Did HubPages change ownership or did something happen to scare them?

1. 80

   Geekdomposted 12 years ago

   Did HubPages change ownership or did something happen to scare them?
   
   HubPages has been instituting a lot of changes lately that are not sitting well with Hubbers. I hear the RSS Feed is being taken away. They took away the Google + button. Hubs take 24 hours or more to be indexed.  They have itchy trigger fingers to use the noindex feature, even on hubs with high HubScores. People usually do not take drastic change well, but HubPages is literally taking away features that are standard for any Blog or writing site. Does anybody know what happened or changed?

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2. 67

   rutleyposted 12 years ago

   I have not a clue..........................................................................................

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3. 73

   SidKempposted 12 years ago

   As best I understand it, HubPages has to ensure that the whole site and the best hubbers are not rated low on Google and blocked elsewhere. The big drop for many of us after the Google Panda update about two months ago, and the temporary blocking of HubPages on Pinterest (which was generating more reads than Twitter) had to be addressed.
   
   HubPages may be moving quickly, but they seem to me to be following a long-term strategy. Over two years ago, they discovered the importance of truly high-quality hubs, and they are encouraging us to go that way. Two recent changes, the delay before indexing and the removal of the Tags feature, were both designed (and tested) to increase Google ratings and addressing a hole that spammers were trying to leverage.

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4. 60

   Goody5posted 12 years ago

   I don't think that there has been any change in ownership here at the hub pages, however the physical changes have definitely driven a lot of hubbers away. I've been keeping track of the numbers, and they certainly don't look favorable right now - http://goody5.hubpages.com/hub/Google-vs-the-Hub-Pages You can do the math yourself here at this hub, because the numbers don't lie.

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5. 83

   nanderson500posted 12 years ago

   That's a good question. I think Hubpages is trying to improve its reputation and get more traffic through Google. The changes have definitely been jarring.

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6. 60

   cuttlerposted 12 years ago

   Now that you have mentioned it, they have even brought down the tags button. I sincerely dont know what is happening but I do wish they would communicate something to hubbers to allay any fears

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7. 65

   Steve Lensmanposted 12 years ago

   Rumours are the Summary is next to go....
   
   
   (Kidding)
   
   I never liked the RSS feed so I'm not complaining, maybe Google will be nicer to us without it.

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8. 83

   Simone Smithposted 12 years ago

   Nothing changed internally; we're responding to feedback from Hubbers, Google, and general trends with regard to quality.
   
   The removal of tags didn't have so much to do with that- it was just us getting rid of a superfluous feature that appeared to be functional, but was really just for show (we have been automatically generating tags for months).
   
   I know these changes haven't been easy (for anyone!!), but we're doing them to make the HubPages experience as good as it possibly can be for everyone- Hubbers AND readers. We want to give y'all the best shot you have at succeeding. That's what drives all of these changes.
   
   When the dust settles (and I readily admit the dust is unpleasant), I think you'll be pleased!

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