Sub-domains and the plunge

1. 81

   SimeyCposted 13 years ago

   I'm in a plunge again - going down to levels I've not seen since March 2010. As we now have sub-domains and all our writing has an impact on every one of our hubs I've been analyzing my older hubs.
   
   One thing I note is that early on I wrote quite a few hubs about subjects that already had a lot of competition. For example I wrote a very good hub on the 2009 Star  Trek movie.
   
   Do you think this could effectively 'lower' the overall 'quality' of my hubs simply because I am getting zero traffic - should I unpublish all my hubs with zero views in the last 30 days?

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      CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I dont know. It could just be a bad weekend. My traffic has fallen 50 per cent and few visits are coming from Google.
      I wouldnt unpublish anything  until someone gets a handle on what is happenning

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         Multimanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I took such a terrible plunge then went way up in traffic then way down to almost my beginning on hub pages, then now way up again, hubpage teams response to me in email was about a week and a half ago, and it said this would contineu for a couple of weeks until google sorts things out whatever that means, right now I am higher than I have ever been and hope it stays that way as far as traffic goes, but the plunges devasted my hubber score, which is only now begining to recooerate adn be above 75 and just below 80, it use to stay at about 85.

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   2. 73

      Rehana Stormmeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Do the subdomains mean that we can't write about a wide range of topics anymore? Do the subdomains make HP more like say, Blogger, now?

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         Anna Marie Bowmanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I really don't think so.  Since the switch, I have continued to write about a wide range of topics, and my traffic has never been consistently higher.  I don't have a large number of hubs, but for the number I do have, I am getting a decent amount of traffic, have decent scores, all that.  I know there are some that divide their writing into several accounts, that way each account can target a specific area that they want to write about.  I just want to write.  Keeping track of all those accounts would be a bit much for me.  So, I have a very wide range of topics that I write about, all on one account, and so far, it is working out well for me.

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      2. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         This is something that's been debated quite a bit.
         
         Yes, we are much more like Blogger now - a blogspot blog is a sub-domain just like our HubPages sub-domains.  The whole reason for the change was to make our accounts stand and fall individually on their own merit.
         
         So logic would dictate that the advice given to every blogger - that you need to choose a topic and stick to it - would also apply to our HP accounts. 
         
         However that doesn't appear to be how it's working in practice, because most Hubbers write on a wide variety of subjects and not everyone has experienced a permanent drop in traffic.
         
         Of course there are lots of other factors in the mix, like the age of some of those Hubs which probably means they have good organic backlinks.   So we don't really know whether new Hubbers can continue in the same vein, or whether they would do better focussing on a single subject.

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   3. 81

      Benjimesterposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I delete more hubs than I keep.  I've written at least 400 hubs but have deleted most of them because of low traffic.  I haven't gotten hit by a plunge yet, and I think a lot of it is due to a relatively narrow subject matter and deleting hubs that don't perform.  What's the point of keeping hubs that generate 12 views a month, especially if your whole subdomain is suffering just to keep those 12 views a month?  I don't know.  That's just me.

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      1. 87

         Stacie Lposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         that's a shame you deleted them and not posted them elsewhere..

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         1. 81

            Benjimesterposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I figure that if the content isn't performing here, there's no reason why it should perform elsewhere.  I don't know, I prefer less content to more.  I know that they say content is king, but I really like to make my hubs as informational and useful as possible.

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2. 86

   Rebecca E.posted 13 years ago

   it goes up and then goes down it goes up and then goes down...I think it's going be a long ride.

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   1. 86

      Rebecca E.posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No I'm not trying to be funny, but rather I'm in teh same boat as you Simey.  I think it's links one day then fix them-- in teh process finding about 10 bad links on my hubs thus far, sand then google goes up a bit, but on teh webmaster tools my crawl rate is bad.

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      1. 81

         SimeyCposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I just got rid of all my bad links and am in the process of adding summaries - only about 350 to go!!!!!

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         1. 86

            Rebecca E.posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            go for it!  I think it might make a small difference with teh deleting of bad links and adding summaries.... I think I hope .  I'll just wait for you to post if you're plunging or not, you and I seem to be in the same boat.

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3. 60

   Hestia DeVotoposted 13 years ago

   I think it's more important to evaluate a Hub based on the content than the pageviews.  Ask yourself if your Hub topic is still useful or interesting to readers.  If it's really obsolete, the best choice would be to see if you could fix it.  That way you'd benefit from the older creation date and any present backlinks, but you could then capitalize on new interest.
   
   For example, there's a new Star Trek movie in the works... can you change the subject of that older hub so that it talks about the new movie series and upcoming film instead of just the 2009 film?  That sort of switch would put you ahead for the next wave of interest.
   
   Recently the HubPages blog talked about evergreen content.  You might want to go listen to that podcast.

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   1. 86

      viryaboposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I had to do that to a few of my hubs (still have some more to do though). I tried to weave a more current topic around an older one, so that the URL still stays relevant.
      
      Not many views yet. Still watching.

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4. 64

   Wayne Tullyposted 13 years ago

   I've got lots of bad hubs on my main account at waynet over 100 and it hasn't affected the new sub domain traffic....but it has made me think about doing something with them low quality hubpages though...

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      Rehana Stormmeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I honestly thought a hub was a hub. I didn't know that having 'low quality hubs' could reduce your overall traffic...

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         wampyriiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'm still not at all convinced 'low quality hubs' have anything to do with the traffic plunge some of us are seeing.

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5. 89

   wildernessposted 13 years ago

   I've seen several reports of hubbers removing what they considered poor quality hubs and seeing an increase in traffic and/or SERPs.  I don't know if any were actually plungers, though.
   
   Understand that that is the reason for and the purpose of subdomains.  Each hubber will stand on their own (at least more so that they used to) and poor quality hubs will drag down a subdomain just as it did HP as a whole.

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6. 61

   jean2011posted 13 years ago

   I think each hub stands by itself. I am also learning that the title, content and tags can influence the amount of traffic that your hubs get.

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7. 78

   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   After lying on the floor for several months, my traffic shot up over 600 (having never been much over 100 before).
   
   I am sure it won't last long but it might get me to my first payment at least.
   
   It's a wild ride.

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   1. 68

      Rosie2010posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Congrats, psycheskinner!  I'm happy for you.  My traffic is inching up since Sunday, so I'm also a happy puppy. 
      
      Here's to you getting your first payment... Cheers!

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      Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Congratulations!!  I hope it lasts for a long, long time.
      
      And congrats to you too, Rosie!  I hope a lot of Hubbers see a lot of improvement, and very soon.

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8. 66

   brandonhart100posted 13 years ago

   Is it me or is it rotating for certain hubbers with similar content?

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      SimeyCposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Don't think so - I had a few high traffic niches (with no other matching hubs) that have bounced up and down!

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      1. 66

         brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Hmm - it just seems like when someone is up someone else is down. I've been down for around 3 weeks now but I've been up at the beginning of the month two different times. Guess I'll wait and see what happens this month.

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         1. 64

            wampyriiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I wondered the same thing but my better performing hubs during my last dip were the ones with the most competition from other hubs. My traffic is up again right now and I can't see much reasoning behind it. I lowered a bunch of keyword densities here and there but since those pages still have the old cache dates that can't be the reason for my bounce. Bah, I've decided its unfathomable and my time is better spent elsewhere.

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9. 78

   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   I've basically given up trying to work out Google's mysterious ways.  But I suspect my jump has something to do with my costume hubs, given that Halloween is coming up.

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10. 76

    Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

    I'll add too, that my numbers have climbed higher today - hooray!  I have not really experienced a plunge here (so far) and I am so grateful.  But there have been two spikes that have gone above and beyond all the rest of the numbers.  Today is one of them. 
    
    I don't know whether it is related to the fact that I have recently been adding summaries, since the "A" only just appeared on my stats page. (I actually thought I had already added them wherever needed.)  But the current spike may just be due to whatever fickleness is going on with Google.

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11. 63

    CASE1WORKERposted 13 years ago

    Mr Google is letting though a few more hits, but not many- A small increase every day does at least give me some good feeling. But my three top performers which last week had about 40 hits each, now have 4! Oh well.

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