hubs and see if you can up your external (organic) traffic
         9. Relax
         
         And if you continue to ponder the fan aspect versus hubber score I will come back and prove why it can't be that alone

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9. 57

   rivet3000posted 14 years ago

   Well I am new to Hubpages and had a score of 30; in a matter of days it went to 60.  I think that with time and persistence, the scores do go up. 
   
   If I do not add photos will my scores still go up over time?  If I wanted to use free photos, where can I go for that?
   
   Any feedback would greatly be appreciated.  Thank you

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10. 60

    R P Chapmanposted 14 years ago

    I'd rather have a nibble on your legs Froggy, they're delicious in garlic butter!
    
    But I digress, the hub author score is a very mysterious beast isn’t it. I suspect it’s simply a carrot to keep you interested, and as such it must fluctuate regardless of input. As a general rule my guess would be, participate throughout the site and it’ll trend growth, participate less and it’ll dip.
    
    Personally, I’d concentrate more on my AdSense numbers.

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