Hub with most traffic has low Hub score - ???

1. 76

   Shades-of-truthposted 10 years ago

   To satisfy my own curiosity, I would like to know why one of the hubs that was transferred from Squidoo, has such a low "hub score". I have gone over it with a fine-toothed comb, and cannot figure it out.
   
   It currently has 11,945 words, many photos, and is - in my opinion - informative.
   
   Any ideas?
   
   It is: http://shades-of-truth.hubpages.com/hub … -flowers-2
   
   By the way, that was not my choice of the URL. That is how it appeared when it transferred. Rather than "edible-flowers-2" at the end, I would prefer that it read "50-edible-flowers".
   
   Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

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   1. 93

      Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I really wouldn't worry about it. If you have high traffic hubs then they are probably better off with lower hubscores because it makes them less easily detectable and less likely to be copied/scraped.
      
      That's my experience anyway.

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      1. 76

         Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, Susana S. It does concern me, though...

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         1. 93

            Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Looking at the hub I think it may be to do with the formatting. The little separators you've included are cute (I like them) but HP is not keen on them.

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            1. 76

               Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Susana, I have thought about that. I was loathe to remove them, though, as the readers have told me privately, that they liked how it looked. Oh, bother...I feel like Winnie the Pooh.

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               1. 93

                  Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I would check how they look on a smartphone to see if the dividers go screwy? If they do then maybe consider removing them because they'll be off putting to your visitors....and that's the main thing to be worrying about......do your visitors like your pages? If so, no worries!
                  
                  Oh just noticed something else......all the underlined words. That'd be another thing that HP won't like much.

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                  1. 76

                     Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank you again, Susana! I do hate to bother anyone, as I know you are all most likely as busy as I am, but needed some input. I shall check how it appears on a smartphone right away. I use a simulator, since I don't own a smartphone.
                     
                     Will also do a bit of tweaking on the underlining. Thanks!

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                     1. 93

                        Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        You're very welcome
                        
                        I don't have a smartphone either so I tried a simulator. The thing is, I think hubs get formatted differently to how they're showing them though?
                        
                        Can anyone confirm?

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   2. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hubscores have never made any sense to me. That should be rated a 100.

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      1. 76

         Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, also, Barbara Kay. I don't know about that "100" it should have, though!
         
         The reason it bothers me, is that it is the one on which I spent the most time. It was always one of the two that received the most traffic, on Squidoo. The other one, I put on one of my own websites.
         
         Does anyone know if the URL is affecting it? Is it advisable to change it, as I suggested?

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         1. 93

            Susana Sposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Nothing to do with the url.

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            1. 76

               Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Good! I am glad to hear that, Susana!

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   3. 76

      LillyGrillzitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Dear Shades of Truth,
      
      This is a stellar article / Hub. It is professionally done with excellent photographs and information. I give you two thumbs up for citations and attributions.
      
      The reason for the lower hub score; only the Oracle knows, but one thing to consider with those who read articles on-line; they are in a hurry. Eleven thousand words is almost a novella (16K - 40K). Your on-line reader / mobile reader is probably not going to stick with an article of this length for its entirety even though it is awesome.
      
      Consider your audience, and SEO. How many people are going to go on a search on the internet to ask "What Flowers are Edible?" or "How Many Flowers Can I Eat?" Search Engine Optimization is what scores higher on Google, thus HubPages.
      
      Once again, your article is lovely, and would be a wonderful magazine article, or booklet. If you desire to keep it on-line, you could break it up into three or four hubs, leaving a teaser at the end of each article to let the reader find out more.
      
      I hope this helps. You may not want to take advice from me as my total Hub Profile Score stays in the 80's these days, but most of my articles/hubs are evergreen, many written in 2010, which still are found in the search engines of google. My topics are not for the masses, but a smaller audience, but pirates have loved them in the past, and I have had many scraped or stolen, so I do get traffic.
      
      The best to you on HubPages. Peace.

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      1. 76

         Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, LillyGrillzit! Advice received, and I will have to mull it over for awhile. Apologies for the delayed reply - had to set up our retail store, and just got back to check replies.
         
         I would have a hard time, mentally and perhaps emotionally, breaking it up into pieces. I enjoyed writing that one, a lot. However, I will most certainly see to it that I don't publish another hub with that many words.
         
         It never dawned on me that people do not stay online long to read, as I read fast, and a lot. I do "get it", though, that people are looking for fast information today.
         
         You all have given me a lot to think about, and appreciate your time and input greatly.
         
         P.S. to "Lilly" - could you give me the map to the "Oracle"?

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         1. 76

            LillyGrillzitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I am not worthy to stand in the presence of The Oracle. Sorry...

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            1. 76

               Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I suppose I am not, either!

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   4. 68

      relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      There can't be duplicate URLs on Hubs, so any imported lens which would have resulted in two identical URLs got a number added to the end.

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      1. 76

         Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I figured that was the case, Relache. Thanks! I was hoping that was not affecting the score, but was reassured here that it had nothing to do with it.

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2. 87

   Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years ago

   My hubs with the most traffic rarely have 100s. My hubs at the top of the list always move up and down score points, jostling for position. (Well, they probably all do, but I pay more attention to the ones at the top).
   
   I prefer it that way, because that means that my other hubs have more of a chance to prominently feature on the "explore" pages of HubPages and get a chance to get traffic.  And, as Susana said, they aren't shown as obvious candidates for scraping.

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   1. 76

      Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Millionaire Tips, what you said is encouraging. However, it is not encouraging to see that low hub score.

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3. 91

   Rochelle Frankposted 10 years ago

   It all goes to show how irrelevant hub scores can be. I have a hub  that pops up to the top of my hub score list pretty often-- usually at 99.
   It is over 5 years old and has less than 2,000 total views. It has had 4 views in the past month. I kind of hate to think that people would think it is my best work-- It's not bad, but  not my best, by far.

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   1. 76

      Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Rochelle. That was heartening to know!

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4. 87

   rebekahELLEposted 10 years ago

   If the traffic is fine, I wouldn't worry too much about the score. Remember, nobody else can see the score except you.  I think the hub looks and reads fine, although the length may play a part.  Viewers may bounce off the page if it's too wordy.  Also I know HP has recommended that we get rid of dividers.  Possibly the final Amazon product is not necessary.
   That's a lot of edible flowers! That must have taken a while to research and compile.

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   1. 76

      Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, rebekahELLE, it did take me a long time, but I enjoyed it so much that the time flew by.
      
      I just removed a lot of the underlined text, as suggested by Susana S. Some of them I could not bring myself to do, though, as I wanted to emphasize how important it is to know what one is ingesting.
      
      The traffic is fine, though, so I will let it be for now. As I stated earlier, I simply am not sure I could break it up into smaller sections, as it was written to include all fifty of the flowers I wanted to include.

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      1. 87

         Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Although I agree that a hub has a point where it is too long, I think your hub is fine.  The consistent formatting of each flower makes it easy to scroll down and find the one I want using the title or the photo - then simply read the details of the one that interests me.  Maybe you can consider adding a table of contents near the top so people can get to their favorite flower faster.

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         1. 76

            Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Ah, once again, thank you, Millionaire Tips. I had considered that, but felt that the table of contents might deter people from reading the whole article. I was hoping it would encourage folks to delve into the world of flower edibility, and concerned they might just stop at the table of contents.
            
            Still, it is a consideration, and I am taking all advice to heart.

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      2. 87

         rebekahELLEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I agree with you, at times I would rather include some relevant italicized and underlined words than remove them for a bot!  I'm writing for a human. 
         I thought of one more possibility that you could include if you can find a good one.  Have you found a relevant video about edible flowers?

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         1. 76

            Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, Rebekah! That is exactly how I feel about the bold and underlined words. I want the reader to comprehend the intent. I have not found one yet, but that is only because I haven't looked for one.
            
            If you think that would be helpful, I will see what I can find.

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      3. 84

         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I agree that if it's getting good traffic, just stop worrying about the score.   Scores are NOT important except for your ego! 
         
         The only people who need to worry about scores are people trying to promote their own website or blog, because they want links in their Hubs to be "do follow".  If that's not an issue for you then you can ignore scores completely as they offer NO other benefits.
         
         I would get rid of the dividers personally.  The first one looked cute but as they kept coming up, they became annoying for me. There seems no need for extra space between the first and second paragraph for each flower.  To me, the bold heading and photo are an obvious enough break without a divider there, either.  If you feel you need a bigger break between flowers, a single asterisk would do the job without being so intrusive. 
         
         I do think it could be a good idea to take the last section of the Hub - how to use edible flowers, including anniversaries - and make a new Hub with it.   It makes complete sense to keep all the individual flowers in one Hub, no matter how far a reader has to scroll down - but once you move on from that, I think you'd be better to say something like, "if you'd like to read more about how to use these lovely flowers, you'll find more information here..", with a hyperlink to the second Hub.   
         
         You could then "beef up" the second Hub with actual recipes for a few of the flowers - I'd move the banana blossoms recipe to the new Hub because you don't offer actual recipes for any of the others so it's a bit inconsistent where it is. 
         
         Never, ever, ever change the URL, no matter how dumb it looks!   The only way to change the URL is the delete the Hub and start again, which means you lose your 301 redirect from Squidoo and your Google ranking.

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         1. 76

            Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you, Marisa. Have to scoot home for the night, but will re-read what you wrote later this evening, or in the morning. Listening to all advice, as I want people to enjoy reading the information, and possibly learn something new!

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5. 87

   paperfacetsposted 10 years ago

   I am somewhat focusing in Hub scores for my transferred lenses. My very top page at the other site does not have a good score, as well. I actually see lots that I can do with mine.
   It can use some new styling.
   
   The One thing that stood out on yours was the shorter divider for each flower. It lines up with the image but It breaks the glance and the thought flow for each section. For flow, glancing, and a more helpful division I feel those could be considered for deleting.

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   1. 76

      Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, too, paperfacets! Will look into all of this when I am at a computer again. Time to close our store and head home.

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6. 76

   Shades-of-truthposted 10 years ago

   To Marisa and paperfacets:
   
   Marisa, because I have to take care of two full-time businesses during the day, I am not sure I can find the time to put the recipe on a hub on its own, and change things around a lot. However, I am going to change the divider thing, even if it is only done as an experiment, to see it that helps.
   
   That particular hub, which used to be a "lens", has always been either at the top of my traffic, or at number two, so I am loathe to change it around too much.
   
   paperfacets, I am going to remove the shorter dividers, when I get a chance, and leave the longer ones in place, simply to experiment, as I commented to Marisa. That particular hub was truly a labor of love, and it is hard for me to touch it. On the other hand, if it is being penalized for the dividers - short or long, it needs to be changed.
   
   I'll try to get to it, today, between customers, and thank you again!

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7. 60

   WestelCSposted 10 years ago

   For me the traffic matters alot but score is always a concern. Hope I would manage both of them.

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   1. 76

      Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well, the traffic is fine. I want to make sure people can view it easily on a mobile device, though, and according to some of the advice, the short "flowery" dividers I had were a hindrance. I removed them, and will see if that helps the hub score.
      
      I am too new here to know how to begin to manage either traffic or the hub score!

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