Can answering Hub question requests boost SEO?

1. 79

   N. Ramiusposted 15 years ago

   I'm wondering if I plan a hub on a topic, is it worth going through the questions, finding a related one and selecting answer this question. Would you hub get more internal hub links as a result giving just a little extra boost?
   
   and Happy Easter!

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      Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      The fact that someone has asked the question means someone wants to know - so maybe there are other people with the same question.  That has to be a positive.
      
      Answering the question gives you one extra link - I doubt that would make much difference.

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2. 67

   goldenpathposted 15 years ago

   I doubt it, but don't honestly know.  Bump for answers, curious as well!

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3. 60

   kephriraposted 15 years ago

   You'd get the link to your hub from the question page so that would have a positive effect, but how much of an effect is another question.

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4. 81

   MyWebsposted 15 years ago

   I tend to think there is a slight advantage to creating a hub that answers a question.
   
   I have only done this once so far but the result was very good. On Google my hub is #1 for that keyword question and #2 is the question page on hubpages that I answered. This keyword phrase is not super competitive and I wouldn't expect it to work quite as well for harder keywords.
   
   Regardless this hub of mine has a score of around 96 or 97, my highest hub score, and is the third "Best" hub in its category here on hubpages which is a rather competitive topic. So I'm very glad I answered this question with a hub! I wouldn't attribute the hub's high score to answering a question, but it could be a factor in hubpages hub scoring system?
   
   Yes you do get one extra internal link, question page. Like I mentioned that question page can also show up in Google for your keywords and possibly provides an additional search engine link to your hub. So you may get an easy 2nd external search engine link too.

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5. 81

   Urbane Chaosposted 15 years ago

   A hub is a hub is a hub..
   
   I don't think there's any real advantage or disadvantage, other than you may get an extra link.
   
   I believe that the success on the hub depends on the hub itself, and not on anything else.  I've always seen the "questions" to be more of an idea generator, more than anything else.

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6. 70

   Peter Hogganposted 15 years ago

   I think Marisa and MyWebs have both touched on important points. Marisa rightly points out that if someone is asking a question on HubPages there may be others seeking the same answers.
   
   So have a think about the keywords that you could target by answering a question and research what clicks on ads for that keyword would be worth. Read Ryan Hupfers forum post HubPages Tips: Using keyword research to make a good Hub great! and watch the video which is a great resource for finding high paying keyphrases.
   
   MyWebs points out that answering questions might be one of the contributing factors that make up HubPages scoring system. This might have an indirect boost on search engine rankings. For example, a higher hub score could potentially get you more internal links from category and tag pages as well as related hub links that show on the right hand side of similar HubPages.
   
   I cannot guarantee this is how things work nor have I tested it, but it seems highly likely in my opinion.

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   1. 81

      MyWebsposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Yes Peter and Marisa.. by targeting your keywords at a question users may ask in a search engine, or here on HP, and ranking highly your hub is highly targeted at answering this question. This is exactly what my hub does.
      
      In one of my hubs I list a keyword question tool and suggest using it for this very purpose. Come to think of it it is the hub that I wrote as an answer to the question. 'What Is The Best Thing To Write?". Several people via the comments really liked this tool.

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7. 0

   WizardOfOzposted 15 years ago

   Probably not worth the bother to get too technical on SEO.  Unless you are producing large volumes and over an extensive period you will not be garnering any significant traffic spikes by this way of looking at things.

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      Peter Hogganposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      If attracting more clicks on more hubs for higher paying keywords isn’t attractive to you it might be to others.

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8. 0

   WizardOfOzposted 15 years ago

   just write what you feel like writing. use HP as a networking tool not for money.  if you want money use your hubs as a portfolio and start a blog or your own website.  some stage later you could perhaps hire out your writing skills or place advertising on your own site.  not saying ditch hp but just have realistic expectations and work smart not hard if it is $ you are looking for.

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   1. 70

      Peter Hogganposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      There are people here making good money but that’s because they worked smart and hard. But thanks for the hackneyed cliché.

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   2. 81

      MyWebsposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Wizard I think your wrong to tell people not to try and make money on hubpages. A few users here make enough money here to make living from it. Many others make enough to supplement their income and many only make a small amount. You get out of something what you put into it.
      
      If a person wishes to try and make money then they will have to work hard at it and maybe learn about things like SEO and acquiring incoming links. Who are you to tell others what they should or should not do?
      
      The average person will not be able to build up enough authority for their own web site or blog in the search engines to quickly get the exposure they can here on hubpages. HubPages comes with a built in site structure that is highly optimized for SEO purposes. And there is power in numbers. What we can all accomplish as a group dwarfs what an single person or small group can ever hope to match.
      
      In about 2 months many of my hubs already have a Goolge Page Rank of 2 and mostly PR3's. I really doubt I could have done quite so well so quickly on my own. With more work and more time yes I could get to the same point eventually. In my opinion writing for a site like HP is working easier and smarter!
      
      How many users here know how to buy a domain name and setup the Name Servers to point to their web site? Manage a web site using a tool like cPanel? Create web pages using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, PHP and MySQL or similar methods? The average person  would be lucky to know basic HTML, much less all the rest! But to create a site like HubPages you would need to know all these things. Or you could give up 40% of your ad views and never worry about any of these things plus tons of other issues I didn't even mention.
      
      If all a person wishes to do is write for the fun of it then more power to them. But if they wish to make money then they surely should try, but just have realistic expectations as there is no legitimate get rich system out there as far as I know. Any legitimate money making venture takes hard work.
      
      A person should do what they want and not let others influence them for reasons that make no sense at all.

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   3. 79

      N. Ramiusposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I thought my question would be working smart to find out that oh look this hub could do better if I answered a question and maybe generate a bit more traffic and clicks. Or I can find out oh look it is a waste of time and save myself the extra effort..

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      1. 88

         Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Personally, I don't bother answering questions.  As others have said, it's possible answering a question with a Hub will give you a few extra internal links, which are beneficial. 
         
         However, I find it takes too much time to trawl through all the dross to find a question I can answer.  If I'm going to spend time on research, I suspect that time would be better spent researching keywords rather than searching through HubPages questions.

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