Friday HubPages Traffic Falls Off Cliff - What Happened!?!

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  1. Writer Fox profile image31
    Writer Foxposted 8 years ago

    HP Stats just updated again, and my traffic is back to yesterday's levels.  This is so weird. The only thing I can think of is the time yesterday (past 24-hours) when HP was offline and/or too slow-loading for visitors to wait.

    1. Amanda Severn profile image95
      Amanda Severnposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Just checked, and my stats are heading back up again. Phew!

    2. Writer Fox profile image31
      Writer Foxposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Quantcast figures are in and HP's traffic fell 19% on May 6th from the rise on May 5th.

  2. LongTimeMother profile image93
    LongTimeMotherposted 8 years ago

    This certainly is a roller-coaster ride. My first big dip was then restored to near normal ... but when I checked stats a few hours ago, I had dropped about 60 percent. Now I'm kind of close to normal again.

    That's 'normal' on a bad day ... not a good day yet.

    I'm interested in reading people's theories about what's causing it. Makes the ride more interesting. smile

  3. Sharlee01 profile image79
    Sharlee01posted 8 years ago

    Mine is way way down...

  4. paradigm search profile image54
    paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

    My traffic has dropped the last two days as well. I'm beginning to wonder if we are in for another weekend "adventure"?

  5. NateB11 profile image88
    NateB11posted 8 years ago

    Yeah, traffic looking bad. Somewhat close, but lower, to pre-surge levels from early-mid April but still even a little worse than last year, same time. My own sites, which don't do that well but okay, are about the same.

  6. relache profile image72
    relacheposted 8 years ago

    I live in a city that does everything it possibly can on the Internet, and it's clear that with the imminent holiday and a really nice spring forecast predicted, people usually on the web are making plans to do anything except be web-centric this coming weekend.

    1. NateB11 profile image88
      NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Good to know. I keep forgetting about the weather and forgot about the Holiday too. Wondering also if school has something to do with it; near the end of the semester, with finals happening; at least where I am.

      1. paradigm search profile image54
        paradigm searchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        I'd totally forgotten about Mom Day. And then it's Memorial Day in two weeks... And then it's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZZD8ckwLJA , whereupon there will be the obligatory bitching and moaning for the next three to four months. lol

        I gotta come up with at least one summer-related hub I do.

  7. paradigm search profile image54
    paradigm searchposted 8 years ago

    Hey, folks. According to what I'm seeing on GA, this Friday won't be as bad as last Friday.

    1. NateB11 profile image88
      NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think you're right. My views are close to what they were last Friday and the day's far from over.

      1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
        TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

        Not mine.  I just checked and so far today, my views are just a bit over half of what they were by the end of the day last Friday.  They have been decent all week, but I think things won't be so good tonight.  I think I need to find some new topics!

  8. maalarue profile image73
    maalarueposted 8 years ago

    Last Friday was a huge drop, but this Friday even more so. This seems to happen every year about this time. However, I have also noticed a considerable drop in my Google position. I have dropped back at last one whole page. That is very bad for traffic. So my question would be if maybe this is due to HubPages making so many changes at once. Especially concerning are all the Ads.

    I believe our sites have gotten very spammy with all the Ads HubPages keeps adding. That is something Google frowns upon. I am now counting 7 Ads on our pages. And HubPages is now partnering with other Ad networks on top of Google Ads. What is going on? I have been forced to remove all of my Amazon capsules due to all of the other Ads cluttering my sites.

    And if they are adding all these extra Ads, where is the Ad revenue going? Are we getting any share of this? I have not noticed an increase in profits.

    I truly hope HubPages does not lose focus and run this company into the ground due to greed. I enjoy being a part of this company and hope they do the right thing going forward.

    Any thoughts?

    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      It almost seems to me like the team is getting desperate.  I find the numbers to be very discouraging, even though I still am making payout each month.  I agree that all of these changes are bad and that HP should cut back on the number of ads they are placing.  I was not aware that they could use ads other than those from Google, but if this is what they are doing, I think it is a bad practice.

      Many of us are wondering what is going on, and hope things will straighten out, but with this latest hit, and nobody being able to explain it, I think it is time for HP to take a step back and reassess what they are doing.  You cannot continually expect people to work hard, produce good content and then get smacked around and think it's OK.  It's not.

      1. maalarue profile image73
        maalarueposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        Yes, desperate and blinded by greed.

        I have spent the last 2 hours doing more research and have found that many other top volume sites here at HubPages have taken a tremendous hit. Once ranking on the top fold of page one on Google, they are not even on the first three pages anymore. This is very sad.

        I just wanted to confirm it wasn't just me.

        Something needs to be changed soon.

        1. Jayne Lancer profile image91
          Jayne Lancerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Yes.

          Panda 4.1 last September caused my traffic to fall to one third of what it was. It never recovered, although it had started to look hopeful shortly before April 27. Then it fell to one tenth of what it was before panda 4.1. My traffic was at its very worst so far yesterday.

          I ought to add that I've published 16 new hubs since Panda 4.1.

          Edit: I've just checked another of my accounts where I have the HubPages Ad Program turned off, and it seems to be doing better. This could just be coincidence - or could it have something to do with the recent changes in ad partners?

          1. maalarue profile image73
            maalarueposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Interesting observation regarding your Ad Program. Thanks for your input @Jayne Lancer.

      2. Kylyssa profile image90
        Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        I stayed with Squidoo through the desperate flailing about of their last two years and this is nothing like it.

        I think some of the changes are great, such as the more visible and sticky share bar and the increased number of the hubber's own hubs shown on each hub. I disagree with some of the staff's priorities, such as their focus on fixing high traffic hubs rather than fixing low traffic hubs and failing to properly encourage hubbers to work on their own hubs. I also think hubs have gotten ad-heavy and I'm kind of annoyed that photos can't be anchored to text capsules and thus get belly fat ads between them and the text they are intended to illustrate.

        But they aren't wildly thrashing around and blaming the HubPages writers and deleting good, original hubs left and right. They aren't changing things and creating bugs they never bother fixing. They aren't implementing buggy, broken filters without repairing them. Broken elements do not stay broken for months or years. They reply promptly to hubber concerns. They don't tell us we are using HP wrong by trying to earn money on HubPages. They allow two-way communication between staff and hubbers. They do things based on our feedback. They don't treat us like the enemy. Those things are important.

        They are doing the opposite of what Squidoo was doing in its long, drawn-out death throes and that's great. 

        HubPages has no logical interest in killing our traffic or in killing HubPages. They are looking for a path forward. I'm not pulling my hair out over these changes, even the ones I disagree with, because I can see they are trying to fix things to work in the future rather than trying to hang onto something that doesn't exist anymore.

        1. NateB11 profile image88
          NateB11posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          I agree. Admin are approaching things the smart and attentive way.

        2. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
          TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          You make good points, and I agree with them.  However, continually making changes one after another is not a good choice.  Time should be taken to see how changes affect income and views so the team knows exactly what works and what doesn't.  It just seems like they are in an ongoing struggle with Google, and Google seems to be winning!

    2. LongTimeMother profile image93
      LongTimeMotherposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hello maalarue. I don't know if they're doing 'the right thing' or not. However I do find it reassuring that they're making an effort. That's a lot more encouraging than if they were to just toss their hands in the air and consider it all 'too hard'.

  9. Solaras profile image96
    Solarasposted 8 years ago

    One thing I noticed the other day, is that the ads are slow to load.  The first ad took 6-7 seconds to pop into its box after the rest of the page had loaded.  Do ads loading slowly affect page speed in Google's eyes?

    Also, the number of impressions I receive is about 100 less than my 60% of pageviews.  If people are reading any of my hubs, which duration on page suggests some folks are sticking around, wouldn't they see more ad impressions since the hubs are so spammy (6-7 ads). I don't understand why the average reader would not see at least two ads per visit, thus making my share of impressions more than my pageviews.  Am I misunderstanding something here?

 
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