Missing summary alert

1. 74

   WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

   I've just noticed little As in my hub list, indicating which ones do not have summaries.
   
   That is REALLY useful!
   
   Thank you HP Team!

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   1. 88

      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No it's not - it's scary! I have at least four hundred 'A' marks! Noooooooooooo!

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      1. 62

         CASE1WORKERposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         For a minute I thought someone had read them and thought they were good- oh thats a little bubble that got popped!

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            2besureposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            LOL, that crossed my mind too!

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         2. 84

            Pamela N Redposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Case1Worker, I thought the same thing. I thought, yay, I got all A's. lol Now I gotta go do more work. Rats!

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      2. 75

         Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I have this as well, is it compulsory that we add one?

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         1. 87

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            No its not compulsory but it is advisable. The summary is known out there as the meta description tag. Lots of people don't use them, but sites with one seem to have an edge on the competition (unless they are slapped, like me!)

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            1. 75

               Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Yeah meta description can help I think, I'll try if I ever have a day to go through nearly 300 hubs LOL

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         2. 62

            WoodsmensPostposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not sure but I thought we had auto summary then with the new changes we were told you could add a unique summary if to like otherwise the first 156 characters of the hub would be considered the summary. Do we now need to add one to the ones with the "A" confusion is setting in

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            1. 87

               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               The summary used to be automatic, but Hubpages quietly changed that feature a few months ago. Now you need to actually write a summary. If you don't, in general the first sentence of your hub is used instead, but it no longer counts as a meta description tag.

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               1. 62

                  WoodsmensPostposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  AAaa ok it no longer counts. Any good webmaster knows you gotta have the meta tag. I just kept ignoring the fact that it wasn't showing up. Little more work to do on these hubs. Good thing I'm on salary or I'd have to charge HP overtime rate to update. Oh well those who have 400 just take your time it's not like they all have to be done at once. thanks

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                  1. STAFF

                     pauldeedsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Some people think that having a meta description that is distinct from the text of the page (as opposed to auto generated from the page) is a positive signal to search engines.  We still auto-generate summaries for use internally on HubPages as needed, they just aren't used as the meta description (as of a few months ago).
                     
                     You can learn more about meta descriptions from Google.

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                     1. 62

                        WoodsmensPostposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Thank you pauldeeds I appreciate your response. have a great afternoon !!!

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      3. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I have far too many too. 
         
         I understood it when HubPages decided to stop auto-creating summaries, but it was a bit inconsiderate to make it retrospective, IMO.

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         1. 87

            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            And they didn't actually inform us of the changes either. Luckily some of use software that detected it.

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         2. 65

            Bob Ewingposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I agree, new hubs fine, going back more than 3 months or to the date when the change was made, foolish.

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   2. 66

      2uesdayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I second that as I have been trying to work out which of my hubs were missing a summary, this makes it much easier. It might be good news for traffic too to have up to date summaries. I think I started to forget to add them when the summary,group etc. where moved to the side instead of at the top of the hub I was writing.

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   3. 60

      ChameleonContentposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Including additional descriptions, tags, meta information and alternate text always helps improve search engine indexing, internal site searches and overall online visibility.

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2. 86

   DzyMsLizzyposted 12 years ago

   This is a helpful feature.  (Although it was better when the summaries were automatic...and would have been better still if the existing auto-summaries had not been deleted!) ...
   
   However, I've been trying to tweak and edit my hubs, and add summaries, and keeping track of which ones I've done and which not has been giving me fits because of the way the articles bounce all over the list like a yo-yo, and are never in the same order as they were when I left off for the day...
   
   So, thanks, HP for adding a feature that helps keep track, for those with "missing summaries," (whether not originally written, or whether deleted at the Panda changeover), are also the ones I'm tweaking in other ways. 
   
   

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   1. 80

      2besureposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Won't the A disappear when you have added a summery?

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   2. 84

      Pamela N Redposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      DzyMsLizzy, I agree. I purposely wrote all my hubs so that the first paragraph was a good summary. Now I have a lot of work to do.

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   3. 96

      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Just a hint, Dzy - before making changes to a large number of hubs you might sort them by publication date.  That never changes, so when you quit, just make a note of the last hub and date.  When you return you can simply resort them the same way and then just go on with the list.

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      1. 86

         DzyMsLizzyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         OooooHHHhhh...  thanks, wilderness... I didn not know that..  ;-)

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3. 81

   David 470posted 12 years ago

   Wait, will I be penalized for not having summaries? Is there like summary capsule or something? I mean, I sort of introduce what I am going to discuss...

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   1. 96

      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When YOU do a search, will you click a link that doesn't have a small blurb about what it is?
      
      You really need  "hook" to show up on the search to draw people in.

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      1. 84

         Pamela N Redposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         As it is, you only see HubPages information on joining instead of your story's synopsis.

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   2. 84

      rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When you go into Edit, you'll notice on the far right a 'summary' heading, click on it and add your summary.
      As far as I understand, it's more for Google indexing so it (is Google an it?) knows what your hub is about. Searches will still bring up the closest, matching text to the search query.
      
      Nice feature. I thought I had aced a number of hubs. Thanks HP.

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4. 60

   FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years ago

   I think this is pointless for poetry. Especially short poetry. I am not writing a summary for a haiku

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   1. 60

      FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have written a summary for The Inheritance Tales, but that is a long narrative poem after Chaucer so there was a need for a summary. I've added one to one other poetry hub-Dedicated to a Beloved Tabby, asking people to check out The Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven society where I adopted Amy. However, I agree that it is helpful for articles for people who have large numbers of hubs. I just hate the thought of someone like Epigramman  having an A next to everything he has ever written.

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   2. 86

      DzyMsLizzyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree--I'm not going to bother for my older hubs that are mostly poems.  I do hope this is not mandatory!

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   3. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The point is that if a Hub is too short to justify a summary, it's too short to be a Hub.  And although poetry is a special case, it does also apply to poetry.
      
      A very short Hub (under 250 words) is likely to be ignored by Google, so it will never get any readers apart from other Hubbers, so there's not much point in bothering to publish it. 
      
      If your goal is to attract readers, it's better to combine several poems into one Hub.  That's easier to do than you may think - you could group the poems by topic, for instance, and separate them by using images or decorative dividers.
      
      It's not hard to created dividers:  enlightenedsoul uses them quite often, here's a random example:
      
      http://englightenedsoul.hubpages.com/hu … stmas-2010

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      1. 60

         FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I disagree. If I want to publish a haiku with pictures of my cat  that inspired  the poem, I see a point for me to publish it as a stand alone poem and  I'll do it.

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         1. 85

            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If you choose to publish it as a standalone, it's your privilege.  I'm just trying to help you by pointing out that virtually no one will ever see it - but if that's OK with you, that's fine.

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            1. 60

               FloraBreenRobisonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I added one anyway. And thank-you.

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5. 91

   Rochelle Frankposted 12 years ago

   Very helpful. I had previously gone through and tried to make sure all had unique summaries, but the "A" told me I had missed six or seven.

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      janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely Fabulous. Thanks HP team.

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6. 69

   lisabeamanposted 12 years ago

   Wow! Thanks for sharing this... I have a lot of missing summaries! Looks like I have some work to do!

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7. 93

   AliciaCposted 12 years ago

   Thank you for the "A" symbol, HP Team. I’ve been adding custom summaries to my articles, but I missed a few. The “A” is very helpful for indicating which articles I still need to summarize.

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8. 86

   cardeleanposted 12 years ago

   I started this morning going through my hubs and adding summaries to those hubs I knew were missing summaries before the "A's" showed up.  I guess I was reading someone's mind!    But I also thought that I'd share that I also noticed my "hubber" score up shortly after I did this.  So maybe this is a more important feature than many of us forget or leave out.

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9. 84

   Maria Ceciliaposted 12 years ago

   so the summary must always be at the start of the hub?this will mean more work  to do and time to spend, thanks for a thread like this really very informative.

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   1. 87

      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No summaries are separate from the hubs. You can leave them out if you want to as well. It is not a lot more work. Two sentences!! Come on!

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      1. 84

         Maria Ceciliaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         thanks for the info, i've seen the summary box

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10. 61

    bestcheapposted 12 years ago

    Are the summaries really required? Are they useful? Has anyone seen any benefits from applying them?

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    1. 87

       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       yes if you are serious about attracting traffic, yes and yes.
       
       But bestcheap, you need to write some hubs first!

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       1. 84

          Maria Ceciliaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          it's easier than I expected,  I have done summary to some of my hubs and the "A"  thing disappeared instantly

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11. 83

    Susan Ngposted 12 years ago

    The "A"'s on all my hubs were only the second thing I noticed when I looked at my account a few minutes ago. The first thing were the many red arrows and the unusually high traffic. I'm wondering if I should tamper with my hubs and write summaries considering that they're doing a lot better than usual.

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12. 60

    Richard Craigposted 12 years ago

    Do I really have add a summary for poetry?  Aren't readers supposed to create their own summary's for creative writing?

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13. 57

    Maduraiposted 12 years ago

    well. first I thought that my page has been marked as "Adults only" category.. then only I realized and slowly i am editing all my hubs with summary..

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14. 84

    Maria Ceciliaposted 12 years ago

    All the "A" signs instantly gone, although I have made summaries to at least 8 hubs only... I thought the sign will not go unless summaries have been made

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15. 60

    miccimomposted 12 years ago

    I also had all A's next to my Hubs.  OMG!  Luckily I only hve 18 hubs at this time, so going back to them and adding a summary wasn't quite so bad.  But for those of you that do have like a 100 Hubs, oh geesh!

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16. 75

    Anna Marie Bowmanposted 12 years ago

    Those little 'A's freaked me out at first.  Now I just have a bunch of work to do...writing all those summaries!!!  OMG!!!!  Oh, well...hopefully it will bring in more traffic if I do, though I have also seen a nice jump in traffic lately!  So happy about that!

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17. 78

    Uninvited Writerposted 12 years ago

    I did notice that my hubs that have been getting the highest traffic all along have original summaries. The A's are mostly in the lower 3rd of my hubs arranged by traffic.

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    1. 88

       SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Wish there was a count of 'A' - I wrote about 50 summaries today! Discouraging to see sooooo many left! It would be nice to see a number getting smaller!

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18. 63

    jcmayer777posted 12 years ago

    My A's are gone, but I only wrote summaries for a handful of them.

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    1. 91

       Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Don't question success.

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19. 85

    Sneha Sunnyposted 12 years ago

    I need to write summary for my 19 hub, so that's not a problem. I actually came to hubpages knowlegde exchange forums to ask the same question. I just want to know where to write the summary. As in, should I just add a new text on the top and write down a small summary or some other way is there?? actually I did wrote a summary in one of my hub and saved that but when I refreshed the account page I saw the same A symbol on that hub. So, will it take time to get removed?? How much time will it take to get removed??

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    1. 91

       Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Choose one of your hubs and select 'edit'.  On the right side under the capsules, you will see a box with blue-colored words that say "reorder, tags, settings, summary". Click on "summary" and a box will come up where you can type in two or three sentences.
       When you are finished, select finished editing-- and go to the next hub.
       I don't know how long it will take to get the 'A' removed-- but not long, I think.

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20. 84

    K9keystrokesposted 12 years ago

    Oh man! I had over 50 that needed a summary! "A" is for Summary Nightmare! But once I got rolling it went pretty smooth. It also gave me a chance to do any updating and revising as I went along. It was a pain, but worth it in the end...
    VERY glad it is all done now

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