Possible Ongoing SEO Disaster

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   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   Every article on every niche site links back to the HubPages domain via our profile links. That's right, each and every niche site has hundreds of links to a website that Google hates. There is no way this is a good thing. Shouldn't something be done about that?

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      DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      This came up the other day when a new hubber was asking about linking to one of his hubs from a niche site. He was told that it was forbidden because the article would be a link to Hubpages. He wanted to know about those 20 or 30 Hubpage backlinks in the comment section.
      I never did hear a good response.
      I think Glenn Stok recommended deleting comments after they had been read and answered. If we do so, and thus have fewer backlinks to hubpage profiles, does it affect our page rank?

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         paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         HP already thinks that linking to HubPages is a very destructive SEO practice. Yet, they are still doing the hundreds/thousands profile links to that blacklisted site as we speak. It will be a real programming nightmare for them to fix this, but I'm beginning to think they don't have a choice. I have a memory from my programming days where there is a mass-text-exchange program available that could make this project a lot easier.

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         AliciaCposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         If I remember correctly, Glenn recommended deleting comments that were problematic in some way after we had responded to them and the person had likely seen the response. I don't think he was referring to comments in general.

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            DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I think you are right. I wonder if this had any or much effect on search engine rankings?

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               AliciaCposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               This is something that I wonder about myself. Even the writers at HubPages sometimes leave comments with spelling mistakes or other errors. I would hate to delete them unless this was essential.

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                  DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  It is too hot to work outside so I am here in my office doing some editing today. I found one article that used to always rank number 3, and it has now falled to number 20. It has 6 years of comments on it, many of them similar to what Glenn recommended we remove (for example "Hey, great hub here! Chck out one of mine.") so I am going to delete almost all of them and see if it has an effect on my page rank/traffic.
                  Essential? I doubt it. Worth a try?

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      NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Never thought of that. Interesting.

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   EricDockettposted 4 years ago

   Sign out of HP and clear your cache. Our usernames do not link back to HP in the comments unless you are signed in. There doesn't seem to be any reason to delete your comments. The link at the top I assume is blocked in the same way the links in the image attribution are blocked.
   
   If you look at the source code there doesn't seem to be any links back to HP, but I am no expert. Am I missing something?

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      DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      How would signing out and clearing a cache on my computer affect search engine rankings?

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         EricDockettposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         What I mean is Google does not see the same thing we do when we are signed in. All of those links in the comments are not there when you are signed out.  So unless I am completely misunderstanding what you guys are saying it does not appear that there are a bunch of links on every page going back to the hubpages domain and hurting our ranking

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            DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks. I understand what you are saying now.
            Do you think there are other HP links on the niche sites that we should be aware of?

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               EricDockettposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               From what I can see there does not seem to be live links back to the hubpages domain unless a writer puts them there and they are somehow missed by the curator editor snipper person. But like I said I'm not really an expert so I could be missing something.

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   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   I don't see how this is an issue. I don't understand why you think Google hates HP. Is that an assumption?

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      DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I have read that a lot here on the forums. I do not know of any proof of this, but back before I joined (2011? Weren´t you here already?) there was a huge dropoff in some HP accounts, and many writers complained that their accounts had been blacklisted by Google. They had thousands of visitors one day, almost none the next.

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      NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah I always question that assumption when it comes up too. I still have some articles on the main site that do alright.

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      OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Google decided that it didn't like content farms.  That's why sites like Squidoo went out of business.  HubPages adapted to the change by creating the niche sites which have content restricted to particular topics and better writing.

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   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   I don't delete comments unless it is spam or offensive.

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5. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   From HubPages Weekly (Feb 26, 2020):
   
   "An article on a Network Site should not link to HubPages. Additionally, it is best not to mention HubPages in an article that is currently on a Network Site, as each one is a standalone site."
   
   Meanwhile, our profiles at the top of each and every Network Site article still link to the HubPages domain. At least the link is indirect. Hovering the author name shows a non HubPages link, but clicking it hen brings up a HubPages link via the orange profile button. Is such an offset sufficient enough to fool the Google algo?  At minimum, whenever a visitor clicks that orange button; Google gets the usual big, fat notification that someone just went from the Network Site article to the HubPages domain via a link from that article.
   
   Analytics says we don't get any traffic from our profiles anyway. Frankly, I'd exterminate that orange button with extreme prejudice.
   
   Update, and while we are at it; HP MIGHT WANT TO MODIFY THIS AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH AND EVERY NETWORK SITE ARTICLE:
   
   "Copyright © 2020 HubPages Inc. and respective owners. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. HubPages® is a registered Service Mark of HubPages, Inc. HubPages and Hubbers (authors) may earn revenue on this page based on affiliate relationships and advertisements with partners including Amazon, Google, and others.
   
   HubPages Inc, a part of Maven Inc."

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      paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

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      paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I am contemplating becoming a pitbull concerning the above issues, particular the 6 mentions of HubPages at the end of each Network article. Even HubPages says that's a very bad SEO idea. And I believe that the orange button at the top of each article isn't doing us any favors either.
      
      The last thing HP needs to for Google to slap a manual adjustment on the Network Sites. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened already. Dear HP, please stop poking Google with a stick.

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   DrMark1961posted 4 years ago

   If we lose that orange button it would cost us profile views. I am not sure about the rest of you, but that does not seem like a big thing to me.

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      samanthacubbisonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      As @paradigmsearch said, the link is hidden from Google because you have to click on "more" to get to it, which google should not crawl.

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7. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   Well, I worked up the energy to do a source code check on one of my articles.
   
   "hubpages.com" shows up 19 times.
   
   "hubpages" shows up 63 times.
   
   We know that Google routinely checks out a page's source code.
   
   What do I make of all this? Above my paygrade. I'm writing this post in the evening. We'll see what brilliant thoughts have occurred to me after a night's sleep.

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   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   Happy Friday morning! And happy 28th!!!
   
   As for my brilliant, overnight thoughts...
   
   The bad news: Google has already handed out whatever demerits they intended to hand out.
   
   The good news: Google didn't bring out the 8-lb sledge hammer as they have done in the past.
   
   Keeping in mind the plans of mice and men..., am looking forward to a pleasant Friday.

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   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   Still mulling over the "hubpages" infestation of the Net Work sites.
   
   The sites are also infested with 404-files-not-found links, but those are from googlesyndication links, so not HP's fault.

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10. 88

    Nell Roseposted 4 years ago

    Whatever is going on, I am getting so fed up with the low views, I am seriously thinking about moving my stuff. I have been on here 10 years, and it is worse than ever.

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       paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, anything that drops to single digits and I will probably do the same. I've done it before and it turned out to be a smart move.

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          DzyMsLizzyposted 4 years agoin reply to this

          I know, it's getting bad, but I don't know where else I'd move.  I'm not good enough at SEO to get much traffic to my blog(s), which are already kind of neglected for that reason.

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             paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             Been doing some research, I do believe the worst is over and traffic is going to begin increasing. I've no plans to move anything just yet.

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11. 60

    paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

    Well, comparing yesterday's impression stats versus traffic stats indicates a 35% payout, not 60%. Normally it's been around 55% in the distant past, due to what I call legitimate "static".
    
    35%!?! Adblockers are killing us! CPM helps offset some of that, but we really do need to get that traffic back up to compensate for the rest. Hopefully, HP will go on an extermination campaign soon concerning all the "hubpages" mentions on the Network Sites.

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12. 60

    paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

    My website traffic and earnings were terrible yesterday. So it really is not just HP, which is what HP has been saying all along. The trials and tribulations of online writing never ends...

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