Hub Traffic Continuing to Drop?

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   Marye Audetposted 12 years ago

   Just wondering.. my traffic has dropped 38% again from April to May, 18% from March to April, and 29% from Feb to March. Is this just me or is it site wide? Anyone?

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      thisisoliposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It's site wide.

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      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Just wrote a hub analizing my stats!
      81000 Dec
      63700 Jan
      52300 Feb
      50899 Mar (ly 26000)
      35000 Apr (ly 55700)
      35000 May (estimate) (ly 47700)
      (ly - last year)
      
      However, when I compare Mar, Apr and May revenue against last year I am much higher - so I'm assuming that the views I am getting are higher quality views?

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   SunSevenposted 12 years ago

   How much that would be in numbers?
   
   Just curious, these days it has become a trend to talk in percentages.
   
   Best regards

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      Marye Audetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      February 1-9     127,108 page views
      March 1-9            52, 688 page views
      April 1-9               48, 694 page views
      May 1-9                33,428 page views
      
      Just a little on the stressful side.

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         SunSevenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Still its pretty impressive figures for a nine day period.
         
         Most of the rest of us have really pathetic numbers / percentages to show.

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            Marye Audetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Perhaps...  but comparatively impressive figures don't put food on the table.

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               Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I'll stop complaining about my drop - very small beer indeed.  It is nice to hear from a successful hubber on what is going on.  Thanks for sharing Marye.

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         @neeshposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think many more new hubs are published in every hour so its a good figure comparing the others.

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         tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Man...your traffic drop is still more than I've ever had here.
         
         TOTAL!
         
         Ugh!

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   leahleflerposted 12 years ago

   My traffic is way down the past week or so.

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   Will Apseposted 12 years ago

   http://www.quantcast.com/hubpages.com
   
   It is pretty scary. I hope the site has deep pockets.

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   Randy Godwinposted 12 years ago

   My page views are averaging about the same as pre-panda and my Adsense is on the rise every month since, but my Amazon sales suddenly plunged on May 1.  It would be interesting to see the sales from my hubs on HP's end to compare notes.  Perhaps if I asked them nicely they would tell me if they've experienced the same effect.
   
   Since the page views are rising, I must be now drawing cheap readers to my hubs, right? 

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      prettydarkhorseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      or your ads are off tangent to your topics, Snakey!

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         Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hmmm.  But the ads are basically the same as last year and did well until May 1st of this year!  Like turning the water off, except the views are higher than last year!
         
         I only place ads directly related to the information contained in my hubs.  Instead of selling an average of the same items every week, I now sell none of these even though the views are somewhat higher.  Something stinks! 

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            prettydarkhorseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I mean not your amazon display but the G ads displayed in your hubs might be off tangent that's why visitors don't click it. Could be a factor of G assigning those hubs to the site or HPs structure of maximizing ads placement (plus the HP ads if you have it). They compete to each other. Did you try the Hp ads already?

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               Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               No, my Adsense earnings are fine.  It's my Amazon sales which suddenly stopped at the first of May, or virtually stopped as I have a few orders so far this month.  But certain items which sold regularly have completely disappeared, as far as those sales are concerned.
               
               I notice this on many other items which have been selling well on other niche hubs, even those getting more views than before the Panda bite. 
               
               I have never tried the HP ads because I promised not to do so until June.  I did so because certain other hubbers accused me of taking a "sour grapes" attitude concerning the way the program was rolled out.  I'm keeping my word even though everyone is now invited to use the program.  Besides, I am okay with my Adsense earnings at the present time and may, or may not, ever try HP's ads.
               
               I've changed nothing on my hubs as they seem to continue getting more page views and more Adsense clicks.  So why would my Amazon sales suddenly drop so drastically this month?
               
               And the Google ads seem to be the usual type as in the past.

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                  prettydarkhorseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  ok I understand already. Could be the fact that big stores like amazon.com are going up the SERP and small affiliates and stores get lower SERP rankings. I am seeing this when you search in G. I mean you don't have separate sales hubs?? Did you removed some amazon display bec. of HP guidelines 1:50 words?
                  
                  Good that your adsense and page views are still on.

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                     Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Perhaps, but the type of articles I'm referencing are not sales articles but rather extensive how-to articles with some having as many as 100 or more questions asked and answered in the comment sections.
                     
                     Those interested in the articles are those who would buy the products as the products are rarely in the title on most.  This is why it concerns me, but perhaps it is merely a trend.  I will have some people I know look into it if it keeps going the way it is now. 
                     
                     Thanks for listening and for the suggestions, PDH! 

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                        wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I'm seeing the same thing, Randy.  My Amazon was picking up, and Feb and March saw about a sale per day.  Early April it shut off like a faucet, with 0 sales the rest of the month.  3 sales one day (I think one buyer) for $1 earnings in May, but nothing since.
                        
                        I had really hoped that Amazon would take up at least some of the slack from Adsense, but it isn't doing anything at all.  Some clicks, but no sales.

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                           Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           March was my best all time month for sales on Amazon, Wilderness.  April wasn't as good but it was better than any before the March earnings.  Since May rolled out, it has been almost no sales, despite the increase in views on some of these articles. 
                           
                           I could understand it if I had lots of pure sales hubs which the Panda update might have affected, but these aren't focused on sales as much as being informational or instructional.  And with the views they are receiving, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me why the usual items would suddenly stop being sold.
                           
                           Oh well, it will all come out in the wash! 

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                              wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              As you say, I also have several performing hubs that, I believe, produce Amazon sales.  Or at least they did - they do no longer.  Outside of the Christmas holidays March was my best month, up by a factor of 6 from what I had been seeing prior to the holidays.
                              
                              My own sales numbers were still pretty low, but increasing rapidly.  Until they simply shut off completely.  I've seen people wondering if HPads negatively affect Amazon, but I put those into effect the first of March and still had good Amazon sales until about the second week of April, so I don't really think that is the case.  I just don't know what to think at this point.  Perhaps when the wash is done we'll find out.

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                                 Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                 I hope so, this is very strange!

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                              BRIAN SLATERposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              Randy my Amazon sales were strong in March and April, but May has been suddenly affected. My click through rate has also dropped off which is worrying. Maybe the US where most of my sales are from are trying to pay off their credit card bills and just stopped coming.

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   katiem2posted 12 years ago

   Its def the site.  Thank goodness this is not the only basket for our many eggs.  Other sites and outlets are doing well for me.

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      Lissieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's my experience too - glad I diversified

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      tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Well said.

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   Lissieposted 12 years ago

   May 1-10 8,130 page views
   Apr 1-10 14,240 PV
   Mar 1-10 39,457 (this was an outlier because I caught a trend topic)
   Feb 1-10 22,625 PV
   Jan 1-10 19,120 PV
   
   The odd thing is that a I did have a big jump in traffic in mid-Oct - now none of this is anything to do with anything I did - I have published one hub in 6 months - done no promotion. This is entirely about site authority.
   
   Sorry Marye - I think its time to look elsewhere for online income - at least in the interim. Also if this is a site-wide thing (and I see no reason why it should't be - I suspect those reporting no drop aren't getting enough visits to see the real stats) - I strongly suggest that you save your articles off-site - just in case this is serious blow for HP's bottom line

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      Marye Audetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, Lissie, I all ready have other income streams. This would be a hunk but only about 1/3. I am looking at things that aren't Google controlled now..

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         tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You mean a "real job"?

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   KeithTaxposted 12 years ago

   I'm one of the weird-dos that has seen traffic increase since Panda. I sum up my success with the story of the boy that came home from school and informed his dad, "I think I failed my math test, dad." "Be positive son," said the dad. "Ok, dad, I'm positive I failed the math test."

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      Rosie2010posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      lol

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   Richieb799posted 12 years ago

   I thought traffic and earnings were back up after a good weekend

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Mine are doing fine except for the aforementioned Amazon sales drop, Richie!  I'm looking for them to get even better as the weeks roll on.

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         Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         What is fine for you with Adsense?

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            Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            When my earnings get better each month and payout is assured early on.  My peak Adsense period is during the summer months, so I am pleased the related earnings are rising early this year.
            
            Only a portion of my hubs earn me most of my earnings here, so I am fine with not having to write 100's of hubs to earn a nice return for my work.  I don't have to back link these hubs, others do it for me because they find them helpful and instructive.  So, it is fine with me! 

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               janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I know it is a no,no to talk about click rates, but the scary thing is that the decline in views has been accompanied by a decline in relative rates of clicks - a double whammy effect. This has been discussed ad nauseam, but I for one think that the layout changes are to blame and the way the Google ads are poorly targeted for the contents. Something is causing this decline in click rates.

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                  Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  There are problems with the low amounts paid for large amounts of impressions, but I don't seem to experience this so much with clicks. 

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    Will Apseposted 12 years ago

    My Amazon sales slumped by fifty per cent in March but have been recovering strongly since. The first week of this month has been very good indeed.

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    Dolores Monetposted 12 years ago

    I lost a lot of traffic post Panda, but in the past week, I've seen a jump. Not quite where I was but a definite improvement. Enough to renew my confidence!

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    WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

    I'm down to 0-2 visits per day per hub and the number is still dropping daily.
    
    People tell me I'm a good writer, and I do extensive research for most of my hubs.
    
    I was hoping finally to become more active here and start adding consistently to my hubs, but now am not sure it is worth the time and stress to do so.

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    IzzyMposted 12 years ago

    I initially had a big drop in traffic, but I have continued to publish hubs and the traffic is back to its pre-slap levels, maybe even up a little. Adsense clicks are all but gone but Hubads have made up for it. Amazon was really bad April but has picked up again May - not to previous levels, but I only started making money on Amazon in the run up to Christmas so can't really compare it to a year ago.
    New hubs are still getting hits, and getting found in the search engines.
    I have maybe lost the month by month increases I was seeing before, but it's not dropping - except for those mad weekend dips in traffic I have seen since Panda and not before, but over the week it evens out.
    Then again, I've never been a big earner with thousands of views per day. The highest I ever saw in daily hits was 3,000, but on average it's 1,500.

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       Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I'm surprised your adsense clicks are almost gone? then again I think only one or two of my hubs with good traffic are getting my clicks, they are holding on for dear life, the one of these hubs used to have a no2 spot on Ask.com, now I can't even find it when I type in the exact title..its a mystery to me lol
       
       Think my websites have boosted up my adsense for content though

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          IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Used to get 2 clicks per 100 views, now it's 2 per 1000! It's been like that ever since Panda, before the HPads went on.

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    codehubposted 12 years ago

    I think that the big hit has been on highly ranked hubpages in fairly high profile or high traffic areas
    
    even a minus 10 positions accross the top hubpages could reduce traffic by up to 80%

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