Does the URL change if I change the title?

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   TessSchlesingerposted 4 years ago

   I've forgotten.
   
   If not, is there any way I can change the URL?
   
   Otherwise I have to delete the one article and do a complete rewrite.
   
   Thanks.

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      JanisaChatteposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think so.
      I gave my very first article here an intriguing title without really thinking about the searchability of the terms or anything like that.. I've changed the title a couple of times since then, but there seems to be nothing that can be done about the url

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         Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         JanisaChatte, this has been answered above.

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   How to - Answersposted 4 years ago

   Once you have published the article the url stays the same.  .

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      Miebakagh57posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      It seems then to change the url, you've got to delete that article and re-write it. But wait for 24 hours after deleting it for it to be completely remove on the network.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Ugh. I thought that might be the case. Thanks for confirming.

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            Miebakagh57posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            You're welcome.

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   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   Why do you want to change the URL?

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      TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Niche site asked me to update one of my stories - predictions for 2018. Predictions for 2021 can't really have a url for 2018.

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         Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         For future reference, now that you know this, it’s a good idea to change the url to something that doesn’t include specifics that may change later in the title.
         
         I always remove keywords from the url that are not evergreen, but that I have in the first title.
         
         You can only specify a different url before you go past the first setup page when starting a new hub.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Yup. I have already decided on this. I just wanted to make sure whether I had to start a new piece or not.

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               Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               The problem with deleting and starting again is that if that Hub had built a reputation with Google, you will lose all that advantage. 
               
               My understanding is that the URL is far less important now than it used to be.  The average reader never even looks at the URL, they look at the title - and so does Google.  It may offend your sense of order but it's not that critical any more.

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                  NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  I was thinking of saying this too, and it is also my understanding; that the url is not that important. It seems what Google looks at is the actual title.

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                  TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks, Marisa.
                  
                  To be honest, I heard the same thing some time back. What I'm trying to figure is how much the URL figures in SEO?
                  
                  Do you have any idea?

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                     Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Of course, every little bit of help you can get with SEO is useful.   Having an "exact match" URL used to convey a massive SEO advantage but not so much now.
                     
                     in 2020, Moz says, "While using a URL that includes keywords can improve your site's search visibility, URLs themselves generally do not have a major impact on a page’s ability to rank."

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                        TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        Marisa, it had     72,596 reads in 2018,  with 16 of those reads during the past month. Probably most reads would have been in 2018.
                        
                        What is your advice?
                        
                        Leave it and just change the title to take advantage of ranking or start from scratch with a more generic name so that next year I don't have the same issue.

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                           Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           I would say, if you are going to keep it on HubPages, then don't delete it - just change the title and bring it up to date.  However the other option is to delete it and write the updated version on another site. Would it be suitable for Medium?

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                              TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                              Nope.
                              
                              I rewrote the articles that did well on hubpages on Medium. They didn't really take - except that they are now, once again, beginning to rank on Google. The advantage is that I can sell affiliate products on them - Medium permits that so long as I state that I earn from them. I removed them from the Medium paywall so that everybody can see them.
                              
                              Writing for Medium is like writing for the print trade. One doesn't worry about SEO and the articles are selected on different criteria - interest, entertainment, etc. It's a bit of a learning curve, and I have a way to go.
                              
                              Like hubpages, some articles are curated and go into niche magazines, some of which have 700,000 readers. Medium has 60 million unique readers every month with about 400,000 writers.
                              
                              I think I'm going to rewrite the article with a generic URL so that I can update every year and not lose the numbers.
                              
                              Thanks.

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                                 Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                 Tess, When you remove a story form the paywall on Medium, you no longer earn from the read time (as you know), but it still is limited to three articles per month for readers who do not pay. The only solution is to post the "friend link" in social media.
                                 
                                 You're right about the URL, just like with HubPages, you can change it to be more generic before you publish.
                                 
                                 By the way, I also had a story go viral with Google and of course I didn't earn much because organic readers are not members.
                                 
                                 However, we get paid retroactively for their read time if they subscribe within 30 days. I saw some income from that already—the stats showed external traffic and no internal traffic on certain days that I got paid anyway. So that had to be organic retroactive signups. I talked about that in one of my Medium tutorials.

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                                    TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                    Hi Glenn,
                                    
                                    I'm experimenting with keeping half the ones that are ranking on Google behind the paywall and the other half without the paywall.
                                    
                                    What concerns me is that if people read more than their 3 (or is it 5) articles, when they click on my link, it will bounce, because they won't be able to read it, and then Google might penalize my article for traffic bouncing.
                                    
                                    How do you know if people joined? There is no way of knowing that, is there?
                                    
                                    I seem to be gaining two types of followers. Readers who don't write and only read and writers who are following 6000 people and have 120 followers - if you know what I mean.

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                                       Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                       Hi Tess,  It's 3 reads per month, not 5. As for bounces, I wouldn't put much weight on that. It's true, and you're right, that it might be taken as a bounce, but people usually read only one thing they found in the SERPs rather than follow an author to see what else they wrote. So most are counted as a bounce anyway. I'm sure Google knows that.
                                       
                                       Per your other question, how I know people joined: I see in my stats that I got paid on days that I had no internal traffic. So I have to assume that that payment came from prior views that eventually signed up.
                                       
                                       To your last point, yes, I know exactly what you mean. I noticed that too. And in addition, I see that I get paid more from people who read and write. I think I know why that is. Those who paid to read and not write will read an awful lot of articles. So their monthly $5 is tremendously diluted.
                                       
                                       While those who read and write don't read all that much (in comparison). So their $5 goes a lot further towards the few of us they read. Of course, that only applies to those who write AND also signed up to read.
                                       
                                       For that reason, I don't pay much attention to people who did not sign up to read more than three a month. You can tell who they are because the paid subscribers have a circle around their avatar.

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                                          TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                          That makes sense.
                                          
                                          Well one cannot really decide who follows one. What will be, will be.
                                          
                                          I don't think I've had a day when I haven't had internal traffic, and, currently, I am being paid at least something each day. What is true is that on occasion, I am paid more than the number of people who read would indicate.
                                          
                                          So that would either be someone gave a large part of their $5 to me, or someone joined.
                                          
                                          Thanks, Glenn.

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   Rochelle Frankposted 4 years ago

   Good advice.
   The title can always be changed, but the URL should be very specific to searchable terms. Sometimes we leaarn by experience.

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