Your Hub/Articles: Are you satisfied with how HP system scores them?

1. 91

   Cardisaposted 12 years ago

   During my time on HP I have head/seen/read a lot of speculation about the scoring system. I have given up trying to figure out my profile score but my articles are different.
   
   As I understand it the more views, vote up and feedback, the higher the hub will score. I figured if you have a hub that has continuously gained traffic and feedback then the score should steadily rise. Not so with HP. Some hubs do while others suffer even with increasing organic traffic. It makes me wonder it the system is flawed or there are persons deliberately voting down hubs so the score will fall.
   
   Some of you may say that the score is not important. I beg to differ. When non member readers browse hubs, they read the hubs they see first and that is usually 1st, 2nd or 3rd page. I think I read somewhere that the higher you hubscore the better search results.
   
   What do you think? Are you satisfied with how your hubs rank on HP?

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2. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   It is my understanding that HP buried that algorithm in a time capsule 5 years ago. In another 45 years we will have the answer.

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   1. 91

      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      

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3. 79

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   I honestly don't worry much about the scores, they don't have much of a tangible effect on anything unless they are extremely low.

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   1. 91

      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Don't you find that hubs with higher scores get you more traffic?

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      1. 67

         2uesdayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         To be honest no, I think if it was at 100 it might. But not as much as before the older style front page was replaced by the Hub of the Day and top earners front page.
         
         In response to the original question, I tend to ignore them (Hubscores) and on the stats. page I click to reorder the hubs to see which hubs have had the most traffic in the last day/week.
         
         The mystery of the Hubscores is one I have ceased to puzzle over, especially as everything changes so frequently.

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      2. 79

         psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hubs with higher traffic tend to get a higher score.  But the score doesn't cause traffic, or much of anything.

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         1. 92

            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I totally disagree. One of my hubs with 0 traffic is set steady at 80. Whereas the one getting google traffic fluctuates within 75 - 83

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      3. 78

         Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         No, some of my best traffic hubs are hovering around the 80s. While some that barely get traffic are in the 90s.

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         1. 93

            habeeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Same here, UW. When I have a hub with a 100 score, I'll usually get more traffic, but it's Hubpages traffic.

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4. 0

   Wilfionposted 12 years ago

   In the past, I have had hubs, which had more views and which were voted up and commented on, yet had a low score.  I have also had hubs with no comments and few visits, yet their score was higher.  So, I wouldn't take much notice of the score.

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5. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 12 years ago

   I think search traffic cares little about the score of a hub. I don't see that it makes much of a difference. Increased traffic generally does affect the hub score, but I don't think it necessarily draws search traffic.
   
   I don't know if this is still part of the calculation, but this was posted as a source on darkside's hub about How Hubscore Works.
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/663#post2932

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   1. 91

      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I saw the scores and they don't make sense because I have hubs with less views rank higher and vise verse. The scoring system seems outdated.

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6. 75

   QuestionMasterposted 12 years ago

   The first step in success at HP is learning to ignore the scores and look at the real numbers - traffic and earnings. Nothing else is relevant. Scores have no major (or even proven) relation to traffic & earnings.

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7. 97

   PaulGoodman67posted 12 years ago

   It's nice to have a good score but it doesn't in itself have much bearing on anything, such as traffic or earnings, as other hubbers have pointed out.
   
   I think HubPages have the scoring system to encourage behaviour which will help the site, and your traffic and earnings in the long term, however.  For instance, commenting and answering help to get links to your profile out there, which helps with Google.

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   1. 91

      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It's hard to ignore your hubscore when there is a number on it that other people judge you by. I can understand the profile score has no real relevance but the actual hubscore has some importance to at least some hubbers. I see hubbers sharing their hubs 90+ hoping to get to that coveted mark of 100. I see hubbers posting in the forums that their hub or profile has hit 100.
      
      I see excited hubbers posting that they were featured on the front page.
      
      I have had hubbers with low hubs scores ask me how I get traffic or how I get my hubscores up.

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8. 91

   Cardisaposted 12 years ago

   The following is what HP says about hubscores:
   
   "We use HubScore to designate the quality of individual Hubs, much like Google ranks popular pages. Many factors contribute to our rating scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being our top score."

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9. 88

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   I don't pay a blind bit of attention to hubscores or even hubberscores much. I've been at 100 a few times and it gives you a feel good factor, nothing more.
   
   As for hubscores, I remember feeling delighted when one of my hubs reached 100. It had NO TRAFFIC at the time, and still doesn't get much traffic.
   
   It did have 5 stars for potential earnings though.
   
   Oh well, it never reached its potential, and others I have that have done well frequently only get a score in the 70s.
   
   Give me the money and traffic anyday!

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   1. 91

      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I want to thank everyone for responding. I guess when I understand HP a little better, the scores wont bother me so much

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10. 66

    HikeGuyposted 12 years ago

    Cardisa -- I'm mystified, too, and I think Paradigmsearch nailed it.
    
    Based on my limited experience, traffic doesn't have a lot to do with it. I have tiny traffic. I didn't monetize or promote hubs until this spring, and then took a long break. I freelance full-time, so doing this feels pretty decadent. Time on HP is time I could get paid for, and it's difficult to make time for something that feels like a gamble. I added some new ones this month and I've been pinging and tweeting them. A few hubs had fallen into the 60s and within a few days of updating them I had them all up in the 70s and a few in the 80s, still at tiny traffic. Now my traffic is four times what it was last month -- still only a trickle -- and my scores are in the same general range as when I first fixed them up, mid 70s to mid 80s.
    
    From some things I've read here, I have the impression that things such as keywords, similar titles within HubPages and elements of the hub all affect the hubscores. Mine usually go up every time I tweak a few of them. I go through and make sure the tags are the most relevant ones, the strongest keywords are in the title, intro, summary, subheads and end, and add a bit more content such as a second picture and an update section. I'm beginning to feel superstitious about it.
    
    I try not to trip on scores too much -- many people here report that the scores have no impact on earnings. I usually pick hubs to read by the topic, and I enjoy reading work by newcomers. I'm enjoying the international aspect of HubPages -- recipes and original photographs from all over the world. The only time I pay attention to the writer's score is when the article is about hubbing. I see your point about outsiders browsing HP, but I believe if I'm going to make it here it'll come from outside organic traffic, not people who happen to browse HP. My top traffic has been from Google, for one of my oldest hubs.
    
    The other weird thing is watching the unpublished hubs go up in score. I have seven incubating over the past two days that started at 47 to 52 and are now 53 to 72. The lowest score is the one I wrote this morning. They go up every day with no traffic at all. One that started near the bottom passed some of the others I wrote the same day, so I'm betting it's because of the keywords. Or maybe it's the gremlins.

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    1. 91

       Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       The unpublished hubs mystify me as well and the weird thing is as soon as they are published and getting a lot of traffic, they start to fall again.

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11. 72

    LeanManposted 12 years ago

    It just does not matter!!!!
    
    As long as individual hubs score more than 40 and your hubber score is 75+ then you will have do-follow links, otherwise the only benefits are possibly being featured on the front pages / best / hot etc..
    
    Getting 40 is easy for a hub, a few text capsules, photos, videos and generally you are in the high 70's and upwards..
    
    But traffic does not depend on your score (Unless HP de-indexes the hubs with very low scores!)
    
    
    For HP it keeps the writers engaged trying to "win" on the scoring system!!!!

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12. 60

    BobbiRantposted 12 years ago

    People saying 'it doesn't matter' does little to sooth the feelings of others to whom it does matter.  The scoring system is wrong, IMO, and personally I feel it is used to pit writers against each other, which is wrong in my book too.  Many hubbers have had this same concern.  Many I've read, with high scores, tells me Nothing about good quality hubs.  It needs to be abolished.

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    1. 72

       WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Scores mean nothing whatsoever to me. However, I totally agree that the scoring system, hub of the day and hub contests only serve to promote ugly and unnecessary competitiveness, which does nothing to enhance either abilities or earnings.
       
       Luckily, after a short while it is easy to turn a blind eye to those stupid little numbers disfiguring everything here. I also never go to the home page or read any HP blogs or mass emails, so can ignore all other stuff of this nature quite easily.

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13. 75

    cheaptrickposted 12 years ago

    As the[arguably]most technically inept writer on HP.I must confess that I use the site just for fun and I write when the urge strikes.I honestly don't know how to do any of the enhancing things I've read on this thread.
    That being said,I have made a couple of observations that I don't understand the wheres and wherefores of.It seems that 80% or more of my traffic comes from outside of HP[don't have a clue why]which kinda hurts just a little bit,and every time my individual hub scores go up,my author score goes down...and verse visa,Hmmm,whats up with that?
    I'm just here to write[please forgive me for that all you professionals]so scores are my only reward and it matters to me...If that sounds a bit narcissistic well,Mia culpa,mia culpa,mia maxima culpa.

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    1. 91

       Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I used to be quite obsessed with my authorscore especially after being in the 90s for months itplunged to 86 all in one day and took another 6 weeks to return to 90+. I learned my lesson with that.
       
       The hubs are a different matter as they are the articles we spend time perfecting. The numbers do matter to me. It seems to me that a hub with a score of 95 appears to be more important or better than a hub with a score of 75, at least that's how HP ranks it.
       
       My dilemma is that there are hubs on the front page of HP with scores of 100 that are not as well written or interesting as other hubs on page 20 with scores of 80 or less.

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