3000 views that weren't real. How did that happen?

1. 89

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Last night over a 6 hour period, according to HP stats, one particular hub of mine got 3000 views.
   All from Facebook, apparently, but I was surprised because I keep an eye on Analytics real time and hadn't seen any upswing.
   Adsense registered none of them either.
   Had a close look at Analytics and it only showed something like 27 views from Facebook on that hub during this period.
   And of course today, they are not on Hubads either.
   So, no loss because I knew they weren't real. But I am dying to know what happened? Was there a glitch at HP?

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2. 95

   rmcrayneposted 12 years ago

   Interesting.  I have a hub that usually gets 2-4 views a day, but now showing >1100 views from Facebook.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Are they registering on Adsense?

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         rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Nope.

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            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Oh. Now that is two of us. That is worrying. Anyone else?

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               rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I just emailed the team with the forum link, and the name of my "Facebooked" hub.

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                  IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  OK I just did too, naming my hub - makes it easier for them to check out I suppose.
                  
                  Maybe this should be on the Report a Problem forum?

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                     rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     I suppose some hubbers might be wondering about this and go straight to the "Report a Problem" forum.  Overall however, more hubbers will see the thread in Hubber's Hangout.

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3. 67

   relacheposted 12 years ago

   I would guess it's some sort of web-bot hitting the pages.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hmmm...a web-bot from Facebook, or one designed to look like Facebook. I better go look and see if the hub has been copied...

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It does sound like it.

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4. 97

   Gordon Hamiltonposted 12 years ago

   Last Friday, one of my Hubs had more than 5,000 views from Twitter. I actually went to Twitter on trending topics, however, and found that some guy in Florida (whom I don't know) had shared it with a huge following. It might be genuine, Izzy! Then again, despite many frustrating hours spent trying, I have never been able to register for nor understand Google Analytics, so I don't understand the relevance of the information from that source...

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No they weren't real. So not fair! Everyone else gets real viral hubs, and I only get the bots! [stamps feet!]..just kidding! Congrats on your Twitter views

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      1. 0

         Emerald Strachanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I got 120 FB views in one day once but the views seemed real because they are still in there in the stats. It was not the FB general views but some Facebook Apps. So I don't know if that makes a difference, it could be something similar.

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            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If they are real you see them in your Adsense stats - I didn't. But they are still there in my HP stats which is going to mess my graph up something terrible LOL.
            
            No if they are not in Analytics, they are not real, because Analytics shows you ALL your traffic, whereas Adsense only shows you your share of the views (not HP's).

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               prairieprincessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Izzy, from my experience, not all views register on Google Analytics. I have some websites where I know had hits because of other things (responses to the site) but the Analytics was showing up as zero visits to those sites.

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                  IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Really? That's interesting because I thought they all did, assuming your analytics code is on the site in question.
                  Oh well, Adsense records them all for sure.
                  
                  It's just that all those strange new views did not show on either. There were 3000 of them in my case, but they showed on HP, but of course I never got paid for them so they weren't real.

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            rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            From HP Help files/forum rules: 
            
            While we don't prohibit having more than one HubPages account, we ask that you stick to a single persona in the forums.

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               Emerald Strachanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks RMCrayne, I understood it a different way but good to know what it meant.

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5. 81

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 12 years ago

   Several of us were hit by a scamming site a week or so ago (Skylancers), and we reported it. However, it took a while for us to realize they were malicious hits, and of course it messed up our numbers, so we all look like we had a surge of traffic and then a drop. Maybe you should report this to HP admin, in case there's a fake FB site trying to pull tricks?

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   1. 89

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      But Skylancers were real hits, weren't they? (as opposed to a bot). There is nothing to report when Adsense never saw the hits. No hits, no clicks, just nothing. Hubads never saw them either.

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6. 60

   MelissaBarrettposted 12 years ago

   I'm just dropping in to say that I had the same thing happen to my hubs (on a smaller scale) on the same day that this happened to you all.  Today I started getting google traffic again (after weeks of one or two google views a day).  Even hubs that didn't have any traffic before my mini-separation with google are getting views now. 
   
   I hope this means the same thing for you guys... especially Izzy.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Aww, thanks, but no, Google still hates me. My secondary account has been going from the strength to strength since its traffic recovered about 3 weeks ago, all the same

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7. 95

   wildernessposted 12 years ago

   I think you can throw my name in the pot as well.  Suddenly a hub that typically gets 10-20 views per day is showing 170 from facebook.
   
   Neither adsense nor analytics is showing it, though.

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Count me in as well... One of my hubs had 26 views from FB whereas I get an average of 1 view from FB each month - I'm not into social networking and I've only got views from other places.
      
      This makes me wonder if the 30 views in a day from Pinterest too were fakes.. Same hub

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8. 95

   rmcrayneposted 12 years ago

   My overall traffic is pretty low, but I have over 150 views to one of my breast cancer hubs that usually gets about 20 views a day.  Only 12 views are from "discernable sources".  Looks like about half of th 20/day are usually from "other".

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   1. 89

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've had word back from HP and it seems that all the activity came from a single IP address.
      
      By now, I've had emails from other hubbers who this has happened to. I have encouraged them to post their experience on this thread, but it seems they have chosen not to.
      
      That is entirely their prerogative, but at least we now all know that there is someone using some kind of software to artificially boost our hubs, but which is being ignored by Google. (and so can't harm our Adsense accounts).
      
      Now is as good a time as any to remind folks to keep their Windows Update updated.
      
      Seems a new Chinese worm is intent on harming Windows computers.
      
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ … sites.html

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         rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yep that’s what they told me too.

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9. 85

   lorenmurciaposted 12 years ago

   I'm having the same problem like yours, guys. My facebook views suddenly spiked on some of my hubs for the last two days now. However, they don't appear on analytics. What's happening???

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It seems to have been caused by a bot (spider or other robotic visitor), all coming from the one IP, and not harmful that we know of.
      
      I've just had another hub go sort of viral on Pinterest - not as many views as appeared to come from Facebook, but real views I can get paid for!
      
      Don't know if the two are related. Would be nice to think they were, and it would be something to look out for, but I doubt it as two separate hubs were involved.

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         lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hmm my pinterest rapid views were a day or 2 after the addition of pinterest onto our hubs. Hope its not the same cause Izzy!

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         1. 89

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I think I just discovered the cause of my Pinterest views (which were real, they show in Analytics). Dorsi (a fellow hubber) pinned it, thanks Dorsi
            
            The problem (not real) views all seem to be coming from Facebook. Mine have stopped now anyway.

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            1. 77

               lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Mine too it all happened within a span on 2hrs while I was away.

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10. 76

    sofsposted 12 years ago

    Today one of my hubs has registered a good number of views from FB, this is not reflected in analytics. The views are under 100, but this hub does not get that many views per day.

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11. 86

    incomeguruposted 12 years ago

    I also noticed this sudden increase in traffic to one of my hubs last Thursday. And the traffic came from FB, however, it has stopped.

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12. 95

    rmcrayneposted 12 years ago

    I have another hub with a spike in views from Facebook.  Without these [fake] views, my low traffic is really low, about like Nov 2010.

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    1. 89

       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Isn't this odd?
       
       Seems quite a few of us have been affected. I saw a new hub I think it was yesterday from someone who got a viral hit on Facebook. Hope it was real for her.

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          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          That would be sad if it wasn't

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13. 95

    rmcrayneposted 12 years ago

    Seems everyday I have one hub with a spike in views, attributed to Facebook.  Now the views are split between Facebook and mobile FB.  Smaller increase in views now, about 30-40.

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       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       It's just not happening for me anymore. Even the bots are ignoring me!!!

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          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Don't worry its stopped happening to me as well

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14. 61

    Hollie Thomasposted 12 years ago

    Same thing has recently happened to me. One of my hubs that normally gets between 5-10 hits per day has received 619 views from Facebook in the past 24 hours. Not showing in analytics though.

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       lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Oh wow! Mine was more realistic.. The hub used to get 5 - 10 a day but 26 or 27 from Fb that day not 619!!

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          Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I've e-mailed HP so hopefully they'll look into it. How do I find out if some of my content has been copied?

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             lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Use Copyscape or since you got just 25 hubs - same as me just paste a paragraph into google within quotes ""
             
             Do it for the hub that received traffic.. Mines fine and it wasn't copied

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                Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                I'll give it a go. Thanks.

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                   lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   No prob

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                IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                If you are using Chrome it is even easier. Just highlight a block of text, right click, and click on 'search in Google'.
                
                OK it doesn't search in quotes but you'll still see if that exact text has been copied, on the front page if at all.

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                   Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   Thanks, Izzy. Fortunately I do not appear to have any content stolen.

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                   lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   Ok cool didn't know that - thanks

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15. 76

    Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

    I'm experiencing a Facebook Bump today.  Does anyone think anything should be done (to report it, for example), or should I just totally ignore it?
    
    Also - re the worry about copied/stolen content - how does this tie-in with the unreal views?  Wouldn't stolen content more likely cause a drop in views?  (I know I'm missing something here.)

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    1. 95

       rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Izzy and I both reported it.  As we reported in the thread, HP said in both our cases that it looked like all the views came from the same IP address.  They said not to worry about it, but to report any additional suspicious activity. 
       
       
       
       
       Not sure either.  It crossed my mind to check as well though.  For me it was a matter of suspicious activity, and wondering if there was any other suspicious activity, such as copied.

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          IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Seeing as almost all my hubs have been copied by multiple sources, and that all the copies are ranking higher in Google than mine, I would largely discount this "traffic surge from Facebook" as having anything to do with copying hubs.
          
          After all, there was no surge before.
          
          Is your normal traffic back yet Rosemary? I saw you posting your traffic was back to Nov 2010 levels.
          
          I'd like to get back that level too!! But in all seriousness, sounds like you a experiencing a big drop.

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             rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, I'm up from the recent low numbers similar to Nov 2010, back to my recent normal range, which is about what it was Sept 2011.  I make a little entry into a Word doc every 100,000 visits.  I log date, views for that day, and the 100-whichever thousand.  When I logged 900,000+ today, I was a little surprised/sick at the dive in numbers.  But...
             
             I had a really good Nov & Dec because of some seasonal hubs.  So maybe my new lower average traffic is normal for me, but I think there is something else at work, driving my numbers a bit lower.  I've seen a few posts from time to time that traffic is down site-wide.

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    2. 61

       Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I think you might be better to report it, just to cover yourself.

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          IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Just saying, if they look real (Adsense and Analytics), they are real

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             Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Me being paranoid, I've never had views like that before so when they happened, I panicked. Your right, if they show in analytics, they're real. I hope they are.

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                IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Are they showing in Analytics yet?
                
                If they aren't, forget them.
                
                As far as I'm aware, both Analytics and Adsense show you real time views, and from my experience they more or less match up with HP views, though HP may be a little behind at times.
                
                I'd need to see my traffic return to say for sure, but the two AAs are accurate, and if the views don't appear there, they won't show up in Hubads tomorrow.
                
                It's good to be prepared. I hate shocks and let-downs too.

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                   Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   They haven't showed up. To be honest, I expected that to be the case. It was a hub about something I've used, thought was effective, but had no commercial value. I never expected it to make any money, I haven't even promoted it in any way. It was one those "this is good stuff" hubs, written in no time, for those who are looking for that type of product. That was it.

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                      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      (((Hollie))) big hugs! That hub may very well one day go viral, especially if a teen idol uses the product it promotes!
                      
                      I'll never understand the hit parade for topics! Sometimes they are so weird! People search for the strangest things, and none of makes much sense to me.

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                         Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                         Ah, thank you, Izzy. It's just one of those "if your having a problem with this, I think this can help" type of hubs. It'll never make anything, but it might help someone.

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                   Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   
                   I still haven't figured out the real-time views thingie - but I think that's only available in the "new" version of Analytics, isn't it?  I can't get that, for some reason.  I think it has to do with my browser or some such, and I haven't convinced myself yet that it's worth the trouble to change.

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                      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      Find out how to get it!
                      
                      Honestly, I never really understood Analytics before, but am willing to learn snippets now.
                      
                      I spend all day drooling over Analytics real-time. They will probably ban me soon for being a stalker.

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                      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      I guess it's not the browser, my Analytics is the new version and some days it just refuses to load!

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                         Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                         There may be more than one reason for the problem, but when I tried the New Version again (after these posts), I got this very clear message onscreen: "Your browser is not supported."  Well, those were not the exact words, but it was the exact meaning.  I'll update to a newer version sometime soon and try again. 

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                            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                            I got the latest version and have no browser compatibility problems - I wonder what it is then

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                               Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                               But I don't have the latest version.  That's my problem.  I think that the load problem you have experienced is a different matter.

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                                  lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                  I guess so..

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       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Report it only if neither Adsense nor Analytics confirms the views.

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16. 73

    LeanManposted 12 years ago

    Well this still seems to be happening, I have over 200 hits from Facebook today that have come from nowhere and do not appear in my Google analytics..
    
    Someone is playing games, I just hope that it does not lead to something!

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    1. 77

       lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I got another 17 views from FB that are not recorded on analytics today - this is to one of the hubs.. The amount is small but its still the same thing!

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17. 89

    IzzyMposted 12 years ago

    I just checked and I have received a further 90 views from Facebook that are not recorded on Analytics.

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       lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Hmm its a crazy bot!

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18. 98

    viryaboposted 12 years ago

    Shouldnt we be worried about this?
    On one hub, i usually get an average of 50/day. The past two days hits are well over 3000/day.
    I dont feel too comfortable with this.

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