1000 views a day down to 250

1. 86

   CyclingFitnessposted 11 years ago

   Since last summer my hub views have dropped dramatically. I've tried to work though it but it feels like a battle I can't win.
   
   I've tried back linking to blogs, social media, the likes of Pinterest, social bookmarking but I'm not sure what else I can do
   
   The traffic just doesn't seem to be there and I cannot understand why.
   
   Even my popular hubs have taken a severe hit despite google pr staying the same or even increasing.
   
   Any ideas what I can do as I'm fearing that my journey on hubpages could be ending, or at least coming to a temporary halt.

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   1. 60

      Zelkiiroposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have a feeling this may have something to do with the whole Lance Armstrong thing. Big cycling hero turns out to be a druggie, and inadvertently turns people off to the sport. It'll bounce back sometime, maybe.

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   2. 0

      Sophia Angeliqueposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Why don't you do a search on the web using the following search words, "Google hates content farms." "google content farms." "Google eliminating contents farms,"
      
      The problem is only going to get worse.
      
      As fast as content farm change one parameter, so fast google will write a algorithm to counter it.
      
      The point is that Google does not want a whole lot of writers writing in order to earn advertising revenue. Since Panda, it puts recognized media, i.e. those people who are members of the online publishers association like newspapers and print magazines, etc ahead of content farms.
      
      If you google 'search engine are winning wars against content farms,' you'll find the studies.
      
      I might be wrong, but I don't think that in the medium to longer term, this will pay...
      
      I sincerely think the days of earning through content farms are over...

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      1. 0

         Motown2Chitownposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hi, Tess!  Nice to see you.  Hope you're well. 

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2. 60

   wjack2010posted 11 years ago

   Having a quick glimpse at the titles of your Hubs, the topic you generally write about just isn't as popular as it used to be; fitness etc...
   
   It is also around Winter time, not as many workout during those times I believe.

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3. 95

   jansharesposted 11 years ago

   Have you done a google analytics look-see? I wonder if your hubs are considered "seasonal" depending on where readers live and who's searching for info on cycling. I think the tell-tale sign is that you noticed the drop last summer. Isn't this activity more popular when it's warmer? I don't know, just an observation.

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4. 80

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   Several of us had some serious drops in traffic, and we discovered numerous copies of our hubs on other sites. In some cases, they were related to the content, but there were also mysterious sites that didn't even contain the text or relate to the topics.
   
   Try putting some short, specific 'clips' of your text into quotes (try it with several hubs), and search in Google for copies.  Putting the phrases in quotes was the key for me in finding what was going on.
   
   Good luck - I hope you can get to the bottom of it and recover the lost traffic. It's so frustrating to go through that!

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5. 75

   Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

   My views have gone down considerably, but at Christmastime they were at a record high. I am wondering if anything happened more recently.  It is discouraging when Google doesn't give you the traffic they did before. It is a shame that we have to be so dependent on them.
   
   I hope everyone is right and when it warms-up you get your traffic back.

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6. 98

   Gordon Hamiltonposted 11 years ago

   It's a common problem but if I were you, I would hang fire and see out the storm. My Hub views have gone down from the best part of 2,000 a day to circa 400 since October. But - and more significantly in terms of the bigger picture - my Google owned, Blogger blog views are down 95% (probably more than that, actually) in the same time period, from many thousands a day to a few hundred, hence I no longer have my regular monthly Google Adsense payout. The most curious thing is that both my top Hubs and particularly my blog retain their previous high ranking in Google. The fact that both massive reductions happened literally overnight and simultaneously surely precludes the problem being with Hub Pages.
   
   Hope we all see a reversal of fortunes soon

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   1. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I wonder if some of the younger crowd are using Search Engines that much anymore. If my kids have a question, they use an App on their iPhone and ask it the question. They almost always get their answer that way.
      
      I looked at your hubs and I agree that a lot of the US has snow on the ground yet. Things should look up in the spring.

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      1. 97

         Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I think your observation is correct. I would think Apps would be significant factors in organic traffic drops here. Wonder what HP is thinking about this?

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7. 90

   innerspinposted 11 years ago

   1-The Lance Armstrong comment struck me quite forcibly. I'd defended him to ctitics, wondering how he'd got through so many test but was still out there. Gutted by the recent news.
   
   2-I can't see how fitness would go out of fashion.
   
   3- My views are poopy just now.
   
   4-  Keep on in there. Best wishes.

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8. 83

   donotfearposted 11 years ago

   I know the feeling....
   my traffic
     has
   
       dropped in the
   
   
       same fashion........

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9. 92

   EricDockettposted 11 years ago

   CF: You have mostly fitness Hubs, but a few on other topics.  Have you seen an even drop across the board, including ones that are non-fitness related? 
   
   Also, have you actually seen your Hubs dropping in the SERPs, or are you just not getting traffic?
   
   Because I'm guessing a lot of your fitness traffic comes from the United States, and I can tell you in most parts of the US there aren't many people thinking about running or biking right now, and they haven't been for a couple of months.  I bet you'll see a big traffic increase once spring kicks in over here.  People will have more daylight after work, the weather will be nicer, and they'll be out biking and running and looking for the kinds of answers you have in your Hubs.
   
   Don't give up just yet!

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   1. 86

      CyclingFitnessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Search engine standings are pretty similar for the majority of hubs I've checked on. I have hubs on page 1 of google (and fairly high up) that Adwords tool is saying are searched a high number of times that get a few views a day if I'm lucky
      
      Surprisingly US traffic has never been huge for my hubs- I've had more Uk and European traffic long term.

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      1. 92

         EricDockettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Remember that the Adwords tool gives you a 12-month average of how those keywords or phrases performed in the past.  It's not telling you how the keyword is doing right now this month or this week, and of course it can't tell you how it will do in the future. So even if it says you should be seeing a certain number of exact-match searches, that's not necessarily true for this month. 
         
         If you hop over to google trends and put in a few of your keywords for your fitness Hubs I bet you'll see a peak each year around July or August and a trough around December/January.
         
         I wouldn't sweat it just yet, but if I were you I'd start thinking of some ways to add content that gets searched for over the winter so you don't get hit so bad. Maybe even start up another subdomain around a different niche.

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10. 77

    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    How many of your hubs are "featured"?

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    1. 86

       CyclingFitnessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       About 180 of my hubs are featured at present.

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11. 84

    bysheaposted 11 years ago

    Being in the winter months, it just very well could be cyclical.  I noticed that you joined Hubpages 22 months ago and I assume you started building your fantastic collection of lenses then. Your traffic most likely started to build slowly over that time until you reached the 1000 views a day. Look back at the progression and there might be more clues.  I personally don't think it has anything to do with Lance or the cycling community.
    
    Google does do updates occasionally that can cause a ranking to go down temporarily, but if your content is good you will bounce right back.  From what I have read of your hubs you are not violating any of their rules that would cause a hit.  The whole idea of these updates from google is to promote well written and relative content in their search engines.  Not the spammy stuff that used to be there all the time.
    
    I have to respectfully disagree with the comment about you creating a content farm.  Content farms are sites that are created by one person or a collaboration of persons for the sole benefit of creating multitudes of backlinks directed at a few sites in order to try and drive the rankings for a search to the top.  What you are doing by writing articles on other authority sites like Pintrest, Reddit, Squidoo, and so on is exactly what google likes to see.
    
    I would suggest running an analyticts program on your hubs and keywords to determine if they are cyclical or possibly falling out of favor for something similar.  If many of your hubs are high in search rankings yet you are not getting the traffic then that is a key right there. 
    
    Anyway, good luck with what you are doing.  I know it can be frustrating at times but sometimes a small change can make a world of difference.

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12. 61

    weedpricesposted 11 years ago

    Dont loose faith dude! keep going at it.

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13. 71

    That Grrlposted 11 years ago

    Use a Google Blogger blog to create a wiki/ reference site for your topic. Link to your posts in the blog. Maintain the blog as a resource in your topic/ genre and post the link in your HP posts and outside to other sites which could bring you traffic both here and there.
    
    I wrote a much longer post here but decided to use it to create a new post instead.

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14. 97

    Sally's Troveposted 11 years ago

    I've spent some time looking at your hubs here. My impression is that you absolutely know what you are talking about and have the credentials to back it up. HP might not be the best venue for you...have you approached print mags and online orgs that specialize in your niche and would be willing to pay you? It would be good if you did, I think.
    
    Your articles here are tight and to the point. But, if you don't mind my saying, they could use editing, not for content or organization (both of which are excellent), but for grammar and spelling and typos...I'd love to work with an author like you. You've got the info and the smarts and the passion. See if you can take all that to the next level.

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