Are you getting traffic to your lenses yet? Are they coming up in the search engine rankings yet? No? Well this week we’re going to take a look at some things that may be keeping your lens from getting the Google love it deserves.
When you create a site on the web, whether it’s a niche site, blog post, lens, hub whatever, if your purpose is to get free traffic from the search engines you have to do a little something called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. SEO is basically making your page the best it can be to get the attention of Google for a specific word or phrase.
There are actually 2 types of SEO. Onpage SEO and off page SEO. We’ve already discussed quite a bit of off page SEO like link building and using keyword anchor text for your links.
This post is going to focus on on page SEO. This means the things you do ON your web page to make Google happy.
They are pretty simple to do, but if you want search traffic they are NOT optional. If you have a lens that is not performing up to your expectations check to make sure you have done a good job with your on page optimization. If you’ve missed some of these things, changing them could make a huge difference for your lens.
1. Use your keywords in the url.
Whether you’re creating a niche site or a squidoo lens this is a huge element of SEO. This is the first place google looks to see what your lens is about. If you don’t have the specific keywords you are trying to rank for in your URL, you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage.
Example:
My keyword for the ironman lens is: Ironman Gravity 4000 Inversion Table
My url for the lens is: www.squidoo.com/ironman-gravity-4000-inversion-table
The url is my EXACT keyword. It is not ironman-inversion-table or gravity-4000 or inversion-table-ironman.
It is my keyword, exactly and only.
Now when you get to building your own niche sites this is going to very important that you have only the keywords you are trying to rank for in your url, no extra words at the beginning or the end. For regular domain names you will get a little boost in the rankings for having the exact keyword domain. You don’t get the bonus at Squidoo, but it is still the most important way Google identifies your site, so ONLY USE YOUR KEYWORDS.
Dashes – no dashes?
In a regular domain name I’d say no dashes.
For Squidoo I don’t think it matters. Squidoo’s default is dashes so that’s what I usually end up doing.
Sidenote:
Google’s one and only job is to give searchers relevant, unique, targeted information for each and every search query a searcher does. So think about it this way. I go to google and I put in ironman gravity 4000 inversion table. What is google going to think is the best match to my query?
www.Squidoo.com/ironman-inversion-table
www.squidoo.com/inversion-tables
www.squidoo.com/ironman-gravity-4000-inversion table.
Yeah ~ of course it’s going to be the third one. This is why it’s so important to not only choose your keywords correctly, but use them in your url exactly as you’ve chosen them.
******
2. Keywords in your lens title
Every page on the internet uses html tags in the background. This is the “title tag”. When it comes to squidoo you don’t need to know about the tags stuff, even for wordpress you don’t have to understand about the tags stuff ~ they both do it for you automatically, but what you do need to know is that you have to use your keywords in the title.
Here’s what the code to the ironman lens looks like ~ and you’ll see the “title tag” is the title of the lens.
That gives google exactly the information they need in order to know exactly what this lens is about.
Where it says Title: in the edit area of your lens you ALWAYS want to have the keywords you are targeting.
If you don’t feel like just the keywords are a good enough title for your lens (which they are), you can always add words AFTER your keywords in the title. You always add your additional words AFTER your keywords in the title because Google gives a little more emphasis on the first 3 or 4 words in the title, so you want your keywords to be up front.
If you’re optimizing a blog post you want to make sure you use your keywords in the title of your post. For this particular post I’m targeting the term “google love” (yeah it actually has a LOT of search volume lol) so I put it up front in my title, and then put the descriptor words behind it.
3. Use keywords toward the beginning of your intro module.
This is another html tag area called the “meta tag”. This tag provides a description of your page to Google. In squidoo this tag is grabbed from your intro module. This is what will show up in the description under your listing in the search engine results, so you definitely want your keywords in there. When keywords show up in the description area of the rankings they are bolded ~ this also helps bring more attention to your page.
4. Use keywords in your module titles:
In your squidoo lens you want to make sure you also use your keywords in your module titles. While your title gets its own “title” tag in html, module titles get a tag too ~ it’s called an h1 tag. This is a tag that google weighs very heavily when determining what your lens is about.
You don’t have to worry about creating that tag, in Squidoo or wordpress, you just have to remember to put your keywords in your module and post titles.
5. Use your keyword in your content.
Obviously you want to make sure you use your keyword in your content because that’s what you’re talking about right? So make sure you talk about it ~ specifically. 
It’s ok to use variations of your keyword and related keywords/terms in your content, but you also need to have your exact keyword phrase in the content as well.
In the past “keyword density” (using your keyword a certain amount per 100 words) was a lot more important. Now it really is pretty irrelevant. Just talk like you would talk to a friend and you’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about calculating your keyword usage, just use it as you would in conversation.
6. Use your keywords in outbound links.
Links in your lens/blog post are another good way google identifies what your page is about. In your lenses you may be linking to an amazon page ~ so make sure you use your keywords as the anchor text of the link. If you are writing a blog post linking back to your lens make sure you use the keywords you are targeting as the anchor text pointing back to your link.
Using anchor text pointing to your sites is important, but the anchor text of the links on your site pointing elsewhere also count when optimizing a page.
I know you some of you want to get creative, and tell a story with your lens ~ which is FINE ~ but you still have to find a way to do it within the framework of on page SEO. You can tell a story that converts all day long, but if you never get traffic then there’s no one to read it or click your links.
If you have questions about on page SEO please feel free to ask in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer your questions. We’re going to be working on other elements of on page SEO this week so stay tuned!!
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Jackie thank you for the updates that you periodically send. They are oh so helpful. I do have a rookie question for you though…when you do article submissions do you re work articles that you post on your blog first or do you write totally original pieces or do you just post articles straight from your blog to article directories? Thanks in advance,
~Jill
http://www.justjillin.com
@justjillin I do not use my blog posts in any form or fashion to submit to article directories… never have. never will. The content on my blog is completely and utterly unique and helpful. When I write articles they are totally different ~ this post will show you the types of articles I write for article directories…. http://internetmarketingformommies.com/lets-talk-product-benefits/
Hey Jackie thanks for a great post that has got me thinking. I will take a look at my exisiting lens and see what I can do to improve them based on your post..
Thanks again.
These are some excellent tips for use on Squidoo and they’ve actually given me a few ideas on how to freshen up some of my lenses. Thanks
Hi Jackie,
I have promoting a clickbank product for a month and have go about 250 hops so far, but not a single sell. The vendor say that they get 2% conversion (1 sell per 50 hop). But I could not get a single sell in 250 hops. I am feeling very discouraged. Can you give me any suggestion please?
Than you
Well, it could be any number of things… first of all it will probably take between 100 and 200 clickthroughs to the sales page to get a sale. AND that all depends on your site ~ how targeted it is, how relevant it is to the product, how relevant the traffic is, it also depends on well written the sales page is, and if it speaks to the person clicking through, the price makes a difference etc etc… there are a lot of things that can be the problem. I suggest you make sure you’ve got a page that is very relevant, well written and is taking them to a solution that exactly solves the problem they’ve got ~ that will help.
I just got this post in an email and thought it a good idea to double-check that I am doing everything right, and it appears I am, which makes me happy. I thought I was, because Google isnt having any trouble finding me.
Dee @ One Stop Jewelry Shop´s last [type] ..Skull Rings – Just in time for Halloween
I am closely following all the advice that I have received from your training series and blog posts, and although I have found some of it challenging, you really do explain things clearly, and in particular WHY a certain thing should be done. For someone that needs to know WHY this has been immensely helpful. I have not gotten a lens any higher than Pg 4 of Google so far, but that could be because I wasnt following your advice when I first made it. I am now, so am looking forward to some results, and ultimately some sales! Thank you for being such a wonderful source of information.
Hi Jackie,
Do you think it is a good idea to make all outbound links (such as Amazon affiliate link) as “no follow” to retain some google “juices”?
Paul@Kitchenaid KFPM770 Food Processor Brushed Nickel´s last [type] ..KitchenAid KFPM770 Food Processor Brushed Nickel updated Sat Jun 19 2010 4-32 am CDT
I don’t worry about it.
Are you talking about in the “health check”? Don’t worry about it. I don’t even look at the health thing, it never seems very accurate to me. Use your kw where you need to use it for good SEO and don’t worry about the health in your dashboard.
Thanks Jackie…your advice is so easy to understand and helpful. I keep getting a message on my squidoo lenses that my primary keyword isn’t correct. I am using the keyword in my url…what should I use as my primary keyword?
Thanks..
angular cheilitis cure´s last [type] ..The Angular Cheilitis Cure
Not having a lot of luck with what Doug? I checked the lens you’ve used in this comment and it’s on the first page of google.
When did you create this lens? The longer it’s been live online the better it will do ~ time is a huge benefit for ranking in google. It looks to me like you are doing just fine. 
Thanks for the info I appreciate it.
Not having mush success going to try posting on some forums etc.
I have a question…how to you figure out where your page ranks? How do you know what page of google you are on?
Thanks,
Michele
Go to google and put your targeted keyword in the search box and see if you can find your site in the listing.
Jackie, very good! Driving traffic to your Lens or web site is 75% of the work. I was doing all of the above but was still getting very little traffic. Then last week I read one of your blogs on back links. I knew about back links, but only knew about buying them or having reverse links.
When I read your blog about putting links on comment sections of blogs and Ezine articles I decided to test it out.
After starting this test one of my Lens jumped over 100,000 in the Squidoo ranks in one day!and the other test lens are up to.
I follow your advice and use Google Alerts to identify relevant blogs (I even won a contest on one of my post to a blog), and post to relevant Ezines articles.(have not had one rejected yet.
Thanks a bunch
Yep Katherine, that’s why it’s what every page needs.
The ideas are the same whether you’re creating a blog, a post, a page, a lens, a hub, whatever ~ the concepts of on page SEO stay the same.
Excellent post! I find the same to also be true for blog posts. If the keyword is in the URL, title, and within the post than you stand a much better chance of it getting ranked well for the keyword.
You can either do a whole new lens using the better keyword. You can use the new keyword in your titles and as the anchor text of your links. Build links using the new keywords as the anchor text. You might find this post helpful: http://internetmarketingformommies.com/impromptu-sample-lens-review/
Check the last 10 things she can do now.
Well, Squidoo has warned that url cannot be changed. Say, if I find a better keyword, and I want to change that into my lens, how would it affect things?
G.
@Donna ~ woo hoo!! Yeah it works it just takes some time. Sometimes it’s a little longer, sometimes it’s a little less ~ just have to be patient.
Hi Jackie,
The day after you responded to me about letting the lens “simmer”, it ended up on page three from being in no-mans land.
I didn’t do any more banklinks for a while and now it’s on page one, seventh listing! So it’s time to do more banklinks to get the listing bumped up some more. But, now I know it will take a little while to see a change in the lens position.
Thanks for the help!
Donna
Hi Rachel,
Bouncing around is normal. On the one that is gone ~ I’d say do the process again starting at free ad blogs, put another post on your blog, do a wetpaint or a hub if you didn’t do that before. If you did a post on 3stepads, make sure you submit that author RSS feed to the RSS directories ~ that should help, and then just see what happens.
The one that is on the front page ~ you can build some more links to it, make sure you’ve got an article at EZA for it, then I’d just wait and see. The more links you build the more stable your ranking will become, and yes at some point you should be able to just leave it and not worry about it.
I have lenses that are #1 on google for a variety of keywords that I haven’t touched in a long long time.
Hi Jackie…great information, as always from you. My question concerns staying on the 1st page of google once you are there. My Christmas lens is on page #1 and is starting to get some traffic. What is your suggestion for keeping it on page #1? Would I submit an article once a week or a post to a free blog once a week? Or wait to see if it stays on page #1? Will there ever be a time that I can be ‘hands off’ or is it a constant monitoring process?
On the otherhand, I had a lens on page #1 that has dropped off the earth. It is no longer indexed and totally gone. Should I do some posts and see where it comes back?
Thank you and you are super with the time and advise you give us.
Rachael
That’s great Donna ~ and remember it takes time for Google to find your links. It doesn’t happen immediately so give it some time to “simmer” it may surprise you and come back. The number of other sites is not really a great indicator of the level of competition ~ since it’s not ALL those sites you’re competing against ~ it’s really the first page of sites you want to know if you can beat. That’s why I do the front page PR check.
Hi Jackie,
Thanks for this checklist!
When I first did my lens it was on page 9 and stayed there for two days. Since then, it has disappeared, (but still indexed).
I have done everything listed, wrote 4 separate blog posts (with keyword links) on the free ad blogs, and wrote an article for Goarticles. I’ve submitted RRS feeds for the lens, made minor changes for the lens, and repinged it twice. The lens still won’t show up, but I can find one of my blog posts and my article!
So this tells me that there is too much competition for the keyword on Google (85,000 actually)…I goofed thinking I could rank just because there wasn’t comptetion on Squidoo.
Anyway, I learned a lot through the process (thanks to you) and doing the second lens is much easier. I also made sure I picked something with way less competition for the second lens.
Donna
WOO HOO Chad!!! Congrats!! Thank you so much for sharing. It gets me all excited when people start making sales.
Now you’re over the hurdle. You know it CAN happen, I bet it flows much easier from here on out!!
Hey Jackie,
Great info as always. I just love how you answer peoples questions on such a regular basis. It is so refreshing!
Had to let you know that I had my first sale on one of my Squidoo Christmas lenses!!!!! Woohoo!
Thanks
Chad
@Ken It depends on the kind of keywords you’re looking for. You can also use .net and .org
You’re the one doing all the lenses so it’s not too surprising that your bio is the same. I do something about enjoying picking the perfect gift for the people on my gifts list ~ which gives me an easy way to put a link to the product in my bio area.
The likelihood of people going through tons of your lenses is small since they will be coming from Google looking for something very specific.
Also, when doing the Christmas lens, what should you do about the Bio since you are not trying to build credibility for just one product.If you have your same bio on several different lens won’t someone kinda look at that and wonder?Does that make sense?
Jackie, thanks for all the great information!! One question on this;
“Now when you get to building your own niche sites this is going to very important that you have only the keywords you are trying to rank for in your url, no extra words at the beginning or the end. For regular domain names you will get a little boost in the rankings for having the exact keyword domain.”
Jackie, thanks for all the great infomation!!
It is hard to find domains that are not taken for the exact keywords you are targeting.In that case would you use dashes, .nets or scrap that keyword?
Yes ~ you want to use the keyword you are targeting on your lens to link back to your lens.
“If you are writing a blog post linking back to your lens make sure you use the keywords you are targeting as the anchor text pointing back to your link.”
Does this mean that I use the keyword I’m targeting in my lens or the keyword I’m targeting in my blog post? Or should I use the same keyword in my blog and my lens?
I’m assuming that if the target keyword in my lens is “black” and the target keyword in my blog is “blue”… when linking back to my lens from my blog, I should use the keyword “black”. Is this corret?
Confused
@Matt ~ yes there is a way to add opt in boxes to your lenses ~ you wouldn’t want to do it for these product lenses, but there is a way to to it. I have a couple opt in forms on some of my lenses. This how to create backlinks lens has an opt in box for my squidoo for beginners ecourse.
@Frank ~ it just means the site hasn’t been given a page rank as of yet. Count it as 0.
@Kelly ~ WOO HOO LOVE to hear that!! Keep taking action.
@Francis ~ congrats that is awesome!! Keep taking action, it’s a numbers game, the more lenses you get up there the better you’re going to do!
Thanks everyone for the kind words ~ keep taking action!
Thanks Jackie for this post. I have followed your steps and I can see results, one of my lens is on first page of google, I have not sold yet, but I am optimistic with the way things are going. This great for all of us. Thanks and keep up
Jackie,
I have a product that has a video on the Amazon website.
Can I use that video on my lens?
If so, how would I do that as there is not an option for Amazon
under the Squidoo video module?
Thanks!
Linda
Using the tips you gave last week, I’ve got half my items onto the first page of Google (as of last night, anyway) and have over 70 hits on my Squidoo pages this week – compared to about 3 last week! And just got my 1st article approved on Ezine, so once they’re all up there, I’m hoping to see some real movement.
I have a feeling it’ll be a Merry Christmas in our house this year, and I thank you for that.
Kelly
Thanks again Jackie for great content!
I have a question about adding up page rank using the SEO for Firefox checker.
Many returns have this for page rank: #8 | PR: – | (the dash)
Should this be counted as a zero like this one: #7 | PR: 0 |
I’ve never known what that dash is and it could be effecting my competition results.
Thanks!
Jackie,
Great info once again. I have begun looking foreword to your tips and e-mails!
Question: Is there a way or” best way” to set up an opt in list for your Lenses? I have not yet researched this very far, I did check SquidU and other places in the squidoo site…if you have covered any of this in your blog, I apologize.
I am trying to get up the nerve to pull the trigger on “Adweber” but not sure yet. Being able to use it with my Squidoo lenses would be a Hugh determining factor in what I decide to do.
Thanks again! Your ROCK!!!
Matt