There has been a significant update to the Google search results that we first noticed the evening of February 23. We have always believed that the only way to long term success is by creating useful high quality content. We also strongly believe in Google’s desire to have the best content rise to the top of search results. We believe that HubPages’ authors’ interests and Google’s are aligned and ultimately this update will create value to both of our audiences.
Google has written about this update, and the media has covered it extensively as the entire online universe has been influenced. For those who are concerned that their high quality original content has seen significant changes, our recommendation is to be patient – good content has a history of returning to previous traffic levels after significant updates to search engine algorithms.
Changes like this are an opportunity to be reminded that once things settle down, the cream of the content will rise to the top. As a site that’s always been squarely on the side of good writing, we are confident that our content will continue to do well on all search engines. As we learn more about the update, we will keep you informed.
HubPages Blog 
I appreciate reading this. Thanks for making a statement.
I’m glad you made this statement. HubPages is known to be friendly with Google and other major search engines for useful content. I know after this search algorithm propagation, it will even get better. Thank you.
In the Google article you linked, they speak of how the chrome extension data correlated well with “sites identified by our algorithm”. So does this mean the algorithm change penalizes whole sites and not individual webpages?
Good to know Paul. Thanks to the whole team. Our fingers are crossed for everyone involved. Hopefully we’ll settle back in a week or two without too much to worry about and we can carry on doing what we do best – writing good quality, fresh content.
Keep us posted 🙂
Will this change see Hubpages make more of a move to prevent duplicate content being placed on it’s site in future?
Most of my personal sites (All unique) have actually risen since teh change, wheras some of my test sites which have varying content methods (From syndicated content to article spinning) all suffered badly (A good thing in my opinion).
While data is still thin on the ground it does seem to indicate that lower amounts of duplicate content significantly improve site authority, which is in turn what supports the success of most of the writers on here.
I noticed in an interview you did mention it was still too soon to tell,but have you guys been discussing any possible ways to combat what culd possibly be long term affects on many people here?
Thanks for keeping us informed. It really does mean a lot to the community.
should hubs that utilize rss modules remove these or decrease the number of entries pulled and posted as a way to decrease what a google spider may deem “duplicate content”?
Oh, I’d wondered why all my hubs, which were mostly getting dozens of visits per day until a few days ago, are now showing zero traffic almost across the board, day after day.
I have hubs that were the second or third search result for their keywords which have now disappeared to the second or third page, if not disappeared altogether, almost overnight.
This is not good news for HubPages. To answer someone else’s question, yes, the changes do affect the entire site, not just individual hubs. The site itself is being given a lower priority in the SERPs. It doesn’t matter if your writing is “high quality” or not – if it’s on HubPages, it’s now a handicap compared to, apparently, being on eHow or BrightHub.
Like Oliver, I wonder what kind of damage control HP intends to do if the rankings don’t bounce back.
Interesting post, this is the first I have heard about the recent algorithm change. I think it’s good that Google keeps making tweaks to their system to allow good content to rise in rank while causing spam and other junk pages to fall. Sites that steal content are becoming more and more prevalent.
One of my blog too got bit badly but the others are all fine and good…
May be the change in the algorithm is not just about duplicate contents but also the backlinks from big and trusted domains! ‘cus most of the news site have more duplicate content then my blog which got hit! But the reason is the backlinks from cheap site only where as the news sites has got backlinks from trusted domains too!!!
It says that this has only been implemented so far in the US so it is difficult to see the impact for me until it has been rolled out worldwide but I will be keeping an eye on my hub statistics to see how they are impacted by this change. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the update regarding this matter. Please let us know if anything changes and thank you, again.
This kind of support and guidance for the readers is what i like the most about HP. Thanks!!
I just read
http://www.sistrix.com/blog/985-google-farmer-update-quest-for-quality.html
This guy is listing HubPages as one of the big losers in this update.
Are you guys not seeing any drop in Google rankings?
Appreciate this post Paul, I hope that it gives us all a chance to weed out the rubbish that is gradually filling the net. There is indeed a great deal of great original content on this site and I agree that the cream will always be cream. Cheers.
Oh that is a reassuring post.
Perhaps our hubs will enjoy a boost in traffic after things settle down, more than they used to before the big update in algorithms 😉
Personally I hate hubs where people pretend to “review” some gadget or laptop only by copy-pasting comments from amazon, with next to zero personal input. That ruins the whole idea of reviewing products.
Great info—nice to have you keeping us informed as always! Although change is hard and difficult for some, hopefully the changes will be a great thing for all of us!
THANKS FOR THE UPDATE! VERY INFORMATIVE. SHORT AND SWEET!
Thanks Paul! I am just trying to figure this all out. I will be watching stats a bit more from now on. Just have to wait and see what happens.Thanks for the direction and confidence.
Thank you for your comments on the recent Google changes. I am proud to be in the number of those who follow your philosophy, where content is King. Thank you for HubPages.
Whilst I was initially petrified, I do believe that these events could result in a very positive direction for the site. You have come a very very long way in 6 years and this can be considered a mere hiccup in a story which will undoubtedly be developing for many years to come. I suppose that this can only mean futher progress up that learning curve and if any of the negatively affected major sites respond perfectly to the changing external environment it will be Hubpages.
I believe that all Hubpages writers will walk away from this with major positives and, ultimately, I believe that the reader experience will benefit too. I think that we are all prepared to give that the necessary time and our full support in the sites endeavours, if indeed any endeavours are necessary once the dust settles. My sentiments do echo those of Oli above, I think that is a way forward irrespective, but you will no doubt know yourselves in due course.
Best, Ryan.
I am happy for the expression of confidence in Hubpages. There is a lot of worthwhile information contained in the site. There is such a thing as throwing the baby out with the bathwater. it happens in life. We just need to reclaim the baby with sound and honest promotion of our content.
I appreciate that Hubpages management is putting out an official statement on this item that has lots of us anxious.
All Hail Good Content!
Thanks for the update Paul. Looking forward to more detailed information in the coming days. Hope this does spell good news for all of us in the long term.
Thanks for this update. I have confidence that Hubpages will come out ahead. 🙂
Google’s algorithm-change is one thing we shouldn’t be worried about as long as the content we write is of high quality. I’m not saying that Hubpages doesn’t have crappy content because the truth is it has a ton of it. Our only defense against algorithm changes is good quality content.
Thanks for this update. It will help me improve my hubs more.
I appreciate this statement from you, I am sure HubPages will do well if we put stricter filters on and weed out the substandard content.
I can already see the traffic come back slowly and as the dust settles down I am certain that the cream will rise to the top. Best wishes!!
Thanks for making a statement about the Google change.
I wonder, could the author scores at HubPages be more reflective of good, original content rather than a showing content writers that produce numerous Hubs of low and questionable content but receive lots of traffic from within HubPages. Those author scores could have more meaning to a person coming to HubPages through an organic Google search if they signified something more than they do now.
Thank you for your words of encouragement.
This a Good to know Paul. Thanks to the whole team. Our fingers are crossed for everyone involved. Hopefully we’ll settle back in a week or two without too much to worry about and we can carry on doing what we do best – writing good quality, fresh content.
I feel very scared when i read some comment from the first time. But after reading the post twice, i feel more confident with Hubpage. Thanks Paul.
I know everything is heading on the right direction, we can only hope and expect for the best to come around. There is no reason for us to worry much about this now. HubPages is a strong website for users to build articles and certainly expect to earn royalties while doing it so. Create your articles and create backlinks to your articles.
Unfortunately, I have only seen continued drops in my traffic and earnings… So much so, I don’t see the reason to post to Hubpages any longer.
We’re sorry to hear that, Shawn. Moving your HubPages account to a subdomain might help though, so keep an eye on your traffic after that shift takes place!
I agree that high quality content is a must especially after hummingbird and a few other updates from google. I have been using it to rank sites for awhile now and once they reached the top they stayed at the top. Using high quality content in your blogs is important and making sure that everything in your site and blogs is up to code with google. As long as you create great content the way google wants you should get great results.