Squidoo SEO: Optimize Your Page for Search Engine Traffic

The most common form of Squidoo SEO is to identify what words related to your topic are getting searched by lots of people, then use those keywords on your lens and/or in links pointing to your lens. This informs search engines which search terms your page is most relevant for, so that your web page will rank better for those searches.

1. Brainstorm for good keywords.

Think carefully. What word or words would you type when searching for a page like yours? For example, if I were writing a lens on hot dogs, I might try "hot dogs," "hot dog," "wiener" and "frankfurter." Need help brainstorming keywords related to your topic? Go to Google, search for a term, then pick "Related searches" or "wonder wheel" from the sidebar. Check out the phrases Google thinks are related to your search.

2. Check to see how often keywords are searched.

Long term, you may want to opt into keyword research tools that require registration and/or cost money. However, I have gotten Squidoo lenses to page 1 of Google for years simply by using Google's Free Keyword Tool to get a sense of traffic numbers. I look at "global" (worldwide) traffic rather than "local" (in your own country).

2a. Consider the "Long Tail".



Here's what I got when I typed "hot dog" in that Keyword Tracker Tool. Y is number of searches, X is different phrases related to "hot dog". In fact the graph is scrunched horizontally; it tails waaaay off to the right.

Most people search for one or two popular phrases, but the obscure phrases, the "long tail" of the graph, collectively outnumber the popular search terms. "Chasing the Long Tail" means targeting less-popular but still widely-searched keywords, products, or opportunities that competitors have missed.

In the old days, many SEO experts used long-tail keywords as their main or ONLY keyword, embedding it in their URL and/or page title to tell search engines, "Rank me for this phrase!" Nowadays, search engines have caught onto this trick and refuse to be so easily convinced. Therfore, long tail keywords don't have as much "pull" as they used to, and I don't recommend gambling your whole SEO strategy on one long tail phrase. However, it's still a good idea to gather a list of relevant "long tail" searches and keep them in mind when writing your page. If one of these phrases fits what you're trying to say, use it!

3. Check the Competition For Your Keywords

You need a keyword that people are searching for, but if there's a gazillion webpages optimized for it, those pages will appear before your lens in search engine results. Most people searching the web click on one of the first 5 to 10 links they see -- in other words, page one of search results.

So you have to scout your competition. SEO experts used advanced and expensive software to do this. Most of us Squidoo members don't have such resources. But Google can give us a basic idea of how many pages are optimized for a given search term. Google the following:

allinurl:your keyword or phrase
allintitle:your keyword or phrase

That tells you how many webpages have your keyword in their url or page title. That means they're optimized for that keyword.

If 1000+ sites are all optimized for your keyword(s), try another. A few hundred? Yeah, you can beat that! However, before you run off to write your "what's in a hot dog?" lens, there's one more thing you need to check.

3b. Check the Competition For Your Keywords on Squidoo (or Zazzle, or whichever domain you're using)

Google often returns only two to four webpages per domain in its default results. That means that only 2-4 Squidoo lenses will appear in Google's listings for each search. Other lenses using the phrase will be indexed, but you must click "Show more results from Squidoo.com" to see them. (For example, Google "Squidoo SEO").

Therefore, you'll have a better chance of your lens ranking in Google if no other Squidoo lenses have optimized for your keyword. Here's how to check.

1. Google search: site:www.squidoo.com your keyword
2. Check this URL: http://www.squidoo.com/tags your keyword

You can sometimes beat another Squidoo lens with your awesome SEO skills, but it's easier to avoid the problem and pick a different keyword.

SQUIDOO SEO TIP: Lensmaster AJ has written a great Keyword Research Tutorial. She has one additional trick: using a chart to compare possible keyword candidates. Check her lens to see how; I won't steal her thunder by explaining it here.

So, you've found a great keyword phrase that's got decent search traffic, but not too much competition. So how do you use that keyword?

Search engines list pages in order of "relevance." They determine "relevance" by giving special weight to certain parts of each webpage: the URL, page title, headers, images, and links.

Optimize your Squidoo lens by weaving your keyword into those parts of your lens. Don't repeat yourself too much! Vary the phrase. Use singulars and plurals. Combine the phrase with other words ("Now Charlie the Squid will show us what's in a hot dog") to make the repetition less obvious and annoying to human readers. Use synonyms.

Where To Use Your Keywords: An SEO Checklist

The most important places to use your keyword are the URL (separate words with dashes, like this: whats-in-a-hot-dog) and the lens/webpage title.

Here are other places search engines consider "relevant", in descending order of importance:

• Headers. On Squidoo, these are module titles and subtitles. On any webpage, these are section headers.
  
• The Introduction Module. Most search engines give extra weight to words and phrases in this module. On other websites, there's often a description or summary field that works the same way.
  
• Table of Contents links. Edit the Introduction Module, click the "Table of Contents" tab and turn it on. Google recognizes Squidoo Table of Contents links as pointing to the key parts of each lens.
  
• Image filenames (e.g. whats-in-hot-dog.jpg). It's a good idea to use your keyword for the filename of your lens logo.
  
• Link text. For example, use "Here's a great diagram showing what's in a hot dog" not "Click here to see what's in a hot dog."
  
• Image alt-names. Alt-names are optional text to display if an image doesn't load. You can't set the alt-name of your lens logo, but in Squidoo modules like the text module, Squidoo invites you to add a "Label". This is an alt-name. See my How to Upload Images tutorial for how to set an alt-name if you're using HTML.
  
• Emphasized text. Search engines notice <b>bold text</b> and <i>italics</i>.
  
• Body text. That is, the text of your paragraphs, descriptions, and other content.

When you link to an Amazon or other product, that counts as "link text"!

A Few More Tips For On-Page Keyword Optimization

Search engines may penalize you for keyword stuffing -- repeating your keyword too often -- and even if they don't, your readers will. You'd have left this lens if I'd used Squidoo SEO over and over.

Your lens traffic stats are a valuable source of information for keyword searches. You may not necessarily add them as Squidoo tags, but you could use them in a module title or reword your lens to target them in few more places.

One last tip: trim unnecessary words. Not only does tight focus help search engines identify your topic; it also holds your readers' attention.

Tags are labels you put on your webpages to explain what to file them under. They're like folder names on your computer, except you can file a page under more than one tag. Tagging systems are designed by and unique to each website. In Squidoo, you pick and place tags in the sidebar of your lens.

Keywords are labels that a SEARCH ENGINE decides to file your webpages under, based on its own analysis of your page's content, on-page optimization and backlinks. Google's not going to be convinced by your Squidoo tags saying, "chocolate chocolate chocolate, my page is the best page on chocolate!"

So What Can Tags Do For Squidoo SEO?

Most search engines treat Squidoo tags as no more important than any other link/anchor text on your lens. However, each tag is also listed on a separate page on Squidoo pointing back to your lens. Click on a tag, and you'll see a page listing all lenses using that tag. The link from that "tag page," which is highly focused on one topic, can boost your SEO ranking for that topic. The Primary Tag has the most weight: it gets a little extra "boost" when Squidoo's deciding which page to list first on a tag page.

So How Do I Tag My Squidoo Lens?

To check the popularity of a particular Squidoo tag, I recommend the free workshop add-on from SquidUtils, which color codes popular tags green, uncommon ones red.

Your primary tag should be your keyword phrase, just a word or three. Make sure it's used by other lenses! A link from a tag page with only one link won't impress search engines. A link from a tag page with 20 lenses all related to your topic is more impressive (especially if yours is near the top). I strongly recommend Fluff's How-to post on of Squidoo tags for help.

Squidoo and Squidoo Tags

Squidoo uses its tags for a special purpose: to decide which lenses to link to yours and vice versa. That works only if you turn on the "Discovery" tool in the Introduction Module. Your lens will then appear in the Discovery Tool box in the sidebar of lenses sharing your tags. You'll get more exposure if you use tags used by several lenses. So use Squidoo Tags that are broad, general categories: "breakfast" not the Long Tail "whole grain waffles."

Blogging software that uses tags often uses tags or categories to cross-link posts in much the same way.

Search engines also count links pointing to your webpage as indicators of "relevance." However, SEs are wise to the fact that people spam the web with links trying to boost their page's relevance. Therefore, not every link helps, and search engines don't tell us which links they count, or even how many they're actually counting.

Many SEO experts treat linkbuilding as the holy grail of SEO, and spend all their time doing it. Linkbuilding is a powerful form of SEO, but it's not the only kind of SEO, and it takes more time and effort than on-page optimization.

Social Networking = Useful for Human Visitors, But Lousy for SEO

Links from social networking sites like Facebook are usually nofollow, as are guestbooks on other people's blogs. Some search engines do follow those links in order to find new webpages. But nofollow links don't give the target webpage any boost in search engine rankings -- that is, they won't help your lens get listed any higher up in search results.

Use social networking and posts in guestbooks to attract people, not search engines. Don't worry about keywords. Do worry about being appealling, compelling, and helpful.

Easy Places to Build Links to Your Lenses

• Your other lenses. The Featured Lenses and About Me modules are your friend.
  
• Squidoo-related directories like Slinkset, Lensroll.com, Squoogle, and Isle of Squid.
• Blogs. BLOGS. Yes, you-- do it NOW! Start a blog. Wordpress, Blogger, or the Squidoo-centric Crabbysbeach are free blog hosts. Google and other search engines are in love with new, regularly-updated content. Here's a blog set-up tutorial.
  
• Make a Lensography. Or, better, make several, each targeting all lenses in a niche.
  
• Your profile-- on Squidoo, and elsewhere.
  
• Log into SquidUtils, a set of useful tools by Squidoo member Fluffanutta. This adds your lens to SquidUtil's directory according to your lens' primary tag. I also recommend SquidUtil's Workshop Add-On.
• Forum signatures. These are not as great as some people say. Search engines don't count the same signature on a thousand posts as a thousand different backlinks! But sigs help a little, and again, they are useful for attracting human visitors.
  
• Links from some directories help, but SEO experts aren't even sure of the SEO value a backlink from DMOZ, a directory Google once respected. So don't make directory submission a big priority.
• Article Marketing: This one is NOT easy, but it's effective. Some Squidoo lensmasters post articles on websites that pay for the article, AND let you include a link. I haven't tried this yet, so check out ajgodinho's great tutorial on article marketing.

The Best Way to Build Backlinks Is the Hardest

What's the number one way SEO industry experts get backlinks? They contact and ask for links from relevant, leading pages on a topic. Normally, that's not going to work for us: do you really think your lens on Easter Eggs is good enough for the Easter Bunny himself to add a link to it from his homepage? But there are some sites that may be willing to list your lens. Use a Backlink Builder Tool for look for sites that may be open to giving you a listing.

Note that many of them ask for a "reciprocal link" -- a link back to their site. Be choosy about reciprocal links. You want your lens to link TO good pages on a topic, and have links FROM good pages on a topic. There's no point in adding a reciprocal link to a crummy site. If it's not a link your human visitors would care to visit, search engines probably won't care either.

Backlinkbuilding DON'TS

Normally, if you build a backlink in a place that search engines ignore, you've just wasted your time. However, search engines are wary about links from paid directories, because they know that's an attempt to manipulate them. And links from "submit any link here!" pages may hurt a bit. Instead, stick to directories that are related to your topic, like an "arts and crafts" directory, or stick to directories which use categories and tags, so that they list similar (related, relevant) pages on the same page.

MY Favorite Backlink Building Technique

Make amazing, unique, and interesting pages that people WANT to link to. Write on what you love and what you know. Give people the answers they're looking for. Give people content they can't find anywhere else (your photos, your experience, your knowledge and expertise, your recommendations). Make your lenses look great using the tips I gave back in Part I. Create content worth linking to, and people will build backlinks for you!

When someone searches for a word or phrase on Google, the listing returns TWO important pieces of your lens: (1) the lens title and (2) an excerpt showing the first place where the keywords appear on your lens.

That's your billboard! That search engine listing is your one chance to get people to click on your link! Make it sexy!

So when you use keywords for SEO, make the text around them informative and engaging, especially the first place where your keywords show up. This is often your lens title or introduction, so that's where you should apply spit and polish. You need to do three things: inform, saying exactly what your lens is about, grab the search engine by the throat, i.e. give the keywords that will drag the search engine to that part of your lens, and be sexy, making your writing appeal to your audience. (If you're aiming for stuffy academics or serious businesspeople, you probably shouldn't do a pole dance, just use the kind of language they love).



After your lens shows Google referrals in its stats, try Googling the same keywords your visitors used. One, you'll see how far back your lens is in Google searches, and two, you'll see the blurb that your visitors saw. Tweak as needed! (As a bonus, updates give your lensrank a wee boost.)

Finally -- this is something I'm still working on -- be brief. Use as few words as possible, to get as much of your message as possible into the excerpt.

Search engines are growing smarter. They've learned that when people write articles on X, they also tend to mention Y. Therefore, an article on X is probably better -- and should be ranked better -- if it also mentions Y. For example, articles on "fast food" often mention McDonald's, so the word "McDonald's" is also relevant for searches on "fast food."

What this means is that instead of just targeting a single keyword phrase, SEO experts systematically include related phrases on a page.

Go to Google, search for your keyword phrase, then click "More Tools" and "Related Searches" in the sidebar. Under your search, Google will list related searches: long-tail searches (the lefthand column above), a few synonyms, and related terms (pizza, oscar meyer). Include some of these terms on your lens as well. You could even use the same steps I did above to figure out which of those have lots of searches, low competition.

But wait! Don't bother with this yet. Get the basics of SEO down, first! This is something to experiment with later, perhaps when updating an old lens.