Is anyone else afraid of adding summaries to their hubs?

1. 86

   Jamie Brockposted 12 years ago

   Is anyone else afraid of adding summaries to their hubs?
   
   In general, my hubs that have a summary do not do as well as my hubs that do not have a summary.   All of my best hubs do not have summaries.  I know it is suggested to add a summary to every hub but this makes me afraid to.  Is anyone else having this experience?

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2. 61

   calpol25posted 12 years ago

   HI Jamie, I feel exactly the same, all my best work  doesn't have summaries either.
   
   So I guess I am alittle scared too
   
   Cant wait to see others answers

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Glad I wasn't the only one who had this going on

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3. 76

   Eric Calderwoodposted 12 years ago

   I didn't know that could affect my hubs performance.  I've been putting summaries on every hub I make.  Maybe I should take them off and see if the traffic increases.

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Congrats on your perfect score of 100 right now!

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4. 0

   Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

   Why should I be afraid to write two or three sentences concerning my work?  All my Hubs have summaries because as I understand it, if you don't write a summary, one will be written for you.  I find them easy to write, so this is why I write them.  As far as I'm concerned, they help hook the reader.

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      For some reason, I have trouble coming up with them :0/

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      teaches12345posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I thought the same, Arlene. I thought it was mandated to write one for each hub.  If you look on your profile, they flag those without a summary as well.  Didn't know that they would write one for you.. they may do a better job on it for me.

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   3. 0

      Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It's that easy, Jamie.  Pretend you are answering someone who is asking you what your Hub is about.  Like, "Are your canning jars lining up in your home like armies of soldiers?  Here are some ways to put those canning jars to use!"

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   4. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Arlene, they seem easy to do. I just don't understand why my hubs that HAVE summaries do not do as well as others that do not have them. I have been watching this trend over the past year on my hubs.  Maybe I just need to write better summaries.

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   5. 82

      Becky Katzposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They will not write one for you. If it does not have a summary written, they will just use the first 120 characters of your hub. The first paragraph will be your summary. Sometimes that will not cover the different aspects of your hub.

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5. 60

   eatforcheaperposted 12 years ago

   Hmm, I never noticed that. I may test that out and see what happens if I remove a summary. Thanks for the tip!

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It is just something that I notice when I look at my list of hubs.. My top 10 hubs hardly ever have a summary and the ones that do have a summary end up with a hubscore of 70's and below.

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6. 60

   plussize-lingerieposted 12 years ago

   You should bear in mind that the summary is used as the META description in the hubpage HTML. If Google shows your hub as a potential result in the search results it will use your META description *IF* the description (summary) includes the phrase that was searched on.
   
   In other words, the summary is a great place to write a piece of targeted advertising for your hub that will be triggered in Google, as well as in Hubpages.
   
   I would guess that the real trick is to write incredibly good summaries. A bad summary will turn users off and reduce clicks both in Hubpages and Google, but a good one should be worth its weight in gold.
   
   That said, I've not mastered writing summaries that entice yet either, so the theory is sound, but it's down to us to master it.

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, this makes a lot of sense to me. Perhaps I have not mastered writing a good summary yet. Right now, I am better off not adding one at all than adding one that is so-so. This is what I figured may be going on with it.  Thanks for the reply!

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7. 68

   Claudia Telloposted 12 years ago

   I added a summary to all my hubs as soon as the summary option was added to the general format of hubs. Since it was suggested as a positive addition, and I was relatively new at the time, I just followed exactly the tip I was given. Now you have made me anxious about it!!! What if my hubs would be doing better without a summary??? I´ll be following this question. Cheers!

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Claudia, I'm sorry! I hope I haven't discouraged you...If your hubs are doing okay, I wouldn't take the summaries off just because of this question.. I just wanted to know if others experienced it.

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8. 87

   Sherry Hewinsposted 12 years ago

   I think the key is to write a great summary. If you don't write one they'll take a snippet from your hub to show instead. Sometimes if I think my opening paragraph is really good and would really draw in a reader, I'll just use that for the summary. I think you're better off with no summary than just a so-so one.

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Sherry.. This is exactly what I have been thinking:) I need to go through and look at the first paragraph of my hubs and see which hubs need one and which ones don't.

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9. 41

   unknown spyposted 12 years ago

   I always put a summary on my hub too. But I don't know if it increase or decrease the traffic.. But I just love to put summary

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   1. 86

      Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the reply

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10. 94

    Stephanie Henkelposted 12 years ago

    I have added summaries to almost all of my hubs, and I do think that it helps traffic. One useful suggestion for writing summaries that I like is to include some of your keyword search phrases in it. I repeat a keyword that is found in my title as well as one or two other keywords from my hub in my summary.  I believe that summaries help the search engines find my hubs, but I don't have proof that this is true.

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    1. 60

       plussize-lingerieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Google displays the summary if the key phrase is found within the summary (which is displayed as the META description), so key phrases in summaries are a good idea. You don't get better rank in the results, but you do get better click through rate.

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    2. 86

       Jamie Brockposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I suppose I just need to go through and improve the summaries then on the hubs that have them.  It's just funny that my hubs with NO summary are all my top hubs- that's why I really don't want to add one to those.

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11. 55

    Squirrelgonzoposted 12 years ago

    I am definitely nervous about summaries!However I am more nervous about them now and will probably try not to add a summary the next time I post a hub to see what happens!
    
    Maybe summaries hurt hubs a little bit because it takes some of the mystery away from what the hub is about...hmmm...
    
    Gonzo-Out

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12. 56

    breathingposted 8 years ago

    I prefer writing summaries. But it is not a rule of thumb that hubs with summaries will always be good compared to the one which don’t have summaries. I’ve seen many hubs where the writing is done is such a complete manner that no summary is needed. Yeah, writing a good summary is always preferable as many visitors don’t intend to read the full hub at the first place,. But when they see an attractive summary they are very much convinced to read the whole article which is very good for your profile. On the other hand when you write a bad summary, the visitor will immediately move away from your page. As a result, the bounce rate of your hub will increase which will affect your profile badly. 
    
    Always try to write a complete article where no summary is needed. But still the ideal practice is to write a good summary. Yeah, if ever you forget to write the summary the article itself will be enough to attract the visitors. Also you should use some catchy words in the summary so that the chances of visitors getting attracted increase and you can enjoy the privilege of upgrading your profile.

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