Drastic Plunge in Traffic due to alleged Google panda update?

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  1. alikhan3 profile image91
    alikhan3posted 11 years ago

    After the alleged Google alogrithim update probably after 10 December my traffic has fallen drastically from more then 150 views per day to 50. Traffic was steadily rising but after 10 dec it suddenly plunged showing no signs of recovery. (hubs have remained unchanged).

    1. Matthew Meyer profile image70
      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Eb and flow in traffic is normal for even the best Hub.
      Do you have specific questions or a technical issue to report?

    2. Californialaw profile image61
      Californialawposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Mmm generally I see a drop in traffic around the holidays, unless its something very relevant like good deals, baked themed goods, gift ideas etc

      But in the past Google algo updates have penalized sites like Hubpages for having "low quality content" which is why we all have a unique URL now and your posts are only followed after a hubscore of 75

      Most people will always see some sort of loss in traffic after an update. You just have to do research on what the update was targeting and fix your content. Its basically a constant rain dance with the google machine haha

  2. psycheskinner profile image82
    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    Oh come on, clearly there are big changes that aren't just ebb and flow.  Rather than just assert we are wrong in thinking there was a change recently, you could give some reasons. Like is there a drop every year at this time: yes/no? That is an alternative explanation you could easily substantiate.

    Separating signal for noise can be tricky and hubbers will tend to over interpret, but several times in the past I think we have been right or partly right (that malware warning might have been part of it?).  It would be nice if our concerns were taken just a little bit seriously even when they turn out not to be quite right.

    1. derek gulbranson profile image78
      derek gulbransonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You could try taking a look at the specific search terms you're seeing issues with in Google Trends to see if there are any trends related to searches that had been bringing traffic. Or check out the Google Keyword Tool, it also has search volume information.

      Generally speaking traffic goes down over holidays when people spend more time with their families and less with the computer.  But site-wide generalizations are not very applicable to Hubs getting less than ~1k views/mo. There's really nothing useful to be had by HubPages staff speculating on why someone's traffic went from 150 views to 50. At those traffic levels it very much depends on the specifics of the Hub and the subdomain, and the author is in a more informed position than we are because they know their content. Hopefully we can point people towards the tools they can use to find the answers they need.

      1. janderson99 profile image53
        janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

        So what caused HP traffic to fall off the cliff? You have all the data, so surely you should be able to provide some insight on the overall trends on Quantcast.  Even speculation would help!

        http://www.a1niches.com/plunge.png

        1. derek gulbranson profile image78
          derek gulbransonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I'm not sure I'd characterize that as a cliff, janderson. Maybe a better question is what caused it to go up so much after Nov 19. Seasonal? When we can find meaningful patterns or helpful insights from our data we'll definitely share them. A few highly trafficked Hubs can do weird things to the quantcast numbers and it's hard to say that it has much to do with alikhan3's missing 100 views.

          1. janderson99 profile image53
            janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            There was a confirmed Panda update (22) on 21 November http://searchengineland.com/confirmed-g … 1st-141098  + Knowledge Graph up date for foreign languages in early Dec. The Panda 23 update on Dec 21 appears to be a reversion, winding-back the surge generated by Panda 22 (so sad). I used the term 'cliff' because its so popular in the US at the moment.

            1. janderson99 profile image53
              janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

              It would be good to know Why HP was affected by these changes and what it means for the way the authors do things.

              1. derek gulbranson profile image78
                derek gulbransonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Oh yes, that cliff. Perhaps another example of using the word 'cliff' to be overly alarmist? wink

                One problem with the quantcast data is that since those visits are not evenly distributed over all Hubs, if a search algo update effects a Hub that gets a significant portion of the traffic you see in quantcast, you'd see a big spike or dip and naturally wonder why and how that effects you. It may not affect you at all though. From our perspective some Hubbers do well, some don't, some recover in a few weeks and some don't, some die, some get new traffic, etc. While we do mine that data for insights, with so many moving parts frequently there are no correlations across any of the metrics we look at. (Perhaps evidence that engaging content can't be easily quantified?)

                Generally speaking we think our Stellar Hub description is a good goal for long-term success. Focus on writing techniques more than SEO techniques, engaging content is still king.

                If you have any specific theories that you think we could investigate further, feel free to post them someplace. Happy to find and provide insights when they exist.

                1. janderson99 profile image53
                  janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  What was the impact of Panda 22 and Panda 23 on HP Traffic? What lessons should be noted in moving forward into 2013.

  3. profile image0
    klarawieckposted 11 years ago

    Was there ever a time when traffic was up? Because it's been so long I can't seem to remember!

    1. LuisEGonzalez profile image78
      LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, it has been steadily, albeit slowly, climbing, at least for me.
      BTW nice to see you again.

  4. Joseph Renne profile image48
    Joseph Renneposted 11 years ago

    My Traffic has not been effected, It has been going up daily, I have been doing a lot of social advertising.
    http://s3.hubimg.com/u/7502622_f248.jpg

    1. Dale Hyde profile image81
      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Those red arrows will appear after just one view, lol.  Don't get your hopes up..

  5. Kangaroo_Jase profile image75
    Kangaroo_Jaseposted 11 years ago

    I have seen a 52% then a week later a 90% traffic drop in traffic to my hubs, over the last previous four days from today, its climbed back about 15%.

    My own correlations sees this through several factors.

    - This traffic did not drop when Panda 22 or 23 hit or after they started.
    - I don't write any holiday or seasonal hubs
    - From now until February this is my traditional lowest time for traffic.
    - People spend more time outdoors and less time using computers during a North Hemisphere summer.
    - I spend this low time going over my hubs for polish, and work on other projects elsewhere building my 'brand'.

    Don't stress, it may take three months but traffic will come back.

  6. SimeyC profile image90
    SimeyCposted 11 years ago

    There's no way HP can analize a change that was caused by an alleged Decmber 10 algorithm change. Something definately happened on December 10, 2012 at 6:00PM Eastern time - my benchmark hub went from 2nd place in the google search to 15th or 16th place. This was exactly what happened to me last year during a six week period where I hit the cliff 4 times and recovered 4 times within 10 days. 10 days later it recovered with the new Panda Algorithm update.

    To me it seems something went wrong on Google's side on December 10th and rather than trying to fix they simply waited for the Panda 23 update - as Google cannot explain what happend on the 10th (see all the SEO forums for people experience the problem and Google denying anything had occurred) then there's no way that HP can.

    1. alikhan3 profile image91
      alikhan3posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hope so that it will recover......

    2. habee profile image93
      habeeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree that SOMETHING happened on Dec. 10. My traffic went down drastically.

  7. EsmeSanBona profile image94
    EsmeSanBonaposted 11 years ago

    I noticed that my articles seem to go down and down and down in direct correlation to the days leading up to Christmas.  The drop started about a week before Christmas and kept on going down heading to today when they hit an all time low.  I can't really compare to last year as I wasn't really writing last year.

    Still, I really think it has to do with the holidays and people just having more activities and less computer time.  I was joking today that I'll be glad when people go back to work so they'll start surfing again. 

    I'm optimistic that the slump is holiday, rather than Google related.  I think we're just used to thinking that holidays bring in more money--which they do in the retail world, but not so much in net land.  I'm not looking for much improvement until after the first of the year.  But I guess time will ultimately tell...

  8. paradigmsearch profile image61
    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    December was my best month of the year.

    Looks like today is going to be my worst day of the year.

    1. Dale Hyde profile image81
      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      In my one year tenure here at HP, December 2012 has been my worse month, including my very first months.  I had more views in January with just a few hubs.

      So, the end of my HP world has ended around 12/21/2012.  Must be something to all of those prophecies after all!

      HP gifted me yet another idle hub for the holiday season. Just got done deleting it here and moving it to it's new home, just like the previous 25.

    2. EsmeSanBona profile image94
      EsmeSanBonaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Paradigmsearch, I hope you mean traffic wise and not personal wise. :-(

      1. paradigmsearch profile image61
        paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        Affirmative. big_smile

  9. rebekahELLE profile image85
    rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

    Dec. 10 was my highest traffic day for Dec.  Dec. 11 had only 71 less views.  The most significant drop I saw was on Dec. 21.  It then picked up again, but not to where it was before.  I know the latest Panda update referred back to the 'Quality sites' criteria.  It's really hard to tell, I'm sure, especially considering holiday generated traffic.  I guess we'll see more in Jan.

  10. leahlefler profile image95
    leahleflerposted 11 years ago

    I hope it is a temporary problem, but my traffic has fallen off the proverbial cliff, too. My "stellar" hubs were not spared.


    http://s2.hubimg.com/u/7505861_f248.jpg

  11. paradigmsearch profile image61
    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    My traffic is returning somewhat, today. To be expected, since yesterday was Christmas. January may just be alright after all...

    1. wilderness profile image94
      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Ditto.  My 24 hour traffic is already nearly double what the max was for Christmas day.

      We shall see...

  12. Len Cannon profile image89
    Len Cannonposted 11 years ago

    My traffic is actually back to almost pre-panda levels since the week before Christmas and has actually rocketed upwards after the holiday.  There's no search trends that would correspond to any type of post-Christmas boosts, so it's safe to assume I'm back on certain high volume SERPs.  Now, if it lasts more than a week I'll be really happy...

  13. Alastar Packer profile image71
    Alastar Packerposted 11 years ago

    I've been here nearly two years and can't remember a precipitous drop like Friday's 60+%. Could have been a unusual combination of school's out, Christmas week-end, the end of the world hoopla and fear, and other factors. Traffics recovered some but must say am looking forward to 2013 as far as views go on here for us. We shall see at that wilderness.

    1. mackyi profile image64
      mackyiposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Traffic has been in the roller-coaster mode for quite some time, and it appears that no one knows exactly what Google's method to these updates really are. In other words how do they go about penalizing those articles that they target?

      1. Alastar Packer profile image71
        Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        I don't know for sure, all the details on that. You hear an abundance of different possibilities affecting hubbers through the Panda updates and other things. What HP says to write quality stories, in subjects that will be Google friendly as far as traffic goes, seems the right prescription but some do these things and still have problems.


        My advice would be to update your hubs every few weeks with new info, better sentence structure, any missed typos, as many original pics as possible - in other words be on top of what goes out under your byline, be proud of wanting to give the reader the very best you can. Treat each story as an ongoing creative project, lavish attention when appropriate, and always stay enthusiastic for future projects. On occasion you may have to work with a hubs title to get placed optimally for traffic.

        1. Dale Hyde profile image81
          Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Not possible to change an Exclusive hub title.  Having to tweak your hubs every couple of weeks is crazy and very time consuming. Most of us write about things that simply do not require updates.  It certainly is not like HP pays enough for a person to spend 20 to 40 hours a week tweaking when no one can positively identify the reasons why we are loosing views on perfectly good hubs and material.

          Sure, lots of speculation, but those offering such wonderful advice appear a month later complaining about the loss of views, lol.  HP staff simply can not put a finger on the traffic problems.  Takes them all of their valuable time tracing down technical problems on the site like the recent rogue ads.... no time to check out traffic.  The main advice from them is to write quality hubs and the views will come.  I think that fairy tale is simply that, a fairy tale.

          1. Alastar Packer profile image71
            Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Well Dale, your right of course, one size doesn't fit all when it comes down to. What works for one may not be the panacea for another as far as traffic goes. Perhaps it would have been better had I said each person should search out their own formula that hopefully sees an increase in visitors to their hubs. If one feels they've exhausted all possibilities in that endeavor - well, other options are available of course. My advice was simply from one perspective that seems to work as I've seen a steady as she goes increase in views over time and humbly achieved a Google PR of 4.

            The end of the world day was a big slap here as well but this morn things appear to be recovering nicely. I follow these threads with frustration and a  heavy heart as my fellow hubbers struggle with how to turn things around with perfectly good hubs and material. As an optimistic analogy, maybe we're all on a ship going through very rough weather but the storm must soon abate, and the skies clear, as the vessel rights itself once again. That's the hope here anyway. Btw Dale, if you would be so kind, just what is an Exclusive hub title?

            1. Dale Hyde profile image81
              Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

              The exclusive title is one that HP has already picked on various subject matter, that has been SEOed.  Like when I did the Kindle review, I was not going to do it specifically for students, however, when I  started typing in the title, the one I used that included students in the title showed up as an option to pick.  You are guaranteed to be the only one that will have that title.  I had never used that option so I did that hub using my first exclusive title.  It also will show as being exclusive on your stats page.  I am sure there is something in the forums that would give you a better understanding.  I would say it has been around a few months now, Alastar.

              1. Alastar Packer profile image71
                Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Appreciate that Dale, had seen it mentioned but was unsure exactly what it was. Your reply explains it just fine.

                1. Dale Hyde profile image81
                  Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Glad that it helped. smile

  14. brakel2 profile image73
    brakel2posted 11 years ago

    Sounds like good SEO tactics along with a positive attitude.

 
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