I'm Going to Start Breaking Up My Articles

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   eugbugposted 16 months ago

   Google it seems appears to favour short and sweet articles that just summarise stuff, and frequently guides with no photos or diagrams rank highest. Even if an article is comprehensive with a lot of added detail that I would have considered "helpful", they must assume it's added fluff and can't recognise quality. So I'm going to break all my long articles up into small chunks and see if they rank better.

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      Jodahposted 16 months agoin reply to this

      It seems a shame that Google has gone in that direction instead of rewarding in-depth and quality articles. You do what you need to Eugene, and I hope it helps your rankings improve.

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         eugbugposted 16 months agoin reply to this

         Thanks, I hope so, but we're all in the same boat.

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            Jodahposted 16 months agoin reply to this

            Yes we are.

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      Miebakagh57posted 16 months agoin reply to this

      Some years ago, (Squidoo period) it's between 500 and 700 words.                                 This was later increased to 1000 and then 1500, and more or am I imaging things?                                     Nowadays, why does Google want to take writers here back to square one with just one photo or video?  This breaks Hubpages article writing terms!

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         eugbugposted 16 months agoin reply to this

         I don't know Miebakagh, I'm just speculating. Maybe I'm wrong, but I often see guides that are really short and are just summaries, with only one or no photos ranking above mine. It could just be because those websites are more authoritative or they're well known companies with lots of backlinks to them.

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            DrMark1961posted 16 months agoin reply to this

            According to SEO sites the top ranked articles are longer, but I would be interested in hearing your results. I do not think it is going to matter one way or the other since ranking seems more to do with site authority now and has nothing to do with how well it is written or laid out.

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               eugbugposted 16 months agoin reply to this

               Yes, I agree with that.

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            Miebakagh57posted 16 months agoin reply to this

            Have you encouter a link in those summaries, that leads you to dig deep in the same topic, in the last sentence?                                      Seriously, I have. It's not like a 'read more' or 'continue reading' challenge. But the article is not a magazine.

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   Misbah786posted 16 months ago

   That's a shame! Google is so meany!
   I think your idea is great. I hope it helps you.
   Best wishes!

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      eugbugposted 16 months agoin reply to this

      Thanks Misbah.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 16 months ago

   My most-viewed articles still tend to be long (1,200 to 2,500 words).
   
   I would be wary of making drastic changes during a period when HP seems to have a variety of issues, some of which seem to be technical in nature, but it's up to you, of course.
   
   If anything, I've been doing the opposite to you. I was expanding successful articles slightly to try and net traffic for related keywords.
   
   Not a lot works in the current climate, though, I'll admit.
   
   Some of my newer articles have been doing well, but I can't help feeling what's the point if the site overall keeps losing 20% of traffic every few months...

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      dougwest1posted 16 months agoin reply to this

      Paul:
      I responded to your comment "the site overall keeps losing 20% of traffic every few months..." asking for any explanation you might have. I accidently hit the "report" button instead of the "reply" button. Any idea why the site is losing so much traffic?

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   Vladimir - Val Karasposted 16 months ago

   Eugene -- It's amazing, on my own I had decided to cut one of my long articles in half, omit pictures, quotes, videos and polls -- out of curiosity to see what happens with those two, albeit slightly related halves, but good enough to stand on their own. And ONLY THEN I came across what you are saying here. What a coincidence!
   If that works, or at least works as good/bad as the long ones did, I'll do the same with many of them -- so much less work.
   Actually, if there is no difference at all, why bother making them super-presentable? Especially if it turns out to be true about Google preferring a short and concise text, as you are saying -- I made mine 700+ words, maybe even that's too long, LOL.
   Thanks for the additional inspiration.

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      dougwest1posted 16 months agoin reply to this

      Vladimir, Eugene:
      Let us know how your experiment of breaking up articles into smaller pieces works out. My articles are apparently way too long.

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   Brenda Arledgeposted 16 months ago

   Wow...this is surprising.
   Guess it's worth a try.

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   Vladimir - Val Karasposted 16 months ago

   Including a couple of breaks when I closed my account for a while -- I've been with HP for about 8 years, so I can remember how many good writers left -- quite possibly after having realized that it all came down to "writing-for-fun", not for a traffic and for monetizing. By nature I am not a pessimist, but there are realities that people just have to face from what is becoming evident. So, I'll keep writing until it stops being a fun of literary expressing myself in language that is my second. Honestly, I don't see anything getting better since we joined Maven, or since we got these extra sites. Add to that all ads splashed over articles making them look ridiculously fragmentized, also loss of "Questions & Answers", as well as "Comments"... Well, I'm just speaking for myself, whereas you, more successful writers, must be doing well.

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   Eurofileposted 16 months ago

   I will be very interested to find out how your plan works. Depending on the results I might have to consider doing the same.

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