Please Stop Panicking!

1. 85

   Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

   I don't post in these forums anymore, so most of you won't know who I am, but I've been around a long time. I am not going to get into a debate with *anyone*, this is just an FYI for those of you who are panicked about the latest Google changes.
   
   1. Google did a big change of some sort a couple of years ago; can't recall what it was, but my earnings dropped for a month or few. I continued to hub, and within a few months my earnings were back up to where they were and then some.
   
   2. My traffic dropped over the last week just like everyone else's, and my earnings dropped a bit, but not enough to worry me. And over the last couple of days they seem to be almost back to what they were before the Google change.
   
   3. This doesn't apply to people who come here just to write and not make money, but for those who are here trying to earn money, let me just say that if you spent 1/2 the amount of time creating new hubs that you spend kvetching in these forums, you'd be making a whole lot more. And if that smacks, sorry -- it's just  the truth.
   
   4. Hubranking has zero to do with what you earn here. Zero. For months, I was the top hubber when there was only one 100 rating for all of HP and I can tell you it has no impact on earnings. In fact, if you wanted to really analyze it, I make more when I'm a 94!
   
   5. If you want to make money here you need to write 100% original content and not steal or borrow. You know who you are, and so does Google.
   
   6. And lastly, yes, it is possible to make a living from HP earnings. Absolutely, it is. There is not a magic formula and there is not a magic hub waiting to be written. The secret to making money is writing articles you know something about, writing many of them, and then giving it some time. Backlinks may work for some, but personally I have never tried any of that. I just write what I know and I've been fortunate that 10 million+ people have wanted to read them.
   
   That is the secret to hubpages -- quality, quantity, and patience.
   
   I hope this makes some of you feel better.
   
   Good luck,
   Isa

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      LOL!!!!
      
      I agree.  I think a high score is still desirable though.  I might be better off (as would many) with a perma forum ban!

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      Mike's Cornerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the great post, Isabella. I've been away for about 9 days and came back to losts of scary forum posts, like the whole world had changed in a week, I'm glad to hear from a long-time hubber that this sort of thing has happened before and thigns should shake out in favor of quality hubs.

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      Angie Jardineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Isabella - as a newbie I do love writing but I would also love to earn money. I work very hard on my hubs but as to everything else (backlinks et al) I really haven't a clue. So I'm really grateful to you for this sensible and useful hub.
      
      Cheers
      Angie

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      ByChanceTVposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You Got a good attitude - I like you're style!

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      tonymac04posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm panicking! In mid-December my author score was in the early to mid 90s. It is now at 78 in spite of my page views rising slowly buyt steadily and the addition of some, may I modestly say, quality Hubs. My followers number has increased and the individual Hub scores have increased. Indeed in early December I had Hubs with scores of 50, 51, 52. Right now my lowest is 57 and my highest 97.
      So with all the indicators seemingly on the up, what is happening to my Author Score?
      I understand that if it drops below 75 I will run into problems. So what can I do to reverse the slide? This is very worrying as I work very hard on my Hubs and take pride as well as pleasure in my writing.
      Advice please?

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         MyWebsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You mentioned the magic number 75.
         
         Does your Author score affect the amount of traffic your hubs receive? How much you earn from your hubs? Not one bit. Your caught up worrying about something that doesn't really matter as long as it is 75 or higher. Even if it does drop below 75 all that happens in your outgoing links become no follow which may not matter to you.
         
         But since you are flirting with the 75 I'd suggest reading some hubs and leaving comments on a couple. Do some hub hopping to help rid HP of the craptacular hubs and maybe answer a question or two. All of these things affect hub score.

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            tonymac04posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Have done and am doing all of those things!

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         ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You could optimise your tagging: http://hubpages.com/hub/Hubpages-Traffic-Use-of-Tags
         
         Doing so bumped my author score up significantly when I was starting out.

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            tonymac04posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks - I have been doing that but maybe need to do more.
            I'm still worried that my author score is dropping while other indicators seem to be rising - it doesn't make sense to me?
            Still I'll juist carry on and hope that the tide turns somehow. If I knew what was causing the drop I might be able to rectify something but being in the dark makes it difficult.
            But thanks again for the reminded about tags.

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               Sufidreamerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               That happened to another respected Hubber a while back - it turned out they had too many links pointing to the same blog across their Hubs. They stripped a few links out and the score recovered.
               
               Not sure if that is the case with your portfolio, but you could always try emailing the team (as long as they are not too busy with the flagging spree!) and see what is going on.
               
               Poor quality isn't an issue with your work - there must be some other reason

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                  tonymac04posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Think I will take your advice and email the team because I don't have those sorts of links. I only link to other Hubs or to things like Wikipedia when it's relevant.
                  Do the links to my blog in my profile count against me in this sense?
                  Anyway thanks again

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                     prettydarkhorseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Hi Tonymac, I hope your author score will rise soon as I know your hubs are well written.

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                     IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Just saw this post..Tony another thing that can lower your hubscore is following too many hubbers with low scores...so check that out.

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                  oceansnsunsetsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Yeah, Tony, from what I know of you, you are not low quality!  I am very surprised that you have just a 78 for all that you are doing.  That just seems odd to me too.  Has this ever happened before to you in your time here?

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      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Well said! And who said that you can't learn a thing on forums! I learnt a new verb - to kvetch! Wonderful - my new favorite verb thanks!
      
      Being serious, I totally agree with you - these bumps are going to happen time to time and as long as the focus continues to be on quality then good writers will ALWAYS rise to the top!

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   EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

   You sound like the voice of common sense.
   
   Personally I'd also much rather be a 94 than a 100 - I've a hunch that people whose 100 score propels them to HP's front page are more likely to have their hubs copied.

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   Dolores Monetposted 12 years ago

   Whoah, you have a point there. I think I'll go around insulting people, ignoring comments, and whatever you have to do to drop the hub score. haha! Only kidding!

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It works for me

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   Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

   It's amazing that with everything I just said, the first two comments are focused on hubscore!
   
   Hubscore has nothing to do with how much traffic you bring in, or how much money you make. And if I wanted to be 100, believe me, I'd still be 100.
   
   I started making much better money when I stopped caring about my hubscore and started making more hubs.
   
   But hey, to each his own.

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I might like a high hubscore, but I've never had a score as high as yours is; and I've not been making enough money here to be complaining about a drop in traffic.
      
      I have, however, realized that my epic opinion pieces aren't where the money is!!!  LOL!

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      sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wow!  you really make sense... I guess it is important to go on doing what you need to do and stop moaning and weeping about the changes. Once the dust settles down I guess thing will be back to normal..I Know what you are saying about hubscore..it doesn't mean a thing.
      Great advice there and I am glad that you popped up in time to give some good advice.Thanks !!

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      oceansnsunsetsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You make fair points...

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5. 85

   Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

   Ugh, I don't like this threading system so it's unlikely I will continue to post here. Hopefully someone like Misha will reiterate what I've said and I'll just mosey on now.

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      Mishaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You can switch to the normal view, it is in the upper right corner, right below the header.

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         Isabella Snowposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thank God! Thanks, Misha!

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            Mishaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You are welcome any time
            
            I, too, despise that "improvement".

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   Mishaposted 12 years ago

   Hi Isa, glad to see you back. How are you doing?

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7. 85

   Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

   Speak of the devil -- Misha tell them I'm right so I can go back to work. ;-)

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      Mishaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      *devilish laugh*
      
      Sure you are, I told that them countless times myself - they prefer to worry

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   camloposted 12 years ago

   Thank you, Isabella!
   You've made a few things clear to me here that had always seemed a little unclear. A shame you don't bring your wisdom to the Forums more often.

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   R-J-Tposted 12 years ago

   Im glad you left a comment Isabella Snow, its a shame you do not come to the forums anymore as with 10 million views people could learn a lot from you.
   
   And I totally agree about hubscore it is 100% irrelivant to how much money you can earn or google rankings.
   
   Thank you.

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      oceansnsunsetsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      WOW, 10 million views?  What can people do on hubpages to get views more in line with that?  Man that is a ton of views!

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    Richieb799posted 12 years ago

    If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs you are a wiseman

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       Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Or alternatively...
       
       ....
       
       you don't understand the problem.

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          ThomasEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          If you can keep your head when everyone else is losing theirs, you are better off than Henry VIII's wives.

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             Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Drat.  We should have started one of those funny word game threads.

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          Isabella Snowposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Yes, I'm an idiot. Got it in one.

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             ThomasEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Did I say that? No, I didn't.

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                Isabella Snowposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Did I quote you?

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                   ThomasEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   I thought you did.
                   
                   To be fair though, neither did Mark Ewbie say you were an idiot.

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                   camloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   I believe Mark was referring to himself as the one who doesn't understand what's going on - at least, I'd like to think so.

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             Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             I didn't say that either - it was merely an alternative view, or hackneyed expression which is occasionally added to the original "If you can keep your head" line.
             
             No offence meant.

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       Pandoras Boxposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Nothing gives a man more advantage over another than to stay cool, calm and collected at all times.
       
       -Jefferson (probably loosely quoted)

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    Jule Romansposted 12 years ago

    Thanks, Isabella.

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    lorlie6posted 12 years ago

    We've missed you, Isabella!

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13. 80

    workingmomwmposted 12 years ago

    Not panicking here. I don't make enough or get enough traffic to really worry. It is kind of a bummer, though. I just started seeing some Google AdSense money start trickling in, and I was seeing a rise in traffic. And now traffic is dropping and Google isn't doing anything for me. Oh well. I'll just have to wait it out and see what happens.

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14. 85

    Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

    Just a note to say I have checked the hubs of mine that always ranked in the top 3 google returns, and they are still there. In fact, one is them went up to first place.
    
    Like I said, my earnings are about the same as they were before, even with the traffic drop, so perhaps I was getting bad quality traffic before. On the other hand, some of my hubs that weren't earning very much are getting more views and have had some high paying clicks.
    
    I believe that it will all sort itself out.
    
    I also believe that if you have a negative mentality, you will draw negative experiences into your life. It may be easier than done to say give it some time, but really that's what we *have* to do.
    
    In the meantime, keep hubbing, because when the traffic comes back, as I'm sure it will, you'll be glad you did.

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    SandyMcCollumposted 12 years ago

    No, hub score has no meaning when it comes to pay or page views, however, I do like to keep mine at an acceptable level to me. If my hubscore slips, I start working more, which makes me more money.

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16. 85

    Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

    That's an issue of personal motivation.

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    waynetposted 12 years ago

    The voice of reason has spoken, nice to see you around here saucy lady. been reading some of your hubs and rating accordingly!

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    Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

    Heya Wayne! Thanks much! ;-)

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    Cagsilposted 12 years ago

    I don't panic.
    
    Nice to see you Isabella. Hope things are well.

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    frogdroppingposted 12 years ago

    I agree with the hubranking. Numbers bounce around (mine do) but they don't mean jack in relation to earnings.
    
    As for earning a living on HP yep, that's doable. And the magic formula, if there is or was such a thing - it's called writing, funnily enough. If you don't put the effort in all you can expect is the same in return.

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       Greek Oneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       then why does your avatar look like it is panicking?

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          frogdroppingposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Because I live in a world of perpetual chaos. Algorithm schmalgorithm. Try dealing with hormonal daughters high on estrogen, or idiot dogs that are forever leaping before they git to looking.

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             Greek Oneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             have you tried....
             
             
             
             
             It relieves the stress and, over time, helps you get rid of your liver

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       Isabella Snowposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       No, funnily enough; it's *not* writing.
       
       It's writing something people want to read, and writing it well.

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          frogdroppingposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Not writing? What's the bit in the text box called then.

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          Hauntyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I think the point was writing a lot, which is just as important as writing the right kind of content. One won't work without the other.

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          Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Well, if you are going to put unreasonable conditions like that on it, I just give up..

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    IzzyMposted 12 years ago

    I'm sorry I missed this post from Isabella 28 hours ago. Thanks hun
    Tomorrow I'll get back to writing hubs. Feel better about the traffic drop already

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    Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

    Gawd, I'm starting to remember why I stopped visiting this forum.

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       waynetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Lol! at least I didn't mention the hubscore thingy!

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       ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Why? I don't really see any negative responses to your forum post? In fact most were agreeing with your points, even if they were blatantly obvious.

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          IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          That's what I wondered too, Ryan!
          Seems a bit odd to have a quick visit, make a few comments, get some support, then announce this?

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             ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             I don't know, seemed a bit uppity to me. Not sure if the monitor is playing tricks on me again, but seemed a bit off with everybodies favourite frog above
             
             Thank goodness she didn't encounter one of the trolls, I thought that this was one of the better recieved and more pleasant threads on the board

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          Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Well, she did misinterpret Mark's little joke..
          
          It doesn't matter. She made her point and she's right.

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             ryankettposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Yeah she was right, but that's the bit which confused me, nobody said that she wasn't

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                agvulpesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Just read it through myself and Isa came across as the 'old school marm'  "Just sit there and listen and don't answer back even if it is to agree with me"
                Btw Isa I agree with you wholeheartedly.

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             Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Was that a form of flounce, PC? 

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                Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                I don't know. Her avatar looks like she could do a GREAT flounce.
                
                She could also likely write a great "how to flounce" hub.

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    Isabella Snowposted 12 years ago

    Right, that's enough for me then.
    
    Good luck to those who stick around.
    
    Later.

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    R-J-Tposted 12 years ago

    Isabella Snow you are really helping me keep motivated as I would much rather take advice from someone who has walked the walked (10 M views) rather than all these people who just talk the talk.
    
    Thank you

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       simeonvisserposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       It's indeed very important to distinguish those who walk the walk from those who talk the talk in making money online.

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    Aware1posted 12 years ago

    Gosh, I wish I had seen this post earlier! I would not have posted links to the stats articles. I have not been affected here with all of this.. really, my few acounts here only see posts occasionally.
    
    Anyway, Isabella, thanks for posting it! I agree with you. And all my stats and serps have not been affected.
    
    It will all balance out...

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    awareposted 12 years ago

    hmm

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    earnestshubposted 12 years ago

    You nailed it Isabella.

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    2besureposted 12 years ago

    884 hub??? Girrl, you have been here for a while!

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    ThomasEposted 12 years ago

    The problem with the view that cream rises to the top is that I look at the results so far, and notice that this change has predominantly caused my single product hubs to rise, and my multiple product hubs to fall.
    
    The single product hubs I wrote are mainly the first hubs I wrote.
    
    They are much worse than the multiple product hubs, in my view. The multiple product hubs are better quality, offering a range of similar products at various price points that I think people would want... they were written with the intention of being helpful, and better than the Amazon results on the subject.
    
    Frankly, the single product hubs are drek I wrote right at first when I was learning, and were mainly written to improve my bank balance, and I have been planning to improve substantially so they are really useful to the people reading them but hadn't got around to fixing yet.
    
    At least in my case, the hubs I thought were the best and most helpful ones have been hit the hardest.

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       Susana Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I just checked mine to see if I could see the same correlation, but I can't. My older product reviews are faring better (though they have still been bashed) whether they are for single or multiple products, while my newer ones which were just starting to rise in the serps have been smacked down to 1 or 2 hits per day.
       
       In fact 2 of my multiple product hubs have not been affected at all (so far) and weirdly one of the ones I wrote just before Christmas is still doing ok as well. Can't see much rhyme or reason at the moment, but we will work it out with conversations like this.
       
       On another point, I was looking my average time on page stats yesterday and I don't think google can be paying much attention to those at the mo, because most of my hubs have a 5 - 6 min average.

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    rachelsholidayposted 12 years ago

    Thanks for posting this!  I'm new to hubpages and while I don't exactly care about making money it would be nice to earn a little bit.

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       prettydarkhorseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       you can also read HP blogs which was updated just now -- http://blog.hubpages.com/
       
       Welcome to HP!!

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    rachelsholidayposted 12 years ago

    Thank you!

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