Squidoo Tagging Tricks (how to master Squidoo tags!)

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 21 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #318 in Squidoo Tips, #55,065 overall

Adding Tags To Your Squidoo Lens

Adding tags to your lens is a great way to get found by more people. Through Google, through Squidoo Search, and through lensmasters clicking on their own tags links.

Basically, tagging is very very good.

But only if you know what you're doing.

So... get learning :)

What is "tagging"? 

"Tagging" is when you add tags to your Squidoo Lens.

So what are tags?

A tag is a word or phrase that best describes your lens. So if you have a lens about drinking water some tags you might want to add to your lens might be drinking water, water, H2O, 8 glasses a day, facts about water, water facts, information about water, water filters, drinking water filters, etc.

The basic idea is to add tags that your lens would be useful for if someone was searching for one of the words or phrases. Basically, "My lens would be useful to someone who is searching for _____."

So using the example above, your lens would be useful to someone searching for water filters, etc.

Get it? Good. Now let's investigate why tags are useful, what you can do with them, and whatever else we think of along the way.

Example "Tags Pages" 

If you don't know what a tags page is, click any of the following links to see one.
"Million Dollars" Tags Page
If you add Million Dollars as a tag on your lens will then be added to the list on this page.
"Lewis Smile" Tags Page
When I add Lewis Smile as a tag on my lenses it will then be added to the list on this page.
"Affiliate Marketing" Tags Page
If you add Affiliate Marketing as a tag on your lens it will be added to the list on this page.

Pssst... 

"After you've read this lens, go to SquidooCool.com for more free tips on getting more visitors!"

1). Tags help you find other lenses related to yours 

When you're creating your lens you should probably look at the other lenses already on Squidoo about the same thing.

A clever way to do this is by clicking on one of the tag links in your list of tags (on the published version of the lens - not edit mode). I've put a picture of the tags that are shown on THIS lens. There they are at the top. See them? (you might have to click 'more' to see the full list). You'll see them in the side column.

If you click on one, see how it takes you to a "tags page" listing other lenses that share that tag?

What this allows you to do is see what the related lenses are up to, what they're doing differently to you, and see if yours is better. Make sure it is.

The tags pages is one of the main reasons Squidoo lenses rank so well in google. Because your one lens on cats is linked to (with the tags) to every other lens about cats.

Isn't that nice?

2). Tags are a great way to find other tags to include on your lens 

Yep. Your tags will help you find other tags to add to your lens.

So you added 3 tags to your lens when you first created it. which one of those best describes your lens? A single word. Give it a click.

You now go to the "tags page". You can now see a big list of tags on the right. See them all there?

Do any of those tags fit your lens? Are they on your tags list? If not, add them!

Now, click on one of those tags that relates to your lens. You'll now see a different list of tags. Any of those fit your lens? If yes, add it! Then click it!

Keep going, and keep exploring!

3). Tags are a great way to find other lenses for you to link to 

When adding modules to your lens if you click the 'A-Z' tab then 'F' you'll see a module called "Featured Lenses".

Add one to your lens and put it somewhere near the bottom.

Now save, go back to your lens, and edit the module.

If you have another lens related to the lens you're editing, feature it. If not yet, why not feature a lens by another lensmaster that you just discovered through your tag research?

It's all relevant content for your readers, and they're going to leave your lens sometime anyway so why not leave to another Squidoo lens? It all helps you.

It helps you with google rankings too. You are linking to other relevant content. The same goes for adding a lens to your lensroll.

Finding them through tags is possibly an easier way than finding them through the Squidoo Search top right of this page. They will be more relevant matches to your lens too, hopefully!

4). Every tags page links back to your lens 

Every tags page links back to your lens. So if you have 20 tags that is instantly 20 pages within Squidoo linking to your lens.

This is great for search engine rankings because your link starts appearing in more and more places around the site. For example, as you join groups, comment on lenses, lensroll, etc.

Google likes this.

And tags make this happen instantly!

5). The tags pages are relevant to your lens. Google Fodder! 

Everything about the tags page is relevant to your lens search terms.

Your lens is automatically linking to it, it is linking back to you and other relevant lenses, and they are all linking to the tags page. It's kind of like groups. all interlinking. And it's all instant.

Great stuff for your search engine ranking. The fact that the pages are all linking back and forth. Too many pages for you to even look through with your own eyes!

6). The tags pages often come up very high on google 

The tags pages are listed on Google, often very highly.

So people often find tags pages through google, and because you have the tag on your lens also, they see your lens as one of the options to click on.

Tags pages rank very highly on google because they link to lots of relevant lenses that share the tag. The tags pages also link to lots of other tags pages, which all link to relevant lenses.

So it might be worth your while to pick some very focussed tags, because Squidoo will help them rank in Google. It's a thing called 'The Long Tail'.

 

Tagging Tricks: Tag Effectiveness 

Because of the way the page is structured Google scans the tags as one of the first things it sees on the page.

This makes your tags SUPER-IMPORTANT for search engine rankings. So use them effectively.

Effective tagging is something to master.

Make sure you make each tag as specific as you can to the subject of your lens.

Tagging Tricks: Your Tags Influence Google Ads 

The Google ads that are displayed on your lens that earn your lens revenue each month (other than selling products) are targeted to fit your lens topic and they are influenced by the content and also the tags you use.

If you were weird enough to look at the source code which makes up your lens (the code google reads to understand what your page is about) you'll see this:

google_hints = "TAG 1, TAG 2, TAG 3, TAG 4, ETC, ETC";

This means that when Google decides what ads to display on your lens, they look at your tags when making the decision. A whole load of other stuff on your page is taken into account, but the initial hints come from the tags.

This is just useful information. You can't really do anything with this, but it's nice to know :)

Tagging Tricks: Phrases Matter 

I wrote a post in the Squidoo Forum (squidu.com) and it had a whole bunch of replies.

What I Wrote Was This:

*************************************
Use PHRASES as tags as well as single words.

Squidoo lenses rank really highly in google, often #1 for non-competitive search terms, and tags help your lens come up for SPECIFIC search terms.

What might a person new to your subject search for? Might they type a QUESTION into google?

For example, someone might type: is rich dad poor dad worth reading? If you had this as a tag on your rich dad door dad book lens then you would probably come up quite high!

Do you have a lens about camera memory cards? Maybe this would be a good tag: what memory cards work with CAMERA WHATEVER. Not everybody is going to search google for that, but those who do will probably find you.

Will anyone in your target audience type a QUESTION into google? What might they type? Think of some examples, and add them as tags!
*************************************

To read the replies click this link...

http://www.squidu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1699

Tagging Tricks: Google Suggest 

You can always rely on Google to make fantastic things we can't resist.

This time they have made a thing called Google Suggest.

You start typing a search term into the google search box and it shows you other phrases commonly searched for how many search results there are for that term.

It's very cool. It's free, and you don't need to download anything.

It's great for finding out any tag phrases you might have forgotten about and great for seeing, at a glance, how many other web pages you will be up against to rank for that term.

Check it out here:

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Tagging Tricks: Adding Tags From Your Stats 

  • Open a new window right now and go to your Squidoo Lens Dashboard. Or click here to automatically open it in a new window.

  • Now click 'Stats' to the right of one of your lenses.

  • Now click the 'Traffic' tab under the title of your lens. And now you will see a page with something that looks like this on it:




You will be looking at a list of the words or phrases people typed into Google to find your lens.

See the ones in the list with crosses next to them?

Those are the terms which you DO NOT have as tags on your lens.

The ones with NO crosses by them are already added as tags on your lens.

And guess what happens if you click a cross...

That's right. The word or phrase gets added to your lens tags. This should strengthen your search engine ranking for that word or phrase.

Just remember to republish the lens afterwards!

Tagging Tricks: Google AdWords Keyword Tool 

One of the replies to the forum post was lensmaster ChrisRizzo explaining how he uses another Google tool to generate his tags ideas.

Here is his tip:

*************************************
Google Suggest is cool and can be useful, but nothing beats the power of the Google Keyword Tool (also known as the sandbox).

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Type your main keyword into the Keyword Variations box, and make sure that "Use synonyms" is checked, then hit "Get More Keywords" and there you have it, a huge list of alternatives many of which you may not have heard of. You can sort by how commonly the keywords are searched.
*************************************

Is This Lens Helpful? 

Loading poll. Please Wait...

SquidooCool.com: 

I have started a blog to post all the tips and tricks too small to have a lens of their own. A lot of my posts will hopefully also help you earn more money on Squidoo too.

Find everything at SquidooCool.com

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

How to set up a blog in 5 minutes or less 

featured lens How to set up a blog in 5 minutes or less

Quick quick! You need a blog! So... You need a blog and you don't have any time to waste. You don't want to spend much time learning every single tech term and every trick in the book. You just need a blog!

Should you start a BLOG or a WEBSITE? 

featured lens Should you start a BLOG or a WEBSITE?

You are about to create a new plot of virtual real estate... and you are wondering whether you should create a blog or a website? Well, the answer is probably "Both!" But they do have differences, and one will have advantages over the other dependi...

What else should I add to this lens? 

Is there anything missing from this lens? Do you have any questions which I haven't answered? Let me know and I'll keep writing!

If you would like to leave a comment for me or some advice you want to add to this lens, feel free!

To add this lens to your Squidoo Favorites, click here.

submit
Show All