Linking Squidoo Lenses
Ranked #1,977 in Squidoo Community, #187,461 overall
Maximize Incoming Traffic To Your Lenses
The first hurdle for new Squidoodlers is to create a quality lens that generates steady traffic, but once you've successfully created one lens, you want to make more, promote them, generate traffic and build even more lenses to educate, entertain, market and just share information and pictures.
One of the elements for successfully promoting lenses and generating traffic is to take advantage of the traffic of one lens, and make opportunities to send traffic on to other lenses.
Here we'll talk about converting traffic from one lens to multiple lenses by chaining lenses together, using and maximizing the tools Squidoo has to offer to drive traffic to related lenses.
Topics include: The Discovery Tool in the Intro Module, Maximizing HTML Links, Lensrolling and the Featured Lenses module.
One of the elements for successfully promoting lenses and generating traffic is to take advantage of the traffic of one lens, and make opportunities to send traffic on to other lenses.
Here we'll talk about converting traffic from one lens to multiple lenses by chaining lenses together, using and maximizing the tools Squidoo has to offer to drive traffic to related lenses.
Topics include: The Discovery Tool in the Intro Module, Maximizing HTML Links, Lensrolling and the Featured Lenses module.
Start at the Top - Using the Squidoo Discovery Tool
Note: The Discovery Tool has been removed in the last edit (June 2009). I'll just leave this here in case Squidoo reimplements it. Not So Fast - The Discovery Tool is back and shows related lenses on the right side now, and in brilliant color.
When I first started with Squidoo, I wanted people to be able to navigate my pages easily so I used the Table of Contents Module. Then, Squidoo created the T of C and Discovery Tool tabs on the Introduction Module.
The Discovery Tool is a huge development!
When you edit your introduction, you can choose to turn on the Table of Contents (which allows you to choose which modules you want in your T of C, and then it makes it for you. Enough about the Table of Contents, though. The Intro module also allows you to turn on the Discovery Tool, that allows your lens to interact with other lenses that also use the Discovery Tool.
Here's how it works:
When you turn on the Discovery Tool in the Discovery Tool tab, the lens joins all other lenses that use the Discovery Tool. Squidoo looks through that pool of lenses to select other lenses of interest that are related to that lens.
When I first started with Squidoo, I wanted people to be able to navigate my pages easily so I used the Table of Contents Module. Then, Squidoo created the T of C and Discovery Tool tabs on the Introduction Module.
The Discovery Tool is a huge development!
When you edit your introduction, you can choose to turn on the Table of Contents (which allows you to choose which modules you want in your T of C, and then it makes it for you. Enough about the Table of Contents, though. The Intro module also allows you to turn on the Discovery Tool, that allows your lens to interact with other lenses that also use the Discovery Tool.
Here's how it works:
When you turn on the Discovery Tool in the Discovery Tool tab, the lens joins all other lenses that use the Discovery Tool. Squidoo looks through that pool of lenses to select other lenses of interest that are related to that lens.
Say for example someone else's lens is about widgets. If your lens is also about widgets, there's a good chance that that person's lens will feature yours in the bar near the top labeled Explore Related Pages (and vice versa).
Squidoo is advertising your similar content-laden page for you, just for participating. In exchange, you will have lenses that Squidoo considers to be related in your Explore Related Pages bar. This is a good deal for you and your fellow Squidoodlers.
Squidoo is advertising your similar content-laden page for you, just for participating. In exchange, you will have lenses that Squidoo considers to be related in your Explore Related Pages bar. This is a good deal for you and your fellow Squidoodlers.
Note: The Explore Related Pages feature now appears on the right side of your published page when viewing it, instead of as a bar of links beneath your introduction.
But there's more! At the bottom of the Discovery Tool portion of the Intro module, you can also select 3 lenses that you want to be included in the Explore Related Pages bar. You can now add 3 lenses that you want to chain to this lens, without Squidoo deciding for you what should go there. In other words, readers look at the Explore Related Pages bar for similar content, and if your lenses are all variations or separate aspects on the same topic, you give credibility to your links by chaining them there.
And there's even more! Since we're talking about chaining related lens that you created together, and Squidoo may very well consider your other lenses to be the most related to the lens in question, Squidoo can very likely put 3 of your lenses on the topic as the first 3 related lenses, and your selected similar lenses as the bottom 3. You get to take control of the entire Explore Related Pages bar!
Note: Now you can fill all six slots with your lenses (or at least choose six lenses) instead of just three.
And there's even more! Since we're talking about chaining related lens that you created together, and Squidoo may very well consider your other lenses to be the most related to the lens in question, Squidoo can very likely put 3 of your lenses on the topic as the first 3 related lenses, and your selected similar lenses as the bottom 3. You get to take control of the entire Explore Related Pages bar!
Note: Now you can fill all six slots with your lenses (or at least choose six lenses) instead of just three.
If you're trying to chain more than 4 pages together, those other 3 links can come in handy.
Let's say you have 7 lenses to chain together, and the lens you are chaining the others to is #1. If you enter lenses #2-4 as your bottom 3, and Squidoo selects #2, 5 and 7 as the top 3, then you could change your bottom 3 links to #3, and 6. That way, all 7 of your lenses are chained together.
As your lens gets published and updated, this may change, so the decision to alter your Discovery Tool links may be more work than its worth, but it can give you all the links you need with careful analysis.
Even if Squidoo doesn't consider all of your related lenses the best fit for your lens, you can still attach 3 for sure (although they are the last 3 in the bar), and have a chance to send traffic that comes to your lens on to those Related lenses.
Note: Only active lenses (green on your dashboard) can be included in the Discovery Tool.
Let's say you have 7 lenses to chain together, and the lens you are chaining the others to is #1. If you enter lenses #2-4 as your bottom 3, and Squidoo selects #2, 5 and 7 as the top 3, then you could change your bottom 3 links to #3, and 6. That way, all 7 of your lenses are chained together.
As your lens gets published and updated, this may change, so the decision to alter your Discovery Tool links may be more work than its worth, but it can give you all the links you need with careful analysis.
Even if Squidoo doesn't consider all of your related lenses the best fit for your lens, you can still attach 3 for sure (although they are the last 3 in the bar), and have a chance to send traffic that comes to your lens on to those Related lenses.
Note: Only active lenses (green on your dashboard) can be included in the Discovery Tool.
Let's see how we did using this Explore Related Pages example. On my Tribal Wars Strategy Guide Lens, I entered three of the unit sub pages as related content in the Discovery Tool.
The first link that appears on the Explore Related Pages bar goes to DarknessFalls' Tribal Wars Training Guide, another fine Tribal Wars site with a slightly different focus.
The next link is my Tribal Wars Noble lens and the third is about generations. The third lens isn't necessarily related, but that's the decision Squidoo made. The last three links are the ones I entered in the Discovery Tool. As you can see, I have a repeat, so I could swap out the Noble lens for something else, say, my Paladin lens. In this way, I can maximize the Discovery Tool, especially if Squidoo sees my other lens as related.
Note: If you look at my Tribal Wars Strategy Guide today, you will see a different Explore Related Pages bar. Content that goes to the bar changes as Squidoo updates its opinion of related content. This can work to your advantage, give you more work to do, or sink your related lenses, but no matter what, you can rely on the three lenses that you enter in the Discovery Tool.
Rib-Tickling - Linking in the Middle
Now that you have links at the top of the lens, let's work on some mid-lens linking. We'll do that using HTML links and Lensroll.
If you notice above there are some links amongst the text. Whenever you can reference something else, you should do so with a link to the relevant content, using anchor text to fit the link into the flow of your sentence.
Building Links
Let's say I want to create a link mid-sentence that goes to my lensography. I might say something like.
If you want to know more about the content I've developed, check out the JHF SEO Lensography.
There are two major parts to the link above, the link itself, and the anchor text.
First, the link as a whole. When creating links in edit mode, your links that go to other Squidoo lenses should look like this:
If you notice above there are some links amongst the text. Whenever you can reference something else, you should do so with a link to the relevant content, using anchor text to fit the link into the flow of your sentence.
Building Links
Let's say I want to create a link mid-sentence that goes to my lensography. I might say something like.
If you want to know more about the content I've developed, check out the JHF SEO Lensography.
There are two major parts to the link above, the link itself, and the anchor text.
First, the link as a whole. When creating links in edit mode, your links that go to other Squidoo lenses should look like this:
The anchor text is what you want the link to actually read as on the page. In the above example, the anchor text is - JHF SEO Lensography - and that's how it actually appears in the link shown above. Since the lensname of my lensography is jhfseo, that word appears where it says insert lensname.
Let me be clear. The title of your lens doesn't go into the insert lensname portion.
Let me be clear. The title of your lens doesn't go into the insert lensname portion.
Remember back...when you first started your lens, and there was a prompt that showed www,squidoo.com/__________ and in that blank you put in a word for the name of your lens. That's what goes into the (insert lensname) portion.
Note:The above creation page wasn't executed by me. I thought about it, in case you actually went there to see if there was in fact a remember_me lens. There is, done by someone else, and it is under construction.
Another Mid-line Method
An easier way to enter the URL, is to view your lens (don't edit it, but look at it in the View Lens mode), and copy the URL at the top.
Then, for your link, type in the bones of the link, and paste the URL in between the sets of quotes.
In other words:
Then, for your link, type in the bones of the link, and paste the URL in between the sets of quotes.
In other words:
Note: Be sure to put a space after the closing tag when typing the rest of your sentence or else the link and text will run together.
Anchor Text
The Anchor Text is important for two reasons. First, it allows you to enter a link without disturbing the flow of your text. It fits in naturally and gives readers a chance to click and go to another of your related pages if it's suits them.
More importantly, when spiders crawl your lens, they see the link as an invitation to check out related content, and if they see the anchor text, and it's related, they will relate your page with that term when ranking pages. This helps give SEO validity to your link, the lens you're going to, and the lens you came from, all important when getting your lens found in searches here at Squidoo and on search engines elsewhere.
As a result, make your anchor text brief but descriptive so as to encourage both readers and spiders.
Note: Any HTML link in content that goes to a lens that is not published will take the user to the Under Construction page.
Anchor Text
The Anchor Text is important for two reasons. First, it allows you to enter a link without disturbing the flow of your text. It fits in naturally and gives readers a chance to click and go to another of your related pages if it's suits them.
More importantly, when spiders crawl your lens, they see the link as an invitation to check out related content, and if they see the anchor text, and it's related, they will relate your page with that term when ranking pages. This helps give SEO validity to your link, the lens you're going to, and the lens you came from, all important when getting your lens found in searches here at Squidoo and on search engines elsewhere.
As a result, make your anchor text brief but descriptive so as to encourage both readers and spiders.
Note: Any HTML link in content that goes to a lens that is not published will take the user to the Under Construction page.
More Linking in the Middle - Lensroll
Another powerful, Squidoo-specific tool for mid-lens links is Lensroll.
Lensroll is designed to allow readers to share lenses with other by putting the current lens link on one or more of the reader's lenses.
This is great if your fans spread the word about your lenses, but you can also use Lensroll to add links to the side of your own other related lenses, and by going to those lenses, can link related lenses back to the one you started with. This creates a network of related lenses.
Lensroll is designed to allow readers to share lenses with other by putting the current lens link on one or more of the reader's lenses.
This is great if your fans spread the word about your lenses, but you can also use Lensroll to add links to the side of your own other related lenses, and by going to those lenses, can link related lenses back to the one you started with. This creates a network of related lenses.
In the View Lens mode, click the Smiley-Face on the right side of your lens to go to the Add a Lensroll page.
On the Add a Lensroll page, you will see all the active lenses you've created.
All you have to do is click the checkbox beside every lens on which you want that lens to be included. In this case, I have selected the Tribal Wars lenses I want to chain to the main strategy guide. When I click Continue, the lenses I selected will all have the main Strategy Guide on their lensrolls.
I could click all the checkboxes and add this lens to all of my lenses lensrolls. More links are better right? No one will stop you, but doing that makes your lensroll cluttered and confusing, and may prevent people from clicking a related lens. It's better just to select related content and leave it at that.
When you've selected all of the lenses that you want to lensroll the current lens, click the Continue button. You will receive a confirmation that looks like this. (In this case, I lensrolled all of my SEO and Squidoo Tip Modules, viewing them as related content to this lens).
All you have to do is click the checkbox beside every lens on which you want that lens to be included. In this case, I have selected the Tribal Wars lenses I want to chain to the main strategy guide. When I click Continue, the lenses I selected will all have the main Strategy Guide on their lensrolls.
I could click all the checkboxes and add this lens to all of my lenses lensrolls. More links are better right? No one will stop you, but doing that makes your lensroll cluttered and confusing, and may prevent people from clicking a related lens. It's better just to select related content and leave it at that.
When you've selected all of the lenses that you want to lensroll the current lens, click the Continue button. You will receive a confirmation that looks like this. (In this case, I lensrolled all of my SEO and Squidoo Tip Modules, viewing them as related content to this lens).
Those lenses will feature the current lens under its recommended links on the right side.
Instant relevant links!
To add all of the related links to the current lens' recommended links, you will have to go to each of those lenses, and lensroll all of the lenses in the group.
From our previous example, if we have 7 lenses, and we lensroll #2-7 for lens #1 (putting the #1 lens link on #2-7s' lensrolls), we would then have to go to lens #2, lens roll, #1 and 3-7, and so on for all of the lenses. This will put 6 lenses under the lensroll of each lens, each one having all of the other lenses in the group minus itself.
Technically, you could lensroll a lens to itself, but there's little point and might cause confusion.
When finished the Recommended Links on the right side of the current lens should look like this:
Instant relevant links!
To add all of the related links to the current lens' recommended links, you will have to go to each of those lenses, and lensroll all of the lenses in the group.
From our previous example, if we have 7 lenses, and we lensroll #2-7 for lens #1 (putting the #1 lens link on #2-7s' lensrolls), we would then have to go to lens #2, lens roll, #1 and 3-7, and so on for all of the lenses. This will put 6 lenses under the lensroll of each lens, each one having all of the other lenses in the group minus itself.
Technically, you could lensroll a lens to itself, but there's little point and might cause confusion.
When finished the Recommended Links on the right side of the current lens should look like this:
Note: As with other methods, this only works with active lenses. If your lenses are still under construction, they won't appear in the list for lensrolling.
Also:This section needs to be updated, as the entry system and look have changed.
Finish with a Bang - The Featured Lenses Module
We have related links at the top, throughout the content text, and along the side of the lens. The only thing we need now is some related links at the bottom.
My favorite module for this is the Featured Lenses module, which is also one of my favorite linking methods for visual pop.
In this way, you can list related lenses to the current lenses, and the Featured Lenses Module will show the Intro module of the selected lenses, including the Intro picture and part of the Intro text.
Simply open the module, title it, enter the lensname portion of your lens' URL as discussed earlier into the prompt after the /, add additional links if you want and click the Save button. Your Featured Lenses module will show the lenses as described above where the full title of the lens is the link to that lens.
Note: The one downside is that you can only list 5 lenses this way, but there's nothing stopping you from adding multiple Featured Lenses modules to allow you to list all of your lenses.
Update:There seems to be no limit to lenses in a Featured Lens module now.
This is so much more eye-catching and useful than the Link List module, you may never use Link List again.
My favorite module for this is the Featured Lenses module, which is also one of my favorite linking methods for visual pop.
In this way, you can list related lenses to the current lenses, and the Featured Lenses Module will show the Intro module of the selected lenses, including the Intro picture and part of the Intro text.
Simply open the module, title it, enter the lensname portion of your lens' URL as discussed earlier into the prompt after the /, add additional links if you want and click the Save button. Your Featured Lenses module will show the lenses as described above where the full title of the lens is the link to that lens.
Note: The one downside is that you can only list 5 lenses this way, but there's nothing stopping you from adding multiple Featured Lenses modules to allow you to list all of your lenses.
Update:There seems to be no limit to lenses in a Featured Lens module now.
This is so much more eye-catching and useful than the Link List module, you may never use Link List again.
More SEO and Squidoo Tips
Bonus Linking Tip!
Using the Email Lens Link
Up there beside Lensroll is the Email option. If someone wants to email the lens URL to a friend, they can by clicking the link on the side...but you can make the link more obvious by incorporating it into something else, in the case below, a blackbox module.Just go up to the email link on the right side of the lens while in View Lens mode and right click the link.
You'll see options including Copy Link Location. Select that, and it will save the link.
Edit your lens and create a new module for the link, something where it will stand out like a Sticky Note or a Blackbox.
Then enter text and paste the link you want using the link building tip from above. Save the module, and now you have an in-line reminder for readers to email the lens to their friends and the link will take them to the "Email this Page to..." page!
You Can Email This Lens To Your Friends
Update!
Alas, you can't email links anymore, but that's ok, you can encourage people to email or IM your lens link by creating some obvious text, say in a Blackbox or using some CSS and just write your url, like this:
Copy and Paste this link to a friend:
http://www.squidoo.com/linking-squidoo-lenses
It's not as wiz as the email function, but it will get the job done for anyone who is willing to C and P your url.
Copy and Paste this link to a friend:
http://www.squidoo.com/linking-squidoo-lenses
It's not as wiz as the email function, but it will get the job done for anyone who is willing to C and P your url.
Another Module To Improve Linking
I had been using the AddThis.com button, which allows users to bookmark your lens to a variety of social sites, but theFluffanutta has created a module that inserts it for you, no fuss, no muss.
Learn more about it here:
Learn more about it here:
Lens Linking Review
We've gone over:
The Discovery Tool portion of the Introduction module, including setting it up, adding related lenses to it, and rotating lenses for maximum effect.
Making HTML links work for you including how to create them and incorporate them into your content.
Lensrolling both to and from lenses.
and finishing strong with the Featured Lenses module.
plus a bonus tip about Emailing Lenses
Thanks for reading, and happy Squidoodling!
The Discovery Tool portion of the Introduction module, including setting it up, adding related lenses to it, and rotating lenses for maximum effect.
Making HTML links work for you including how to create them and incorporate them into your content.
Lensrolling both to and from lenses.
and finishing strong with the Featured Lenses module.
plus a bonus tip about Emailing Lenses
Thanks for reading, and happy Squidoodling!
More Help With Linking and Traffic for Lenses
Linking Squidoo Lens Feedback
This lens was created to help my fellow Squidoodlers. If it accomplished that, I'd like to know that it helped.
If you know of more or better ways to do what I'm doing here, I want to know them, too. I'll not only update the lens, but give you credit for your input.
Whatever you do, good luck with your lenses!
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Decanus
Apr 4, 2012 @ 5:30 pm | delete
- great info, very helpful
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djeby Mar 7, 2012 @ 8:52 am | delete
- Very good tips. I am still struggling to get the "traffic lens" up :D
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QuantumSoul
Feb 6, 2012 @ 4:26 pm | delete
- The Discovery Tool doesn't work for me very well ;(
The problem is that when I fill in the 6 lens address fields with addresses of my lenses, then click save and publish, I don't see any of my lens on the 'Explore Related Pages' sidebar. When I then click the 'Edit Lens' button, and again go into intro module and Discovery Tool options, all the text fields are blank :(
What am I doing wrong?
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JHFSEO
Feb 6, 2012 @ 9:02 pm | delete
- Hmm,
Well, I know you said you published. Was this an already live lens, or was it still waiting for the first day after publishing to go live?
As I think you said, you entered the links, clicked save on the module, then published the lens. It should work.
If you can't get it to work, go to the SquidU forums and see if anyone has any more suggestions. It could be a bug, in which you should send in a report, but ask the forum first.
I checked a new lens of mine to see if lenses weren't taking new links, and it worked for me.
Good luck!
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QuantumSoul
Feb 8, 2012 @ 6:08 am | delete
- Thank you for your answer!
I tried again today and everything worked fine finally. Maybe it had something to do with that waiting for the next day after publishing, I didn't know about it. I tried to do this immediately after publishing first, since all the lenses had already green checks in dashboard and were working.
By the way, thank you for this lens, it provides great information!
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JHFSEO
Feb 6, 2012 @ 9:04 pm | delete
- One more thing, and I'm sure you're not doing it wrong, but make sure you are putting in just the name of the lens in the link portion, as seen after www.squidoo.com/. If you are entering www.squidoo.com, it's redundant and may be kicking it out.
That doesn't work, do ask the forum.
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homeschoolmomof4
Dec 18, 2011 @ 3:19 pm | delete
- Ok, but can you add the discovery tool to an already existing lens?
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JHFSEO
Dec 18, 2011 @ 6:25 pm | delete
- Yes. Squidoo has made some changes, but the feature is the same.
When editing a lens, even one already published, go to your Intro Module, click the edit button, and select the right most tab, which used to be called Discovery Tool, and is now marked Related Lenses.
Simply enter the Squidoo URLs for the lenses you want in the Discovery Tool/Related Lenses, click the save button, and re-publish your lens. Done.s
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KonaGirl
May 16, 2011 @ 6:29 pm | delete
- This is a freaking awesome lens that will help a lot of people! Next time I get asked about this I can send them here. Leaving you with a Squid Angel blessing and added your link from this lens to My Squid Angel Wings blessing lens.
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JHFSEO
May 16, 2011 @ 9:16 pm | delete
- Mahalo Nui, KonaGirl!
I'm glad you stopped by and I appreciate the blessing. Many more in return.
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by JHFSEO
Hi all. I develop content for fun and for clients, and enjoy writing on everything that catches my attention including Arizona, sports, politics, civics,... more »
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