Hub Feeds: Yes or No?

1. 79

   Sally's Troveposted 13 years ago

   I really can't point any of you to the many discussions there were about whether RSS feeds that display our own Hubs in a specific Hub of ours are a violation of the HP rules or not.
   
   I read info that the "best", "latest", and "hot" categories were not appropriate to add to a Hub, as in, "Here's the Latest from Sally's Trove," while an RSS capsule was OK to use if the links in it were on topic with the content of the Hub.
   
   A few minutes ago, I ran my Hubs through the "Check for violations now" feature, and none of them came up flagged, even though a few have those best-latest-hot feeds.
   
   What's the word these days from HP on using those best-latest-hot feeds? I've taken most of them out, but I'm wondering if I should put them back in.

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent question! 
      
      I know several people who had Hubs unpublished for using best-latest-hot feeds during the big moderating push earlier this year.  However, it occurs to me that because all our Hubs are now part of one sub-domain, that may no longer be a problem.  It would certainly be nice to know.

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      1. 79

         Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'd like that clarification from HP, too. I did remove most best-latest-hot feeds from my Hubs, specifically because some Hubbers had been penalized earlier on, but now I'm thinking I didn't have to remove those feeds. Some feds did remain on my Hubs until I made a final sweep yesterday and got rid of all of them, but while those feeds remained on my Hubs, no Hubs were ever penalized.
         
         I think we'd like to hear from HP on this.

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2. 79

   tlpoagueposted 13 years ago

   That is a good question! I read where they were going to ban RSS feed, but then didn't see the results of that. Later I asked about it and was told that it would be ok to personalize the RSS feed to link common hubs together. (I try to RSS all my Bigfoot hubs together.) Honestly, I have no idea if it is a volation or not, but so far I have not been told not to use them.

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3. 75

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years ago

   All you have to do is wait until a hub has been published for a few days - and THEN add on an RSS feed.  That way the fool that moderates it that would normally mark it as a violation despite the thousands of poor hubs that they should be looking at. . . never sees it.

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      LOL, Wes! 
      
      The trouble with that approach is that moderators don't look at newly published Hubs, they look at them when they get around to them.  As I've said before, I think we'd avoid a lot of the cr@p that's on this site if they did look at newly published Hubs as a priority, but that's another story.
      
      The thing with RSS feeds of "latest", "hot" etc is that there's no point in feeling clever about bypassing HubPages rules if you harm your Hub as a result.
      
      The advice used to be that it was a bad idea to have a RSS feed of Hubs about unrelated topics.  Google doesn't like sites that have a bunch of random unrelated links.
      
      However, I'm not at all sure that's an issue any more.  After all, all our Hubs are now clearly related because they're all part of the same sub-domain, so having a "latest" or "best" listing is just like having a list of recent posts on a blog.  The only downside might be that if you have long summaries, you could dilute your keywords.

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      1. 75

         Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah - I know about the. . . confusing the adverts with the RSS thing - that does bother me.
         
         What bothers me more is that some of the first hubs that I ever published here still have an RSS feed on them with totally unrelated links - and those were NEVER flagged!!!!
         
         Maybe I should remove them?  Hell, I can't just write guitar and music related hubs only!  I get really sick of that (despite enjoying it).
         
         I think they should just do away with the RSS feed, personally.
         
         We can always include links to our most relevant hubs with individual link capsules.  I'm told that we can customize RSS feeds, but I never learned how.
         
         How bout they make the RSS Feed software to where it can pick our most relevant hubs?  We'd all win then, right?

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         1. 85

            Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, at one time I thought they'd hit everyone but since then I've realized it was pretty inconsistent.
            
            
            
            Before the sub-domain switch, I'd have said yes.  Now, frankly I've got no idea!
            
            
            
            Yes, that would be nice!

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            1. 70

               Neerizzleposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Wait so we're not allowed to add RSS feeds to our hubs? I just discovered those capsules and figured since they were there I would use them lol I guess not? MY RSS displays my latest hubs... should I get rid of it to be on the safe side?

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               1. 75

                  Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  See - the thing is, they can flag and unpublish your hub for having "un related links" in the RSS Feed!
                  
                  My thoughts are that they are always related because they are the publications of a hubpages author. . .
                  
                  Basically - it's a matter of whether or not your latest hubs are on similar or related topics.
                  
                  So when my personal RSS Feed has links to hubs about guitars, and then links to hubs about something historical or political - they flag the hub for "un related links."
                  
                  It's rather inconsistent, sometimes I'm flagged for that stuff, sometimes I'm not - there's obviously no sort of real system.

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                  1. 53

                     janderson99posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Who is 'they'?
                     I don't think this is a major issue. Relating to your own hubs, in your own subdomain can hardly be penalised as this is what is done in a sitemap. Articles in a subdomain ARE related.
                     My real concern is the Hubpages Related Links - the ones that Hubpages adds to your page over which you have no control - many of these are of poor quality and ARE NOT related to your topic.
                     
                     For example
                     The Pros and Cons of Online Diagnosis
                     related hubs
                        High Blood Pressure Symptoms
                         Prehypertension, High Blood Pressure, & Children
                         Heart Disease in Women
                         High Blood Pressure I Can Take It In True and False BP...
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                         Drinking Alcohol and Heart Disease - Facts and Information
                     
                     How to Crack and Shell a Whole Lobster
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                     1. 75

                        Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Obviously, I thought, was that the "they" in question are the persons moderating hubs.
                        
                        Oh, I totally agree - my RSS Feed links should always be considered related because they are mine, and I'm in my own little subdomain world.
                        
                        I also agree that the related hub links . . . .often simply DO NOT benefit we authors. . . .BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                        
                        You have to realize that it works both ways with the "related hubs"  What if someone lands on a poor hub, but sees a link to one of YOUR hubs, and bounces out of the page that they are on onto yours instead?

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                     2. 85

                        Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        So true.  I've even heard some commentators say the 'related Hubs' feature is responsible for the dip in traffic some Hubbers are experiencing - because they're being "contaminated" by poor quality related Hubs on their topic.

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                  2. 85

                     Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Wes, before sub-domains, each one of your Hubs was a separate URL and Google didn't know they were all by the same person - that's why the latest/best option wasn't allowed, because to Google it looked like just a random ragbag of Hubs.
                     
                     Now they're all in one subdomain, I'm assuming it's OK because Google can see they're all related by authorship.  But no one's actually said so.

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                     1. 75

                        Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        I've had a hub flagged for the RSS feed while under my own subdomain.  My "bottle of wine" hub was taken out for two days for that.
                        
                        I wish they'd catch a clue from Info Barrel - and finally decide "okay, this guy might not be making us a ton of money, but he can at least create decent articles - let's cut his leash."

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         2. 87

            Jean Bakulaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I use RSS feeds on almost all my hubs. Just because I started hubbing with one niche, I branched out into others. The RSS feed is a way to let a reader know I write about other topics than the one they are (hopefully) reading. I don't use latest, hot, best much. I have a tag word, and try to let readers know about a different niche. Nobody flagged me yet.

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            1. 85

               Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Jean, read the Hub linked in an earlier post about why that's not a good idea.

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               1. 90

                  mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, your advice is good Marisa:)

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            2. 94

               wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               As I understand HP's policy, RSS feeds must be topic related.  If I'm following what you are saying, yours are most definitely not - they point to hubs on completely different topics.

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4. 70

   Neerizzleposted 13 years ago

   Ah I see, and being flagged just means you change the links and you're good to go right? Or do the delete the articles permanently? Is there a way of setting RSS Feeds for the groups you set up for your hubs? That would be a handy way of organizing it.

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   1. 75

      Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No - it's just unpublished and all you generally have to do is delete the RSS Feed.
      
      Supposedly you can customize an RSS Feed so that it includes only related hub links, but I personally do not know how to do that.

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5. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

   yes, some of them clearly are not related at all. Someone visiting our page may think we're loony to have a section of related hubs by others which are not related.
   Google sees unrelated links on our page.
   
   
   I understand there may be a benefit if they truly are related. I checked mine, and most of them are except my Max Martin hub, which is about a songwriter/music producer. These are the related hubs listed:
   
   Best Satellite Radio Receivers  - (possibly a long shot, songs can be heard on radios)
   All Time NFL Receiving Leaders By Teams - NFC
   Google AdSense:How and Why Did I Got and Get Paid This Much
   The 20 Best Blu-Ray Movies of 2010-2011
   Shopping in Britain: Where the Customer Is Never Right
   Valentines Day- Gifts For Men 2011 Some Great New Ideas
   
   Wouldn't related hubs at least come from the same topic category, such as Music?

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6. 75

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years ago

   After reading Ryan Kett's hub last night - I took the time to delete about TWO HUNDRED RSS Feeds.
   
   I don't think I'm going to use those at all anymore.

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   1. 69

      lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Can you post a link to that? I must have missed that one. Thanks!

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      1. 79

         Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         http://ryankett.hubpages.com/hub/Amazon … nt-6217100

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         1. 69

            lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks! I swear, just when I think I have a clue as to what's going on, something happens and it gets even more overwhelming!
            
            I do have some RSS feeds from the 60 day challenge that I did last year. I've been taking them off as I see them - they were incredibly unrelated to anything of mine. I'll have to go through and look at them all now. (at least I don't have tons of hubs!)

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            1. 79

               Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               54's enough to go through...it will take a bit of time. And a few hours after you do that, your traffic will have an amazing increase...all from you!

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               1. 69

                  lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I always have been my own biggest reader... and critic as well!

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      2. 75

         Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         http://ryankett.hubpages.com/hub/Amazon … ng-traffic
         
         There you are ma'am.

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         1. 69

            lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks!

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            1. 75

               Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I think the thing is that feeds were a GOOD thing pre panda, and a BAD thing post panda. . . .is all.  I'll leave the super internet analysis to the people that know what they are talking about - and I'll take their advice whenever I can understand it.
               
               I just sort of write on the internet :=\

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               1. 69

                  lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  me too... one of these days I'd like to see more than pennies being added to my earnings, but until then I kind of wade through all fog of information and learn as much as I can grasp.
                  
                  Right now, as I'm going through my older hubs though... I can see that I have really improved in the area of layout. Some of my old ones look like crap!

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                  1. 79

                     Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Lisa, I've gone through my early Hubs many times trying to improve them. In the three years I've been here, I've learned a lot. It's always worth going through those first Hubs to improve them with what you've learned.
                     
                     One Hub in particular, among the first I wrote, sat at a dismal 60 or less score until a year ago when I looked at keywords in the Hub stats and changed the title to reflect what searchers were looking for. This is only one example. We just need to pay attention to what we learn and to how things change.

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                  2. 75

                     Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I saw two last night that I deleted on sight.  They were awful.  There are some others that should be deleted as well.
                     
                     There are others still that are very poor - but have a good title and url, and so I should take some time to add a lot of material to them and re write what is there.
                     
                     I am fairly . . .satisfied to proud of the last one hundred that I've done.  When I have five hundred hubs that I'm satisfied with, I'm positive that that will be a fair stream of income (but not something that would supplant a full time job at all.)
                     
                     I think that if I had 1500 very good hubs that I was completely satisfied with - I'd probably be where I want to be with this!!

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                     1. 69

                        lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        If I only had the time to write as much as I wanted to! My puny little 54 hubs are probably doing as much as they can... I just need to keep writing.

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                        1. 75

                           Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           Yeah.  I've got a definite "addiction" to this "game."  I'm completely broke, and living in a travel trailer out in the sticks - so you could say that I have the luxury of time to do this.
                           
                           But the thing is - the more that I write - the more I then think of that I can and should write about.  I know that most people don't have the time that I have to dedicate to all of this.
                           
                           I don't do keyword research - and the products that I do write about (expensive guitars - usually) aren't exactly going to be "hot" products.  Oh well, I'm doing what I want to do, and I can't complain about that.

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               2. 79

                  Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Same thing for me. I'm not in any way a guru about this stuff. It makes sense to me that pre-Panda the feeds were meant to build a network of internal and external links within the HP domain. But now that we've got the subdomains, we need to be treating our own homes on HP as if they were our personal websites...in other words, HP by virtue of what it is no longer adds credibility/link juice, as it did pre-Panda. It feels like we're no longer fighting for the King, just for our own fiefdoms.

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                  1. 75

                     Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I look at that as being a VERY POSITIVE thing!!!!!!!!!
                     
                     I sort of hate that it seems like we benefit the most from concentrating on niches - and I'll continue to build on my main niche topics. . .but I'm just not willing to feel like I'm . . .just supposed to write about certain things.
                     
                     I'm also a big fan of Info barrel - and intend to write there as well.  I'd encourage anyone to join Info Barrel.  I can often incorporate my Info Barrel articles into hubs via link capsules when relevant.

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                     1. 79

                        Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        When I joined HP three years ago, it advertised itself as a place to make money writing online (I think it still advertises itself that way). But nothing was ever said about writing in a niche market...that was something you learned through time, or maybe better said, HP looked like a place to express yourself (which is why I joined) and earn money, too, but as time went on, the conversation at HP among Hubbers and HP, too, turned to how to best make money, as in, by specializing in a niche.
                        
                        That is sound advice, but it doesn't mean that you have to confine yourself to a certain area...HP never said that. All they said was that HP was a place where you could showcase yourself as an expert in your topic...I've got issues with that, but that's beside the point right now.
                        
                        The fact is, that in three short years, HP's lock-in with Google credibility has changed. I don't know if they will ever get that credibility back.
                        
                        I joined Infobarrel a while ago, but have yet to publish anything there. But I see what you are saying...HP and IB can have a beneficial relationship for you on the Web, if that relationship is handled responsibly.
                        
                        Great thought you put out there, Wes.

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                        1. 75

                           Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           I think because IB is smaller and has greater controls over new authors - that it's going to grow, and grow, and grow some more so far as credibility with Google is concerned.
                           
                           If I didn't need income NOW - I'd be investing more time on writing at Info Barrel.
                           
                           What is REALLY COOL there is that after your ten reviewed articles are published - you are just cut loose, and nobody is moderating your work - except other authors.
                           
                           Anyone can flag you there for poor grammar and punctuation - but you have to prove that you can write well enough to be able to just up and post anything.
                           
                           IB also pays a higher percentage for adsense clicks (75/25 - your favor) than HP does. . . but right now it's just not getting the traffic that HP STILL does.
                           
                           The other good thing about it is that you can join Chikita, and . . . have another revenue stream that way going.

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                           1. 79

                              Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                              HP's got to fix its original model where anything is fair game as a Hub. I know what you mean about IB...you can't write there without going through a review process, like you can't write for DemandStudios (this is a model different from HP, but they are not getting penalized as badly).
                              
                              Maybe HP thought its contributors would be self-regulating, maybe they thought, just open up a site and with the proper SEO on HP's part, and contributors could make the HP site work. I have no idea what HP was thinking, and I'd love to have been a fly on the wall as they prepared their business plan for the major financing they did receive.

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                              1. 75

                                 Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                 I'm now a willing executioner to hubs that look like crap off of a stealth machine software platform.
                                 
                                 I find something to flag every day - without looking to do so.  I see things with absolutely . . NOTHING so far as a paragraph break. . .and I wonder how a human being could think that that was okay, or useful, or interesting, or readable even. . .

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                  2. 69

                     lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks - that makes sense!

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                  3. 89

                     Paragliderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     That's a great observation. And based on that, it's got to be worth putting some effort into building a good profile page. It always was, but now even more so.

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7. 71

   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   It seems to have ended up fortunate that I never really understood RSS well enough to use it....

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8. 95

   wannabwesternposted 13 years ago

   I am finding myself woefully behind the times here. Off to remove those RSS feeds on about 150 hubs.

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9. 69

   lisabeamanposted 13 years ago

   I took off all of the RSS feeds. Many of them were from the 60-day challenge that I did last year and were linked to hubs that were very, very unrelated. I also removed the RSS feeds that I put in that were related to the hubs thinking that their descriptions might be seen as duplicate content. I did the same with link boxes that I had put in (those too had long summaries.)
   
   I'm happy to report that my traffic is up and rising. (Not just from my visiting the hubs to edit them either!) I'm getting a lot more traffic from google. I still have a long way to go... but I can see where this may have been one piece of the puzzle that was holding me back.

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10. 75

    Wesman Todd Shawposted 13 years ago

    It's working for me! :-D

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