Someone please explain these numbers and why I should care

1. 0

   mickelarrposted 13 years ago

   I've been here a little over a month.  My hubber score as I write this is 85, the highest ever for me as far as I know.  Cool I guess, but I have no idea why.  I haven't posted a new hub in over a week. 
   
   I've seen my individual hub scores fluctuate wildly, from a score in the 80s one day, down into the 60s a week later.  Again, no idea why.
   
   More curious to me than the question of why these scores fluctuate is the question of why should I care.  I mean, isn't the point here to get people to find my hubs on Google or some other search engine, then click on my ads?  What the heck do these numbers have to do with that?
   
   It's just so confusing and random.  Are these numbers somehow related to my ultimate goal of getting people to click on my ads, or they just some bizarre diversion that nobody fully understands?  If they're just useless numbers then I'll igonore them.  If they matter, I want to figure out how to interprit them.
   
   ???

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   1. 73

      sofsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      These numbers do have a significance to a certain level, if your profile score is above 75 your links become do follow, if your hub scores fall below 40 they are no follow. Apart from that the scores have no relevance whatsoever to your earning potential.. The scores are more of a feel good factor.
      I guess above 75 you  don't need to care... the things you really need to care about are SEO, backlinking. SERPs etc...

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      1. 0

         mickelarrposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks.  That makes some sense.

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2. 82

   Pcunixposted 13 years ago

   Bizarre diversion that nobody here on the outside understands is exactly right.  HP FAQS say that they are based on "quality", which is apparently determined by magic pixies reading over your hubs at regular intervals and then throwing darts to determine your score.
   
   None of us know.  We watch our scores go up and down and try to understand what caused the movement but we never figure it out.  I advise you to stop caring.  As others noted, the downside is if you fall too low and that is really, really hard to do - it requires real talent (a different kind of talent than most of us have, fortunately).
   
   The other possibly annoying thing is when you finally start drifting into that "dollar score".  Every time that happens, you'll get a flurry of new followers.  Some are genuine, some are just silly folks who think the score means something and perhaps following you will somehow help them.
   
   Other than that, you can safely ignore all of it.

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   1. 61

      liftandsoarposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      However these number work and whether they are valid or not, I have to admit to a certain ego feed from them.  OK, I'm desperate.

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      1. 82

         Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Well, all you need to is go read a few hubs to disabuse yourself of that.  My score is often in the 97 to 100 range, but I invite you to compare my writing to many in the 80 range and I am quite sure you will find people who are plainly and obviously much better writers.
         
         Why do they not get a better score?  I do not know - pixies and dart boards is the best I can offer.

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         1. 87

            Millionaire Tipsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            You underestimate yourself. You write great hubs, and are an important member of the community.

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            1. 82

               Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Regardless of your flattering opinion, there are people with lower hubber scores who are far better writers.
               
               I'm not saying the score is entirely meaningless, but there can be other reasons for lower scores.

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3. 78

   workingmomwmposted 13 years ago

   I'm in the "I don't care (much)" camp. Once my hubber score reached 99, and I thought for sure it would go on up to 100, but it didn't. It just went back down. I quit publishing anything new for about 4 months (not because my hubber score went down), and the lowest it dropped was 92. I just published a new hub yesterday, and the number's back up to 96. Does it mean anything really? I have to think not. If I ever do hit 100, I definitely will care just because I feel slightly cheated because I was so close that once and then it went down!

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   1. 78

      workingmomwmposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Well, it happened. It was at 99 this morning, and then it bumped up to 100. I have no idea why, but okay, honestly, I am a little excited about it. I'm still sure it doesn't mean anything, but it's a milestone, and I made it, and now I can quit caring about my hubber score altogether!

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      1. 87

         Millionaire Tipsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         congratulations on 100!  You made it. I think they should make an accolade to show that you made it.

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4. 76

   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   I agree with most people here.  The score should be watched only to the extent that a sudden dive under 75 might indicate a penalty for some action.

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5. 73

   LeanManposted 13 years ago

   I check for $, that is really the only score that I take much notice of! As Pcunix says it is pretty hard to get a low score if you writing is "OK" or better!!

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6. 87

   Millionaire Tipsposted 13 years ago

   On the Hubbers list, the hubbers are listed by their hub score.  The higher you are on the list, the more people will want to read your hubs and follow you.  And the more followers you have, the larger your potential hubber audience. 
   
   I think there is a valid reason for wanting to get to the 100.  But I don't fret about it.  Keep writing quality hubs, and staying active in the community, and it will go up.

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   1. 0

      mickelarrposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      But, correct me if wrong, the people here at HP are not who I'm marketing to. Isn't to goal to get search engine traffic?  People here don't click on my ads, do they?  So what difference does it make how much traffic. I get from HP?

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      1. 73

         sofsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Spot on... the hubbers can only write nice comments... (I love them)...but your real traffic is from the search engines... and that is what brings you the $$$$$$....not the hubbers..
         If you are in here to earn ..profile score mean nothing at all... just some numbers

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      2. 87

         Millionaire Tipsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I agree that you are going after search engine traffic, but it is the hub traffic that shows the search engines that your hub is worthy of their attention.  It is the hubbers who provide the comments that show the search engines that your hub has recent activity.
         
         The main focus should absolutely be on the search engine traffic, but I think that the hub traffic is one of many ways to get it.

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         1. 0

            mickelarrposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            This is where I get confused. This implies that HP grants some kind of special Google juice to members with high hubber scores. How can that be possible? Does a high number of comments really matter to Google?
            
            Not being sarcastic. I really don't understand.

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            1. 87

               Millionaire Tipsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               The HP juice is important, because HP readers are readers, and if they are looking at my HP ads, I am pretty sure their views count in my earnings. Right now, I don't have a lot of search traffic, because I haven't gotten to the marketing phase yet.  I am very grateful to my HP readers.
               
               I don't think the hubber score matters to Google - but I think HP uses the score to decide how much to market our hubs (put them as related links on other people's hubs).  The more HP likes us, the more hubbers become aware of our hubs, and hopefully the more hubbers that come to read our hubs.
               
               I don't know how Google works, so this is all speculation on my part.   I would think that if I were writing Google program, my first priority would be to find which hubs are relevant to the search term. There would be quite a few, so I would have to come up with some kind of sorting criteria to figure out which would be good resources.   I would put articles that have been read more often higher than articles that were not read very much, assuming that information is available to Google.  It is not necessarily a perfect prediction that the more popular hubs are better than the less popular hubs, but there has to be something to go by.  I think I would especially like it if the hub has been around for a while and people are still reading it.  I have read that Google likes fresh content, and comments count as fresh content, so that alone means having hubbers read your hubs over time is a good thing.
               
               Also I would think that if the writer was popular generally i.e. the other parts of the site had high reads, then it is likely the writer will be able to deliver on a new hub as well. That would fit into my algorithm somehow. I'm pretty sure this is why the big company sites tend to stay on top since they are trusted sites that are sure to provide relevant info even if it has a new article.

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