How to crush your HubPages Competition.

1. 76

   sunforgedposted 13 years ago

   If you find that a Hubpage is outranking your hub or website, never fear!
   
   Its really easy to defeat your competition and get that much wanted boost in serps.
   
   First you can try flagging - if it doesnt work the first time dont worry if you keep trying hard enough you can find some reason to get it pulled, by the time it gets republished it will have lost ranking.
   
   But, What if that isnt good enough - what if you want it gone?
   
   Well then dont worry, just link to it! Go build some links or buy a bunch of links from somewhere or hire someone to build a bunch of links for you.
   
   
   
   Then you can just report to HubPages that its being promoted in a way that "abuses other sites"
   
   
   Boom, your competition is gone!
   
   
   
   
   
   It works! Try it yourself.
   
   
   How do I know?
   
   
   because, I got this email today!
   
   
   
   
   In case you havent read it "The HUbPages Sucks Hubpages Scam" article is a very PRO Hubpages article that was written after a large group of writers left hubpages due to to either an inability make money or general dislike of the content being created do to the 100 hubs in 30 days and 30 in 30 days challenges (Maybe they were right all along?)
   
   
   http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1AVS … ages+sucks
   
   
   It's alway ranked pretty well for "hubpages Sucks" and has been commented on lots! and linked to lots by other hubbers.
   
   
   There are two reasons why I never had reason to promote it after the first day i wrote it.
   
   1. How the hell would it make any money? Its not a money article, its not worth promoting
   
   2. It always ranked well! "Hubpages Sucks" isnt a particularly competitive field (see 1. for why)
   
   
   
   So I get this email that I promote it with spam methods! WTF!
   
   What a bunch of carp - its an insult to me to say I would even bother promoting it..and i dont use any automated stuff,I dont make comments that I dont write out and I dont use forum profile links Im under the impression they dont even hold much weight)  Im to lazy to learn , I just write lots of articles and link them together!
   
   
   So this is just utter bullsh*t - either Its intentionally being called "spam promotion" so they can give it a irrevocable status or someone else intentionally linked it to either support the hubpages sucks concept (must not have actually read it) or becuase they wanted the position it held.
   
   sounds like a conspiracy theory right? wacky?
   
   Thats what I think too
   
   So I check the backlinks on Yahoo.
   
   http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/se … &b=101
   
   106 backlinks - pretty cool!
   
   
   Not really - they all came from hubpages - i click except from this domain
   
   Only 22 links
   
   6 of those links are my sites - (obviously as they are called Sunforged .. obviously im not abusing myself, and if you cal my sites spammy ill punch you in the nose..so that better not be it)
   
   So there remains about 18 links - unaccounted for - take a peek at them - is there any reason to think I would have anything to d with them?
   
   no, there isnt and I didnt.
   
   
   What a joke - so final moral - if you dont like someones views or you want their position, you can get hubs unpublished by promoting for them.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   See the hub - scroll to the comments , never had a need or reason to promote it.
   
   http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s … google.com
   
   How angry would you be?

   replyreport
   1. 89

      wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      This is just wrong.  I didn't examine every link in the yahoo search, but those I did look at all came from one person and also targeted thisisoli and yoshi - I wonder if the other hubbers you listed in the hub will be next on the list?  Or are they simply trying to throw a monkey wrench into HubPages in general?
      
      Whatever the reason for these crazy backlinks is, HP certainly needs to take a much closer look at not only this case (as in right now!) but at how they look at backlinks in general.  Whether the problem arises from poorly constructed software or from lazy moderators this needs nipped in the bud.  Unless there is something that I'm completely missing this is simply unacceptable.

      replyreport
2. 71

   earnestshubposted 13 years ago

   Pretty angry!
   
   I just read the hub in question, I don't get it either. Why would that get pulled?
   
   Do we still have human moderators or did the magic machine do it?

   replyreport
3. 76

   sunforgedposted 13 years ago

   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/35949?p … post808304
   
   
   back when we were all gung ho and happily writing pro-hubpages articles.
   
   There was a frenzy! It was fun. So it looks like someones chose to promote some hubbers works - a collection of them!
   
   
   it certainly wasnt me and I dont know why the hell i have the bite the bullet on it
   
   You write something, release it in the wind and the world does what it does.
   
   
   I sent an email to staff  hoping that they can either look at any of my actual earning hubs that would be worth promoting! or those links and see that I dont use anything outside of what i write about and recommend.
   
   Good social interlinking (Fb-twitter etc) multiple writing sites and my own sites and rss feeds.
   
   
   Its lame that I even have to take time to write such emails, why cant they just leave me alone already, lol,
   
   It really is a scary precedent - anyone can link to you or for you , this is why google itself doesnt give neglinks.
   
   
   and look the conversation that spurred that hub... http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/35949?page=19
   
   closed to reply? With no fights, arguments etc going on it..no record of why..
   
   
   insert fox mulder noises

   replyreport
4. 73

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   I hope that along with this very justified rant you have also contacted the staff directly about this.  There have been instances when they have admitted that they made a mistake.
   
   The e-mail does say that it was the system that ID'd it.
   
   EDIT:  I see that you answered this in your above post.  Sorry - must have crossed.

   replyreport
5. 76

   sunforgedposted 13 years ago

   The "system" shouldnt be able to unpublish and place a "irrevocable" flag - common courtesy would involve human interaction on such a thing

   replyreport
   1. 76

      Garrett Mickleyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      "common courtesy" being the key phrase here.

      replyreport
6. 71

   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   That is certainly messed up.

   replyreport
7. 86

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   This should make ALL hubbers worried - what if someone intentionally links you to get your hub unpublished?

   replyreport
8. 61

   Eric Graudinsposted 13 years ago

   I thought nothing could surprise me any more in regard to what Hub Pages are doing.
   
   But if they banned it on the basis of sites linking TO you, then this takes stupidity to a whole new dimension.
   
   But their actual words in their notice to you read:
   "
   This may include, but is not limited to:"
   
   So the fact they banned it may have nothing to do with links.
   The definition is so broad, that they could use it to ban your hubs if they didn't like the colour of the shirt you are wearing on your avatar.
   
   Sunforged, clearly you are a malcontent and a troublemaker.
   It's just their gentle way of telling you that you're not wanted here any more :-)

   replyreport
9. 78

   workingmomwmposted 13 years ago

   I just read an ebook about this the other day (not directly related to this site, of course). Being relatively new to all this, I had no idea this could/would even happen until I read that.
   
   I'm sorry this happened to you, and like WryLit said, this example should make every one of us worried. Hope it gets resolved soon!

   replyreport
10. 85

    Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

    I remember that Hub well.
    
    I wonder if a moderator banned it on the basis of the title, without even reading it???

    replyreport
11. 65

    Mutiny92posted 13 years ago

    good grief. 
    
    I am so sorry this happened.

    replyreport
12. 85

    viryaboposted 13 years ago

    Now i am beginning to get worried.

    replyreport
13. 76

    sunforgedposted 13 years ago

    Update.
    
    I emailed the first staff member that came up in my email contacts, happened to be Jason.
    
    he emailed back rather quickly (especially considering the time zone) and politely said that I should have emailed team@hubpages.com as he was in no way involved.
    
    I forwarded the email to team@hubpages but didnt receive a response yet. It has not been very long and am still waiting.
    
    
    But, as I was checking my mail for a response, a thought came to mind.
    
    Why wouldnt this particular issue be of concern to a Director of Marketing?
    
    Doesnt reputation management fall under a marketing umbrella?
    
    It was basically a good faith and fun community gesture to ever even write that hub. As a result of writing that hub I now control about 5 of the top ten spots for the term "Hubpages Sucks" that hub has had about 10,000 views, i expect that it was mostly existing hubbers so that is a rather small amount of views all things considering.
    
    But, if I wrote a article in support of Hubpages then i get avalanched with BS moves from Hubpages culminating in an unpublishing over something I have no control in isnt it my responsibility to update all said placements with my experiences with the "new hubpages"
    
    So right now "hubPages Sucks" is a term controlled by outdated pro-hubpages information - I have the ability to change that to a more accurate (and perhaps sensationalized due to my emotional involvement and writing tendencies) and up to date report.
    
    What would you do?

    replyreport
    1. 0

       Norah Caseyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for emailing team. Jason has never used the tool that took down this Hub, so he can't resolve this issue. In the future, please contact team@ or myself for moderation related questions.
       
       This Hub was unpublished in error, and has been republished. I apologize for the confusion this error has caused. I'll look into why this report went haywire right away.

       replyreport
14. 76

    sunforgedposted 13 years ago

    Thank you Norah,
    
    usually I no longer have reason to actually email , i just grumble, edit and move on, but this one floored me as you might have seen by my posts.
    
    I appreciate your response.

    replyreport
    1. 0

       Norah Caseyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I can totally understand. I hope it will never happen again, but I certainly can't make any promises!

       replyreport
15. 79

    thisisoliposted 13 years ago

    Just remember which pro SEO'er occupies the number one spot

    replyreport
16. 76

    sunforgedposted 13 years ago

    Lol, Dems Fighting words..
    
    I actually was writing for "hubpages Scam" with an alternate of "hubpages sucks"
    
    So how did it turn out?
    
    For my intended term ... not amazing positions - first page on google, yahoo (and bing) pre panda was usually in 3.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Then for the alternate, Hubpages sucks, often was in #1, sometimes it showed both hubs.
    
    Im in red. bing has duplicate results to yahoo - results with both color squares are aggregaters that picked up both of our hubs
    
    google results are scroogle
    
    
    
    
    
    
    The yahoo results are pretty much what pre-panda was at google, maybe yahoo/bing is even showing scraped results

    replyreport
17. 79

    thisisoliposted 13 years ago

    Lol I never checked Yahoo, I told people I was going to get for No 1. on google and made sure it got there then kind of left it alone, unfortunately Hubpages sucks is not a profitable keyword lol!

    replyreport
18. 80

    bgpappaposted 13 years ago

    apparently this is the "violation of terms" of the day as several posts about this one violation. So apparently these violations are made up as we go along or selectively enforced.

    replyreport
19. 59

    MelissaBarrettposted 13 years ago

    I meant to say this the other day (before I tried to quit smoking and began abusing the forums as a way to keep my hands busy) but that hub is the one that brought me into hub pages.  I heard about it from another site, did a search to see if it was a scam and found your article.  I signed up after reading it.  Don't you wish I would have used your referral id so that you could have gotten a portion of my enormous adsense earnings?

    replyreport