Connecting to Maven Again

1. 91

   Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

   Looks like they're connecting hubs to Maven sites again without the reverse being true.  Hoped they were done with this.  My newest hubs are being used to funnel traffic to maven sites but not vice versa.  Have checked several older hubs and a couple are also now linked.  Seems like they're being linked from my food related ones but not really in the same category, for example an eating disorder hub and how to buy filet mignon both linked to recipes, the recipes linked only to every other article on that site and nothing back to HP. This happening with anyone else's hubs?  If they're conducting tests again I wish they'd let us know.  I don't remember them every testing sites going only from Maven to us.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I don't see it. Which article or niche are you seeing this on.

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         Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         It's only on the mobile version like last time.  There is one on my article, Getting Your Picky Eater to Eat, https://wehavekids.com/parenting/How-to … ild-to-Eat - This one has been linked to the same Maven sleep article and Health Site since shortly after it was published and moved to a niche site.  I just thought they forgot one and was ignoring it figuring one didn't matter.  But now others are being linked including my newest articles.  My most recent one How to Buy and Cook a Filet Mignon https://delishably.com/meat-dishes/How- … et-Mignons is also linked to a Maven recipe site.  I have numerous recipes that could be included and know there are tons of others on HP that I would be happy to be linked too.  Again these links are created in boxes that look like the ads and are actually slightly bigger and more attention getting than the ads.  There is no reciprocity from the Maven sites to my sites - it is once more just a one way deal.

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            Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            I looked for a few of my astrology articles, and finally found a few under "Alternative Spirituality" which is odd, as astrology is popular. I write in several places. Anyway, I was just taken to Exemplore. So I don't understand what people are saying about pieces directly on The Maven.

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            1. 91

               Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               There are links on our niche articles made to look like ads, though bigger than normal ads to get more attention, that go directly to a Maven article.  That article has all of the articles on that author's website listed without any link back to our articles.  When this first happened we were told they were collecting data and it was just a test and would be reversed for a while then there would be reciprocity.  It was never reversed where there were only links from the Maven articles that were originally linked to mine and I looked at a number of other articles that might have been related to mine over a couple of months and never found a single one that was linked to mine.  I then just randomly looked at different articles to see if any I could find were linked to any articles on the HP niche sites written by anyone an never found any. Then after a couple of months they seemed to start taking them off.  I though that they'd then put some on ours and some on theirs - which would be reciprocity.  But again they're starting to put them on just on ours again.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      How do you know this?

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I don't pay attention to this type of thing, but you have to remember that Maven owns HP now.  They make money from both sites.  Many here are feeling doom and gloom but the truth is that Maven is not going to do anything to cause itself financial losses.  Yes, we may lose some money, but to think that HP is going under?  I don't think so..not for the foreseeable future.  A lot can happen when big changes like this take place.  They are testing things out.   My guess is that if one of their Mavens makes more money than you do, it would make sense to funnel page views from your HP site to theirs.  Fair?  No.  Stupid...probably.  If they do this enough, people will stop writing for HP because they will feel used.  I really don't think this will last.  BUT...those are just my thoughts.

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2. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   I am seeing less and less reason to feel good about this whole Maven thing,  Nothing suggests that they have better SEO skills that Hubpages already has--which provides a lot of motivation to exploit their Hubpages acquisition rather than nurture it.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Hubpages has the SEO talent, definitely NOT Maven considering the quality of the websites each controlled. Maven is the Ad partner not the SEO partner in this game.

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3. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   Frankly, I'm resigned to whatever will be will be. My earnings would be double or triple what they are now, but HP editors have killed that over the years. Again, whatever will be will be. I've given up caring.

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4. 94

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 years ago

   Yep, I too have found a link to a Maven site on one of my articles (in ToughNickel). It only shows on the mobile version of the article, but what is disturbing is that it is a video and link to a Maven "partner" and includes comments about their article but posted on my article. It is very eye-catching and I'm sure it will get many clicks for that partner.
   
   It is annoying because the video/ ad is not even on the same topic as my article and I have no way of removing it. It is placed just above my comments section so it looks to the reader as if it is part of my article.
   
   I don't like the way this merger is heading.

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      paradigmsearchposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      It's life. The only constant is change. I very much appreciate and need the payout every month, but I know it will be gone; it is what it is.

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5. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   Tried to talk. Couldn't. I guess i'm done.

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      Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I feel the same way. I still write a little when I am in the mood, but don't see this merger as a good thing.

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      1. 83

         Marsha Musselman1posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I only recently got a smartphone. Just looked for an app and see several and can't tell which one belongs to hubpages. Can someone clarify?
         
         This is the first I've read about Maven, is it them and hubpages merging or another entity?

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         1. 94

            Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Marsha, welcome to HubPages.
            
            HubPages no longer has an app. Maven and HubPages merged a few months ago. There are many other threads about the how and why.
            
            It's best to start a new thread if you have any questions, you'll get a better response (and people don't like it if you try and hijack their thread).

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6. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

   HP has been good to me. When it goes, it goes. It has been one heck of a ride on several fronts. I even wrote an entropy article about it, since moved to my website; good luck finding it.

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7. 83

   Marsha Musselman1posted 5 years ago

   Okay, well I saw a different thread and read that the mobile was available without the app.
   
   I've been on hubpages five years I just don't check the forums often enough.
   
   And not intending to hi-jack any threads. Sorry about that, Natalie Frank

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   1. 91

      Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      No problem.  I didn't see it as anything of the sort.  Welcome back.

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8. 96

   EricDockettposted 5 years ago

   I just went over to toughnickel because of something I saw in another thread and randomly looked at a bunch of Hubs. Most had links to Maven business content, which is bad enough. But several had links to Maven crafts pages.
   
   Once again: A hub on a business/finance site is intentionally being linked to an unrelated crafts page in order to drive traffic.
   
   Is this a bug? If not, how in the world is this okay?

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      theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I think this might need to be brought up in the technical section where it might stand a chance of being seen by a staffer.
      
      It's not good.

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   2. 91

      Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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         Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         It's okay because the priority is Maven.  If we are left afloat we have to have a function that benefits Maven.  So using the niche site to funnel traffic to Maven (which means away from HP) would be a benefit to them.  They said previously it was testing and that it would be reversed so that Maven sites would provide one way traffic to HP then they would make it reciprocal.  So far they had many of the niche site articles with one way traffic to Maven for months then stopped most.  I have regularly looked both at the sites that my articles were being used to market and spot sampled others since they took most of the one way traffic to Maven down but never saw any indication that there was ever one way traffic from Maven to HP.  Now they are starting up the one way traffic back to Maven and using our articles to market Maven's and Maven's to market their own.
         
         Original thread on this

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         1. 96

            EricDockettposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            The unfair absence of reciprocation is one thing, and I do find that aggravating. I worry more about the sites getting penalized by search engines.
            
            Sacrificing the health of the HubPages network sites to feed Maven authors just doesn't make sense in the long run. I don't see how it is a sustainable strategy.
            
            It would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

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               theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               I think it's one of the 'carrots' used to attract potential Mavens to hand over their websites... "Look we can funnel all the traffic you can handle."

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  I do not think so. New Mavens would never know to look on hubs, also Christin was somewhat into the process to move her website over, but decided not to just because Maven didn't really show her anything worth moving for. They made a lot of promises but didn't prove what they were saying, so to say.
                  
                  Why they are doing this beats me, but I thought that I should point this out.

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                     theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     I don't mean that new Mavens would look at hubs, just that Maven can demonstrate and prove traffic sources. I can't comment about Christin's situation but perhaps the 'facility' wasn't enabled at that time. Natalie thought they'd stopped doing it and only recently discovered it was happening again.

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                        lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        Maven is pitching by saying they have 94M uniques lol. They are trying to increase exposure or something. If it's a tactic to show people some stats, that's not going to work because the niche sites are on the same network.

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                        1. 91

                           Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                           What does that mean exactly?  Views that come from the niche sites would still be counted as views, maybe not for the purpose of ads but I know my view totals include the ones that come from niche sites as they're listed in mys stats.  Sorry - I'm still a computer and program related idiot.

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                              lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                              All I mean is that Maven (the network including HP) has like 94 million unique views a month. So channeling people from here to there is not going to increase this number.
                              
                              I am not saying what they are doing is good, just saying I don't see why they are doing this.

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                                 Natalie Frankposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                 But doesn't that include all our views as well?  I thought that was part of the main reason for buying HP in the first place was our traffic.

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                                    lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                    That's exactly what I'm saying. That includes our views, so taking our views and putting them on Maven does not increase their views. When they say 94 million unique visitors, that means unique people. Views and unique visitors is a different thing. One visitor can give you ten views or one visitor can give you one view.

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                                 theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                                 Yes, but when 'selling' the idea of moving a site to Maven, they can show this channel of traffic from HP to Maven. You might know that visitors should be 'unique', but most people will neither know or care.
                                 
                                 "Hey look, we have this special arrangement whereby your article summary will be displayed on all these other articles. Traffic is guaranteed. Yay!"
                                 
                                 It has to be the reason, otherwise why aren't they giving us reciprocal link backs?

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9. 38

   ChristinSposted 5 years ago

   I can't say for sure what's up.  I know I decided to not move forward at this time and they said to leave it open ended for awhile and were very understanding about my hesitation. 
   
   She said they want to have more "case studies" under their belt to provide me with accurate projections down the road. She said she wanted to wait until she can prove that a move would be an instant gain for my site. 
   
   We'll see what happens with those case studies I suppose.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Okay cool.

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      theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      There you go... "instant gain". In other words, HubPages visitors channelled to Maven. They probably haven't got accurate figures yet.

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         lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Yup

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10. 91

    Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

    Yep.  So seems they didn't really ever have any intention of reversing the direction of the links nor of establishing a reciprocal relationship.  I just found a Maven link on one of my Q andA also so they're leaving no stone unturned.  I wouldn't mind if those links went to other hubbers articles but do mind this.  Very much.

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    1. 97

       Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Natalie, I have a question about those Maven links you're referring to. Are they the vibrating/oscillating ads that I talked about in another thread?

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          EricDockettposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          I know you're asking Natalie but I've seen both as of yesterday: vibrating "ads" promoting the football channels on Maven, as well as image links (sometimes off topic) pointing straight to Maven.
          
          For the vibrating ads, they appear to take up both an ad slot and the "Popular" slot, and so are often stacked one on top of the other, which looks insane.

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             Glenn Stokposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks Eric. I sent the link to my other thread to the staff. Hopefully other's will chime in there and staff will see I'm not the only one noticing the problem.

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11. 91

    Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

    After literally dozens of articles (over 10 pages of post) about this three months ago, Paul replied on one occasion saying:
    
    "These are the RCWs (recirculating widgets) we’ve posted about a few times.
    
    They are still in development and will point across all articles in the coalition.
    
    We are collecting data and working on a V2.
    
    They do point to Maven sites from HP sites but that will change shortly."
    
    This isn't what happened and they certainly don't point across all articles in the coalition.  It seems their only purpose is to gain views from us for Maven.  Not a happy camper.

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       TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not seeing any loss in views.  In fact, my views are higher than they have ever been.

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          EricDockettposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          The loss of views is probably minimal for most people. It will be more pronounced for those who write in a niche and have a lot of articles that appear in the "Popular" section of the sidebar. That Popular section is removed and replaced with links or ads for Maven.
          
          Even if it doesn't equate to real lost traffic for an individual writer, it is still funneling readers away from the niche sites and sending them elsewhere.
          
          While this certainly looks on the surface like it takes earnings away from Hubbers in order to prop up Maven writers, who knows?  Maybe this is part of an overall ad strategy that somehow benefits HP writers. That's certainly possible, and we don't know what goes on behind the scenes.
          
          But many of us remember the bad old days, and its only natural to be nervous about things that seem detrimental to the success HP has seen over the past couple of years.

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             lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             Yup, and from the bad ol' days, we've learned that cross-linking unless directly related is a no-go. And when it is directly related, link from within the article. Side-wide links on the sidebar should only be for the respective domain.

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12. 93

    Chriswillman90posted 5 years ago

    My views tanked today, I'm not sure if it's because of these changes but this is pretty alarming.

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13. 0

    lambservantposted 5 years ago

    What is Maven?

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       theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Maven owns HubPages.

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