Could Someone Help Me Understand This

1. 60

   Ben Aidooposted 9 years ago

   I wrote 4 hubs on calories, all of them are featured. I searched for them and didn't find any of them on the first 5 pages of Google "proper". Then it occurred to me to add ", hubpages" to my search for each hub. A Google page came up, and there they were, all four hubs were the first result on page 1 for each search. Is this a Google subdomain for HP articles? And could this be the reason traffic is falling on HP? Since visitors won't normally add ", hubpages" to their search on Google.

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The main thing is if they have indexed your Hub or not.
      You can confirm for a Hub by doing a site search on Google like this.
      
      site:fullusername.hubpages.com/hub/hubURLstuffgoeshere
      
      If you get a result, then it is indexed.
      
      So if it is indexed, but you are not seeing it for a specific set of search terms, that basically means that there is other content with those search terms that Google sees as more useful/authoritative/etc.
      
      You may want to look into SEO for these Hubs and see how competitive those search terms are.

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      1. 60

         Ben Aidooposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for your helpful comment. I raised the issue because I have a Diet and Fitness Group on LinkedIn with more than 6000 members. I was able to make a post to my group and link it to my hubs on Hubpages, then in January this year LinkedIn began rejecting my Hubpages links, referring to "Error" in connecting with HP. So I was wondering if it had something to do with Google putting HP on a subdomain, but I guess not.

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         1. 70

            Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            No. I do not believe they are related. It sounds like there may be an issue with LinkedIn. If you are having trouble with an URL for a Hub, then you can make sure it is available to readers who are not logged in, by logging out and viewing the URL.

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         2. 94

            Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Google cannot put HP on a subdomain - the phrase makes no sense.
            
            The creation of subdomains is carried out by the website owner, not google.
            
            Subdomains are simply a way to partition websites. Here on HP each author has a subdomain....or in other words a section of the hubpages website.
            
            Most sites use subdomains for topic categories - see about.com.

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            1. 60

               Ben Aidooposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Mathew Meyer who is an authority on these matters said HP is not on a Google subdomain, and in fact, HP is not on a subdomain, but to say as you do that HP can create a subdomain, and Google cannot is to underestimate Google's power.

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               1. 94

                  Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  You have misunderstood Matthew. Where did he explain what a subdomain is?
                  
                  Google can create subdomains for its own site, in fact it does. See news.google.com or images.google.com  as examples.
                  
                  Google may be powerful but it cannot put another website on a subdomain or create subdomains for other sites.
                  
                  Here are a few examples of HP subdomains: susana-s.hubpages.com or relache.hubpages.com.

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2. 82

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   There are a huge number of websites on this topic so i am not surprised they did not come up until you added more keywords.  I am sure you could just as easily added your name or some other highly specific  keyword and got the same result.

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3. 77

   colorfuloneposted 9 years ago

   There is no Google sub-domain for HubPages articles.
   It is just Google.

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4. 0

   calculus-geometryposted 9 years ago

   (1) HubPages is a content farm.
   
   (2) Google is not fond of content farms, but does not  completely hate HubPages.
   
   (3) Content farm pages can still show up in searches if the topic is not a saturated one, and/or if the page is well-aged with many backlinks.
   
   (4) You write exclusively on saturated topics and your articles are very new with few to no backlinks and they are posted on a content farm.  This is not what is generally considered a winning combination.
   
   Best of luck to you.

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   1. 91

      aesta1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Calculus-geometry, I have one hub that I can't find and I am sure it got the non-winning combination, should I revise it or just junk it? Is this why not many hubbers are writing new articles? Is it still worth writing in a content farm like HP?

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5. 93

   SmartAndFunposted 9 years ago

   I am probably not the best person to try to explain this, but I'll give it a shot. Ben, when you added "hubpages" to your Google search, you were simply asking Google to find instances of that word on the worldwide web (in conjunction with the other words you included in that specific search). This does not mean that Google has created a HubPages subdomain, it simply means the word "hubpages" was found on the www along with the other keywords you asked Google to search for.
   
   You are correct that searchers are generally not going to add the "HubPages" keyword to their Google searches. This is why it is important to choose topics wisely when writing on HubPages, or any other site for that matter. If you choose topics which are overly saturated, your pages are competing with millions of pages already on the web. If you choose topics which have not been already written about millions of times, you will have less competition. If you can find topics which are not over-saturated AND in which you can demonstrate knowledge, education, experience or some other form of authority, and then do an in-depth job covering those topics, over time your pages will naturally rise closer and closer to the beginning of Google search results.
   
   This is the elusive beast we are all (well, at least most of us) are chasing here. Your pages have to be found by searchers who are not typing in "hubpages" when they go to Google looking for information. It takes time, work and a bit of luck.
   
   My apologies if this is information you are already familiar with.

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   1. 60

      Ben Aidooposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Not at all Smart, thanks for your time and comment. Though the conundrum some hubbers, including myself, face is that the topics in which we have knowledge, experience and interest are the overly saturated topics, to borrow your words. I could write about "How to tie a bow tie" or "How to find exotic rocks". And I may succeed in putting together good hubs, but I will be separating myself from the topics I know best and capable of writing about from experience, in pursuit of hubs on bow ties and exotic rocks about which I have no more than cursory knowledge, and experience not worth mentioning. However, I am encouraged by the fact that when I found my hubs, they were in prominent positions on Google/Hubpages page 1, and it's just a matter of time when they will ascend to Google page 1.

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   2. 0

      calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      SmartAndFun you are urgently needed on this thread
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/128973

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      1. 93

         SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Uh-ohhh, I am a little afraid to follow that link. Maybe I will just butt out today, LOL. I need to find a hobby.

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6. 78

   Uzochukwu Mikeposted 9 years ago

   It sometimes take time before links are indexed. So, even if you do not see the topic of your hub in Google search result today, you will see it in month (s) to come.
   
   Ensure that your subdomain is added to Google webmaster tool.

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7. 0

   Lisa Muellerposted 9 years ago

   Smart.... You are smart and Funny :-) Enjoy your day

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   1. 93

      SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks! They are doing just fine without me -- if fact, they are certainly doing better. 

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