Is COV-19 Affecting Your Traffic?

1. 96

   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   Have you noticed any changes which you think could be attributed to COVID-19? (sorry, spelled it wrong in the title ) Overall my traffic is down 20% in the last fortnight whereas it should be increasing as the gardening season kicks off. I reckon some of the loss is also due to school closure and less traffic to educational hubs and also ongoing Google updates. On the plus side, a hub about setting up and using Skype has gained about 200 views per day and rising over the last week (usually it only gets about 20 views). I guess these are visits from people staying at home and wanting to interact remotely with others.

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      Kierstin Gunsbergposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Just slightly, yes. At least I assume it's the pandemic. I know that personally, I'm Googling a lot less and just hopping on to check COVID-19 updates before I get back to disinfecting the doorknobs.

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      Al Stineposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know if it's connected, but my tiny bits of traffic took a nosedive since the Maven transition.

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      jansharesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, it has definitely gone down further in the last few days. It has to be COVID-19. My initial thinking was that since people are home, they would be online more searching for stuff. But to the contrary. If people aren't working, aren't going out, aren't researching for school, there's less reason to search. I'm working from home now, doing teletherapy with clients. As Kierstin said, people are mostly looking for stuff related to COVID-19, not much else. Stay safe everyone.

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         lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Yup, most people who are home are on Netflix or something. They are not looking up stuff.
         
         
         
         Here's the link to the source of the image: https://neilpatel.com/blog/coronavirus/

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         1. 94

            CYong74posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            This chart is pretty accurate. My culture and travel articles have tanked. But my reelrundown hubs are on the rise. (Sadly, not my gaming articles, though)

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         2. 96

            eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            The few food recipes I have on Delishably are getting quite a bit more traffic, especially the bread baking one!

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            1. 88

               lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               I can imagine. Many people have hoarded up on flour and they probably have never baked before.

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               1. 82

                  Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  I tried to deep fry meat 3 times. It's the only thing I've ever used flour for in cooking.
                  
                  Somehow, on my first try, I managed to deep fry some frog legs wonderfully.
                  
                  My next two ventures in deep frying were absolute disasters. I had to scrape the burned batter and skin off of some chicken, and just skillet grill the stuff to rescue it.
                  
                  Those ventures were years ago. I just gave it up. So basically, I owned some flour once 5 or 6 years ago, and never before or since.

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                     lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Haha. I have never tried to deep fry meat, I doubt it cooks fast enough on the inside. If I were to do it I'd saute it (to cook it) first then roll it in some eggs and flour before deep frying.
                     
                     My dads generation got rid of the frogs and they don't sell them, he used to hunt or catch them. I assume they are skinnier and therefore cook in time before the batter burns up.
                     
                     You should definitely try again, but not right now. It may be hard to find flour lol

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                     1. 82

                        Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        Yes that is exactly right. Bullfrog legs are pretty thin, and so the meat and the batter were "done" at roughly the same time.
                        
                        When I tried to do the chicken, I had the cooking oil WAY too hot, and so I just burned the outside of it.
                        
                        I think I would need to get some sort of cooking thermometer which I could stick into the hot cooking oil in order to (and learn what temp range is best) feel confident about giving that a go again.
                        
                        I love fried foods, but of course they aren't the healthiest thing to be eating all the time - so I just figured it was for the best I not get into it.
                        
                        Two things which grow here to a great abundance are yellow squash and okra. You plant those things and you can easily wind up with so much you wind up giving pounds and pounds of both away to whoever will take it.
                        
                        Both of those are excellent when sliced and batter/fried.

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                        1. 61

                           Randy Godwinposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           Wesman, I learned to fry food from my  mother, and she always used a cast iron frying pan to fry chicken in.
                           She always chilled the chicken pieces in ice water before battering them with flour. Start out at around med/ hi to prevent the chicken from burning and cook until the water has evaporated from the chicken. Add salt and pepper while it's cooking. It's better to cook the chicken longer than to cook it faster and hotter. Enjoy!

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                           1. 82

                              Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                              See, that's the exact problem here - my mom doesn't fry chicken at all. She just won't do it.
                              
                              She does fry stuff - ye olde chicken fried steaks from time to time, and of course fish fillets.
                              
                              I can come home certain times of year with more bass and catfish than can get eaten any time soon. And those freshwater fish need some soaking and batter frying to not taste like a Texas creek.
                              
                              ...and of course the fried yellow squash and the great southern treat, fried okra.
                              
                              My dad...I'd imagine he could cook eggs. I've never seen him cook a thing in his life though.
                              
                              So when I had consulted my mother about frying chicken - she basically said something like, "best of luck to you."
                              
                              LOL!
                              
                              That chilling them in ice water thing would have probably done me a solid, seeing as how I was running blind on temperature.
                              
                              Speaking of the current virus hysteria - my brother runs the kitchen of one of the top ten or so most vaunted BBQ restaurants in Texas.  While his job is secure, business has taken a massive blow.
                              
                              The bar is shut down. No live music for the time being. Things are bad.
                              
                              I've got one good cast iron skillet. It's a bit too shallow for frying. I'm going to get a bigger and deeper one at some point though. Those things are great, but a @$^% to maintain.

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                              1. 97

                                 theraggededgeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                 In the UK, a lot of the shut-down restaurants have turned to deliveries to try and keep the business going. So restaurants shut but kitchens and phones open. The UK govt has changed the law to allow them to operate in that way.

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                                 1. 93

                                    FatFreddysCatposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                    They're doing the same thing here in New Jersey. Take-out orders only, no dine-in service.

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                                 2. 82

                                    Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                    Yeah. At my brother's restaurant, a big part of the problem is it is situated across the highway from a gigantic hospital, and so of course the hospital has always been a huge part of the business.
                                    
                                    But at present the hospital employees, once they enter at the start of their shift, they can not leave until their shift is over.
                                    
                                    The people losing big are of course the people who already made the least amount of money. Wait staff, dish washing folks, and people running the cash register.
                                    
                                    Over on Reddit yesterday I was reading a guy saying he was thinking of killing himself. His job was shut down and he's got a wife and children, and he feels like he's completely failed in life because he doesn't know when he can provide rent and food, etc, again.
                                    
                                    All you can do is say please don't do that, things will get better, and hope the person was just freaking out for the moment.

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                                    lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                    Here in Germany too. I keep getting emails from the places that I have previously ordered from.

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                              2. 61

                                 Randy Godwinposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                                 A thin skillet will work Wesman, it just heats up too fast if you're not careful. I agree, fried squash, okra, and fried green tomatoes, are delicacies.

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         3. 92

            jansharesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Bingo!

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   4. 93

      OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      After steadily rising since January, my traffic is down sharply today, to almost half.  It's only one day, so I'm not going to panic yet but if it persists for a week or more, I will start to worry.

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   5. 86

      Richard Hamptonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't had much traffic either.  Of course, I'm new and only written 4 articles so far but it does seem to be pretty quiet the last few days.

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   6. 89

      NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Well, I did have a noticeable drop in traffic over the last couple days. So, yeah, I was thinking it was related to the coronavirus.

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   7. 52

      erorantesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Hello mister eugbug. People are busy cleaning and sanitizing their homes. They are busy Preparing their own meals instead of going to a restaurant. Most restaurants are closed in some states. Things will get back to normal soon. I wish you a good week.

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   8. 52

      erorantesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Good afternoon mister eugbug. I do not remember if I submit my response to you. Anyways, people are busy cleaning and sanitizing their homes. Also, they are busy cooking their meals. Restaurants are closed. I wish you a great week.

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      1. 96

         eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Ana.

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   9. 91

      Sherry Hewinsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I have a couple of articles that are doing much better than usual. The rest are mostly still at their normal levels.

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   10. 91

       Thelma Albertsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Possibly the virus is affecting our traffics. My article traffics are getting lesser and lesser. I hope it will get better soon.

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       Stevennix2001posted 4 years agoin reply to this

       interesting

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2. 84

   bhattucposted 4 years ago

   It could be a possibility though there could be other recessionary reasons also which can be attributed to it.

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3. 93

   FatFreddysCatposted 4 years ago

   My traffic was already going down the crapper way before the Coronavirus came along... but it certainly hasn't helped.

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4. 60

   alambientertainmentposted 4 years ago

   I joined hubpages during the last week of January, 2020, and since then I haven't really gotten stellar traffic like 1000 views per day. But, my numbers have definitely gone down since the Corona virus moved from China to the rest of the world.

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5. 88

   lobobrandonposted 4 years ago

   Not so sure about a drop here, but my website has had a 20% drop too. I will have to compare year on year to find out if this has had an effect on HP because my numbers are slightly up when compared to last month, but as you say, it's the time of the year when gardening hubs do well.

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6. 90

   Kenna McHughposted 4 years ago

   Yes. There is a drop. But, China is now on the upswing. The rest of the world will be, too. I am sure as the weather gets warmer and people calm down, it will get better overall.

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7. 93

   Gloriousconfusionposted 4 years ago

   My traffic has gone up slightly, almost double what it was last month, but still poor, and much less than it was in June last year.  I agree - it is the gardening articles which increase traffic at this time.

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8. 82

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years ago

   I've nothing positive to report. I'm at 40-50% the traffic I had in October-November.

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9. 92

   poppyrposted 4 years ago

   Most of my articles are video game related, so my traffic is up. Earnings, however, are less than half of what they should be.

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10. 94

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    My traffic is definitely affected, which is no surprise since my best-performers are all travel and culture articles on China, Japan, and Singapore. I.E. three of the worst first-hit countries.
    
    But what's hitting me harder is CPM. Is our CPM linked to the stock markets? (LOL). I had one of my worst days ever last Thursday i.e. when the DJ tanked. I'm descended to staring at the Dow every hour currently!

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11. 96

    PaulGoodman67posted 4 years ago

    Traffic generally down. A lot of my hubs are aimed at students and as the colleges and schools shut down, the views go down. It generally follows the patterns you'd expect though.
    
    Generally, Hub Ad earnings not great, but Amazon has increased - some survivalist products bought, lots of fresh food, even though I don't write about those topics.

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    1. 82

       Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Interestingly enough, despite my traffic being at 40-50% what it was just 4 months ago, my amazon earnings seem to be only a little bit below average.
       
       So I'm wondering should I scour my content for dead amazon links and search for suitable amazon products to replace them with.

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       1. 96

          PaulGoodman67posted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Online shopping is a glimmer of hope. The long term consequences of the economic crash are difficult to predict, but I would expect things like advertising revenues to generally drop. People will continue to go online though, perhaps more so. But they aren't going to search for things like travel articles for a number of months - one of mine fell by 90% in views, it's fairly obvious why some topics are going to fail right now.

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