Your Best Performing Article and Its Popularity

1. 97

   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   Have you identified any attributes or layout style that could be making it so popular compared to others? The only thing I can pick out from my article with the highest traffic is that it has lots of line diagrams on a white background (which can be easily squashed with  jpg compression and have small file sizes).

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      DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, and I have noticed a lot of articles on Hubpages that are written in a way to not attract readers and traffic.
      On an article entitled "How to make tiddlywinks out of widgets" (making this up, obviously) the writer will start out with a description of tiddlywinks, types of tiddlywinks, the best places to buy tiddlywinks, the things widgets are used for, and then, finally, a tiny section on how to make tiddlywinks out of widgets.
      That may have worked back in the day. It does not work on the internet.
      Articles should be arranged so that they answer the question. If the reader wants to read more, great, but if he does not he should be able to read what the article is about and then go on to more details. IF HE OR SHE WANTS TO.
      That is how my best performing article is laid out. I am also trying to make all of my other articles similar to this.

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      1. 92

         robhamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Haha. I laugh because years ago before the niche sites and strict quality control on HP, there was an article titled ”How to Open a Door" I'm not making this up! lol

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         1. 97

            eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Sounds quirky enough to be on WikiHow!  Those guys seems to have the "How to" market sown up, but it's nice to beat them in SERPs occasionally.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            You definitely are not. I remember that one. I'm at an Airbnb while on a conference and earlier this morning I could have used an article on How to close a door Luckily it was written on the handle (I didn't notice it at first). Close, twist key and at the same time lift the handle up! That's how it locks haha. I should write a hub about it.

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            1. 94

               OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Yup!  That's how my glass door to my backyard closes and locks.  A real pain if I'm carrying something because I need both hands to close the door.

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      2. 94

         Solarasposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Oddly, I am seeing Google reward that on the dog name front.  Paragraphs about how to think about dog names, then a short list of meaningless dog names, mostly unrelated to the topic they promised to deliver on.
         
         I refuse to bow to this strategy, yet I am watching ranking drop to this style article, time after time.  Maybe Google sees that people are scrolling deeper into the article, just to get past the junk.  Perhaps people find a name early on in my article and are done before getting to the bottom. Who knows what factors influence these things.

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            DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I have noticed that a lot since the last update. It is like the worst things have risen to the top.

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   2. 89

      ZxRedposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Most of my high performing hubs are about how to's of video games. I have 3 hubs that are holds the number one spot on Google search. Some things I noticed that beat the competition are pictures from the game with captions and bullet lists especially for tips.

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      1. 97

         eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Bullet and numbered lists are potentially good for getting a featured snippet (but don't answer everything in the list so a user doesn't have to click through to the article from the snippet).

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            ZxRedposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            I noticed that too. Thanks for the heads up.

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   3. 96

      chef-de-jourposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Poetry analysis seems to work for me. My most popular articles are those that answer specific questions about any particular poem....about rhyme, rhythm, metre, meaning, literary devices... that sort of thing. I pop the question into the capsule title and answer with relevant info, deep detail and insightful analysis. My absolute top article has around 13 capsules like this, following an initial summary of the poem. I also use call outs occasionally for explanation and glossary.

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2. 93

   Shesabutterflyposted 4 years ago

   My 3 most popular articles ever have a very similar layout in my opinion. However, of those 3 only 2 are currently producing good traffic this year. One is on Owlcation, the other is on Delishably, and my other one that is not doing well this year is on Pethelpful.
   
   This year's top performing article is a comparison article layed out with definitions and descriptions followed by a table/chart. I go into detail about each item I'm comparing and end with a map. The map is not really necessary, but it does provide a good visual for some key ideas within the article. Not sure if Q&A matters in regards to popularity, but this article has some of the best questions, which allows me to write long detailed responses. This particular article has 4 questions that have been found "helpful" over 25 times. This article also holds the #1 spot on Google, which I think plays the biggest part in it's popularity. The subject matter is not highly sought after in my experience, and is definitely not a topic that most would recommend here at HP, but it does very well considering. It is pretty seasonal which I find interesting (peaks during religious holiday seasons and near the end of the school year), but it does well most of the year. My other article in this topic is set up in almost the exact same way, however it doesn't get much traffic at all. I believe it is because it is on page 3 rather than on page 1. In this case I think the rank effects popularity and not the layout.
   
   My 2nd most popular is a "tips/how to" article. I have lists with thought out explanations and personal experiences. I also give a few recommendations, which I think people find helpful. I layed it out in a similar way to my Pethelful article, but again I think rank plays a bigger role. My Delishably article is on the first page and has the #1 rank depending on keywords used and my Pethelful has dropped to page 3.
   
   In my case I think it depends mostly on ranking and how much is already written in regards to my content. I try to keep my layouts very similar, but I tend to write on a few different topics and some of what I write will have a very specific audience so if it's not on the first page it is likely not going to be seen very often unfortunately.

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3. 97

   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   Does anyone observe a correlation between the number of images and traffic? (or paragraph length and traffic?)

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   1. 88

      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Paragraph length should not make a difference unless super long paragraphs are making people hit the back button. Page load time does to some extent, so the number of images may play a role. But, I do not see this. My most popular hub has a lot of images while the second most popular (very close to the most popular) has just one image.

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4. 81

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years ago

   I've never once done keyword research in my life. I really should probably start doing that, but as of yet, I have not.
   
   My best performing articles were topics which I had simply got interested in, and by some sort of luck, was more comprehensive about, and early out of the gate with publishing about. Basically, my very best performing 3 or 4 were things I was learning about as I was composing the text. I'd go read several pages from different sites, come back and work on the page, writing text, and figuring out what the next section should be.
   
   I don't want to sound all mystical or anything, but learning new stuff is fun. It is when you're already very interested in the topic. Maybe the enthusiasm bleeds through the ones and zeroes and transfers into the readers. Well heck, that's mysticism.
   
   Nothing special about my formatting.

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      Madeleine Claysposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I agree that being passionate about your topic will draw readers in.

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5. 94

   jansharesposted 4 years ago

   I'm not sure to what degree layout has helped but I've always tried to create clean formatting with continuity of images, subtitles, paragraph content, etc. What I think has had more of an impact on making my most popular articles is a subject/title that speaks to an immediate need, desperation, frustration or perceived crisis.

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6. 94

   PaulGoodman67posted 4 years ago

   I think the best approach is to study what's popular and copy the style (not the content).
   
   The front pages of the niche sites also have hubs which HP is subtly(?) suggesting we should emulate.
   
   I also think one should pay attention to what the HP editors do to one's hubs, especially if it results in increased traffic.

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