Squidoo SEO and Tagging Part 3: The Discovery Box
This post is a continuation of my first two posts on tagging with Squidoo: Tags and Lenses, and Tag Pages. If you are a little lost, go read those two to catch up.
Until recently, tag pages consisted of the majority of link flow that could be influenced within squidoo. However, with the recent release of the ‘Discovery Tool’ on lenses (that blue box that has related lenses in it) the possibilities have increased significantly.
The Discovery box on Squidoo displays a subset of other lenses from across Squidoo. Many people have viewed this in a negative light, thinking that this would drive traffic away from their lenses. However, many people are overlooking two major benefits:
- If you’ve tagged your lenses well it should very easily bring in more traffic than it sends out.
- You can control all of the lenses in the Discovery box.
What you say? All the lenses? Yep.
You are manually allowed to enter up to three lenses in the Discovery box. Don’t even mess around with that unless it’s for a very specific purpose. Dynamic links can be much more powerful in many instances. Instead, use the Discovery tool algorithm to your advantage.
The Squidoo Discovery Tool Algorithm Deconstructed
From my calculations the discovery tool is based on many things, but a few factors that show through are the following:
- Primary Tags
- # of tags in common
- Category
- Lensrank
I’m not going to reveal which ones I think are the most important, because a Pirate Captain needs to keep a few secrets :). But with a little testing you should be able to figure it out yourself.
The Discovery tool truly provides the third leg for controlling squidoo link flow. I hope this little series has been of use to you all and I’d love to hear any questions about it.
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Comments
Thanks Captain, just read all 3 parts of this series — great information! I do have at least one question: can you ever add too many tags, even if they are relevant?
Not sure I agree with your assessment of what controls the Discovery tool. I have a series of lenses, all with the exact same primary tag, at least a third of their other tags in common, all in the same category and roughly the same lensrank range as they were created at the same time. And yet, only on one of the lenses do any of the rest of the series show up without me having to add them. I know, I know. It’s more complex than just that. I just think I’d have hit on it by accident at least once. 
Susan,
Are there other lenses with similar tags that have a higher LR? I bet those are showing up pretty regularly across those lenses….
I am still trying to figure out why this tool is any different than me just using a link list and throwing my lenses everywhere through that? The only positive I see in this tool is the advantage squidoo has in itself promotion. You see yourselves as lensmasters. I see you and sadly me, as pawns
Ah, this totally explains why several of my own related lenses show up in the Discovery box! (The bit about the tags, I mean.)
Thank you. 
I’ve also heard that placing your own squidoo lensmaster name high on the tag list will help it get pulled into the discovery box.
Im not the biggest fan of Squidoo since hardly anyone has ever visited the lenses I created. I think the only way to be successful in Squidoo is if you have lots of links to point at them.
-Mike
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This entire series is just super! Such great insight, well beyond any other Squidoo expert
Thank You!
Maria Reyes-McDavis