Should My Hubs Be Penalized?

1. 78

   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   I received an e-mail yesterday telling me I would need to improve a huge number of Hubs.  This was down to the text to Amazon/eBay capsule ratio.
   
   Unfortunately it seems this change has wiped out my highest converting ad layout
   
   Namely either
   
   text | image
   Amazon | eBay/amazon
   
   or simply
   
   text
   Amazon | eBay/Amazon
   
   There is only in most cases 1 product in each advertising capsule, unless there is a pertinant reason to increase the limit (i.e Pokemon Black & Pokemon White)
   
   So overall I could have less products being displayed than someone with three full sized advertising capsules.
   
   Should I be hit by these changes simply because I have a more complex, effecient and relevant ad layout on my page?
   
   My current options are either increase each pages text amount by around 30%
   
   or
   
   Reduce the ad capsule amount by half (Badically creating one ad under each post, which kind of destroys the entire point of giving buyers a 'comparisson' of products under each product description.

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   1. 69

      ThomasEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick, but it doesn't make a difference whether you have 3 capsules each set to display 1 item, or 1 capsule set to display 3 items.
      
      The new rule is 50 words for each product that can be displayed, whatever capsule layout you choose.

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2. 75

   Stacie Lposted 14 years ago

   Google wants to be the only advertiser on our hubs...they have the power and will reward those who obey..

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3. 67

   Mishaposted 14 years ago

   Yes Oli, this is exactly why HP pages lost value as you said in another thread, so you are to blame

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   1. 71

      Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      BTW, did HP really got penalized? I was about to start a new thread asking this question and then saw your post.

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      1. 67

         Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         LOL are you living in the bunker somewhere? This is all what people here are talking about for almost three weeks already

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         1. 71

            Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Yea, call it a bunker. Got married about 3 weeks back and haven't done much hubbing since then.
            
            
            I asked because my search engine traffic have dropped.

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            1. 68

               Rosie2010posted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Congratulations!

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               1. 71

                  Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks!!

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            2. 67

               Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               LOL That explains it. Congratulations on your marriage! And you have a lot to catch up with, keep reading.

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               1. 71

                  Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks
                  Yup, a lot has changed.

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      2. 78

         thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hubpages didn't get penalized (That suggests a specific action against them) they just have less value in teh new Google Algorithm.
         
         Personally I am willing for my page to lose a little value for an ad layout that increased my sales by over 50%.

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         1. 71

            Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I see. That got to be the case as my traffic has dropped but I still get quite a few visitors to my hubs from Google.

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   2. 85

      Sufidreamerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Yes - it is all Oli's fault. We should sacrifice him on an altar to the great God, Google
      
      Ultimate Hubber: Congrats on your special occasion

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      1. 71

         Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Sufi!

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4. 78

   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   Just reread the text and it is correct that it is per product that needs to be displayed, gonna have to do some extra text generation I guess, really don't want to lose this layout.

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5. 74

   livewithrichardposted 14 years ago

   I feel your pain Oli but I just went through 200+ hubs to comply with the new changes.  Who knows, the new layout might do some good on some poorly converting hubs.  I think I broke my own rule of writing for the reader in my product hubs by providing too many product choices. I've now fixed that and it will take some time to see if there is any improvement. 
   
   There are some things I have noticed that may improve hub rankings and they all have to deal with bounce rate.  Adding elements that will keep your reader on page longer (multiple images, videos, polls, and relevant external links that open in a new window, and maps)  but mostly quality content using the "Goldilocks" rule... not too long, not too short, but just right. 
   
   Right now my findings are based solely on hub score and not necessarily on Google rank. I examined the top 10 hubs and only 4 of them ranked on the first page of G for a term which had the greatest density on page. The others didn't show on page 2 and anything beyond that is not worth checking.
   
   Funny thing about my research is that most of the stuff that ranked above those hubs were pure junk, short, few if any of the other elements I mentioned above though they had tons of backlinks. So I'm thinking backlinks to relevant sites or not still carry a lot of weight.

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   1. 69

      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Time on page and bounce rate are two very different things. The changes you are suggesting wouldn't impact bounce rate -- at least in Google's eyes. Or am I missing something?

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6. 64

   lakeerieartistsposted 14 years ago

   Oli, you don't need to change your layout, just the ratio of words to products.  And check your default on the capsules to make sure they match the amount of products that you are actually showing.  It may not be as bad as you think.
   
   The only layout changes are if you have full capsules in the very top section of the prohibited list.  You don't seem to have that on your layout.
   
   For instance, I had a few where the first capsule was Ebay or Amazon, so I just moved those down the page.

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7. 78

   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   Google doesn't accept blood sacrifices, send cheques to
   
   Matt Cutts
   1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
   Mountain View, CA 94043

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   1. 67

      Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      ROFLMAO

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8. 78

   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   More interactive items does improve your Hubscore.
   
   Lower bounce rates can also increase your Google SERPs, however Google can only collect data in limited ways in regards to a websites bounce rate (the search engine side of Google does not use the Analytics side of Google).

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