"Changed" column in Hub stats

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   Jason Menayanposted 11 years ago

   Hey everyone,
   
   A few weeks ago, we encouraged, via a Learning Center entry, with mentions in the newsletter, blog, a podcast and the forum, that refreshing older Hubs that had gotten search traffic before, but had seen that diminish, with meaningful additions of useful content, might help get a boost of Google love.
   
   A suggestion was made by Marisa Wright for a column to let you know when a change was made to a Hub. We thought it was a good one, and it has now been rolled out. On your My Account stats page, you'll see the final column will tell you when a Hub was last edited. Keep in mind that any edit at all will refresh the date on this, even if you made small changes that are not necessarily meaningful enough to prompt a refresh in the eyes of search engines.
   
   So, thanks for the suggestion, and we hope you find this feature useful in updating your Hubs!

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      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely!!! And many thanks!!!

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      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Anyone want to take a stab on what the search engine refresh threshhold is? That would be something good to know.

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         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Content checksum percentage change for example? If so, what is the percentage of change that would initiate refresh?

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            Debby Bruckposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            "search engine refresh threshhold"
            
            Can someone please explain this what it means and how we can use this information.
            
            I would also like to learn more about how people will use this new information about when their hubs were last changed with updates or refinements to titles, capsules, text, graphics, etc?
            
            Thanks in advance
            Debby

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               Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Google has said one of the criteria they use is "freshness". What we don't know is the exact definition of that term.  How fresh do they expect, i.e what's the "refresh threshold"?  Yesterday? Last week?  Last month?  So unfortunately we can't make use of this information because we don't know it.
               
               
               
               For me, the main use will be when I need to modify Hubs to meet rule changes by HubPages or the search engines.  The other reason use will be when I start a new project.  For instance, I might start a new website about ballet, or find a new ballet product I want to promote - so I would want to add new links on each of my ballet Hubs. The date will enable me to be sure I don't miss any of the Hubs that need attention.

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                  Debby Bruckposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Great suggestion. That's staying on your 'toes'
                  

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         Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         paradigmsearch, funny you should ask. Google has a blog about their freshness algorithm that they released in November.  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/ … earch.html

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            paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks!
            
            Darn, they declined to "give away the secret sauce".
            
            So, I guess until someone comes along with a better guess, I'll use my guess.

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               Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Oh, so you want to know the methods?  Justin Briggs, an SEO blogger, wrote about evaluating freshness in detail. Are you ready for a long read?
               
               http://justinbriggs.org/methods-for-eva … -freshness

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                  lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks Glenn. I've bookmarked the page - breezed through the algorithm looks great will read through it later in the day

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                  paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Glenn, you are awesome.

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                  Peggy Wposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks Glen.  Will have to take a look at this when I have a moment for a "long read." 

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      SuperheroSalesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This was a great addition!  Thank you for adding this column, this was definitely on my wish list.  It will make "spring cleaning" much easier.

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   Glenn Stokposted 11 years ago

   Thanks Jason. This is absolutely wonderful!  I'm going to make good use out of this extra column. I also like the way I can sort by modification date. Very helpful indeed!  Thanks again and thanks also to Marisa for suggesting it.

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   wildernessposted 11 years ago

   Thanks to both HP and Marisa for this; it will be valuable.
   
   A question, though - are comments "changes"?  It would appear that they are not, but can HP confirm this?

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      Jason Menayanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No, comments don't count. But editing your Hub and doing anything (changing your title, moving Capsules around, adding/changing a summary, etc) will trigger a date change.

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         Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I also noticed that changing tags updates the date too. Even without going into edit mode.

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            Jason Menayanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, even though you can edit tags from your author view of a page, it counts as a change to the Hub in our database.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I can't take the credit for this - it was suggested by a couple of other Hubbers (Relache? IzzyM?) in the middle of a discussion, and I just thought it was a good enough idea to be worth starting a special thread about.
      
      Thanks to HP for implementing it!

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         IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I may have suggested it in a thread, but the idea came from you, I think:)
         
         Well done, and well done to HP for implementing it

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            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Now, now - no fighting, ladies.  It is unbecoming to dancers and sad purple monsters alike. 
            
            You may both have credit.  Although...does that mean it takes 2 ladies to find one good idea? *ducks and runs for cover*

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         relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I've been complaining this should have been never been dropped ever since they took it away. (edited dates have been AWOL for a few years)
         
         Thanks for finally bringing this back!

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         viryaboposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I remember the discussion that day and you, Izzy and Relache did voice some suggestions on having a way to know what hubs we have worked on and which ones we haven't.
         
         I absolutely love this new feature because i was beginning to loose track of my updates.

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   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   I think it's sorting by year - day - month,
   
   instead of,
   
   year - month - day.
   
   Leastwise, mine is. Honest!

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      Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      After leaving my last comment I started paying closer attention. paradigmsearch is right.  Something is weird about the way it's sorting. The "published" column sorts correctly.

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      Jason Menayanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You're right - thank you for reporting this. I'll let engineering know about it; it should be an easy fix.

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         Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Jason, While on the subject of adding columns, I'd like to suggest including columns in the "All Earnings Report" for each of the programs... the Ad Program, eBay, Amazon (when active), and Total. Right now it just has one column showing "Earnings."
         
         This will eliminate the need to click each individually. If one wants to see more info, such as Ad Impressions, Ad CPM, eBay Clicks or eBay EPC, then they can still click the individual reports.
         
         I think that showing columns with individual earnings in the main report would be helpful.

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            Jason Menayanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            That is a nice idea, and there looks to be "real estate" in that report. I'll file a ticket for this; thank you for the suggestion.

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               Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Jason,  I just noticed it was done today. That was fast! It's nice having all the earnings in one place now. No more clicking around. Thank you to you and to the rest of the staff who did the programming.

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                  Jason Menayanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I will pass on your thanks to the engineering team; all I did was file the ticket! Thank you for the suggestion.

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               lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               The update is fantastic

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   cardeleanposted 11 years ago

   LOVE this update!  Thanks Marissa and HP!

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   Rosie2010posted 11 years ago

   Marisa, what a great idea!
   
   Hubpages, thanks for the addition.

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   twentyfiveposted 11 years ago

   wow, thank you Marissa and Hubpages

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   Anamika Sposted 11 years ago

   That's a real cool feature. Wish we had the hub word count also so that one does not have to check out each an every hub to see which hub to add content to. Also if we could insert picture in between hubs using the text capsule would have been awesome too.

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   sabrebIadeposted 11 years ago

   Hmmmm...none of the changes I made in February are showing up.
   It all stops at 1-31-2012.
   But I have updated 16 Hubs so far this month.
   (I write them down...LOL)

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    lobobrandonposted 11 years ago

    Thanks for the great improvement. It wont be useful to me at present; but, surely in the long run - Thanks again everyone who made this happen

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    SimeyCposted 11 years ago

    Thanks for this! Howver - seems the sorting algorithm is slightly off - did you borrow code from Panda
    
    I have Jan 31 at the top - then some Feb changes interspersed...

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    AEvansposted 11 years ago

    Impressive! Thank you Marissa for the suggestion that is now implemented. Thank you HP for implementing a useful tool.

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    Peggy Wposted 11 years ago

    I think that this will be a very helpful tool for all of us to use.  Thanks HP staff for implementing it and thanks to the people who are responsible for making the suggestion. 

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    ripplemakerposted 11 years ago

    Wonderful!!! Thanks Marisa! Thanks HP! 

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    diplessposted 11 years ago

    Great addition thanks

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    Kris Heeterposted 11 years ago

    Thanks for this addition!  It will be very useful - and thanks to all for the additional information and links to further conversation on google, etc.

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    KCC Big Countryposted 11 years ago

    Love it!  Thanks Relache, Marisa, Izzy, etc. for pursuing this and thanks to Jason and HP for implementing it!

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    Thelma Albertsposted 11 years ago

    Thanks for the addition. Thank you Marisa and the HP staff.

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    livewithrichardposted 11 years ago

    This was a good add. It is especially helpful when you have a lot of hubs that you need to tweak and keep track of the last tweaks. +++

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    Scribenetposted 11 years ago

    Thank you! I love the continuous improvements. I like to go back and refresh dated material or just edit some of the content. This will help me manage the Hubs more efficiently!

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    DeborahNeyensposted 11 years ago

    This is great.  I love that Hubpages does listen to suggestions from hubbers and is continuously improving the site to make our lives easier.  Thanks to Marisa for making the suggestion and to HP for implementing it.

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    waynetposted 11 years ago

    Jolly good!

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    Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

    I hate change, but I love this one.
    
    Thanks.

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       FloraBreenRobisonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       

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    elayne001posted 11 years ago

    Kudos Hubteam! I like this newest change. Thank you very much!

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    FloraBreenRobisonposted 11 years ago

    This will be a lot of help to people needing to update their hubs. Thanks HP!

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    K9keystrokesposted 11 years ago

    What a great change!
    I have a question regarding refreshing our content; would creating rss link capsules based on a "hot" topic rather than a "best" topic hold more weight in terms of creating worthy fresh content? I ask because it seems the "hot" topics would be in a constantly changing state more so than "best" topics.
    Kudos to Marisa Wright and the HP Team!
    

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       Jason Menayanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       We discourage using RSS feeds of your own Hubs within your own Hubs as a way to introduce new content. Instead, we suggest finding opportunities to offer expanded useful information within the scope of your Hub in the form of new text, a table of relevant data, etc.

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          K9keystrokesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Outstanding Jason. Thanks so much for the feedback, very helpful.

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    mary615posted 11 years ago

    Thanks HP!  What a great feature to have.  Again HP is doing their best to make our jobs easier and more productive.  I love HP!

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       mary615posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I forgot to mention, I also like the little green button with the plus sign to make it easier to check comments, etc.  That's a great new feature, too.

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    DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years ago

    Good idea--I'll check it out.
    
    Meanwhile, is it just me, or is there something screwy going on with the title sort?  If I want to look up a particular hub, at nearly 200 hubs, it is easier to find on an alphabetical search, so, clicking the 'title' sort seems to do that, (but not in the library sense, of shifting articles [a, an, the]  to  the end).
    
    However--when I try to sort it back the way it was..it never seems to come out so.  What am I doing wrong?

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       If I understand correctly...
       
       The default sort is by score. So that's the column you click to make it as was.
       
       There is a known problem with the "changed" sort that is being addressed.

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          DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          OHHHH!!   Ok, thanks, paradigmsearch--I was thinking it might be one of those "on/off" switch things, like a pause button, where you re-click the same thing to undo..but that seemed to just mix things up crazily.
          
          (How to feel stupid in one easy lesson...    )

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             paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Not so. This site is complicated. And getting more so every month.

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    stephhicks68posted 11 years ago

    Very helpful!  Thank you Jason and HP team for the change, and Marissa for suggesting it!  With lots of hubs, its hard to keep track of which ones might need attention again.

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    Mutiny92posted 11 years ago

    No big deal, but it cuts off the right column +1/2 while in mobile mode on my iPhone. Ext mobile mode and it works fine.

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    Jason Menayanposted 11 years ago

    The date sort problem from before has been fixed.

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       lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Great
       I just checked it out and the hubs I published in Feb and even began creating in Feb aren't showing as last edited on 12th Jan

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       My longest ago changed date is August 2011.
       
       Who can top it?
       
       Shouldn't be hard.

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       sabrebIadeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yep I saw that.
       That's MUCH better...LOL

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    cardeleanposted 11 years ago

    4/09/11 is my longest.  Who can beat that?

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       lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       12/09/11 close enough

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    Pcunixposted 11 years ago

    6/17/10

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I knew there had to be some 2010's out there.

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    SimeyCposted 11 years ago

    8/31/09

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Oh, My!

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          SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Now here's the dilemma - I have ten hubs that haven't been updated since 2009 - 5 of them are getting over 100 views a month so should I update or not?

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             paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             My opinion is a screaming "yes"! But I understand your concerns. Add to them, but apparently don't mess with certain parts of it...???

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             lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Just try keeping the number of keywords and the sequence you put them in the same
             By sequence I mean the order of the synonyms of the keywords if any.
             It's not the order of the keywords in your hub but the words in the keyword I'm talking about
             
             Do just 2 of your hubs and check if they get an increase in traffic then proceed with the rest

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       DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I can't top that--can't go back beyond 6-15-10, as I was not here before then. 

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    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    I hereby get to announce first that I have updated one of my oldest hubs already because of this enhancement.

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       SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Looks like I'm gonna be busy updating for the next few weeks!!!

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    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    
    Hubber tinkering with an already successful hub.
    
    It's how I feel sometimes.

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       DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       LOL-perfect photo, paradigm--now all we need is a thumbs-up or "like" button on forum comments.  hee hee hee..

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       viryaboposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       

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    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    Second archaic hub updated.

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    leenamarthaposted 11 years ago

    I would also like to learn more about how people will use this new information about when their hubs were last changed with updates.

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       Pcunixposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       We'll use it to easily find hubs that might need updating, of course.
       
       Some hubs will never need any update, of course.  But for many others, there is new information you can add, and this helps sort out which ones have been looked at recently for that purpose.

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    Pcunixposted 11 years ago

    I just noticed that this date is smart - if you edit a hub and don't really change anything in the hub itself- for example, if you just change the group or add tags - it doesn't change the "changed" date.  That's good. 
    
    There is one more date I'd like to see.  That's the date of the last comment made.  I added this to my own website stats listings a long, long time ago and find it very helpful.

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       lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       If at all the last comments date is added it would have to be on the hub itself at the bottom as the accounts page is already filled
       
       Btw could I ask how this helps?

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          Pcunixposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          The accounts page isn't full    The title column can be shortened and wrap a bit earlier..
          
          The information helps me know that even though *I* may not have updated the page, it has been updated by comments.  That likely counts as freshness for Google too. I say "likely" because Google could distinguish comments from text easily in many cases.  If they do, they may assign a lesser value to those comments and of course the length and keyword content would also matter, but the date does tell me that there has been recent activity at ;east.

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             lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Good point regarding the shortening of the titles - was foolish to not realize that
             
             I guess it does count as a freshness update. But the extent of freshness will be minimal as only one part is changed (no matter how many comments you get). Just my point of view.

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                Pcunixposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                No, that's not true.    I can show examples of pages that rank in the top spots precisely because of keywords added in comments.
                
                Comments can matter a lot.

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                   lobobrandonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                   I do add keywords in my comments as far as possible no matter whether I comment on others or reply to comments on my hubs

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    VendettaVixenposted 11 years ago

    Huh, good to know.
    Thanks a lot for the information, Jason.

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    Anna Marie Bowmanposted 11 years ago

    Awesome improvement!!  Thanks HP team!!!  I used to have to write it down to keep track of the Hubs I had updated, and when.  This makes it so much easier!!  Now I can see which hubs have not been updated in a while, and maybe take a look at them, and freshen them up!!  So happy!!

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