SEO for Squidoo Lenses

I was recently asked about the need to add
meta tags to Squidoo lenses for SEO purposes.

For one thing, Squidoo would not allow the
relevant coding. For html code that is allowable,
visit:
http://www.squidoo.com/basichtml

However, the main issue is that it is totally
unnecessary as the meta tags are auto-generated
by Squidoo (thanks to Seth's genius).

Meta tags are already embedded in the lens templates.
This is why Squidoo stresses the importance of
lens title, description, primary tag and other tags
- these are actually meta tag fields!

By way of example, here's some of the code
automatically created for one of my lenses:
http://www.squidoo.com/improve-personal-productivity

HTML code generated by Squidoo (an extract):

meta name="description" content="Personal
productivity is the antidote to stop procrastination.
This lens offers a range of strategies to improve
personal productivity online. It includes stop
procrastination tips... (full lens introduction)

meta name = "keywords" content="personal
productivity, audioboo, beat procrastination,
building focus and productivity, chakra energy,
chakra for productivity...(all tags)

property="og:title" content="Improve
Personal Productivity - Stop procrastination,
focus on productivity" (lens title)

So you can see how critical it is to get your
title, description and keywords right.

Also you need to remember that Google indexes
the whole of a Squidoo lens, including module
titles, module sub-headings, videos and even
comments. For more on this deep indexing
aspect visit my previous post:

Deep Indexing of Squidoo Lenses

If you want to check out some of these ideas for
your own lenses, here's some instructions:

Meta Tag Coding in Google

1. Enter your Squidoo lens URL in your browser.
2. Click "View" and then "Page Source" (HTML will appear)
3. Search for "meta" ("edit" and "find").

Check Google Indexing of Your Lens

This is a bit more difficult. You have to be
able to find a Google search result for the
keyword for your lens.

Take for example, when I search on - improve
personal productivity - my lens comes up on
page 2 (11th result). Here's the entry (note
the importance of lens title - shown in the
Google listing):

Improve Personal Productivity - Stop procrastination,
focus on ... - 7:27am
1 Mar 2010 ... Personal productivity is the antidote
to stop procrastination. This lens offers a range of
strategies to improve personal productivity ...
www.squidoo.com/improve-personal-productivity
- Cached

Now notice "cached" at the end of the listing
and click on this. You will see that Google highlights
in color any occurrence of the keywords - improve,
personal and productivity. Here's an example from
my lens description:
improve personal productivity

Now you can see what Squidoo indexes in your lenses
and what you can do to improve your ranking for your
keywords!

Google picked up productivity in the comments from
the guestbook.  Implications:
1. encourage quality comments (and reply to them
using your keywords or variants of them)

2. help out your fellow lensmasters by providing
quality comments on their lenses (using their keywords
or semantically related words).

If you want some way to regularly update your lenses, try
replying to the comments on your lenses.

*********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid100. He provides free resources
for Squidoo marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:
http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies

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