Have People Found Greater Success With Automatically Generated Hub Summaries or

1. 81

   CCahillposted 11 years ago

   Have People Found Greater Success With Automatically Generated Hub Summaries or Manually Writen Ones
   
   I have a lot of 'A' symbols next to my articles in my Account overview, this is because I haven't done a Summary for the hub it corresponds to, Hubpages explains that in the absence of a summary from the user, it will automatically generate one for you.
   
   My Question is, do people find it neccasary to do your own summary, is it worth it? considering it does take time in itself or is it better to just let HP do it for you, or are the summaries that HP produce good but not good enough?

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2. 81

   Lwelchposted 11 years ago

   I feel like I do see a traffic increase when I write a summary.

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3. 0

   tigresosalposted 11 years ago

   Is it possible to get a system generated summary for your hubs?

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   1. 67

      ptosisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It takes your first few sentences of your hub. If it's catchy like a fark then that would be good enough.

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4. 67

   ptosisposted 11 years ago

   I didn't know anything about the A for 2 years, put summaries on all my hubs  to be catchy like the leads on fark.com to make people click. I've seen an uptick but not much. I guess I should write 'em more farkier.

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5. 91

   MarleneBposted 11 years ago

   The summary that is automatically generated by HubPages is generally the first couple of sentences of the hub. I do find that when I write my own summary, more people seem to read the hub. I use my summary as a way to quickly tell people what the hub is about and why they would benefit from reading it. I don't spend a lot of time on it - just a couple of sentences.

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6. 89

   Doc Snowposted 11 years ago

   Are you kidding?  The summary appears in Google searches, ergo that is your best shot at enticing someone to visit the Hub once they actually get to the search page containing your listing. Why would anyone not take the (pretty slight) trouble to make it as effective as they can?
   
   (Though I must admit that I've never tried just letting the default ride.  So perhaps the auto version would be better, possibly?  But I can't really believe that.)

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7. 79

   Lipnancyposted 11 years ago

   I must say that in comparison to when I first started, I did not use the summary. Now, that I do I feel that I receive more hits even though I can not prove it scientifically. You do want your summary of the article. Only you can relay the true essence of your article.

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8. 61

   Shawn May Scottposted 11 years ago

   I always write my own summary. I feel that my own work should be summerized by myself and that I am the one who knows the article the best. I write a short summary and keep it interesting or often use the summary as a way to peek curiosity about my work. Sometimes my summaries are only one sentance long and sometimes they are two or three sentances.

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9. 82

   zsobigposted 11 years ago

   I always write 'my own' summaries, as that section is also a good place to be able to drag some more readers to your hub.

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10. 84

    AlexK2009posted 11 years ago

    I am slowly catching up on writing summaries. It looks like it does help. It is best if the summary hooks the reader in.  Since the first few sentences of a hub are generally not intended to  hook the reader a proper summary should help.
    
    Think of a book. The blurb is never the first two paragraphs. It is normally a summary of the plot with a couple of cliff hangers in it.

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11. 62

    Duchessoflilac1posted 11 years ago

    I manually write my hub summaries and I have found they pick up more traffic.

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12. 0

    danielabramposted 11 years ago

    Manually written ones. Otherwise the reader gets a piece of your hub without context and then when they read it they have to skim down to the part they have not started.

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13. 93

    Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years ago

    If you are going to write a summary, be sure to write a really good one. A boring or poorly written summary is not going to entice anybody. It does not take much time to write a summary, but you should definitely try to put your best foot forward when doing it. If you have a really great first paragraph that draws people in, that could be just as good.

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14. 63

    in4mativeposted 11 years ago

    After working hard at writing your hub, would you really trust a computer to write the summary better  than you could?

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    1. 84

       AlexK2009posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I would like to see the system generate a summary that I could then edit. And not just the first 140 characters of my article.   Generally speaking, having worked with computers I trust myself better when writing, but computers more when counting.

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15. 74

    Diana Leeposted 11 years ago

    The automated ones are just a couple of the first lines to your hub. If your first couple of lines don't explain the content the summary is useless. You are much better off writing your own summary which can explain what you want people to see. Don't make it too long or all of it won't show up on the search engine or the introductions when you post on social network sites.

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    1. 88

       The Dirt Farmerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the length tip. I hadn't thought about that regarding social network sites. Now I'm going to have to look at my old summaries and make sure they're not too long!

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16. 61

    Mellonyyposted 11 years ago

    Most important, write your summary but never forget about SEO. Search engines very well know what they are looking for:)

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17. 73

    Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

    At first, I didn't use the summaries. When I finally got around to it, my traffic went up considerably. I'd say it is worth it.

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18. 40

    ChristinSposted 11 years ago

    My traffic increased when I added custom summaries, so I think it's worth the effort.

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19. 88

    The Dirt Farmerposted 11 years ago

    Hmm. I'm not sure if they've made my articles more successful, but I do know that I appreciate the specially written summaries other hubbers provide for their articles. The automatically generated ones are just the first section of the article, and sometimes they're cut off mid-sentence. The specially written ones usually make me want to read the article. I hope the ones I write have the same effect on other hubbers.

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20. 95

    PaulGoodman67posted 11 years ago

    Writing your own summaries is always preferrable.

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21. 95

    Glimmer Twin Fanposted 11 years ago

    I've only been here about 7 weeks, but I feel strongly that summary should be written and not computer generated.  It's my work and I like to think that I can summarize my hub well and that the summary will entice a reader to take a look.  I don't feel my hub is complete until I have written a summary.

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22. 0

    Sooner28posted 11 years ago

    I wasn't aware that HubPages generated an automatic summary.  I thought it meant I would just be without one if i didn't make one.

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23. 77

    Charluposted 11 years ago

    I don't write summaries anymore and all I can tell you is to do some searches in ones that don't have summaries. and ones that do.  Make sure when you do the searches you include words that are not in the first couple sentences or summary and see what happens.  It has made a big difference for me.
    
    Let me know your results

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24. 80

    dghbrhposted 11 years ago

    I noticed the increasing hub traffic after i started writing the hub summery. About the other method much is said already.

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