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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.
This is the beginning of a 4-part series I’m going to release this week that describes how I believe Squidoo’s internal link structure works to help you get better rankings and what you can do to take advantage of it.
Let’s start off by looking at the 4 different ‘types’ of links that go into and out of Squidoo lenses.
Squidoo Link Flow Away from a Lens
As you can see, there are 4 major types of links out of a lens:
- Tags - These link to tag pages within squidoo. You have complete control over which tag pages, but they will always go to tag pages.
- Category - There is always a link to the Squidoo Category you chose when setting up your lens. You have control over this.
- Discover lenses - This is a new addition and links out to other lenses on Squidoo. You have some ways to control these links as well, both directly and indirectly.
- Modules - Any links you add to your lens in your modules or profile are completely under your control. These are the only links on your lens that lead out from squidoo.
Squidoo Link Flow Towards a Lens
Notice any similarities here? You have the exact same four sources of incoming links to your lens. These could also be called ‘backlinks’, those things everyone wants to have.
- Tags - All the tag pages that you link to also link back to you in some form. The link to your lens might be on page 27 of ‘music’ though and your link to the tag page is to the first ‘music’ page….
- Category - The same concept as tags. Your link points to the first page in the category but your link back is not necessarily from the front page.
- Discover - Your lens will receive some links back to it from other lenses through the discover tool. These are ‘one-way’ links because you are not necessarily linking to the lens that links to you. There are some ways to control these links that could potentially make this very powerful.
- External - These are the links that set you apart from other lenses. The toughest to get, they can make or break your lens if used correctly. There are a few Squidoo modules that allow you to automatically acquire external links to your lens as well…
Summary
So what does this mean? Squidoo allows you to control the links coming into your lens as well as the links leaving your lens when done correctly. The key is to use the ‘link infrastructure’ that’s in place to achieve your extra piratey goal…
Next up: Using Link flow from Tag and Category Pages to Improve your Rankings
Well, as Squidoo HQ has mentioned several times, they continue to adjust and update their templates for lenses and how users interact with them.
If you haven’t had a chance to go look at a lens in the last few days, go take a peek. It’ okay… I’ll wait.
…
Okay, so it looks a little bit different. And Squid U certainly noticed. I left my two cents on the update, but I’ll re-cap here.
Personally, I think they are pretty good.
1) I don’t like the ‘Loyalis Recommends’ in my sidebar. If you are going to have a lensroll function, I would prefer that it didn’t look like I was explicitly endorsing lenses that I’ve never seen before. Also, when you use Primary Tag Domination, it results in having your sidebar lensroll and the orange explore box with the exact same links… that’s kinda boring IMHO.
2) umm…. I see the sidebar image issues were fixed in my sleep! Nice work.
As HQ is progressing and working on their layouts and designs, I have been impressed with the way they have handled the criticism, etc. They have been exceptionally patient in explaining their motivations for changes and improvements to Squidoo and this patience is often overlooked.
I think there may be some argument to directing some of the redesign efforts to improved things like tag pages, the workshop (which is becoming a little divorced from the reality of what’s presented), as well as some re-designed ‘central navigation’ areas that make it easy to find some super cool lenses…oh and a pony for Gil..
Great work Guys, keep it up.
Thoughts or comments?
