Sick of Pandas!

1. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

   Overall I've been pretty lucky with the whole Panda thing - I lost about half my HubPages traffic after the first one but recovered, and only one of my websites got seriously hit.
   
   Just when I thought I was out of the woods, my best performing website lost about 30% of its traffic in mid-November, and my Hubs suddenly lost 75% of their traffic on 6th December. 
   
   I'm kinda hoping the 6th December drop is some kind of problem with Analytics but I'm not holding out much hope - my account has been all blue arrows for days now...

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      wbfreeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Seems Google's Panda is a lot like the Panda from the Panda Cheese commercials. LOL! I don't know what country the commercials are from, but they're funny. The Panda gets really nasty if you don't like it's cheese. Never say no to Panda.   
      
      
      
      Bad, bad Panda!

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      wheelinalloverposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If you had the chance to increase your hub pages traffic without worrying about panda slaps and or paying (no OTO's or upgrades) would you be interested? I am currently being ranked page 1 on Google by keywords within 48 hours of posting blogs. Everyone on hub pages has been invited to join me by the owner of the site my blogs are published on. I have used this platform in the past to link hubs others have written to my blogs. It can now be done right on the blog. I gain nothing by sharing, and all he gains are people who are more expert at using SEO than the ones currently using his system, which will help him grow. His site is running about 95,000 visitors a day by keyword searches. There is no way to earn from blogs written there so you would want to put the link to your hubs in the blogs. His platform also takes care of a downfall of hub pages which is hubs require aging to get the big hits. With the proper SEO he can get a blog ranked fast.

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2. 76

   kirstenblogposted 13 years ago

   Honestly, I have stopped writing here. I have taken down my lowest preforming hubs (just in case they are dragging the rest down and thus the others could recover in time without them) but I don't see much point anymore. When I get the itch to do some writing I have my ebook to work on instead (it will take me a while to finish since each time I sit down to write I do just as much re-writing to expand on the initial set up for the story etc. I have simply moved on to other stuff that has not been affected to much by panda stuff. My zazzle store is almost making daily sales and is even seeing days with multiple sales (what with christmas coming up) so I have my hands full there with their new tagging system and new products to design for (just found a host of new stuff just today!). I love HP and found lots of friends here and such so I don't want to leave or anything, just don't see a reason to post new stuff. In time maybe things will settle down and good hubs will see improved traffic again but in the mean time, I find it's good to have lots of different things to do

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      Raine Law Yuenposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Kirstenlog, I just found your post. I am still quite new to hub pages.  I have written ten posts to date and trying to learn the more technical aspects such as SEO. I am interested in your mention about ebook writing. Can you advise me on this? Do you use a book publishing platform that is simple to use and works similar to hub pages. I am asking because I am exploring different publishing avenues as part of my learning curve.

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   Will Apseposted 13 years ago

   Sorry to hear that, Marisa. I feel I am just waiting my turn.

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   Marisa, that's a real shame when it happens to a good writer like you. We might all just be awaiting our turns.

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      Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah.  When I see posts like that I'd love to be able to go look at their hubs and say "Oh, sure - this is not good stuff, no wonder they are falling".
      
      But when I go look, I often find perfectly good stuff and if there is a reason to downgrade it, it has to be something I just cannot see.

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   ocbillposted 13 years ago

   with all of us webmasters hating panda, will it change back to a version in between?  I believe it will, adsense is down, Google bombards us with $75 coupon non-relevant ads

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6. 83

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   I'm sorry to hear you've been hit so badly Marisa.
   
   My traffic has never recovered since August 10th, but on December 6th, I saw all my most-trafficked hubs slips severely in the US SERPS, while at the same time  rise to the top of Google Europe.
   
   So now, I am in the delightful positions of attracting British traffic to US sales hubs, which of course, DOESN'T WORK.
   
   I thought at the time that Google may have tweaked the 'rest of the world' algo because of an upcoming European court ruling against them.
   
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 … ed-species
   
   The day after this was published, there was a tweak and a definite change in pattern.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, dear, sounds like there has been another tweak - December 6th is exactly the date I saw my traffic dive.  It's now at 2009 levels.
      
      By the way, how do you check yor position in the SERPS?

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         IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I use Scroogle. but I also check the other Googles by first signing out of Gmail etc.
         
         I wish someone would take those gifs off that post above yours, they are stealing my limited badnwidth.

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            Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, HP should have block or at least mute.. I really, really don't understand why they won't do that.

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   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   Thats scroogle dot ORG definitely not Scroogle dot COM by the way, too many people make that mistake in public spaces

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      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes sorry my mistake I was writing quickly to get away from the GIF!
      
      Scroogle.org
      
      But I could see on that Analytics real time thing that my European traffic is way up. Getting loads of hits from Poland of all place!
      
      When I say lots, not lots, just more than before, which was none.
      
      But Google is down, again. Lucky white heather!
      
      It looks to me like Google rolled back some of Panda changes that had devastating effects on some European businesses, ahead of the EC decision where a huge fine is expected to be levied on them.
      
      But its caused more damage elsewhere.

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         CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I may never write anything again- I have just discovered analytics real time- I cant take my eye soff it- amazing

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            IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Isn't it fantastic? I just love it. I just wish there were more of those little bars that go from right to left, but can't have everything!

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            wordscribe43posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Real-time?  Where is that?  Or maybe I don't want to know, might not be good to be obsessed with more stats!

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               IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               New Analytics ~> Home ~> Real time (beta).
               
               You can see who is visiting your hub at that moment, they keywords that brought them there, and their location, pinned on a map.
               
               It's fun, and definitely a time waster. Good if you are stuck for ideas of what to write about when you see the keywords used.

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                  wordscribe43posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh my gosh...  Thanks, Izzy (I think).  Okay, add this to my online addictions.  That is way too cool.

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                  mary615posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks, IzzyM, I'm off later to try that one.

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            prairieprincessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Me too! It is absolutely mesmerizing!

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         Will Apseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         One of the reasons I have never bothered to complain about Panda is that it favors big brands. Anything that favors big brands is unlikely to attract the ire of the US Govt and complaining is pointless. It will be interesting to see what Europe does as regards Panda. Small and medium businesses matter in places like Germany and France.

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            IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I don't know if you read this article, but it sheds some more light on the situation in Europe.
            
            http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 … ic-schmidt
            
            I find it a bit worrying that the head of the antitrust commission and Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman, had a face to face meeting, with the agenda kept private.
            
            Sounds like backroom deals to me.

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8. 94

   Alison Grahamposted 13 years ago

   Marisa, I am so sorry to hear about your hubs losing traffic like that.
   
   Your hubs got hit on the 6th - today is my day, (here in the UK), to be hit - yet again. This is the third time - last time my hubs recovered quite well and pretty quickly, it is just devastating, right at the time when my hubs are starting to bring in some pre-Christmas Amazon sales, that they have taken a dive again.
   
   Like other commenters here, I really feel like giving up altogether. I tried concentrating on building websites with unique content that I took a lot of time and trouble over, instead of writing more hubs but these have taken a hammering too!
   
   It's like waiting for an axe to fall!
   
   I really hope your hubs recover soon, if it can happen to you, it can happen to anyone!

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   I'll agree. I'm sick of hearing about Pandas, as well as, dealing with them.

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      wordscribe43posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Me, too.  And I used to think they were so darn cute! 

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10. 78

    Rising Carenposted 13 years ago

    Would you rather we talk about canaries?
    
    (PS. For those who don't know, that's a reference to Google Canary)

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11. 78

    Rising Carenposted 13 years ago

    I am not kidding about this: I just had a dream about pandas.
    
    All of this panda talk is maddening.

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12. 85

    Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

    Update - I wonder if this is the reason my flamenco site and HubPages domain got hit:
    
    http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/ … earch.html
    
    I don't have blogs, I have websites.  I add lots of content when I build them. The idea is that they're a solid source of evergreen information on the chosen topic right from the get-go, so I don't need to be constantly writing more and more and more.  That's the idea of "passive" income, right?
    
    Up till now, that concept has worked well for me.  But my oldest site has just experienced a big drop in traffic, and I'm guessing "freshness" is the reason, which is stupid. The best way to choose a flamenco shoe or sew a skirt hasn't changed one iota in three years!
    
    It may also be the reason my HubPages traffic has dropped off a cliff, because I've only written one Hub since the first Panda, so my sub-domain hasn't been updated for months.
    
    Does this mean the concept of passive income is dead?

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       Anamika Sposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I don't think that your not contributing regularly in HubPages is the reason for your drop in traffic in HubPages. When the Panda hit, my traffic went down but recovered and doubled after the sub domain switch and continue to be in the same levels more or less till date. During weekends I see a 10% drop but it recovers once the week starts. I am also not a regular contributer here as I write on many other places and is now concentrating on building backlinks and re-writing old content which does not have much page views.
       
       The funda of 35% Search visibility for fresh content is Google's technique to get website owners to spend money on their own Product Adwords for visibility. I would not be surprised if this 35% moves to 100% after sometime.

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          Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          You and I have almost exactly the same experience of Panda - except that on 6th December, my Hub traffic dropped by 75% and has stayed steady at that level ever since.

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             Anamika Sposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I am really Sorry to hear that. Maybe you could consider re-writing the summery of poorly performing Hubs on the basis of the keywords which triggered traffic to your Hubs. I have seen some improvement in traffic that way. Don't lose hope and Give it a little time. You have Quality stuff, so I am sure your Traffic would rise again to previous levels.

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13. 72

    Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years ago

    Marisa,
    
    No, you still need to think long term.
    
    I reckon that Google has made some changes to their (and lots of em) algorithms and will do so with their 'freshness' drive you are experiencing currently.
    
    I think you will find that your site/s, especially since it may be about Flamenco dancing will have it's traffic come back as your readership adjusts to looking for relevant (been around awhile evergreen content) rather than current/fresh/hot/newsworthy information.
    
    It is just a pain in the arse your traffic dropped off majorly on the 6th.
    
    Give it time, your traffic will return.

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14. 76

    Bard of Elyposted 13 years ago

    Marisa, that is terrible news! You are one of the hubbers I look up to and if you are losing out now it is not surprising I am not doing well still! What hope is there for the rest of us?
    I have found recently that changing hub titles often boosts traffic for a bit on badly-performing ones and those that have dropped down.

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15. 76

    Princessaposted 13 years ago

    I am on the same boat from almost the start of the month. 
    
    November was an excellent month but since the start of December I have seen a dramatic drop of nearly 90% traffic...  It's so frustrating I don't even look very often now to avoid dissapointment!

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16. 83

    IzzyMposted 13 years ago

    I'm really sorry to hear that yet more great hubbers have plunged.
    
    I was carrying on publishing as normal till it suddenly occurred to me that it was like pissing in the wind (excuse the phrase)!
    
    None of my newer hubs since I plunged over 4 months ago are doing well. The only traffic I get is from a few hubs I wrote last Christmas.
    
    I keep finding topics to write about, and starting them, then remind myself it is a total waste of time and effort.
    
    And someone keeps stealing my bandwidth. Grrr!
    
    Think it is time to take myself off the computer and go find something else to do.

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       LeanManposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Don't give up Izzy, keep working on your sites and other accounts I am sure that this account will come back in the future - hopefully better than before!!

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          IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I've been telling myself that, Leanman, and it gets wearying after a while. On the plus side, at least the hubs that are still working are sales hubs, so Christmas is not completely ruined!
          
          Between my sites and hubs I got 34 sales yesterday! (half of that from HP)
          
          Next to nothing in Hubads and I never seem to get Adsense clicks anymore, so good old Amazon is keeping me from falling into the abyss.

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17. 93

    prairieprincessposted 13 years ago

    I had a severe plunge on Dec. 6th. It lasted for two days and then traffic was back better than ever.
    
    Now this morning I have another one. The hubs that are usually in the top ten or so in the search results are now not even visible in the first few pages of search results.

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18. 94

    Alison Grahamposted 13 years ago

    Marisa, I was amazed to log on this evening here in the UK and find my hubs have jumped right back up - hope the same has happened for you too!
    Alison

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       IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Will somebody please look at my hubs and find the pattern that Google hates?
       
       If you think I'm a crap writer, just say so, I may be annoyed then go and learn.
       
       I love hearing of others getting their traffic back, but that still does not help me understand why I lost mine.

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          Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          IZZY!  My traffic has quadrupled today so far and is still rising!  I'd hoped your account was doing the same.  My first spike since Aug. 10 but who knows if it'll last. 

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             Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Finally! Glad to hear it.  Mine is still bumping along the ground, it's been remarkably steady since 6 December.

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                Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Thanks, Marisa!  Mine had stayed steadily low for just over 4 months now.  But this morning I noticed it was about double what a normal Wednesday morning has been lately.  Right now it is over 6 times the normal amount and still rising.  I'll be afraid to check in the morning.

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    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    Izzym: You are definitely not a crap writer. Steven King is a crap writer.  You are not.
    
    I do not know why Google has abandoned you - I don't even know if they really have.  Maybe you just had a lucky fluke in the past and are doing well right now - just not as well as you like.
    
    How bad is it in real terms?  Is Google sending you no traffic?

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20. 83

    IzzyMposted 13 years ago

    Thanks PC, you made me feel wonderful.
    
    I just had a lucky fluke in the past. Google used to like me. Trust me, when I say that Google does not send traffic my way. Just do what you do best, and find a pattern, please.
    
    Oh I don't know why I bother.
    
    Obviously this life is great for some people and crap for others.
    
    I'm off to murder the boyfriend.
    
    At least I'll get 3 square meals a day in prison!
    
    PS I get 200 Google views on a good day. For almost 600 hubs?? Come on!

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       Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, that does seem low.  It could be worse,though.

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          IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Yeah.

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    AMGbotposted 13 years ago

    You hate pandas?!?!?
    Oh...well this is awkward lol

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       habeeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah! Why couldn't they have called it "aardvark" or "snake" or "warthog." Or some other equally non-cuddly critter?

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          SimeyCposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I think 'Snake in the Grass' would have been pretty apt!

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             habeeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               We could shorten it to "SIG."

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    jGauntposted 13 years ago

    Well, you have to remember that the search engines see subdomains as new websites. One of the major ranking criteria is site age. So our content here is on a 3 month old site. The traffic will stay low and unstable until the domains get some age. Around 1-5 years, we just have to wait it out.

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    dfuntanarposted 13 years ago

    Well, if this is how it's going for you guys with hundreds of hubs already, not counting the stuff you have outside hubpages.. I can't even imagine how this would suck even more for newbies like me

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       Rising Carenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I don't know about that. Google's pretty fond of fresh content right now so I'm sure there are newbies who do pretty well (within a few months, not right away of course). And a newbie wouldn't have to worry about his/her subdomain being google slapped anytime within joining/becoming active.
       
       We don't know all that google thinks. For all we know, they don't like hubbers with too many articles because they (wrongly) think they couldn't have written them all and it's too much like content farming. (not saying that's the case. Just pointing out we can't know why things happen).
       
       So don't despair. Give HP a good try (at least 15-30 hubs you're proud of) and just see how it goes.

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       Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Who says it's awful?
       
       Awful is relative.  The people complaining were making very good money and now may be making small money - of course they are unhappy!  But if you are just starting out, the small amounts and the chance to grow can look very, very good.
       
       I'm starting to see decent money here - about $100 a month.  Consider the low amount of traffic, I think that's absolutely wonderful.  If I had been making $800 a month last year, I'd be sobbing too, but I wasn't, so I'm happy.  Onward and upward!

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          Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          You are right, and thanks for pointing that out.  My traffic is now at 2009 levels, and it's frustrating to have lost all that ground, but it's not as if my Hubs aren't making money.  They are - just not nearly as much as they were.

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    Alison Grahamposted 13 years ago

    Update: My traffic recovered dramatically after the recent changes, only to take another dive again this week. I am now back down to only 20% of the traffic I previously had - I don't think this is a "seasonal" change - it's all very disheartening - just in time to wipe out my pre-Christmas Amazon sales!

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    Anamika Sposted 13 years ago

    From the last 2 days my traffic is going down. It is now only 75% of my normal levels. I really hope it is because of the holidays and weekend and nothing else.

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    RedElfposted 13 years ago

    I ran a comparison on Analytics and was stunned to see that overall, my traffic is up over 1/3 from last year at this time - which is surprising as my earnings are down to about 1/3 of what they were last year at this time.
    I don't know how to sort this out.
    I am getting a higher conversion rate from HubPages Ad Program than I was from AdSense, yet my earnings for October, Nov, December are 1/2 to 1/3 of what I made with AdSense alone last year - and adding in this year's AdSense does not come close to making up the difference.
    What other factors do I need to look at?

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