Allow author subdomain ownership for Norton to rate HubPages account

1. 83

   ecogrannyposted 9 years ago

   I was delighted to find my whole wheat sourdough biscuit recipe on the first page of a Google search today. Unfortunately, Norton gave it a gray question mark, showing it is unrated and may not be safe. See the screen shot attached.
   
   
   
   If I found that gray question mark on a search link, I would not click on it. Since I don't own this site, I cannot ask Norton to review and rate it. What can I do to help Norton see that my pages are safe?
   
   Edit: Changed screen shot in hopes of making text large enough to read.

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   1. 86

      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe it just needs time and traffic in order for Norton to recognize it.
      
      I stopped using Norton years ago and switched to McAfee. They seem to be more secure and up to date with testing, updating, and blocking viruses than Norton. I've never regretted the move from Norton to McAfee.

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      1. 83

         ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         bravewarrior, thank you for responding. I've been on HubPages for two months now, with more than 100 hubs (transferred from Squidoo), and Norton still has not tested my subdomain. Only the owner of a site can ask Norton to test it, so I'm out of luck until HubPages fixes this problem.
         
         Thank you for sharing your views about Norton/McAfee. I could discuss my Norton and McAfee experiences in another thread, but won't get into that here.

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         1. 86

            bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Ecogranny, I just typed in the title of a product description I wrote and posted on HP last year. It comes up on the first page in Google and has a green check to the right of it. I also tested a more recent article and Bravewarrior on HubPages. They have green checks, too.
            
            Maybe you just need to be patient until Google indexes your articles.
            
            Have you tried putting ecogranny on HubPages into the search bar to see what kind of results you get?

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            1. 86

               bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I did a search regarding how Norton deems sites as safe. I found this link:  https://safeweb.norton.com/
               
               Not sure if this helps or not.

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            2. 83

               ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               @bravewarrior, thanks again for thinking creatively about this. Yes, when I discovered this, I did try searching. While all other search engines find ecogranny.hubpages just fine, both Google and Norton Safe Search seem not to know my subdomain exists except for the links other people have made to my lenses or hubs.
               
               When I first joined HubPages two months ago, Google continued to send traffic to my lenses-turned hubs. My pages continued to show up on Norton Safe Search, which I use most often, just fine. So I think they were indexed then.
               
               Now I get less traffic every single day. Many of my hubs are down to zero views. Does that mean Google has de-indexed my entire subdomain? If so, what would that have to do with asking Norton to rate it?
               
               I have never been an SEO person. I don't know what Panda or Penguin mean. I try to write good quality material about topics with which I have a history and some knowledge. I'm still updating my pages as quickly as I can get to them. I'm about half way through that process.
               
               I hope there is a mechanism in place to let Norton know that we would like them to recognize our subdomains, since we cannot do it ourselves, not being owners of the site.
               
               I hope one of the HubPages staff knows what it is and where I can find it will point it out to me.

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               1. 86

                  bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  ecogranny, have you added ecogranny.hubpages.com/ to your Google Webmaster tools? Maybe that's the problem. I have my HP subdomain and my blog listed in my Webmaster tools. I get reports monthly for each account and can check traffic whenever I want.

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                  1. 83

                     ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes, Bravewarrior, I get those reports too. This is not about checking traffic. This is about getting Norton to review my subdomain for safety so people know it's safe to click through when they find one of my hubs in a search.

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   2. 71

      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That message just says that they have not tested the domain.
      That does NOT indicate that there is any issue with the site or the content.
      
      This isn't something over which we have control as Norton is treating each subdomain as separate.
      
      They have a site ownership process, but it involves adding some code to confirm you own the domain/subdomain, so that is not something you can do for your subdomain at this time.
      
      (See "Web site ownership verification tips")
      http://safeweb.norton.com/help/site_own … ting_rated

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      1. 83

         ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for responding, Matthew Meyer. The problem is that after nearly two and a half months, Norton still hasn't rated my subdomain, which means anyone getting one of my articles in a search is going to see that grey question mark and know the site has not been verified as safe. I don't click on links with that grey question mark, and I doubt anyone else does.
         
         Re the link to Norton's FAQ about getting our sites rated. I actually started there, before searching the Learning Center for an answer to this problem and subsequently posting here.
         
         As you say, I cannot add the code that verifies I am the site owner, since I am not.
         
         Only HubPages can do that. Will you please? I would appreciate it deeply, as I'm pretty much dead in the water here without it.

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         1. 71

            Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            If you would like to make a request for a feature to be developed for the site, you can do so here.
            http://hubpages.com/forum/category/6634
            
            I moved this one there.

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   3. 83

      ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Well, it's been almost five months now since I joined HubPages and all my former Squidoo lenses were transferred here. Norton still deems my subdomain, ecogranny.hubpages.com unsafe because it has not been verified.
      
      Neither Norton nor Google find the subdomain in a search on either "ecogranny" or "ecogranny hubpages."
      
      Both Norton and Google will return Pinterest, Facebook and other sites that link to ecogranny on HubPages, but neither return any of my pages in a search.
      
      My traffic remains zip. Is there any way at HubPages to get that little code Norton needs from the owner of the site so Norton will begin indexing my pages, please?

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      1. 32

         Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Google shows your subdomain and 64 of your Hubs in its index: http://goo.gl/JmiYQl.
         
         If you have more featured Hubs than that, open a Google Webmaster Tools account and submit the Hub URLs for featured Hubs that Google doesn't have.

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2. 84

   Tembrookeposted 9 years ago

   It sounds like this is something HubPages would have to do, since you can't register as a site owner. :-\

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   1. 83

      ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yes. Exactly. Thank you, @Tembrooke.

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   Dressage Husbandposted 9 years ago

   I hope you got this solved Ecogranny I never seemed to have this problem, but I think Writer Fox made the best suggestion on this.

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4. 83

   ecogrannyposted 9 years ago

   @Writer Fox, thank you for your advice. I'm glad to know Google can see the pages, even if it doesn't bring them up in a search.
   
   But did you notice the little grey Norton question mark next to them? That means Norton doesn't know whether my pages are safe. This is a HUGE problem, because if Norton thinks they aren't safe, then people like me will never click on them if ever they do come up in a search.
   
   Only HubPages can ask Norton to review the subdomain, and after all these months, it still has not done so. I am at a loss. I never had this problem on Squidoo. Many of my lenses came up above the fold on the first page of a search, and all were verified by Norton.
   
   I would be most grateful if someone at HubPages would fix this problem so my pages can start getting traffic again. Five months is a long time to watch years of one's work going down the drain.

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5. 83

   ecogrannyposted 9 years ago

   @Dressage Husband, thank you. I appreciate your encouraging support. As more and more of my hubs become unfeatured for lack of Google traffic, my hopes dim. Webmaster Tools, as Writer Fox mentioned, are useful only for featured hubs. I'll go through the list and see if Google missed any, but it's Norton's review that is the focus of my inquiry. With Norton showing every. last. one. of. my. hubs. as. suspect, I have little hope of ever garnering traffic here.
   
   Just to be clear, Norton liked all my hubs when they were on Squidoo, and so did Google.

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   1. 32

      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Try posting the problem with Norton in the Technical Forum: http://hubpages.com/forum/category/3001
      If you do that, someone on the tech staff will see it.
      
      I don't use Norton so I didn't see a notice when I looked for your Hubs.
      
      Better yet, try posting here: https://community.norton.com/en/forums/my-website

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      1. 83

         ecogrannyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Writer Fox. I've already discussed with Norton and they say HubPages admin is the only answer.

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         1. 71

            Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Norton's own site lists HubPages as safe, so there is a problem with the accuracy of the information the software is presenting to you.

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