Anyone else feel lack of incentive to edit non-featured hubs?

1. 0

   Giselle Maineposted 11 years ago

   Does anyone else feel like they don't have much incentive to edit non-featured hubs (or publish new ones) due to the QAP? 
   
   My list of non-featured hubs has gradually been growing.  I know I can edit them to get them re-considered, but it really doesn't seem worth my while to do it, especially as there is no guarantee that it will pass the QAP next time around. 
   
   While I understand the aim of HP's QAP is to discourage spammers, it's also discouraging genuine Hubbers.  I would be quite happy with an automated spelling/grammar flag, or for TOS violations, but the QAP just doesn't SEEM as objective.  I realize they are trying to make it objective, but because there is no way for me to know WHY each of my non-featured hubs didn't make it through QAP, I am not going to jump through a whole bunch of hoops when I don't earn enough from each hub to make it worthwhile to do that. 
   
   I'm running into the same problem when I contemplate publishing a new hub.  I just don't know if it will pass QAP, or if it fails, WHY it has failed. 
   
   I feel like HP (the company) stands to 'win' from bunches of hubbers frantically editing their unpublished hubs (over a lot of hubs, small traffic increases add up).  But in contrast, for an individual hubber, I would question whether a slight increase in traffic on a single hub would be worth the time taken to make changes and have it undergo the QAP (bearing in mind it may require more than one round of this process before it becomes 'featured').
   
   I'm strongly considering just unpublishing and moving my non-featured hubs elsewhere.  Does anyone else feel similarly, or have you found it is worthwhile to edit your non-featured hubs?

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   1. 60

      Xenonlitposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have actually deleted and emptied out hubs and they are still here! Empty! 
      
      I am divesting of this place big time. The amazing thing is that in the time I wasted here, I went to a real paying site and made more money on one article than I did in a year here. Over 9,000 views and no one skimming off money from those views or suppressing views.
      
      My other suppressed hubs have had more views than Hub Pages provided in the entire time they were published here.
      
      The bottom line is that a hosting site needs to do something to get views, not just sit there and skim money off of our own marketing efforts.
      
      Enough is enough.

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      1. 79

         Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Where are you going? I've started at Wizzley and Squidoo both, but don't feel very motivated these days to write for anybody.

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         1. 60

            Xenonlitposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            A variety of places is where I go. Skyword pays nicely. So does Demand Studios. But Demand Studios is too packed with writers who fled other sites. Hub pages isn't the only site having problems!

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            1. 59

               Nurseyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Congratulations Xenonlit! So nice to see you do so well on Examiner! ♡ ♡ ♡

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   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My feelings exactly.   About a third of my Hubs were idled and I unpublished the lot.  I decided I couldn't be bothered playing guessing games.
      
      However, Patti Inglish has been successful getting her Hubs Featured for the longer term - she says she adds ten sentences at least.   So it does sound like there's an easy way to get Featured.  Perhaps, as Janderson says, it's silly to throw away a Hub that took several hours' work, when it could be fixed with another half hour or so.   However I looked at some of my idled Hubs and asked myself why I was clogging up the internet repeating information that already exists, just so I can make a buck.   So I deleted a lot of my Hubs where I felt I hadn't created something which added any real value to the topic.

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      1. 59

         Nurseyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         You are a very sensible woman. ♡ ♡ ♡

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2. 95

   Peggy Wposted 11 years ago

   So far every time I have edited the non-featured hubs, they again become featured.  I just wish that they had some other symbol to indicate that they are no longer featured.  Scanning through hundreds of hubs to find a blank spot (a missing icon showing that it is featured) is a chore.  It could easily be missed.  The zzz's were at least noticeable.
   
   In some cases due to my earlier writing efforts, I can understand why they need improvements.  In other cases it may be a niche topic, written well, but appealing to smaller groups of people.  Those are harder to tweak. 
   
   Will be interested to see what others think.  Good luck with yours!

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   1. 79

      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You can sort your hubs and the non-featured will appear all at the bottom.  Go to "My Account" and up there where the sub-topics are displayed, the far right one is "Featured", click that and it will sort your hubs as mentioned above.  Another click returns it to it's previous listing.

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3. 71

   rfmoranposted 11 years ago

   Hi Giselle. Since HP took down the tags option, reviving a sleeping hub is all about title tweaking. So far this has worked for me but as my portfolio growsI expect to see some real corpses. Title tweaking does work because you see possibilities you missed the first time. My one and only "Exclusive" will soon bite the dust, and because I can't change the title it will die. It's frustrating. I hope I haven't added to it.

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4. 68

   Michael Willisposted 11 years ago

   I have just spent time editing the hubs I believe need it. As far as new hubs, I haven't written any since the pending began. I have published those articles elsewhere  since they were time sensitive. 
   The ones that got "zzz'd" when it all began, I deleted them. Working fulltime and work around the home doesn't allow me to spend that much time on here.
   I am watching a few hubs that I may end up moving if traffic does not pick up soon or just so I don't have to worry about them.

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5. 54

   janderson99posted 11 years ago

   I edit all mine, by trying to guess the cause (mostly low traffic). I find a new competitive title, add a new image or two, do some interlinking, and Hey Presto they are back in the land of the living. Five minutes work, to revive a hub that may have taken 2-3 hours to research and write, is certainly worthwhile. The trick is to revise them as they nod off. I average one a day, and I keep up to date - stayin' alive.

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6. 88

   SimeyCposted 11 years ago

   I guess it's a glass half full thing - I look at my idled hubs and work out what is wrong - there's obviously a reason it's idle - perhaps I keyword stuffed, perhaps I didn't add the correct information relating for the picture, or perhaps my titles are not SEO friendly - so I critically look through the hub and amend accordingly - in many cases I've agreed with Hubpages and simply deleted the offensive hub!!!

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7. 54

   janderson99posted 11 years ago

   The new ShepHerd - Herder of H's
   

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8. 94

   ktrappposted 11 years ago

   I really only have one Hub that was idle that I edited. I published the Hub after writing here for about a month. The Hub itself is fine, but not many people really search for its subject matter and the title I originally gave it was pretty awful as far as search goes.
   
   It finally slipped to idle status - deservedly so. I was thinking about deleting it, but decided against it because I believe it still is good information for the few people interested in the topic. I took a few minutes and did some keyword research and came up with a more search-friendly title.
   
   I changed the title, and added similar words early in the content and partly within a sub-heading. Like I said, the topic isn't searched for much but here are my before and after results gathered from Google Webmaster Tools.
   
   Before Results: 10/25 - 11/25 (32 days)
   Impressions: 35
   Clicks <10
   CTR --
   Average Position 7.1
   
   Edited Hub: 11/26 (gave it a more search friendly title)
   
   After Results: 11/26-12/18 (23 days)
   Impressions: 30
   Clicks: 12
   CTR: 45%
   Average Position: 1
   
   Obviously, this Hub is never going to make me much money, but you never know if the topic suddenly becomes hot or in the news. As long as it causes no harm, I think it was worth the less than 10 minutes I spent to make it more search-friendly. It would definitely be worth it, if I got the same results for a more popular topic.

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9. 58

   Dame Scribeposted 11 years ago

   I've removed some hubs and busy re-writing them for another site. It's a pain but least they'll be out in the open rather than tossed in the no-index drawer. For the most part, I've been waiting for the dust to settle with all these algo and site changes not to mention the lack of guarantees that once an article gets featured, it won't lapse back to idle

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10. 0

    Giselle Maineposted 11 years ago

    Thanks all for responding to my post.  Wow, I was amazed by the range of responses.  I was certainly encouraged by the people who indicated that they had success with editing, especially Ktrapp (thanks for taking the time to give those extra details). 
    
    On the other hand, I can also see the points of view of those who don't want to be bothered with having to do this.  And what Dame Scribe said really resonated (that there is no guarantee that once an article is featured, it won't lapse back to idle).  That is partly why I am getting concerned - because the number of my idled hubs is growing, and it's because more of my old ones are getting idled (I haven't written new since before the QAP was introduced).
    
    Overall, I'm glad to hear that re-editing isn't as forbidding as it may sound, and that it has given success to some.  But I still don't know whether I'll proceed with that yet.  I am definitely keen to hear more responses too.

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    1. 96

       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I've only had a few go idled; maybe a half dozen or so.
       
       Some I simply deleted as "unfixable".  I could have edited them and got them featured again, but felt that they would never produce any traffic anyway, so simply deleted them.
       
       Some I've let stay idled.  A couple I simply like but also recognize that they aren't "searchable" and nothing I can do will really produce any traffic.  Two more are idle now, but I will edit and revive them when the appropriate season comes along - one on easter, for instance, will be edited and re-featured nearer easter.  If it still doesn't produce it will be deleted.
       
       I've only edited two - both still pretty young and I didn't feel that they had gotten a proper chance to mature and grow.  If they still don't do anything in 6 or 8 months it will be the axe for them, too.

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11. 54

    janderson99posted 11 years ago

    Anyone else feel that the tone and topics in the last (?) newsletter before Xmas were a bit negative : Many Hubbers Make Embarrassing Mistakes (images)
    - surely 'Tis the season for being positive, me thinks, rather than being told off and accused of making errors. Cynical perhaps?

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12. 90

    Howard S.posted 11 years ago

    Yes, I feel like the OP. About half of my hubs are affected by that QrAP. I am not too familiar with it--haven't paid much attention here in the past six months--but I think that most of mine that are non-featured are because they were already getting near-zero page views because of a Panda-like slap exceeding two months.
    
    As I understand it, it is easier to become un-featured than featured. In my case, a Panda slap drained so much traffic that the QAP algorithm unmarked them. From that point, once the Panda effect relaxed, I need to resuscitate them in order for them to be re-featured. There are other less likely ways a hub could be re-evaluated, but the surest is by tinkering. If it truly wasn't broken in the first place, then I don't like to "fix" it. I may eventually do that, but lack motivation and will certainly start with the better of the unfeatured hubs.
    
    On the positive side of QAP: It is my impression that I shouldn't have to delete or unpublish the few truly poor hubs I have--that the QAP shields my subdomain from being dragged-down by them. In fact, the day it was instituted was the day my subdomain recovered from its longest down period and began its longest up period, with reference to the ups and downs of Panda.

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13. 61

    LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

    I wonder what would happen if we left all of these non-featured hubs alone, didn't delete them?  Maybe if we did that and it affected HP overall rankings, HP would stop some of this BS.

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14. 94

    SmartAndFunposted 11 years ago

    Aren't they idled for that very reason? The nonfeatured hubs are supposedly invisible to search engines in order to help HP's and our individual rankings. That's why they started this whole thing -- to hide the junk from the search engines. (Although many articles that have been idled are not junk, they just don't get traffic.) Am I misunderstanding this or has something changed again?

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15. 62

    ritsukakunxposted 11 years ago

    No, you should edit them.
    
    All my hubs are featured.
    
    A few weeks ago, I had a new hub that ended up not being featured. I made a few grammar tweeks and the next day it was featured. So, you should look over your hub, edit here and there, and see if it gets featured.

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16. 61

    LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

    To show how ridiculous this practice is
    
    I have had hubs put in the idle cage.  Clicked on edit button, deleted a word, then put the same word back in.
    
    I have simply clicked edit, did nothing.
    
    They were taken out of the Idle cage.

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