Time for spring cleaning!

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  1. Jason Menayan profile image61
    Jason Menayanposted 12 years ago

    Hey everyone,

    Robin published a new Learning Center entry yesterday, that will be helpful to those looking to enhance or recover search traffic to their popular Hubs:

    Increase your Traffic by Updating your Hubs using these 12 Steps

    I personally used the principles outlined in the entry in mid-December, and saw a 21.1% traffic boost that kicked in about a week or so after I made all my updates. Part of those updates involved unpublishing Hubs with very low average time on page (as measured by Google Analytics), and part of that involved doing some fairly significant refreshes to Hubs that are either my biggest traffic drivers, or have been in the past.

    Check out the Learning Center entry, and see if a little renovation does your overall traffic some good! smile

    1. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Jason
      Thanks for the notification and your personal experience. I'll go check it out may not be for me as I'm new here and my hubs are new as well. But it'll be a good learning curve

      Edit : - I already read it big_smile it's the one that came in the weekly newsletter

    2. SimeyC profile image89
      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Jason - not to be picky - but you have 4 hubs - it's very easy to maintain! I have over 500 - and therefore it's very hard to actually decide where to start the maintenance.

      Recently I requested an enhancement that would allow me to sort my hubs by 'last updated' date. But here are some other ideas that would really help me (and I suspect others with a large portfolio):
      -Add some analytics info to stats - time on page etc.
      -In the weekly report, list my hubs that haven't been updated for a year.
      -In the weekly report, list my hubs that haven't received an 'outside' visit in a year.

      Just a few simple reports would really help out!!!

      1. Jason Menayan profile image61
        Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Haha! Sorry, I forgot to mention that I was talking about the account I use to publish Hubs, livelonger. I have just over 150 Hubs left now, having unpublished around 35 total that were once published.


        Good suggestions. I'll see if there's engineering bandwidth to add these.

        1. lobobrandon profile image88
          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I don't think it will be necessary to get a weekly report of the ones that haven't been updated in a year because if the last update date thing is added we can just sort it that way. It will save some engineering and programming or whatever it takes to get this done. Just my suggestion you'll know best

      2. Peggy W profile image95
        Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Great ideas SimeyC!  Hope it can be accomplished.

    3. Peggy W profile image95
      Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Jason and thank Robin for doing this work.  I actually printed out the hub and will start using the suggestions.

      1. Peggy W profile image95
        Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Question...I just changed the comment section to show last comments first and noticed another option...that of limiting the comments to no more than 20, 50 or 100.  Which is the smartest thing to do?

        1. Jason Menayan profile image61
          Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I'm not sure. If your comments are on-topic, then I'd show as many as possible (my opinion). My reasoning is that they enrich the content of your Hub to a visitor who doesn't know you, and can provide them with more reading material.

          If they are friendly banter back and forth that have nothing to do with the Hub's topic, then I'd probably show fewer of them. They might dilute the overall topical thrust of your Hub, and annoy readers who don't already know you.

          What do others think?

          1. robie2 profile image77
            robie2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I think a backlink is a backlink and that in general, unless the comments are spam-- the more the merrier.  Am I wrong about that?

    4. Marisa Wright profile image86
      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Jason, it would be a huge help if we could have a "last updated" date on our Statistics page, as well as the date published.  If you're not able to sit down and edit them all at once, it's very easy to forget which ones you've done and which you haven't.   

      Personally, I'd be willing to sacrifice either the 1 day or 7 day stats to make room for it, I feel it would be that useful.

      I keep track of it using a spreadsheet but it's tedious.

      1. wilderness profile image94
        wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        The few times I've systematically gone through my hubs I've sorted them by publish date and simply gone down the list.  If I get back to it by the next day I can generally remember which one I left off on, or I can jot down which one was last when I quit for the day.

      2. Jason Menayan profile image61
        Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        I'll see if this is something engineering could build. I agree it would be helpful.

      3. viryabo profile image95
        viryaboposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        I agree.
        This will help tremendously. I keep updating, then getting confused as to which one i have done and which one i haven't.

        I have had to resort to taking them, one niche at a time, but its still hard.

      4. Peggy W profile image95
        Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        That's a great idea!  With hundreds of hubs it is difficult to keep track.  Hope engineering can accomplish that!  Like Marisa said, while interesting, the 1 and 7 day stats are not all that important long term and most of us writing are in it for the long term.

        1. IzzyM profile image87
          IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I like the 1 and 7 days stats. They are useful at-a-glance statistics and I don't want to see them dumped. Just thought I'd throw that in seeing we now have two hubbers prepared to dump them.

          The slide show views, on the other hand, I never look at.

          1. lobobrandon profile image88
            lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Dump the slide show keep the one and seven day that's the only thing I look at!!

            1. Paraglider profile image87
              Paragliderposted 12 years agoin reply to this

              I'd suggest dumping the 'ever' column. What's the point of comparing the all time views of a 1, 2, 3 and 4 year-old hub? And how meaningful are four year old stats anyway? Maybe lose the 7-day view and replace the 'ever' with a 1-year?

              1. WordPlay profile image84
                WordPlayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                For the record, I disagree with dumping the "Ever" column. I use that information.

    5. robie2 profile image77
      robie2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm off to the learning center-- been culling and updating periodically and think it's time to roll up my sleeves and get at it again--I find that honing the title and adding a paragraph or so to an old hub can turn a loser into a winner and I'm anxious to have any tips and tricks on offer-- thanks Jason

      1. stephhicks68 profile image86
        stephhicks68posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Good luck Robie - I have deleted over 30 hubs (!) and updated probably twice as many in the past week or two.  I have a few hubs that I have put "on probation" to see if traffic improves after adding caption titles, new tags and re-organizing.

      2. john000 profile image91
        john000posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        I am in your corner, robie2. I believe that I have noticed upgrading the titles with title tuner has helped most of all. I think even small changes are registered significantly. Sometimes, like you, I add a paragraph including a keyword I may not have used before.

    6. JYOTI KOTHARI profile image59
      JYOTI KOTHARIposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have been using all these 12 methods except the last one. I have not removed any hub for low "View duration".
      Thanks for the good idea. It will help many hub authors to increase their traffic.

    7. Laura Schneider profile image85
      Laura Schneiderposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'd like to see more done with the Questions section. For example, add the survey feature so people can "test-drive" an article idea before actually writing it and so that people can answer more questions more quickly.

  2. abbysonmartin profile image41
    abbysonmartinposted 12 years ago

    he jason thanks for the notifion and your experienxe. i am used the  experience in the my website and business increasing.....?

    1. IzzyM profile image87
      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Abby, you need to have some command of the English language to post here. Just for interest, who wrote your hub, or did you copy it from a brochure?

      1. Uninvited Writer profile image80
        Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        lol

        meow

        1. Pearldiver profile image68
          Pearldiverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          No need to be so Catty over this issue UW!  sad

          You were far more effective and convincing during last year's full moon when you barked at these ones!  tongue  smile

      2. Rochelle Frank profile image90
        Rochelle Frankposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Actually her hub is pretty much word-for-word posted under the name of another hub account-- including the title.
        Yes we need some Spring cleaning-- even if it's still Winter.

        1. IzzyM profile image87
          IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Thought as much. Flagged.

        2. lobobrandon profile image88
          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Hey it's spring here in India about Feb beginning will be spring so not far away.  Winter will be completed by then big_smile

  3. Anamika S profile image69
    Anamika Sposted 12 years ago

    That was what I was doing from last week except the last comment first thing and polls etc. I am also cleaning up all short comments, comments with links and comments with grammatical or other errors. I also deleted a lot of irrelevant tags and added content and pictures to some of my old hubs. I have only done 10% of my Hubs so far because of my other commitments and have seen some encouraging results. I hope when I finish the entire lot I would see a good improvement in traffic levels.

  4. Lady_E profile image63
    Lady_Eposted 12 years ago

    Good idea.

  5. waynet profile image70
    waynetposted 12 years ago

    I've got a load of reject hubs.....lol

  6. DonnaCosmato profile image86
    DonnaCosmatoposted 12 years ago

    That post was just what I needed as a fairly new hubber to start working my way through my hubs. I'm amazed that I'm already seeing such positive results even though I've only done a few.

  7. wordscribe43 profile image91
    wordscribe43posted 12 years ago

    I'd be curious to hear the thought process one goes through before making the decision to delete a hub.  In the past, I considered unpublishing a couple of hubs that just weren't seeing any action.  But, now I'm glad I didn't because they're suddenly doing fairly well... and without me making any changes.

    So, how long do people sit and wait for their hubs to "stew and age" in the search engines before deciding their resurrection is futile?  Obviously, I know we all try to tweak them to see if that will make any noticeable difference.  I'm just curious how people come to the conclusion some hubs are dead in the water.

    I have deleted some hubs, too.  Some I didn't think were up to my own standards of quality and I just felt were hopeless topics.  I don't regret that one bit, and I WILL add my subdomain had a crazy increase in traffic after doing so.  Are they related?  I don't know...  I also simultaneously deleted a bunch of rss feeds, Amazon capsules and keywords I felt I'd overused.

    1. Jason Menayan profile image61
      Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Very good question.

      In the past (i.e. pre-Panda) we generally advised people to let Hubs age, and keep them up even if they weren't getting much traffic at all. What would be the harm? If Google didn't like sending traffic to them, maybe it would eventually change its mind. Like in your example, sometimes it did.

      Now, in the post-Panda era, Google seems to be looking at average quality on a site, or a HubPages subdomain in our case. In this case, stuff that Google might not like I've been unpublishing.

      What have I looked for?
      - very low average time on page (using Google Analytics) - from 3 to 10 seconds, for example. It couldn't hurt to have even a higher bar (30 seconds or so).
      - very old stuff (several years old) that never got much traffic - when I took a look at these, they were my first "newbie" Hubs and were not terribly good. They were certainly not better than what was showing up at the top of the Google search results for the search term I was targeting.
      - short, thin-content Hubs - again, these tended to be my oldest Hubs.

      So, I would probably say that if a Hub is only getting a trickle of traffic, but that's because it's on a very extremely niche topic and it's at the top of the search results (but just few people are searching on it), then I'd keep it. If it's too short or, if being honest with yourself, not better than what others have published that are appearing above you in search results, then I'd can it, especially if it's been up for more than a year.

      I also steer clear of anything that can appear to be a "doorway page" - i.e. designed to funnel people to Amazon or other sites. I had a couple of those which I've unpublished. They tend to do great in terms of earnings if you can sustain traffic to them, but they can also send all of your traffic across your account down the toilet. That's my suspicion, anyway.

      1. wordscribe43 profile image91
        wordscribe43posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Okay, thanks...  That's what I was looking for, Jason.  I think there's something to be said for one's gut instinct as well.  If that makes any sense...  Times, they are a changin'.

        Edit:  One last comment...  this all makes me thing Google mustn't be very gung-ho about product review hubs. 

        Double edit:  I wonder if adding a when to delete section to Simone's hub could be useful...  I can't be the only one wondering about this.

        1. Peggy W profile image95
          Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Some of my hubs are topical to certain times of the year...like Christmas.  Readership falls off at other times of the year but spikes around those times so I am thinking that it is best to leave them alone.  Correct?

          1. Jason Menayan profile image61
            Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I would not unpublish those highly seasonal Hubs, if they are getting traffic during their applicable seasons.

            However, many of them could still use an annual refresh, maybe a month or two before traffic typically picks up for them.

        2. Jason Menayan profile image61
          Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          They could run aground of Google's aversion to doorway pages, if all they're designed to do is direct readers to Amazon. Not all product reviews are designed around funneling readers to Amazon, though. The hardest to defend are those that say things like "Buy (online)..." in the title, since you really don't buy from the Hub itself at all.
          I'll ask Robin if she can flesh out that section (#12).

          1. Anamika S profile image69
            Anamika Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            One of my Hubs which got me loads of Sales (about Boyfriend Arm Pillow) and was at number 1 on Google is now gone down from its position. I  got zero hits on this Hub today and negligible traffic for the past more than one week . Can't believe that it is a hub which I have 653 likes and 13 tweets. Maybe this has to do with my buy online on url (or Google showing its dislike for Facebook like). Today I added 'Reasons why you should Buy it' to the original heading of Boyfriend Arm Pillows for Women to make it look different from the other search results. It is a well back linked Hub. Now I really have no idea what to do to get back the traffic.

            1. Jason Menayan profile image61
              Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

              Yeah, that's tricky. I don't think the Facebook Likes are hurting you. Sales Hubs need to be approached with caution. Focusing on being informational instead of salesy might translate into less traffic, but less likely to have traffic abruptly taken away.

              1. Anamika S profile image69
                Anamika Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                All of my Hubs which got me Amazon Sales are seeing a downfall at the moment. The page views have dropped significantly which confirms that Google has taken a dislike for such Hubs. Time to take some drastic steps now. I have something in mind. If it works, I will reveal it to all.

                1. Marisa Wright profile image86
                  Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  That's a big assumption!  Bear in mind when you're checking keyword density, that the words in the Amazon capsules must be counted too.  If you're at the maximum with your text, the words in the Amazon capsules could be tipping you over the edge.

          2. Peggy W profile image95
            Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            This is interesting.  I've done relatively few sales type hubs compared to most of the ones that I write.  Will look forward to learning more on how best to approach doing them or correcting them.  In the meantime, will cut the numbers of things shown in Amazon capsules.

      2. Will Apse profile image87
        Will Apseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        I would just die of shame if I had any hub that had a read time of 10 seconds! Anything less than 2 minutes and the days of that hub are numbered as far as I am concerned.

        As to Amazon pages... If they are not good performers after a few months and have poor user metrics I cut them and replace them with other Amazon hubs.

        The percentage of Amazon hubs that I have now is not bringing down the wrath of Panda but I don't want to increase that percentage. Panda clearly has a dislike for highly commercial pages.

      3. Peggy W profile image95
        Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        This may be a silly question, but using the new guidelines, I started with one niche...that being one state with a number of hubs all related to that state.  All of them had 3 stars or higher meaning that people have stayed on the page a while, yet some have gone without comments for quite some time.  In other cases, readership is low yet there are 4 and 5 stars meaning that when people access the site they stay there for a time.  Is it ever smart to cut out a 3 or higher starred hub just because the numbers of readers happens to currently be low?

  8. profile image0
    kimberlyslyricsposted 12 years ago

    but Jason I don't clean, lost and afraid to attempt, not a good housewife, come to think of it wife either yikes

  9. profile image0
    Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

    I've been here 7 months, with 208 Hubs.  The ones that don't perform well are the book reviews and my attempt at 27 chapters of creative writing.  I don't write those anymore, but at the same time, I am too chicken to delete them.  It's like they're my friends, and I don't have the guts to let them go.  Maybe when I reach my one-year anniversary in June?

    1. Marisa Wright profile image86
      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Why don't you put your creative writings together in an ebook?

    2. Jean Bakula profile image91
      Jean Bakulaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      My book reviews don't always do well either. Do you have a blog? Blogger has free ones. If you can't bear to get rid of your reviews, put some on your blog. Mine do well if women like the books, but othes go unnoticed. Also, I have hubs with thousands of views, and can see people stay on to read the whole thing, so then I don't care if they comment.

  10. Rochelle Frank profile image90
    Rochelle Frankposted 12 years ago

    I apologize for following a tangent on this thread. --
    the original link is:
    http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Upda … se-traffic

    I, also, printed this out and will be using the suggestions. Newer Hubbers can keep it in mind, but I think it is especially helpful for those who have at least 100 hubs and at least a year or two  of participation

  11. profile image0
    Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

    Thank you for the suggestion, Marisa.  What I should be doing is the novel I keep starting and stopping.  That has been going on since 2008.  I think 2012 is it!  Shoulda, woulda, coulda.  I'm having too much fun with my retirement, but at the same time, I believe I'm ready to do some serious writing.  HubPages has shown me I can write 2,000 words a day.  Or more.

  12. AEvans profile image71
    AEvansposted 12 years ago

    I am definitely going to follow her steps. Thanks for sharing. smile

  13. Marisa Wright profile image86
    Marisa Wrightposted 12 years ago

    I missed this one:

    http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Subd … of-Traffic

    which is also good.

    I think the point about keyword stuffing is especially relevant. I've said before that I think that's the problem for some others who had a drop, and I'm going to check out some of mine, too.

    I know some people think you can't keyword stuff by accident - but when you're talking about a specialist subject, sometimes there aren't too many synonyms.  Then if you follow the advice that you must have your keywords in every title and subtitle, plus a few Amazon or eBay capsules which also feature the word, and suddenly you've gone over the top.

    It doesn't take much to go over the top, either - the latest advice seems to be keep your density below 5%.

    1. Anamika S profile image69
      Anamika Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You got a point there. My Gemstone Hubs (almost all of them) are seeing a downfall from yesterday. This could be the reason.

      1. lobobrandon profile image88
        lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        I add keywords wherever possible but since my hubs are long it doesn't even cross 1.5% density

  14. LeanMan profile image79
    LeanManposted 12 years ago

    Hi Jason,

    Maybe it is also time for HP to perform a spring clean; I have noticed quite a few hubbers with scores of "1", when I have checked their hubs they appear to be well spun content not original but not that obvious a copy. How about deleting these accounts to release some of the titles and keywords back into the pool for the rest of us to do a better job with.
    Any hubber who has low scores (i am talking the 1s and 2s) and has been inactive in my mind should get "fair" warning then cleaned out!!

    1. profile image51
      bluedaisy3294posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted

      1. LeanMan profile image79
        LeanManposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        why are you posting a link back to the same topic the link is on??

        1. lobobrandon profile image88
          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          He thinks he's playing a prank

    2. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yup. Hub Pages is a place for writing people who come here with just one hub for a backlink that gets no traffic should be deleted as well. It's a waste. The overall goodiness or whatever of HP Will increase when this sort of spam is taken care of.

    3. Jason Menayan profile image61
      Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      We do ban spun content; it's just the type of violation that sometimes requires a human eye to detect. We have put in measures that automatically flags some types of spun content, or that prevents it from being published at all.

      I don't think we have any plans to "liberate" URLs for content that has been banned. I'm not entirely sure you would want a URL that might still have a negative history in search engines' eyes, either.

      1. LeanMan profile image79
        LeanManposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        The URL would not be the same as we all have our own subdomains Jason! But we still can't duplicate the title part of the URL across the whole of HP.
        What I am suggesting is that those hubbers who have a score of 1 or very low who have obviously broken some rules to get that low, and have been inactive, should have their accounts and hubs deleted as per your rules!  Some of them have hundreds of hubs!

        1. lobobrandon profile image88
          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          One point. If people have hubs that are good they shouldn't be banned. They may have written those and only done it to get some side income a steady stream. But the low quality ones should go.

  15. profile image0
    Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

    Anyway, I am inspired by the posts and started deleting Hubs that are not working for me.  Thanks!

  16. IzzyM profile image87
    IzzyMposted 12 years ago

    I have a 2 year old hub that has suddenly found itself on the first page of Bing and is getting traffic for the first time ever.

    Now if I spruce it up a bit, I wonder if it can go higher?

    1. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Try it out smile
      I just deleted 3 of my hubs that weren't optimized for anything they were my 2nd and 3rd hub. I'm sure they were dragging me down.

    2. IzzyM profile image87
      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Haha! I just edited it, added more information, re-titled it to a more search-engine friendly title, and it promptly disappeared!

  17. PaulGoodman67 profile image95
    PaulGoodman67posted 12 years ago

    I've had no major problems since early Sept when my entire subdom plunged (it did recover a week later).  I have experienced individual hubs drastically plunging since then, however (for no obvious reason).  Thanks for this advice hub, Jason and Robin, all of HP's efforts in this area are very much appreciated.

  18. Rosie2010 profile image68
    Rosie2010posted 12 years ago

    I have been updating some of my hubs lately, so I guess I'm on the track.  I already deleted a few hubs, and more must go.. but it's so hard to let go.  Actually the ones I "deleted" I actually just moved them to a blog site.  Nobody reads them, but at least they are in a good home. big_smile

    1. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I deleted 3 of my hubs that got just 50 views in 3 months and weren't optimized I got them saved as word docs.

      1. Rosie2010 profile image68
        Rosie2010posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        There's one that I could not find a new home, so I also just saved it as word doc.  That one got 4 views in 30 days and I think those were all my own views. lol

        1. lobobrandon profile image88
          lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Haha smile the ones I deleted were pretty much the same. Out of 50 a minimum of 25 will be mine. I used to check to see the traffic source so had to see the page big_smile

  19. profile image0
    Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

    I forced myself to delete the book reviews and the creative writing.  Right after I did that, all these "red Christmas trees" appeared.  I usually get a lot of upside down "blue Christmas trees."  I don't know if you've experienced this once you delete certain Hubs.  Anyway, deleting the Hubs that aren't doing anything is so uplifting.  Now I feel this need to sit on my hands so I don't delete more Hubs that I don't like.  I "cleaned house" and dropped from 208 Hubs to 177.  Now that I see what deleting Hubs is about, I am tempted to remove more.  But write more down the road.  No problema.

  20. dungeonraider profile image86
    dungeonraiderposted 12 years ago

    Awesome to hear good news for you Arlene.  There's more factors to this than I realized, obviously.  Time is a factor, but what the heck, we update and better blogs and they get traffic, why not hubs, too.  Thanks for the helpful update.

    1. profile image0
      Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, dungeonraider!  But let me warn you.  If you like cutting long hair, that's what deleting Hubs reminds me of.  I want to keep cutting . . .

  21. stephhicks68 profile image86
    stephhicks68posted 12 years ago

    I had read the tutorial a few days ago and have been going through my hubs from 2009 back to update keywords, capsules and fine-tune titles.  I didn't know about the impact of older hubs that don't get many visitors or time spent on the page.  I guess I'm off to do more spring cleaning.  Thanks Jason and all, Steph

    1. Jean Bakula profile image91
      Jean Bakulaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It's good to take down the holiday themed hubs, and just put them up for a month or so they are timely. I try to only write evergreen stuff, because how many hubs can you write about how to decorate a Christmas tree and such?

      1. Peggy W profile image95
        Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        If we do that will they remain as unpublished (showing red) and not get deleted so that we can once again push the publish button a few months ahead of the holidays?

        1. Jason Menayan profile image61
          Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Hubs aren't deleted until you choose to delete them. However, if your Hub enjoys stable, but seasonal, traffic, then I would definitely not unpublish it during the off seasons.

          1. Peggy W profile image95
            Peggy Wposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the clarification Jason.  I was just about to unpublish all of my holiday hubs and from what you said won't do that now.

  22. mesacleanpools profile image60
    mesacleanpoolsposted 12 years ago

    I actually just cleaned up my house last week and now working on my computer and the interwebs!

  23. Paraglider profile image87
    Paragliderposted 12 years ago

    I've often decided to delete low-visit hubs but then held back because of the quality of some of the comments. This problem comes with hubs that get lots of early attention from followers but little or no search engine interest later. (A lot of the more philosophical hubs are like this). It just seems a bit mean to un-publish what readers have put time and effort into.

    1. Randy Godwin profile image60
      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Me too, Para!  Some of my how-to articles have loads of info in the comments made by those who contribute helpful, otherwise unknown answers to problems associated with the hubs.  Many have applauded the articles and the comments for helping them repair their items.  What to do?  And I'm not too sure this would help anyway.  I'm just weary of trying to convince the stupid google bots of something which they aren't good at recognizing in the first place. Screw them!

      1. Paraglider profile image87
        Paragliderposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Ahh, we're just too considerate for this capitalist game wink

        1. PaulGoodman67 profile image95
          PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

          As far as Google goes, I think it's more concerned with hubs that get very short visit times, they could actually have lots of traffic visiting and be good earners, but people click out of them quickly.

          Low traffic hubs where people people spend a lot of time reading them and writing comments are unlikely to cause you problems with the the panda methinks.

          But they won't earn you much either, I guess.

          1. Randy Godwin profile image60
            Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Who can say for sure?  I don't like to guess about things I may be wasting my time on for nothing.

            1. PaulGoodman67 profile image95
              PaulGoodman67posted 12 years agoin reply to this

              The whole earning online thing is guesswork.

  24. Glamorously Jacob profile image58
    Glamorously Jacobposted 12 years ago

    I'll be employing these techniques. Thanks for sharing!

  25. gamergirl profile image86
    gamergirlposted 12 years ago

    I've started updating my hubs using the tips presented here.  We'll see how they go!

  26. ytsenoh profile image60
    ytsenohposted 12 years ago

    Thanks for all the great advice here.  I started going back to update some hubs and quite frankly, on some of them, necessary changes stood out like a sore thumb, some needed changes were slightly embarrassing in that I didn't catch them before so doing a reread is always good practice.

  27. molometer profile image78
    molometerposted 12 years ago

    Excellent advice. Even after my short time on hubpages I have seen that my early hubpages needed some adjustment (sometimes major) and it's always sensible to look at things later to see how they can be improved. Still busy with it. We learn so much here. It's nice to be learning again.

  28. 2uesday profile image64
    2uesdayposted 12 years ago

    Looking through older hubs with the knowledge acquired over time makes it easier to spot areas where a minor tweak can bring something new and improved to the page.

    I am also deleting the titles of some of the unpublished hubs I thought I might write or finish writing and testing the water with them in my own blogs and other sites.

    I guess the HubPages 'storage cupboard' will heave a sigh of relief when the process removes the old and less useful pages. I just hope the 'gap' is not filled with a flow of dross from spammers, spinners and 'mavericks' who abuse the chance to  publish  here.

    Hubscores again gave me a laugh today as i was working on this; with 2 Christmas pages with one visit between them siting on the top of the pile. smile

  29. abbysonmartin profile image41
    abbysonmartinposted 12 years ago

    ok thanks all friends to suggeston all information.....?

  30. SolarWind9 profile image59
    SolarWind9posted 12 years ago

    I don't know. I have edited and pruned and my scores keep decreasing. No spam, no spam links, no warnings, all original, follow all the rules but down goes the scores and minimal traffic.  I just don't have the hub-pages thing down yet. Still learning the ropes I guess.

  31. 2uesday profile image64
    2uesdayposted 12 years ago

    I expect all the deletions taking place will then lead to another round of broken links to sort.

  32. alphagirl profile image77
    alphagirlposted 12 years ago

    Ok how many hubs should be kept live? I wish we had somethere where we could unpublish and then bring back to life with a click of a button.(archived temporarily) once it is unpublished it is gone. Sometimes you can revist a topic to spruce up. I also wish we had something on our hubs that would tell the reader it has been updated with new info. How is a reader to know? Some readers may have read a hub and then revisit it 2-3 months later and then refer a friend.

    Some of the hubers have 50...that is hard to keep track. I have only 50+ is that enough to keep live?

    1. Jason Menayan profile image61
      Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's not true. Unpublishing does exactly that: unpublishes it, but keeps it in your account. Only deleting a Hub removes it permanently.

      1. wordscribe43 profile image91
        wordscribe43posted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Yes, and then after deleting you still have what, 24 hours before it's gone...

        1. Jason Menayan profile image61
          Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I think so, although I have to be honest, I don't know why you'd bother deleting a Hub unless you were 100% sure you'd never want to access it or publish it here ever again.

  33. profile image0
    TopUniverseposted 12 years ago

    Jason I read your recommended thread "Increase your traffic by updating your hubs using these 12 steps"

    I have a question

    What is the recommended word count to be added into the text capsule (thread recommending 2 new text capsule)?

    I am planning to add 100 to 150 words at end of the each hub that are 12 months old and already getting good traffic.

    I am seeking your suggestion.

    Thanks

    1. Jason Menayan profile image61
      Jason Menayanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      TopUniverse: There is no magical formula. Any substantial addition to the content of your Hub is what we recommend. Substantial could be 300 words or it could be 800, depending on what those words actually consist of.

      They should not be fluff, though, just to up the word count; the addition should make your Hub that much more useful or interesting than before.

  34. melbel profile image93
    melbelposted 12 years ago

    I have unpublished a number of hubs I'm not happy about... they're not my best work. I do have a few problems with hubs that remain up, but the ones I unpublished will come back uber polished and practically gutted and rebuilt. Hopefully this will strengthen my subdomain.

    I also am breaking off some hubs from this account that would probably do much better in their own account. They're a different style of writing than most of my hubs and I think it would be best to have a separate account. I'm excited to make these changes and can't wait to see what happens.

    I am going to create a checklist from the steps you've linked to in the OP. Very excited! smile

 
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