Does SHARING Increase Your Search Engine Traffic?
83Traffic Change at 2 weeks of SHARING ... Can you spot where?
Search Engine Traffic (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc)
After seeing the response to my recent Hub about SHARING, I was curious to monitor the results over a few weeks and see if there was any effect on free search engine traffic. Now, I admit that I have put in a lot of effort to comment on and share others peoples' hubs over the last few weeks, but the results have been surprising.
Basically, I looked through the comments on both :
Do You Like to Share? Let's Help Everyone Get More Readers!
And
Why Do I Keep Seeing "Thanks for SHARING" in Many Comments On Hubs Lately?
Actively reading and promoting hubs of people that have the same attitude and also interesting hubs that came up on the home screen feed. I would look through their hubs and pick one that I thought was interesting, leaving a relevant comment and letting them know that they had been shared. Although it was my hope that they would return my action, the extra links alone would help my URL (a link to your profile exists on each comment you leave).
Now, search engines are tricky and have changed their formulas a lot this last year (remember the PANDA update!). Hence, I was keen to see if being active and sharing others would result in more search engine traffic, either due to my links in my comments, or through more visitors (an increased popularity level from the perspective of search engines). The results you can see on the right. The top graphs show overall visitors. The lower graph shows only search engine traffic. Although the search engine increase is not as high as overall visitors, you can clearly see that the search engine traffic lows are two to three times what they were previously. Moreover, going by Hubpages own statistics, the amount of search engine traffic that I have had in January 2012 is half of the total from the last 14 months!! That is the equivalent of 7 months traffic in 30 days.
Not only did I notice this, but as I was Tweeting most hubs that I shared, I have also seen an increase in followers and traffic from Twitter. It seems that being active on twitter leads to more followers, as I was not only promoting personal hubs, but loads of interesting articles from across Hubpages on a daily basis.
However, a couple of hubbers asked if this would hurt your following and that maybe people would stop following you. From my experience, more people seeing your hubs as SHARING spreads is likely to only lead to more followers. I personally didn't notice any losses from sharing, as I was only sharing interesting hubs with my followers (sorry, but I won't share badly written or boring hubs). Maybe one or two stopped following my, but then I gained about 100 followers in two weeks. Other 'sharers' have also contacted me to say that the same thing has happened to them; they have seen more traffic and gained followers.
Conclusion:
Although I can't talk for everyone (but the poll can), it does seem to produce excellent results. I admit it is a lot of effort, but if everyone continues to share the good hubs of other hubbers, I can only see that traffic for hubbers and Hubpages will increase. The increase I have seen has been in all areas, Hubber Score, Hub rankings, Internal Traffic, External Traffic (search engines, Twitter, Facebook etc), Hubpages Followers, and Twitter Followers. So, I have to say that it works, at least for me and I plan to continue to SHARE!!
However, the hidden benefit of SHARING has to be the knowledge that I have gained through being more active. Reading the good (and great) hubs of other hubbers has taught me so much this last few weeks, from how to use great SEO (Search Engine Optimization) teachniques for more readers, to how to fillet a fish.
As everyone would like more readers, here are some other great hubs on SEO and social SHARING, I would like to recommend that you read:
Wheelinallover (I have learned some good tricks from this guy; many SEO hubs)
Tips for social media marketing
And
Marketing Your Hubpages To A Wider Audience By Molometer
Thanks for reading, the poll is below. If you have been sharing lots of peoples' hubs, I would be interested to know how it impacted you?
© Copyright 2012. Brett.Tesol - Full terms available on Brett.Tesol's profile page (click the blue link for profile, failure to read the Copyright Contract could be expensive. The act of copying this work means that you accept the full terms of the contract, regardless of whether or not you have read it).
Did you notice any bennefits from SHARING other hubber's work?
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I normally share other peoples work which I find interesting. I make a point to share the hubs/articles of those who share mine.
Thanks for sharing this information:) I share good hubs on Pinterest and Facebook but not Twitter. I'll start sharing on Twitter now. I'm sharing this hub now! Take care, Kelley
I don't know why, but I only just found the 'share' facility. Your hub woke me up to it :)
I'm using your Thanks for SHARING as well as sharing other people's hubs. Great ides.
Thank you for sharing this excellent article.:) I try to share articles that I enjoy all of the time. This is a great way for us to introduce new authors to others here on Hubpages too.
Promoting content is very important to drive more traffic. This is very informative and well expressed. Thanks for sharing and voted up :)
Great article! I am glad you shared it again, I missed it the first time. I do share but haven't been keeping an eye on my traffic. I am trying to get in as many hubs as I can then maybe look into how to get the traffic in. Still new at this, but learning a lot, specially from the ones you share. They are always interesting and useful. Thanks for sharing.....
Hi Brett, your hub could not have come at a better time. I was wondering about this topic lately and I'm pleased to see the results that you've shared. I've only been here for 3 months and it was uncomfortable at first to share my own work, let alone other people's hubs. Now that I've jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, I'll be doing a lot of promoting in the next couple of months. I didn't know you could gain followers that quickly by sharing other hubs on Twitter. Thanks again. Voted up and up!
Dear sjwigglywoo and others doing this, do not lose hope if you do not see instant results. For the first month I was reading and sharing about 10 hubs a day.
However, search engines can take as long as 2 weeks just to index changes and comments made (comments count as content too), so it can take a month or more to see the results for what you are doing now. In fact, many say it takes 6 months for an article to get established and draw traffic.
Hubbing and writing online is about participating in the marathon, not the short term win in a sprint race. If you keep at it and your writing is interesting, you will succeed eventually ... Good luck!
Your article makes very interesting reading, I have been doing this the past couple of weeks on several sites and it has made no difference what so ever. But like you I only share hubs that I find interesting, So perhaps I am a boring uninteresting person with boring interests...... Who knows!!!
Thankyou Deb, once again interesting and informative, just how I like it!!!
This is very helpful thank You and Ann Cia has the right idea. you.. both are awesome
I share as much as i can. because I know others will too.
Thank you again
Debbie
I beleive sharing each other's hub is what makes HubPages such a great place to write, it also creates a community for writer's to learn and teach those that want to learn. Excellent hub, and useful to me. I have always tried to share the hubs I have enjoyed reading, and will continue to do so, haven't really noticed paid that much attention to traffic, it distracts me from writing. Shared!
I'll give it a try by sharing this hub.
Good ideals. I've applied some of these techniques and they do increase traffic and hub score. Thanks much!
I just noticed the habit of sharing hubs around here, and went on a search to find out why and now I know! Thanks for writing this hub and informing clueless people, like myself. Voted up...and sharing.
Thanks for all your comments, I'm pleased it is working for others too! :-)
@ Molometer, if you head to Asia, drop me a message first ... so long as I'm not working too much, I'd be happy to show you around a few places off the beaten track.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and how it worked out for you. I am wondering about pinterest because I have seen some begative concerns by other hubbers. I usually share on Twitter and facebook.
Thanks again for all the comments. I think Wheeling all over covered in detail about sharing off site. However, I personally share on Twitter, Hubpages and Pinterest. I also sometimes use Digg. Everywhere you actively share, you will find that overall it has a positive impact, as you are only sharing interesting information.
Hello Brett,
Glad to see you back and busy. I have had a few time challenges myself so I know what it is like.
Don't forget I am coming to Korea sometime and would appreciate the $10 tour if you have the time lol.
This hub was truly inspirational and it really works. Voted up again and SHARING.
Michael
Thanks for the beautiful tips with details. I am going to try this.
I will have to give this a try. I never thought sharing would have this effect.
McConnell Group we learned that for the best results sharing outside hub pages is what works best. These create the back links people need to get more visitors. They also build reputation and have more impact on a search engine placing you above another in ranking.
Every share outside hub pages also builds the reputation of hub pages, which will also help with higher ranking for each individual author.
Sharing outside hub pages also has a viral effect. For us it has increased traffic but more importantly generic search engine traffic. Social sites generally have a high PR ranking which "has value" to search engines.
Picking the right articles to share has increased our corporate value. People are searching us out now for services they need. In the beginning we heard that hub pages authors have articles about everything you can imagine. This has proven true.
For us sharing outside hub pages even if they don't share back is still increasing our reputation as long as what we share has value to our fans, friends, and followers.
Hi Brett,
When you're sharing is this on hubpages or offsite on other blogs?
This is a very interesting idea. I have just started sharing, so here is to greater cooperation between all writers and higher traffic for everyone who shares
Thanks for SHARING. Up and interesting
nice for share
you got to give to be given
That's so cool! I had no idea sharing could boost your traffic so much. I will try this out right away. Thanks for a great hub!
Wow, this may show how out of the loop I am, I have seen the SHARING in my comment and now I know why. This is a great hub to remind readers of hub pages and those who comment to do their part illuminating great sources of info. For those who do utilize social media platforms, it is a good way, karma to not only share your work but others as well. So thanks for SHARING.
Thanks for this information. I'm new to hubpages and I'm spending quite a bit of time reading about different strategies to increase traffic and promoting hubs with backlinks to other sites now that I have a few good hubs to experiment with. I find myself being very picky when it comes to which hubs I want to comment on, but I do find those gems if I keep reading. I'll report back after I have some findings...
I can't say it enough. This is excellent advice, I love sharing. Plus reading other hubs is so interesting!
Voted up & shared.
Brett,
Those results are amazing. I only have a few followers but I will definitely start trying this to see how it goes. Only good Hubs of course!
An update, some of my hubs are being found on search engines against more competition now. By this I mean still on page 1 but where something was page 1 with 385,000 it is now page 1 with 780,000 results.
I am using the hub addresses of others in blogs and hope people are getting readers from them. The blog site has a high PR ranking which won't hurt as a back link either.
My biggest problem is remembering to tell people I have shared their article. There have been a few times I have missed the 5 minute limit so people haven't known I have SHARED with my twitter followers.
I would like to inform you that following your idea of sharing hubs, my daily pageviews have increased considerably.
I have acknowledged this in my new hub "My hub views shot up from 60 to 395 in a day: "Thanks for SHARING"
I sincerely THANK YOU for coming up with this idea.
Great tips.thanks for sharing!!!
After a while of consistently sharing about 10-30 hubs of followers per day (yes, sorry folks, I am a bit behind lol), I can honestly say that this works!
You need to write quality comments and actually read the hubs for it to work well and you need to enjoy doing it, otherwise you won't keep it up. However, I have noticed that my search engine traffic has MASSIVELY increased. Google seems to be loving all the new backlinks (from my comments) and all the new material (from fellow followers comments). Hence, by doing this, we really are all helping each other succeed!
Thanks for sharing. Good article. Voted up!
I started to share selected Hubs by other Hubbers, and found that the overall traffic to my Hubs has been boosted including the traffic from google.com, google.co.in, yahoo and bing.Many thanks to Brett.Tesol for sharing this tip.
I haven't really noticed any traffic increases or more followers from sharing hubs, but we are supposed to be a community that helps each other, so I will continue to share hubs that I have enjoyed reading, and that are also well written and informative. I won't share badly written rubbish, however, as that cannot be helpful to any of us
Dear Brett ~ Fascinating observations. I do not approve of anyone posting a link within the comment section of my hubs. However, if someone contacts me and asks permission, then I may review their hub and put a link within my blog if appropriate. Its always generous to outright share through the many social networks and means possible via this network. Blessings, Debby
Thank you all for your kind words a POSITIVE feedback. It really makes me feel great to know that this idea is helping many hubbers to make many more friends, learn and of course get LOTS OF TRAFFIC :-). Thank you for taking the time to return and give me an update.
Brett, I have to SHARE this AGAIN because I really, really think you're on to something here. You are absolutely on to something. This hub is incredibly useful! :)
nice work JS. Very interesting.
I'm really glad I came across your article. This was really interesting to learn. I was also debating it myself if it was worth leaving comments and sharing. I already do a lot of reading online, so coming across this was most helpful. Thank you.
I think I've commented here already but I wanted to come back and say IT'S WORKING! Thanks again for the tip. :)
Thanks for sharing. I have to follow your tips to increase my readers. Thanks a lot. Voted up!!!!
Up, up and away! Good hub, glad to see your vast improvement and positive attitude. I've watched you come a long way my friend. Sharing is good for all, remember 'What goes around, goes around' they say. Voted up and interesting. Good luck to you my friend...
Have been looking forward to reading this hub. I've seen some encouraging results since using your suggestions of sharing. That hub really should be part of the tutorial pack for newbies. When they can see results almost straightaway, it would encourage them to stick with it and write more hubs and really get involved with the community here. Have voted up, useful and interesting.
Thanks for SHARING this as well.
Hi Timetraveler2.
While sharing your own hubs too frequently is frowned upon (and can damage your hubscore), the sharing of other peoples hubs it not. However, by following the way I suggest, you both give someone else more readers, while also getting more exposure through your comments. If they then return this, you can get a LOT of traffic, make many friends, learn lots and actually help Hubpages.
You'll never go wrong with sharing. It goes to apply even in real life. :D
Hey all, really glad to see that this has been working well for those that have put the effort in. When you share and share alike, Molometer is right, the Google bots love it!
P.S. Cheers for the link Molometer ... you didn't have to, but it is appreciated.
Love the way that you have described. In last day (Dated - 6 Feb 2012 ) Google Updated Page Rank for sites, as i personally noticed that those links which posses tweet, FB likes and +1 Sharing have got pr 2 to 3. There is no back linking process is done for those links.
So that social sharing is really work.
Hi Jimsmillions, Thanks for the SHARE, but I think you should read the link to see how it works. A single share will not make much of a difference to you. But read the process and get involved in the community and you should see great results.
Ok well I have voted up and shared this on tumblr, lets see where it goes :) Will put your hub on watch.
I thought I read somewhere that too much sharing is frowned upon by hubpages and can lower your scores. I don't do twitter or facebook and only once shared my own hubs with my followers, but I would like to share more as I've read some really great hubs. Maybe you can enlighten me about this? Thanks!
I share occasionally, but probably not often enough. Great hub. Voted up and others! Definitely SHARING this one! :-) I had no idea sharing had such an effect!
Like BarberGirl28 says, I think there's a definite increase in hub traffic to older hubs as well as more followers. My comments have also been on the upswing as well.
Hi Brett,
This is an interesting result and it works. As the poll indicates. I have noticed a big jump in organic growth. I would assume that it is a direct result of sharing by other hubbers. This is what the Google bots are looking out for.
Great idea and well done. Thanks for the link too. I will add your hubpage link in too. Interesting useful and voted up SHARING.
I was very interested to see what you would find from this little project of yours. On my end... I have seen that I have gotten more followers and even better, some of my older hubs have been dragged up from the bottom. (I think this is from people looking through my selection to see what I have and not always going for the top - especially those that I have been going back and forth with) The results truly are amazing but what I am enjoying even more is being subjected to other hubbers that I might not otherwise have been subjected too, actually spending more time reading other hubs as in I have been a little slack on that lately because I have been busy, and just being a good member of the community! Thanks for sharing... I can always count on you for something interesting!
Sharing always a good approach to deal with, as you spread your worlds in easier form. Thanks for sharing voted this up!
Thanks for the great hub. I'll be passing it on.
Thank you for the information! I will share this then!
Thanks for this Hub. I am going to share it.
Thanks for the update on traffic reports and the effectiveness of SHARING, Brett. I do believe I had an increase in traffic which is exciting. You are so helpful. I appreciate your efforts in helping all of us hubbers to succeed:) Voted up and useful.
Thanks for the link Millionaire-Tips, very nice of you.
The process works, but does take a lot of effort. It is enjoyable to do and you learn a lot. I was reading and sharing around 10-30 hubs a day. However, just sharing on a regular basis will work and help your followers too.
Hello Brett! Thanks for adding the link to my follow-up Hub! Since you started this I have followed your direction and have experienced similar results. I haven't lost any followers but I have gained a few! This is a testimony to the power of marketing through sharing! I will continue to do this as often as I can. Great to see such an increase in traffic in such a short period of time! Keep up the great work and never stop SHARING!
JSMatthew~
Brett, I wanted to let you know that I have included this hub in my list of favorite hubs I've read this week. Congrats!
Interesting hub! I will put these principles into practice. Thanks for SHARING.
Those are some awesome results I must say, and a really great idea to get the HubPages community closer together, as well as boost everyone's traffic. You may know this already, but just in case you or any of your readers don't know this: those new comments all the time boost the search engines consider as an update to your article so your rank in the search engines improves, therefore your search engine traffic will see the results that your graphs are showing. Thanks for SHARING
Thanks for the tutorial, I need it.
Interesting experiment that you have made. Again I would incorporate your idea. Hope it will benefit all of my followers and hubpage as a community. Sharing :)
Brett - I greatly appreciate your welcome and appropriate emphasis on SHARING. I think it has benefits for the whole community as well as for each of us as individuals and I am quite sure that it increases traffic.
But even if it didn't affect traffic, I want to add that SHARING the quality work of other people is the decent, supportive, kind, thoughtful, encouraging, Christian or religious, generous, community-minded, helpful, creative, thing to do. Imagine...doing something because it is the "right and good" thing to do, with material gains as only a secondary concern.
I am very happy for those of you who are able to make money posting on HP, but that is certainly not all that HP, or any "real community," should be about. And I believe that we, at least many of us, want to belong to a REAL COMMUNITY. And I think the most important thing that Brett has demonstrated is our strong and healthy sense of community. Here is to thoughtful and meaningful SHARING. :)
Just my two cents worth. :)
I had noticed this hub previously but just now took the time to read it. I share hubs of ones I really like but did not realize the additional benefits of doing so. Will do it more often now. Thanks for the advice and tracking of your results. Up and useful votes!
This has increased the reading of my hubs and comments. I have met more hubbers and been able to read their writing. I love being able to share and I don't think I have lost anything. Great hub
Voted up and useful! Thanks for posting all these great tips! I try to follow and share as much as I can, but you're the only one that's been consistent. Where did those other people go?
SOCIALLY SHARED! Thanks for SHARING!
Great hub! SHARING makes sense because that's also what they say to do for regular blogs - comment and backlink like crazy. By SHARING, you end up doing the same thing with hubs. :) At least, that's my take anyways.
Very useful article and experiment. I think hub sharing is what makes this site so successful and fun. We don't all follow the same people so I enjoy reading hubs by someone I've never met. voted up and shared
Brett.Tesol your articles on and example in social media marketing should be a guide to everyone. Thank you for linking my article and profile.
For the business we use social media marketing and as we see it those interested in earning from hubs pages are in business also. Our most effective business social site is available to every hub page member free of charge, for those interested. Please understand there are no one time offers or upgrades with the social site.
I also find I am spending more time on hub pages and surprisingly it is helping business. People are reading hubs I share and contacting the business for more information. I still have a few hubs as links for my business blog and am considering now putting links in the blogs themselves.
Sharing has helped me a great deal with getting more traffic, and more followers. I really like the community aspect of sharing, and enjoy providing shares to good hubs.
I have seen a large increase in my views. I love the sharing method and will continue to use it. Thanks for the update, it was nice to hear how it is working for you. It is such a great idea. Voted up and SHARING!
I do think that sharing other people's hubs outside of hubpages has created more traffic both for them as well as for myself. Twitter, Digg, Stumble are all great places to pick up extra traffic and promoting other hubbers is a good way to get started. While I can't exactly pinpoint why, I've noticed a dramatic increase in outside traffic in about the last 10 days. Your hubs about sharing have inspired many people to become active sharers, and I'm sure all the sharing has helped a lot. Thanks, Brett!
Thanks for SHARING. I too have noticed an increased in organic traffic from SE.
Great advise, thanks for the extra tips, we could all use some more followers. Happy hubbing!
Oops, forgot to mention: thanks for SHARING.
After two years on HubPages I'm still a novice in many areas -- but, find sharing and interaction on Hubpages, which I enjoy, is definitely helpful! Good Hub and voted up. Best, Sis
My use of your SHARING concept coincided with my own increase in reading and commenting on others' hubs. I can't see how anything but positive results can come for both reader and writer in exploring a variety of topics in hubs and sharing quality writing with others. As you've pointed out, Brett, not only will individual hubbers benefit, but I think the HP site will too.
Voted up and SHARING.
I have not been able to tell but I have not been on much lately. Things going on. I have shared what I have read.
I think your hubs have been terrific at making people more aware of the benefits of us all pulling together and trying to help one another.
Although I don't have many hubs yet, I have noticed an increase in my traffic - I would imagine that the more quality hubs you have then the more you would benefit from this community attitude.
Another interesting hub and thanks for sharing....
The results are great Brett. I also wanted to say: If it were not for sharing- I would have certainly missed the opportunity of ever knowing some new and extremely interesting Authors. The only problem I have run into is catching up with my reading- for I am way behind. Voting Up and Interesting.
I hadn't read your Hub and was kind of working on this thought myself. I'm still quite new, learning the ropes and not exactly blowing up on the net yet...but did see an increase too just will a little extra SHARING. This helps back up what I'm finding. Thanks. Up/Useful
I have seen an overall increase in my traffic. I think this is a wonderful idea! Not only are you getting an increase in traffic, but you are helping other hubbers. What could be wrong with that! I think this was an awesome idea. Voted this hub up, useful and always SHARING! Have a super day! :)
I'm glad that this is working out for you Brett. As I said before, it's a great idea. Voting this Up and Interesting.
Thanks for the information. I will have toexplore this further and see how I can use it.
I started slowly with this concept, as it's not my nature to be a big promoter, but I am warming up to it. Helping to promote each other's quality hubs makes sense, and if you are here to make money, then it really makes sense. Up and following.
your result are quite surprising.We should also promote other hub to increase our hub traffic.Very interesting hub Brett.Tesol.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for your ideas. This concept has increased traffic score and followers. It has helped me to become more active here on hubpages and I have learned quite a bit from teaing other hubs.
harinarayan 7 days ago
goof advice. Thanks for sharing I'm going to try this