Hub traffic

1. 70

   Freeway Flyerposted 12 years ago

   Am I the only one who has seen his or her hub traffic drop significantly (about 80%) in the last couple of days? Since I have not done anything significantly different of late, I'm wondering why such a change would happen out of nowhere.

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   1. 77

      Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      There are at least 8 or 9 threads throughout the forum talking about low traffic.

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   2. 61

      StephenCowryposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Mine is dropping as well. I don't really the reason for such drop other than it's Memorial Day. Anyone?

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   3. 70

      Freeway Flyerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Things picked up slightly today. Go figure.

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      WannaB Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm afraid I've been so busy writing this month, here and on my blogs, that I've not had time to follow my stats very closely. I see red and blue arrows every day. I'm just going to keep adding more hubs as I can and hope that they bring me some traffic. I have a new audience I did not have before. Unfortunately, they don't leave comments. They probably will never buy anything from an affiliate link, either. But they at least visit my hubs that interest them, and I hope the views bring me a bit of cash.

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2. 68

   relacheposted 12 years ago

   I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that it's Memorial Day weekend is contributing to the drop.

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   1. 70

      Freeway Flyerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It usually drops a bit on weekends, particularly on holiday weekends. But not this much. Strangely, I have had more traffic than ever over the past couple of months, and now this.

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3. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 12 years ago

   I couldn't believe the amount of traffic coming from the US into Canada with boats - seemed more like a parade of boats

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4. 87

   andyozposted 12 years ago

   Mine has also dropped 80%.  Most of my hubs have plummeted down the Google rankings.  I went from around 5000 views to 1300 in 24hours.  Pretty gutted and hoping this isn't going to last.

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   1. 96

      PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      My loss of over 50% has now lasted over a month.  I have a feeling that things might get worse before they get better unfortunately.  But you never know!

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5. 72

   christopherantonposted 12 years ago

   I certainly noticed a lot less red coloured arrows on mine over the last week. The traffic appears not to have recovered from the usual weekend drop off. It may be that the combination of your American Memorial weekend and the unexpected lovely sunny weather that we've been having on this side of the pond has taken people away from the computers. Up until this weekend, I was seeing my traffic steadily rising as well.
   Next weekend we've got the Diamond Jubilee, so I expect there won't be too many people at the computers then either. I know I won't be, for one.

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   1. 91

      JKennyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      My traffic has actually yo-yoed over the last few days, but not significantly enough to make me stress. I expected a drop off for Memorial Day.
      
      I actually have to work on the Jubilee weekend. Can you believe it? Yep, its a Bank Holiday, but apparently because its not a contracted Bank Holiday, my place (a garden centre) stays open. It'll be the most boring weekend ever.
      
      I had to work when William and Kate got married, and we saw ten people all day, if that. We ended up watching the wedding on one of the computers in the cafe.

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6. 89

   wildernessposted 12 years ago

   Mine has been very consistent with no big drops - just a slow, steady drop since about February.  I'm down to about 1/3 of what it was then.
   
   Even the holiday weekend doesn't show a change (so far, although Monday probably will) - the same slow decrease each week.

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   1. 77

      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I do hope its the holiday weekend as I've lost 30% of my traffic Mostly from google.com

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7. 54

   janderson99posted 12 years ago

   New Theory - Age Discounted / Freshness elevated
   My traffic is on a slow steady decline, mirroring that of HP.
   
   If you look at http://hubpages.com/success/ (click more and see the traffic graphs) it shows that virtually all these showed a rapid decline late in 2011 (there is no recent data).
   
   Various people have recently reported dramatic traffic drops for older hubs. Over the past 6 months my earning have only been sustained by writing more and more hubs. In a sense this applies to HP as well - the flood of new hubs should be generating increases in traffic rather than the steady decline. Could the reason be that older hubs are being downgraded in relevance?
   
   Google appears to have elevated freshness over age as a measure of authority.
   
   http://www.hitsearchlimited.com/news/9993591/
   ".......many of the search engine’s most recent tweaks relate to last year’s launch of the Caffeine indexing system. As such, these changes place greater emphasis on recentness, rather than just substance, in determining relevance.
   ...Taking all of April’s various algorithmic updates into consideration, we see that Google implements a complex ratio of substance indicators and freshness indicators to constitute relevancy.."
   
   So what can you do.
   1. Add new stuff to old hubs
   2. I have been experimenting with adding highly specific EXTERNAL RSS to hubs that we continually be updated and will add a dash of freshness. The added bonus for this is that it may improve 'authority' by adding referral links to high quality sources.
   
   Anyone have any thoughts on this???

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   1. 96

      PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What you say about Google promoting freshness is correct.  But I suspect the effect of that is not causing the dramatic falls, both sudden and over time.  My view at the moment is that it is the hubs that were published under hubpages.com that are suffering, as Paul E says in a recent hub.  I presonally believe that it's not worth adding new hubs to an old profile at the moment (I did it from Jan-April myself).  If and when I write more on here, it will be for a new account.

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      1. 54

         janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         In my experience new accounts perform very poorly initially due to both size (number of hubs) initial authority, and age of the hubs. So there is a trade-off. Adding quality new hubs may help the old sub to recover, BUT it may be the case of not adding pearls to the swine. The other option is to publish elsewhere for a while.
         
         Freshness matters now, and is an important factor for developing a relevance rating. I suspect that some of the recent drops are due to lack of freshness for hubs published after the subdomains were introduced. The drops in traffic appear to have affected most hubbers. HP should know but their silence in the forums has been deafening of late.

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         1. 96

            PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            For me it didn't work - not in recent months anyway.  I published new hubs and edited old ones and my traffic stayed pretty stagnant for several months before hitting the skids in late April, where it currently remains.  Mine is just one case and by no means negates the theory.  But you asked for feedback...
            
            (Google have been open about making freshness a bigger issue, but I don't think posting and editing is likely to be a magic wand, more likely it will add on a few percent to your views - that's my feeling, for what it's worth.  I suspect HP's problems are more serious than that.)

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         2. 83

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I totally disagree with you.
            
            This subdomain is slapped to Hell, but a new subdomain I started - http://sharkfacts.hubpages.com has had 12,000 hits in just 3 months. Less than 20 hubs are bringing in more views than this one, with 500+ hubs.
            
            New subdomains are the way to go.

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            1. 54

               janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               No worries - worth giving a try

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               1. 96

                  PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I generally agree with Izzy.  But I don't think new accounts will help in the longer term, if the present trend continues.  Google wants HP to 'clean its act up', I believe, and won't lay off it until it does.

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            2. 38

               charliegrumplesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Do you think it is worth transferring the more succesful hubs of an old account to a new one? .. ie same hubs but different place?

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                  lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Your account is 9 months old... It was made after the sub domain switch right?

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                     charliegrumplesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     honestly can't remember .. but the one I had prior to the switch is doing better despite it being mainly abandoned

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                        lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        hmm... Ok
                        
                        And you can check the age of your domain by checking your profile

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               2. 83

                  IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I'm experimenting with that one. I'll let you know if it is successful when I publish them - just haven't got round to it yet.
                  The hubs lose their 'ageing', but I'm not so sure that it all that important anymore.

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                  1. 77

                     lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes it is important, my old hubs are picking up now. Of course the seasonal ones are up. But the two of them that aren't seasonal are ranking for a broader set of terms. However, since they aren't doing well on ur current account it shouldn't matter if they lose their ageing.

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                     1. 83

                        IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Lose, lobo!
                        
                        Sorry, pet hate of mine.
                        
                        The thing about moving them, is that if the main account regained its traffic, then the moved hubs will have lost out.
                        
                        I am moving ones that never did well, so in moving I have the chance to re-title them and otherwise make improvements, including changing the urls if need be.
                        
                        I just don't have the time anymore to do all the things I want to do online, I'm afraid.
                        
                        Busy, busy person me!

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                        1. 77

                           lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Oops!! I can't actually I made that typo, I'm a person who keeps firing people for using loose instead of lose and whether instead of weather not to mention the 'i' instead of I
                           
                           Oh hope those do catch up though.

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                           1. 96

                              PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              I don't think that there can be any general rule for moving hubs - it might be good or bad or indifferent in individual situations.  It has to all depend on the specific hub and how Google assesses it surely?  If Google assesses a hub negatively (too many keywords/short visitor length/doorway hub etc), you run the risk of your newer account being impacted negatively at some point, if you move it there.  That could quite feasibly happen with a hub that did well in the past but now does badly, if you aren't careful.  I am not arguing against moving hubs/articles around, I do it myself, just stating that there can be no blanket answer, in my estimation - only a case by case assessment.

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      SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      One of the very first hubs I published (almost two years ago, before subdomains) is a recipe for queso dip. This little hub doesn't get tons of traffic, but always spikes every holiday and over Super Bowl weekend. This has happened every holiday, whether it's a winter or summer holiday.
      
      However, this holiday weekend, there is no such spike. It has gotten 5 views in the last 24 hours.
      
      On the other hand, I have a newer recipe for pasta salad, which could also be considered a holiday party food. So far it has gotten only a handful of views here and there, but is enjoying a spike this holiday weekend. It's currently at 47 views for 24 hours. It was published April 9.

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8. 0

   ahorsebackposted 12 years ago

   Okay so traffic has leveled , As a poet pretty much ! I wonder , are you in it for just the money? The traffic only , or the contact ? The contact of hubbers ?

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   1. 70

      Freeway Flyerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Contact with other hubbers has also gone down - all of a sudden - for me. I can understand why the number of views for my hubs could gradually go down. What I don't get is why this has happened so abruptly. The difference between last Wednesday and last Thursday was like night and day.

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9. 87

   Outbound Danposted 12 years ago

   I think I got pinched by the Penguin too.  Though decline throughout the weekend is common, I've lost 90% of my traffic in the last few days.  I'm reexamining all of my Hubs to ensure they conform with Google's expectations.  I guess we'll see what this week will bring.

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   1. 70

      Freeway Flyerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Do you have any idea what Google's expectations are? Where would you find this out?

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      1. 54

         janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         There are many, many artilces on this but Google remains very vague
         
         This is a relatively new one (26 May)  that has links to other sources
         
         http://www.webpronews.com/google-pengui … nt-2012-05
         
         This point may be important for this who still use internal RSS.
         
         "Minimize boilerplate repetition: For instance, instead of including lengthy copyright text on the bottom of every page, include a very brief summary and then link to a page with more details. In addition, you can use the Parameter Handling tool to specify how you would like Google to treat URL parameters."
         
         Another interesting article about how 'unfair' are the hits
         
         http://www.webpronews.com/should-the-go … rg-2012-05
         
         and this one
         
         http://wpmu.org/wordpress-penguin-google-matt-cutts/

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10. 85

    incomeguruposted 12 years ago

    My weekend traffic was just too low unlike before. I guess it's general, as all my internal traffic sources from HP went down too. Although, i noticed rise in earnings.

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11. 0

    Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

    I'm not doing squat, so I'm enjoying this little break from the writing.  My earnings from the past two months have remained the same.  But then again, I have never experienced page views over 500.  What has happened to me and my account, compared to others here, is nothing to write home about.  I don't stress over stats.

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