Is it possible that Google gave HubPages a bigger 'slap' down

1. 66

   2uesdayposted 13 years ago

   because of the new ads. they were testing on the site before the  Google changes ?
   
   Or are they too big (Google) to care about the other ads here or maybe Google search and Adsense are not 'connected' in anyway?
   
   Sorry, I just have the sort of mind that keeps asking questions even about subjects I do not know much about.

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      Hubman007posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Google do say its nothing to do with ads.
      
      However, it does seem more then a coincedence that hubpages was affected more by the change then others.
      
      Perhaps it is something about the way the pages are set up or maybe it was personal?

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      skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No. Do check potpiegirl's blog for some stats that she collected on content farms(this includes HP). If that's how things started then HP got hit way before feb. Another point is that many sites which are not running google ads are not touched at all. In fact 'made-for-adsense' sites got hit badly.

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      sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      search and adsense are supposed to be unconnected. Adsense team will give different advice than webspam team .. so seems true
      
      - { Matt cutts on adsense /index  }
      
      the ads on hubs have been running for a very long time in the HP share.
      
      seems to be heavily influenced by user experience of which adsense placement is relevant

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         Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I have read in several places that the "flow of the reading" is important. I can see where the Ads in the middle of the page would disrupt the reading. (ex. amazon, e-bay and some adsense)
         I know I don't like to be reading an article and see an Ad shoved right there in my view!
         I personally would prefer to see the Ads to the right or the left outside columns of the Text area. I know that one or two placed correctly in text may be acceptable, but they do disrupt the readers.

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      cpvrposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The advertisements have nothin to do with it, its the amount of different content, and not enough links.

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   Len Cannonposted 13 years ago

   Most of the sites that rose up in the ranks had no Google Ads on them at all. Wikipedia, Amazon... nada. I highly doubt Google revenge bombed Hubpages.
   
   Now, it is possible they just don't like lots of ads in general. Google Ads+HP Ads+Amazon Capsules is a lot of advertising in one article and it could have been an issue.
   
   But what do I know! I just write and trudge along.

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   Rising Carenposted 13 years ago

   Google is very big. Even if they end up losing adsense revenue from HP, they'll still make money from many (MANY) other sites.
   
   So personally I don't think the new ad program has anything to do with it. I think it's mostly because of all the duplicate/spun content, or very short useless content that exists only for a linkback. Even though I've seen a lot of really good hubs, I've also noticed a lot of the bad ones and it really does affect how HP is seen.
   
   I'm on various other websites and HP is often considered "the site where you put short articles to link back to your real article and you still get to earn from adsense/amazon and it will get you visitors because it ranks highly and very quickly". That kind of reputation is just not that great.
   
   So that's probably why it had to be slapped so hard: to stop this linkback attitude and to stop people from abusing HP's easy rankness. Now that it does poorly, I imagine a lot of abusers will rethink their strategies.

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   2uesdayposted 13 years ago

   Thanks everyone, it looks like the only way we can help is to keep on Hub Hopping then and make sure we do it properly.

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   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   But why is Wisegeek so high when their articles are so hard to read because of ads?

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      sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      ? they were heavily effected in  a negative manner?
      
      n conclusion, Searchmetrics identified some two dozen websites that suffered drops in traffic ranging from 70% to about 98%. The worst hit in terms of percentage was blippr, which fell some 98%; Associated Content, mentioned by Swift, fell by more than 91% while Swift’s other loser, wiseGEEK, dropped about 77%.
      
      http://www.bizmology.com/2011/03/04/goo … an-others/

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         Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Oh, I thought they went up

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      Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Oh wow!!! I just went to WiseGEEK for the first time and....it an AD site with a few paragraphs added in between! How in the world have they ever done well? lol

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         2uesdayposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Just took a look and the 'paragraphs'on the page I looked at were nonsense, just the sort of thing I thought they were trying to cut down on.
         
         Maybe Google search made a mistake and put its new formula into effect so that it works in reverse.

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         sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Whats the difference?
         
         100 Best hub: http://hubpages.com/hub/art-of-japanese-gift-wrap
         Wisegeek : http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-furoshiki.htm
         
         
         equally hard to navigate, same level of content
         
         its an informational query - so its equally abrasive to have products intertwined as it is adsense ads.
         
         I think they both serve their purpose just fine, but it has been pointed quite a few times that wisegeek actually has a stricter editorial control and level of content than most UGC sites .. but it is damn ugly. I wouldnt stick around to read, normally

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            Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Wow! And this page rates a 100 on HP?  As a reader I would find all the Ads way too much and quickly leave. If I come upon a page such as this, all I see is a "BUY ME" all over it and no information, even though it may be very informational and well written, but that is hidden behind the Ads!

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            Mutiny92posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            It makes me wonder if part of the algorithm is a density of text compared to ads.  Or length of text uninterrupted by ads.  It probably has nothing to do with "google ads" per se, but rather any ads.  There must be a usability factor for the reader jumping around text like that.
            
            BTW - I like Relache's hub, but it (like many of ours) is definitely sales driven.
            
            Part of that is us inserting sales modules.  Part of that is HP.  Add the two together and there is a decent saturation of "buy me...buy me" surrounding the text.

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               Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I have read many of her hubs. She is an excellent writer. I have found many useful as well. I was speaking my take on that type of hub from a reader's point of view.

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               sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Please dont think I was in anyway putting down the content.
               
               I was just comparing the first "best" hub that wasnt about making money with  one on wisegeek. Pointing out that the content on wisegeek wasnt deserving of the neg rep, but the layout may be.
               
               Something that is important to take note of, is that its not a transactional query. Its not a buy me term - its informational,
               
               "the art of"
               "what is"
               "how to make"  (not buy) but the closest to CI
               
               so both examples are poorly composed for usability. "Sales capsules" make sense in a review , comparison, buy widget now etc .. but sticking them in the face of an information searcher .. not so good and then add all the adsense ads - and a searcher with a checklist would go ..nope this isnt for me without ever even noticing that both are filled with the necessary information. relaches even has videos and links that are very on topic and useful.
               
               All theory aside, It probably does well as it is a "best hub" - it was picked out specifically to be an example of good content on HP.

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                  Mutiny92posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I didn't take it that way at all - It should be interesting to check to see if quantity and layout of ads impact the rankings.

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   2uesdayposted 13 years ago

   I am finding it harder to get the result I want to read on Google searches, since the changes. It means I am going further down the page for the result, as the top of the first page are relevant or what I am looking for, the subject match but they are not the sources I wanted. Which seems to be the opposite to what they were trying to achieve.

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   Michael Willisposted 13 years ago

   The Google Slap!
   
   
   

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      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Brilliant!

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8. 88

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   I am sorry Wisegeek has been hit because they are a site I am happy to use when researching. Their content is always factual and written in a succinct manner, once you navigate round the ads.

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      Shil1978posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The content may be well researched, but I have always been put off by the way they mask AdSense ads to make it seem like they are part of the content or navigation. That (for me) is not optimization of AdSense, but just misleading readers. The ads are just so blended in that one thinks they are informational links. It is against AdSense TOS too and have always wondered if they'd be docked for it.

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9. 66

   2uesdayposted 13 years ago

   Yes, the 'Google slap' does have a ring to it.
   
   I could n't help but think when I read that the panel of people ask to evaluate the search engine results were questioned over them in the way they do eye tests.
   
   So would that be -
   
   you know,like this
   
      "Which do you prefer this or this?" 
      "Which one is brighter/clearer?"
      "Is the line above or below the circle?"

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    rebekahELLEposted 13 years ago

    I think sometimes the 100 hubs have to do with comments and FB likes. I've noticed that often my highest scored hubs have a lot of comments which is viewer feedback, which may give it more 'authority' although authority really isn't the word I'm looking for..
    
    I just checked out the most recent hub by a prolific hubber who almost always has a 100 and it's not the first time I've noticed these hubs don't always give the information in the hub. They are covered with kontera words and hyperlinks to the point that's it very distracting. After reading the hub, it didn't have the info the hub should have given without clicking on an underlined word. I think it's deceptive.. if I come to the article, I want the info the title/search query implies. This is what makes readers upset with search results.

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