Deleting Non-Producing Hubs?

1. 75

   kittythedreamerposted 11 years ago

   Does anyone else feel that going through and deleting hubs that don't get any views is a positive way to generate more traffic to other hubs? I just feel like my score will be brought down via Google/ Panda whatever if I leave up hubs that don't get ANY traffic. I usually wait until they have dropped down to under a certain amount in the past 30 days before I delete them, though. Thoughts on this?

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   1. 78

      sabrebIadeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I do that but I save the Hubs and republish elsewhere in a rewritten form.
      No sense in wasting what you have done.

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         ChristinSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         +1 I completely agree.  I would never just delete a hub, I'd repurpose it and use it elsewhere.

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      2. 81

         Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I was assuming the OP referred to deleting pieces from HP, not getting rid of them completely? I unpublished and then removed the hubs I 'deleted,' but I still have them saved for other use.

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      3. 86

         cheryloneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I do the same thing, I unpublish them and then do a rewrite for another sight.

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   2. 84

      NateB11posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It's my understanding that Google doesn't penalize, in any way, for low-traffic content; they only slap sites for substandard content. I personally don't want to waste any indexing, etc, that's already been established, or any potential that some of my content might have. Like others have said, I've put the time in and don't want it wasted; and there are usually ways to work on those Hubs that are getting low traffic. It's also been said by others, and I've experienced it, that a Hub will suddenly have a surge and start doing well. For low-quality, I might revise or delete; for low-traffic I would not delete, but might try to find a way to get traffic; revising with content that will bring traffic or using social media.

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   3. 69

      Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know, Kitty. I deleted about 20% of my lowest earners a while back and then watched the google views increase rater quickly by about 100%. Its been long enough now to know this is consistent and when school starts back whamo with the history ones! The thing I don't get is the HPads( which are used) earnings haven't increased any along with the super traffic rise. What gives you reckon?

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      1. 69

         Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Should add that though some of this is seasonal you still ought to expect some increase, wouldn't you?

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   4. 97

      Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have deleted a few hubs to put on my blog (poems). I have unpublished other hubs, mostly poems, that became unfeatured -- I may edit and add to them some day.  I do think that taking the low scored unfreatured hubs off does affect our traffic and scores in a good way, as well as benefiting HubPages in general.

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   5. 57

      Dorian Bodnariucposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If the hub is featured, don't delete it, it will improve your authorship credibility with search engines.
      If the hub is not featured, you can:
      edit so it is more current, or it is more clear for readers and search engines what is the subject of the hub.
      move the content on another platform,
      just delete it if you think it's bad

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2. 81

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   I will be interested in the responses here.  Several months ago (when one of the major Panda or Penguin attacks hit), I deleted hubs that were poor performers, or had little SEO appeal.  I did see an increase in my traffic, but there have been several other updates to Panda & Penguin since then.  So I don't know how that would affect traffic in the current climate - but I am glad you asked.
   
   Maybe some writers who have deleted things recently can weigh in here?

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3. 80

   kenneth averyposted 11 years ago

   I'm in agreement with all of you. And take it from me. Some of my early hubs were real suck-o's. not that I'm an elite hubber, it's just that I've learned so much from all of my followers.

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4. 65

   writingloverposted 11 years ago

   Same here, I'm doing some cleaning up myself. Just deleted four of my non performing hubs.

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5. 71

   adecourvposted 11 years ago

   As I said before, I took the time to write them. I'm not going to get rid of them.

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   1. 80

      kenneth averyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Agree.

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6. 72

   LeanManposted 11 years ago

   I don't see the point in deleting a hub or any other written piece online unless it is substandard in some way. If it is factual, well written etc why delete it?
   
   If it is not getting traffic then you need to ask yourself why.
   
   Normally the reasons come down to just a handful of reasons;
   
   1. There is no one searching for what you have written about.
   
   2. There is long established authoritative competition for the search
   
   3. You have not done your on page SEO well enough for the search engine to understand what the page is about.
   
   4. The site you are using is not seen as an authority in that area (you are unlikely to see Google sending traffic for a medical query to HP for instance)
   
   5. You page is the same as 100s of other pages about the same subject without any fresh insights or added value
   
   Some of these reasons are under your control such as the content and you can improve it to get better rankings or you can move it to a site where it may gain traffic.
   If however no one is searching for it or there is too much competition then you need to find alternative ways to drive traffic to it such as using social media rather than relying on the search engines only.

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      kenneth averyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      These are all great reasons to think about deleting hubs, but really id only delete a hub IF I were 100 percent sickened with the text or other areas of the hub, or I was just tired of trying to make it better only to finfpd it an impossible task.

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      1. 97

         Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I do not delete any of my hubs unless I move them to my blog. To just unpublish a hub keeps it handy if I want to edit it and update it, like seasonal hubs.

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7. 65

   writingloverposted 11 years ago

   I got a question. What if it's a creative writing piece, like a story? I had an anime crossover story on here, but it did not take off at all, thus I left it unfinished (not a good idea, I admit).

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      LeanManposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      How can anyone find your story?? Search engines are designed to answer questions - "How do I do this?" "What is a XYZ?" "Where can I find" etc.. They use the information in your page to decide if it answers the query that is being searched for...
      Your story or a poem will not be found by a search engine!!! except by accident and it will not likely answer what the searcher is looking for so will be clicked away from rapidly..
      If you have a work of fiction it needs to be promoted through other routes such as social media where you can try to build a fan base/readership. Look for the shop front to display your book cover!

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   2. 80

      kenneth averyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Dear writinglover,
      Best to have a future literary gem in-hand than be sick from acting too impulsively.
      Like I've done in the past.

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      1. 65

         writingloverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I will admit that the piece of fiction in question was written impulsively, and I have been doing as Lean man had said--posting on social media and stuff. I'm not going to scrap it entirely. I'm going to hang on to it and evolve it later on. The only reason I'm here on HP is because I wanted to share my work. Thanks to you and Lean Man!

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8. 65

   writingloverposted 11 years ago

   That's a lot of exclamation marks! Joking. You're right, though. Stuff like that doesn't seem to do very well at all. I guess I only asked just for a fresh point of view--which I got. Thanks, anyhow!

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   1. 72

      LeanManposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I like punctuation!!!!
      
      But seriously if you want to write fiction you have to promote it and find your audience. No one searches for "Mary crept slowly through the maze of dark wet streets..".
      You have to find a way to put your story under the noses of those that are likely to read it... So get involved in groups/forums where they discus writing similar to yours and other places where you can begin to build a following.

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9. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   This thread must be a synchronicity thing. I just yesterday finally threw in the towel on two hubs. They are now unpublished and deindexed. Anyone know where I can find a nice home for a hub on meritocracy and/or a hub on the US defense budget? Yes, I know; it is positively shocking these hubs didn't get traffic.

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   1. 75

      kittythedreamerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      LOL. TOTAL synchronicity! There is never coincidence.

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10. 61

    DATALOADposted 11 years ago

    Consider updating the article by adding new information, rewriting sentences, or changing the title. This may sound like a lot of work for a substandard article, but it might be more work to delete, format, repost elsewhere, and try to rank all over again.
    
    Sometimes certain information works better in other spaces though. Great question.

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11. 84

    Medical-Referenceposted 11 years ago

    It's better to again and again review those hubs and make necessary changes with required updates. Deleting an url is so easy but I know an old url means a lot to search engines. Because the number of indexed pages is also a big factor in SEO.

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12. 77

    John MacNabposted 11 years ago

    I deleted 7 hubs last week.   Three of them were no longer featured and I was sure the other 4 were going to go the same way.  Will I edit them and re-hub them?   I'll consider it.

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    1. 84

       Medical-Referenceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       What was the individual page rank of those hubs? If they at least had a 0 or 1 page rank, I must say that was the _______ job you had done. You could have interlinked those hubs with your good hubs to pass the link juice. Believe me or not old contents always have a value, if you update them on a regular basis.

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13. 93

    ziyenaposted 11 years ago

    Out of 71 hubs, I unpublished all save for 26, those being the best with more than a 1,000 words in content with Featured status.  I'm keeping thes rest on the back-burner until I can edit and bring them up to par ... since I have did that, overnight I have nothing but "Red Double Arrows" on half of my remaining 27 Hubs ... Traffic is flowing like I haven't seen in it in a long time.

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14. 70

    brakel2posted 11 years ago

    Zylena. Were they featured and/or were they not getting much traffic?  I mean the ones you deleted. What kind of topics?  Congrats on the red arrows. Everyone is in a quandary about deleting hubs. What do you think?  I looked at your profile earlier. You have lived in many places and have many interests. I will be reading a few hubs.Thanks.

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