Tips for Boosting E-A-T

1. STAFF

   HubPagesposted 2 years ago

   Hi all. There was an algorithm update on 9/20 that caused traffic to dip, but we’re expecting it to bounce back in the next few months. Here are a couple of things you can do to help increase your traffic in the wake of this update and strengthen your content for future updates.
   
   Add a "Real Name" to your HubPages profile.
   The "Real Name" is what appears at the top of each article, and we've found that having a real-sounding name there (vs. a username like fishnchips22) lends legitimacy to the article and boosts reader trust. It does not actually need to be your real name—it need only sound like one. To change your "Real Name," go to your Profile page, click "Edit Profile," enter a name in the "Real Name" field, and click "Save Changes."
   
   Revisit your profile bio and make sure it includes all your accolades (e.g., degrees, doctorates, awards, etc.) and expertise (life experience, etc.).
   Unlike your author bio—which has a 140-character limit and appears on individual articles—your profile bio can be long and detailed, outlining the many reasons why you are an expert in the topics you write about.
   
   Both of these changes aim to enhance E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) and show readers and search engines that you know your stuff. Thank you for your help!

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      Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for this update, Hubpages!
      We appreciate you sharing this information with us!
      Best wishes!

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks hubpages, for this helpful information.

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   3. STAFF

      HubPagesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Ensuring that your profile image is a photo of a person (vs. a cartoon, etc.) and that you've linked out to your social media channel are helpful tactics as well, as these are indicators search engines look at when determining whether profiles are real.

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         eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         The photo isn't shown on the profile that appears on network sites.

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            Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Exactly!

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         EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I don't know which HP employee is behind these posts. Every HP employee I talk to is always really great, so I'm not trying to be mean when this is probably someone I really like.
         
         However, it is really, really frustrating to see traffic drops as we've experienced and the only interaction coming from HP is telling us to update our profiles.
         
         Again, there seem to be far bigger issues than profiles.
         
         Can you tell us about any other changes in the works? People have been asking about the ad layout, the intrusive top video, the way ads break up the text, the lack of a comments section, and numerous other issues.
         
         Is there any discussion you can share about any of that?

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            AliciaCposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            I completely agree, Eric. I appreciate the member (or members, for all we know) of the team who is communicating with writers in this thread. There seem to be far more important problems to deal with than updating our profiles, however.

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            Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

            +1

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            Kierstin Gunsbergposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            I want to echo everything Eric is saying. I do appreciate having feedback about what we as creators can improve. But it's concerning to not have an idea of what HP is doing to correct the issues that niche sites are dealing with, like slow-loading ads and laggy videos. I feel hesitant to continue investing time here without some communication about that.

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               eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               I notice the color scheme changed on Dengarden. Menu background colour is now a darker grey. Also there's a list of stories at the top. I wish some of the more fundamental issues could be fixed though, rather than wasting time doing superficial stuff.

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      SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I think people might be missing one of the key points from the HP staff post. "We’re expecting it to bounce back in the next few months."
      
      A few could mean as many as 3-7 months or something along those lines.
      
      This means recovery is going to take a while, if we do get to see recovery. Things likely won't get better until at least 2023. This means the best past of the year, Q4, is likely to be rough in 2022. Don't expect your normal gains.
      
      Bad months like January and February could be particularly bad.
      
      My advice: Consider what you can do for the next 6 months to diversify your portfolio. Don't put all your focus on HP.

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         viryaboposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         My concern too. How many months  are “the next few months”?
         That is certainly getting me worried.
         
         I feel like telling us to work on our profile bios is just a way to keep us busy and complain less.
         
         For some time.

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   Ben716posted 2 years ago

   It's welcomed, and appreciated. Having such kind of updates keeps us on the light on what's going on. With the uncertainty of why traffic is declining steadily, it's a relief to know why, and for providing suggestions how to attract more views, and for assuring us you're working on this matter.

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   eugbugposted 2 years ago

   Will there be any changes to ad layout to improve "page experience"? E.g. Doing something about the banner ad as it appears when viewing articles on desktop? It obscures the whole page for about 10 seconds in total while waiting for an ad to load plus while displaying the ad. Also ads aren't left aligned on the right sidebar and overlap on some screen resolutions. And the title video is annoying. Could that be fixed into position as is the case on the "news" stories written by staff? Then of course there's the capsule splitting issue. I presume you're aware of all these problems because of the extensive discussion we've had about them and our concerns regarding how a bad page experience may impact ranking. If these issues could be fixed, it would be brilliant. Personally I don't find the number of ads an issue, it's the way they are presented.

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      Kierstin Gunsbergposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I really want to know this too. I agree that the number of ads is fine, but the way they're presented does interfere with user experience and likely affects bounce and CTR. Even for myself, when I've opened an HP niche article I'll have to leave because my screen just freezes from all of the videos starting up.

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      Sue Adamsposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      But repeat ads don't make any sense at all and they are so annoying. I saw the same ad no less than 13 times cutting my text in one of my articles yesterday! That's plain ridiculous!

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         eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I agree. I presume each ad placeholder in articles acts individually, the code just requesting an ad to be served up and modules don't communicate between each other. I don't think there's much they can do with that if the placeholders are the same size.

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         Jodahposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I agree. I don't mind the ads so much, just the fact that the same one is repeated over and over throughout an article. It is so annoying.

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   3. STAFF

      HubPagesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for letting us know about this. We'll have our engineering team take a look. If you have any screenshots or screen recordings of this issue, please send them to editors@hubpages.com

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         eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I did that 4 months ago, but I understand there probably aren't the staff resources to fix these things.
         
         https://hubpages.com/community/forum/35 … on-desktop

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   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   Thanks for the update. I adopted a "real name" for all accounts and updated my profile bio quite some time ago, but hope that others will do the same. If it's causing traffic dips for all of us, then I hope that HP will actually enforce this.

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   eugbugposted 2 years ago

   Many writers probably don't even visit the forums. Could this post about improving profiles be emailed to all members?

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      jansharesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Or at the very least, put in it the HubWeekly?

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      1. STAFF

         HubPagesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         We will definitely put these tips in next week's newsletter!

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   EricDockettposted 2 years ago

   I think many of us are interested in hearing what HP is doing to address the traffic drop. There seems to be much more pressing issues besides writers improving their profiles.
   
   If you do think the profiles are a problem, how about letting us customize our profiles for each niche site instead having one profile for all? That is something we asked for from the beginning.

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      Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      +1
      Excellent point, Eric. This makes sense to me as HP wants all of its network sites to stand alone, and as we know, they don't backlink to HubPages; why have the same about page? 

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   2. STAFF

      HubPagesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      We'll bring this item to the engineering team again to see if it's doable. We'd love to see that change, if so!

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         Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         It's encouraging to see the team interacting with the writers. That's all we've ever asked for. Thank you for taking the step to bridge the communication gap. That is greatly appreciated!

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   Glenn Stokposted 2 years ago

   The text on our profile bios also appears on our bios of the individual niche sites where we have articles.
   
   I see many bios on niche sites that are silly and not at all related to displaying EAT authority for the authors that do that. I'm concerned that this could hurt the ranking of an entire niche site. And it could be another reason for the drop in traffic after the new algorithm began.
   
   Since few Hubbers pay attention to these forum posts, I would suggest that HubPages sends emails to everyone about this. I assume you'll include it in the next weekly newsletter, but I don't think everyone reads those. So there needs to be a definite way of getting this crucial information out to everyone.

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      Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, Mr. Glenn.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   Sending emails to the specific culprits would be more useful. Something resembling the you-need-to-do-this-to-keep-your-article-in-the-niches email. If they don't take action, the articles are removed until they update.
   
   If the general traffic falls are caused by the name and profile problems, then it sounds like tougher action is justified.

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      jansharesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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   FatFreddysCatposted 2 years ago

   My profile already has all of the things mentioned in the O.P. 
   
   ...and my traffic is still poop. (shrugs)

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      PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      That's the problem. Just as the weak material brought down everything, including the strong, with the panda update, the reputational issues are screwing things up for all, even those like us who've done what we're supposed to.

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      jansharesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Mine too, FatFreddysCat.

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    MariaMontgomeryposted 2 years ago

    Thank you, Eric. This is helpful.

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    Rupert Taylorposted 2 years ago

    It's good to hear from admin. The last few weeks have been very unsettling with deep concern being expressed in this forum and silence from on high.
    
    I have adjusted my bio according to instructions and now hope for the best.

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    AliciaCposted 2 years ago

    It’s a good idea for writers to update their profiles. That being said, what is HubPages/TAG going to do about the loss of income for writers? We can update our profile and articles, but they are in charge of the interface and ad arrangement that readers see.

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       Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       +1

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    jansharesposted 2 years ago

    Good to see an answer with solutions to the pleas of HP writers to address traffic. Not sure it will make a difference if the majority of writers don't participate. This may take a huge overall. I did go ahead and spruce up my profile bio. I'm looking forward to increased traffic over the next few months.
    Communication between HP Staff and the writing community is vital. Please keep it going, keep hope alive.

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       Kenna McHughposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I agree! Communication is important.

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    Jodahposted 2 years ago

    Thank you for the update, HubPages. The communication is appreciated. I will over-hall my profile as suggested.

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    ravirajan01posted 2 years ago

    Thanks for the update Hubpages. This communication is quite helpful.

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    Nour Zahrhposted 2 years ago

    It is good to do this update. This information is very important to us. Thanks

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    Solarasposted 2 years ago

    This OP is bogus.
    
    It really addresses nothing, not how our share is calculated, not the drop in traffic and most certainly all of those ads, which it would appear we only get earning on one of those ads, while the rest goes to HP.
    
    This throw away communication from staff should be replaced with a link to FAQs that clearly states how writer's earnings are calculated.
    
    Why won't they make clear how we earn our monies?

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       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       The drop in earnings seems closely related to the drop in traffic, as far as I can tell, and not due to a radical shift in payment policy.
       
       I say this because when I get a surge in traffic and the traffic goes back to earlier levels, my earnings go back to what they used to be.
       
       If your theory were correct, then my earnings should be much lower, even when the traffic levels are the same.
       
       That said, I agree with your general thrust that it would be better for HP to be more transparent.

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          Solarasposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          The fact that there are 2-3 times more advertisements on each of our articles than there were in 2016, means each article should earn 2-3 times more income providing that CPM and Pageviews stay the same. 
          
          If no one will tell me how my income is determined, can I trust the pageviews and impressions that are reported to me?
          
          Edit:  I am leaving out the video and links to sponsored content as additional forms of revenue we do not seem to be getting credit for either.

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          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          CPM is 2/3 of what it was last year and half of what it was in 2020, for me anyway. Maybe because of reduced views on articles that are served high value ads. In combination with low views, that more than halves overall earnings.

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    EricDockettposted 2 years ago

    I have updated my profile to exhaustively explain why I do what I do here and why anyone should listen to me.
    
    In related news, I have advised my wife to start picking out cabinets, as she has been interested in remodeling the kitchen and I expect this change will easily finance that project and maybe a few others.
    
    More seriously, my question for HubPages is: How does highlighting my experience with fishkeeping lend any kind of authority or expertise when a reader comes to my profile after reading an article about football or birding?
    
    For this to make sense, we need to be able to customize our bios for each niche site.

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       DrMark1961posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I would hold off on the cabinets for a while! I think the name changes and profiles might help but not much. Since HP is not willing to go back and remove all of the obviously fake pages from their  niche sites, I fear the rest of us are fighting an uphill battle.
       
       Assuming that it is not the poor reader experience from the video, of course. If that is the case the writers are not even in the fight.

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       1. STAFF

          HubPagesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Could you send an example or two to editors@hubpages.com? All articles on our Network Sites go through a rigorous review process before being moved (automated review, moderation, and curation), so there shouldn't be any fake pages. If something is slipping through the cracks, we definitely need to know!

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             DrMark1961posted 2 years agoin reply to this

             If you want a list, you could start with the Pethelpful home page. The "featured author" is a fake name. All of the articles on that account use that name. Will those articles be removed from Pethelpful? If not there is no point in sending that info.

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    bhattucposted 2 years ago

    Thanks for the guidance.

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    surovi99posted 2 years ago

    Gratitude for the helpful advice.

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    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 2 years ago

    I appreciate the update, thank you! I'll check my bio this coming work week and see what I can do to make sure it's relevant.

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    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    I'm curious about what the 33 ads earn on my science article for kids. Ad an experiment, I could unpublish all my articles to test this.

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       Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Don't ever think of doing this, or Google will punish you hard!
       
       PS: After unpublishing them, how'll you know how much those 33 ads earn on your science articles?

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          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Well I'll only get paid for the one article. It's one article that has the 33 ads.

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       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I don't see how unpublishing gets you anywhere. It will just give you even less data to go on.
       
       However, empirical experimentation might be the answer. Create a new account and put only kids' science articles in there. This is the kind of stuff that I've done over the years.
       
       It's virtually impossible to get any sort of thorough understanding with one account. It's like trying to solve a scientific problem and only having the results from a single experiment.
       
       Of course, most people don't really desire or need a thorough understanding, they're happy to just chug along...

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          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Is there a way of transferring articles between different accounts?

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             EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

             I suspect there is a way but it would be a lot of work for the Team. Still, I think (and have suggested) a one-time account consolidation window might be good for both writers and HubPages.
             
             And, If they are truly so concerned about our profiles and EAT, encouraging writers to only have one profile seems logical.

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                PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                I agree that HP could move articles between accounts, which is essentially about urls and redirections, but there's no mechanism for requesting this and they probably don't want to offer it as a service.
                
                Deleting and reposting articles to other accounts, which I've done in the past, generally results in a loss of traffic for six months or so, because you lose accrued links etc.
                
                I have multiple accounts and use one biog and writing name, I don't believe that's a particular problem for me or HP.

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    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    Will you be doing anything else to boost site authority like hiring exerts to review articles as happens on Wikihow? I guess that would cost a fortune though.

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       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Another new profile pic, Eugene? Do we get to vote for our favorite?
       
       You had a touch of the mad scientist with the previous one, I thought. This yellow t-shirt pic seems to go for a more windswept-and-interesting image.
       
       I'll confess that mine was taken five years back and my beard is greyer nowadays...

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          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Yes, mad scientist is probably apt. This one was from a night run around Paros Bay during the holidays.

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    Sue Adamsposted 2 years ago

    Then there is this other self-destructing feature that destroys user retention. (Do readers stay on the page until the end of an article?)
    
    Picture this:
    
    You are a reader. You google something, hopefully, to find an answer to a question, or learn something new. Goodie, you find this fascinating article. You are reading avidly until suddenly, your devoted attention is interrupted by lots of unnecessary and undesired choices: Should you click on another, different article? If so, which one? Or should you scroll to continue reading before your attention was highjacked? You are now so pi**ed-off that you leave the page without clicking on any links. Lo-lose.
    
    
    
    Really? Sometimes HP policies look like they are designed to stab the site in its own back.
    
    Can those "Read More" links please go to the end of the articles?

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       eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Exactly. At least replace the "Scroll to continue" with "Scroll to continue reading article" so readers don't hit the back button. Surely that wouldn't take more than 5 minutes or is there bureaucracy and red tape involved in making changes?

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       EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I don't see the issue with those links. They are links to the same niche site. They aren't ads and they don't take readers off the site. Readers who aren't interested in them will keep reading. Readers who are getting bored might click on them. That's a good thing. It keeps people on the site and reduces the bounce rate.
       
       In my opinion, they are one of the few things HP is doing right with the page layout.
       
       One problem I do have with them is how the "news articles" only link to themselves in that widget. They should be sending traffic around the site.

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          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          They break up text capsules though and ordered/bulleted lists. Also they sometimes give the impression that an article has ended to anyone who doesn't think about scrolling by them. If someone has read enough of an article to be satisfied, they mightn't bother scrolling and just back out. My point is that they're an obstacle in the flow of an article, even though they might be beneficial. Maybe the text could be altered to something like "After you've read this article...", then a reader might scroll back up and follow the links.

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             EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

             I think if there weren't so many other obstacles (ads) this one may not seem so bad. I do agree that, like everything else, they should be placed in a way that does not break up important text.

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    Brenda Arledgeposted 2 years ago

    Thank you.  I'll rework some of my information, but I already use my real name.
    
    I do wish that others could follow my hubpages profile after reading my work on  niche site like LETTERPILE.
    There is no link to my profile for others to actually follow.
    
    I also cannot easily follow my fellow hubbers due to this issue.
    
    Thanks again.

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       jansharesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Following now.

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    readymatrimonyposted 2 years ago

    Will having a content related post on major social media like linkedin , facebook help me increase my EAT

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    Jodahposted 2 years ago

    Does this mean EAT more, WRITE less?

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       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Hehe!
       
       What does WRITE stand for?
       
       Working
       Reflections
       In
       Textual
       Efforts?

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          Jodahposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Haha that sounds right.

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    Sue Adamsposted 2 years ago

    Re Read More links in the middle of articles.
    
    
    Since when does leaving the page reduce the bounce rate of an article?

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       EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Leaving the page to go to another page on the site is not a bounce. Leaving the page by hitting the back button (for example) is a bounce.
       
       https://www.semrush.com/blog/bounce-rate/
       
       Internal links can help lower bounce rates, which is why HP should be adding more of them aside from this one widget.
       
       It is also why it is smart for writers to add related links to their other articles on the same site when possible.

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    Sue Adamsposted 2 years ago

    Yes, and that's exactly what readers are doing when they get disturbed by unwanted links in the middle of an article.

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