Hubpages Staff- Please Look Into....

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Hello,
   
   I try not to make waves with "How Hubpages Operates" and I am not sure if this singular problem is having a huge effect or not.
   
   But, I've noticed that many hubs I had connected to other hubs via "embedded" links(anchored text) have not been coming up or being flagged as "broken" links.
   
   Is the filter not addressing these sort of links? Is it just not looking for them or ignoring them for some reason.
   
   This isn't the first time I've mentioned this in the forums, but I'm continuing to try and make my hubs better and I keep running across Hubs that have links to deleted hubs. The deleted hubs have been gone for some time now and yet nothing has been reported to me, as far as broken links are concerned.
   
   I'm only mentioning again, to bring it to your(Staff) attention, because I ran across a couple more hubs I've edited today, which were not flagged as having broken links, but were still trying to link to hubs that no longer exist.
   
   Staff- I would appreciate some acknowledgment, as to what's happening?
   
   Thank you for your time.
   
   Cagsil

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2. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

   I didn't see an open bug for this, so if you post an example, I'll make sure it get's looked at.

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   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   I've one hub with Amazon Uk link and it is showing icon for broken link.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Hey Paul,
   
   I appreciate the response and I've just found one example.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/World-Peace-The … t-To-Words
   
   The above hub has an embedded link, that which was supposedly to point people to another hub.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Too-Many-People … -Awareness
   
   The above hub link is the embedded link, but the hub is non-existent, because it was deleted. However, it is not showing as broken.
   
   I hope that helps.
   
   
   Edit: I also found a secondary link that is also pointing to another hub that is non-existent. And, like the above, it's not claiming or showing broken.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Knowledge-Among … iving-Fear

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      Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      We are looking at possibly not rendering any link that goes to an unpublished Hub at the time the Hub is delivered to a reader.
      
      The reason is that many of those "dead" links could be temporary - they could be moderated/unpublished and then republished again.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Oh, btw Paul. I have not fixed the hub. I have left it as is with the two broken links pointing to non-existent hubs, so you can see for yourself.
   
   My statistics page has not indicated anything wrong with the hub. The only broken links I've been warned about are the ones that were inside link capsules.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Here is another example...
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Humanity-Habita … Difference
   
   The above hub, I just found another link not recognized as being broken.
   
   The link broken is embedded also. I left it as is, so you can see it.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Self-Responsibi … cter-Trait
   
   The above link is embedded, but not recognized.
   
   It has more than one link embedded that isn't recognized.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Knowledge-Among … iving-Fear
   
   The link above is the second link, in the same hub.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Another hub also. Just found.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Explanation-Human-Sense-of-Life
   
   The above is the hub.
   
   Embedded link, not recognized as broken.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Poem-Unrealistic-Inclination
   
   Above link is the embedded link.

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      katiem2posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for pointing this out Cagsil, I've experienced this myself and just deleted the dead link.

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         Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I have run across them also and simply deleted them. But, Hubpages software isn't recognizing them as broken.
         
         Broken links are hurtful to the hub's ability to rank, because bots scan the page, checking out all links and where they go.
         
         If there are thousands of these type that are being missed, it can definitely lead to problems with Hubpages overall ability.
         
         As always Katie, it's a pleasure to see you. Hope you are well. And, You're welcome.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Any clues?

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   Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

   I'm pretty sure the broken link checker isn't run all that often.
   
   I didn't renew a couple of my websites a few months ago.  I thought I had removed every link I had in my Hubs, but HubPages picked up a few links I'd missed - however it took about two months for them to show up on my account. 
   
   Or could it be something to do with the links still showing on Google?

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      Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for replying Marisa. I don't know. But, I can only assume it could be a problem and possibly on a bigger scale?
      
      I've left the hubs the way they are, this way if Staff wants to see them, then they can. I've been to my statistics page and still not registering as broken.

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    Glenn Stokposted 13 years ago

    If I may chime in on this.  I've run into the same problem. Discovering links I've placed to hubs of other Hubbers that were deleted. I'm discovering these by accident as I review my old hubs (something I do from time to time). But I never get the "dead link" notice in my account stats.
    
    As a programmer by profession, I believe I can figure out what the problem is...
    
    The "dead link" mechanism works when a link goes to a URL that is non existent and returns a 404 error. But when HP deletes hubs they replace them with a page that says the hub was deleted. That, itself, is an existing page and does not return a 404 error. So the system code that determines if a link is dead fails to properly determine that.
    
    If I am right then I think a solution would be to return a 404 error on the pages that say "This hub was removed". I hope this helps HP get to the route of the problem. Although I know you'd figure it out anyway.
    
    By the way, while on the subject. I appreciate that HP is working hard at deleting all the bad, poor, and spun hubs. Getting rid of those hubs improves the overall ranking of the HP website in general and that in turn helps all of us.

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       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you Glenn.
       Not to mention, when the Google/Bing(search engine) bots come to read the hubs that have broken links, they follow the links to see if the links are related to the content of the page and when those links go to the Hubpages dot com page, it's realized that the link is irrelevant and not giving creditability/value to those links. Thus, creating even bigger problems.
       But, my point in this thread is the damage that broken links can do to hubs and HP in the overall, if not fixed.

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          Glenn Stokposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I agree. The irrelevant error page is misleading to a bot. The only way a Google bot would handle it right is if they return a 404 error, which bots are programmed to understand. Google will even remove the deleted hubs from its database when it gets a 404, which is what we want.
          
          I agree again. Too many irrelivant links spreading throughout the HP site will lower HP's ranking even further. I wonder if that's whey we all saw a major traffic drop two days ago (as I found from forum posts and my own experience). Once again, properly returning a 404 error code to the bots will correct this problem.

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             Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Thank you again.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I'm pretty sure that's not the reason, Glenn.  I do get notifications of broken links to other Hubs - but it can take weeks for them to pop up. 
       
       I think the problem is that the broken link checker isn't constantly running. So you will only get notified of broken links when they run the checker, which isn't very often.
       
       The lesson is - forget about HubKarma, which doesn't help you earn income anyway.  Keep your outbound links to a small number of high quality sites so you have less potential for broken ones.

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          Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you again Marisa.

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          Glenn Stokposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you Marisa for clarifying. It now makes sense that I must have simply been finding the broken links before HP ran the next check.

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    Cagsilposted 13 years ago

    Okay, it seems like this problem continues and/or remains unaddressed, as pointed out in this thread. I have been patient and left things the way that they were, so as to give time to be fixed. As of this posting, this thread has been left alone for 10 days.....
    
    Broken links still have not been identified through automation. When it was clearly not the case beforehand.

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    Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

    FYI, I did send an e-mail to try to bring this to staff attention a bit earlier (i.e. earlier than Monday, since this was bumped on the weekend).  Tried to look just now for a response, but had computer problems, so I'll wait until tomorrow.

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       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you. Much appreciated.

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    Simone Smithposted 13 years ago

    Oh yikes- sorry for the delayed response.  Is this still going on?  I'll have a closer look at this when we're all back in the office tomorrow.

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       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Hey Simone, nice to see you. And, I have continued to leave those hubs I posted in this forum as is. So, if you checked on them, the broken links are still there for you to see. Yet, nothing has told me that they are broken.
       
       I've been told I had broken links in my hubs, but the ones that were identified were in link capsules only. Not within the text of the content.

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    Cagsilposted 13 years ago

    *bump*

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    Multimanposted 13 years ago

    I have had the problem and found by accident and delted myself, but being here only 3 months, it has not been a big problem, but overall, I can see how it might affect hubpages rating with google.

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    Cagsilposted 13 years ago

    Jason, my problem is that I am not being told that the links are broken. There are links that embedded in published hubs that lead nowhere, because where they did lead are no longer published hubs.
    
    The hubs have been deleted and/or unpublished. I have no warning being issued of the broken links. They links dead-end at a Hubpages.com dead-end page.

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       Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I agree, it's a poor experience for readers.
       
       However, if we remove links to any Hubs that are currently unpublished for any reason at the time the page is rendered to a reader, that should help solve the problem.

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          Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Jason, I would happily edit the hubs, if I was warned of the broken links. I guess that is my point. There would be no need for Staff or anything else to happen.
          
          Edit: What I started this thread for was because I was being told about broken links that are in link capsules, but not embedded ones.

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             Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I see. I think the broken-link checker, because it's resource-intensive, might not be scanning all the time. It probably just hasn't identified that link as being broken yet.

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                Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Okay, since I've already identified them myself, I will fix them. I just was more worried about the overall community, because thousands of broken links that remain unidentified, can do a lot of damage with regards to ranking.
                
                Thank you for your time.

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    Cagsilposted 13 years ago

    Okay, been fixed.

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