Squidoo Makes Some Big Changes - Stricter!

[TiffanyDow]

Hey Warriors!

A few important changes on Squidoo effective July 20th:

1.) Porn is gone

2.) TONS of new topics now shut down - from belly fat to free movie downloads. You have to visit squidoo.com/squiddont to see what's allowed and not allowed now.

3.) New limits on overly promotional lenses. Now they have a limit to the number of outbound links to the same domain that you can have on a lens. But the limit is 9 links, not 2 like Hub Pages, so I'm okay with this.

Tiff

[bluenetworx]

Thanks for that...glad they are not as strict as Hubpages yet!! Not surprised that movie downloads is gone...I hate that Google makes me apply for an exception when I want to use the word 'download' in my ads, due to illegal movie/tv downloading

[mlongley]

Its probably not a bad thing that they are filtering out those elements on a lens. Probably will improve their visitors experience.

[jessewrites]

It will also force internet marketers to bring good content to squidoo and will probably result in more favorable treatment from Google.

[slimboy]

So, What can I do with squidoo lens
I love to use squidoo lens to promote affiliate and CPA products before,
But it seem we can't promote them again.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Squidoo is more trouble than they are worth...

Add them now not allowing you to write on a number of subjects to the fact that they are taking forever to index...and it doesn't appear to be worth the time.

[Kate Anderson]

Interesting..

I don't think the changes are all that bad really but then again, I don't bother with Squidoo as much as I used to. 9 external links is more than reasonable, and like someone else said, it will most likely improve the overall quality of the lenses by forcing people to evaluate whether their lens is helpful or merely promotional.. as long as they don't enforce a manual approval process, I don't think it will have that much of an impact on the number of people using it..

[Jeremy Kelsall]

No more weight loss, credit, debt, and a host of other "niches" that many marketers target. I wish squidoo a lot of luck in having people give them content that don't want to use their space for commercial reasons

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by jessewrites

It will also force internet marketers to bring good content to squidoo and will probably result in more favorable treatment from Google.

Google's algorithm doesn't know if content is good, only if it's relevant to a particular set of keywords.

[jessewrites]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

Google's algorithm doesn't know if content is good, only if it's relevant to a particular set of keywords.

True, but if squidoo loses value to the powers that be, squidoo lenses will start to rank lower and lower (totally speculation, of course). I guess this doesn't explain how the junk that passes for content on ehow sometimes ranks so highly in Google. On second thought, you've got a point

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

No more weight loss, credit, debt, and a host of other "niches" that many marketers target. I wish squidoo a lot of luck in having people give them content that don't want to use their space for commercial reasons

Exactly. Seems that they are definitely straying from the path that Godin set with Squidoo. There's that sound of jackboots again.

[Diane S]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

Squidoo is more trouble than they are worth...

Add them now not allowing you to write on a number of subjects to the fact that they are taking forever to index...and it doesn't appear to be worth the time.

I feel it depends on what you expect to get from a website like Squidoo. To me it is just one of many free platforms to promote my keyword. I feel we need as many of these supporting sites as we have time to build to link to our monetized sites. I keep it simple myself and take any of my approved articles, stick most of it verbatim at a lens, and include a link or two to my related site. The more links the better, and if nobody is naturally linking to my monetized site, heck, it is my responsibility to find all the platforms that will let me build sites to do just that! Nine links sounds like plenty to me. Heck all I need is one or two...

[chrisnkay]

I think that this is going to be great for Squidoo as well as its users and visitors. I am looking to see how this affects their page rank!

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Well,

Originally Posted by Diane S

I feel it depends on what you expect to get from a website like Squidoo. To me it is just one of many free platforms to promote my keyword. I feel we need as many of these supporting sites as we have time to build to link to our monetized sites. I keep it simple myself and take any of my approved articles, stick most of it verbatim at a lens, and include a link or two to my related site. The more links the better, and if nobody is naturally linking to my monetized site, heck, it is my responsibility to find all the platforms that will let me build sites to do just that! Nine links sounds like plenty to me. Heck all I need is one or two...

I could care less about the number of outbound links

Here is what could happen and HAS happened...

Say you have 9 lenses for a Squidoo account and one of them is a weight loss lens that they deem inappropriate, your whole account will be suspended...It's already happened to a number of people.

So, now Weight loss is inappropriate, debt, credit cards, and a slew of "main stream" topics are on the list as well. Not to mention the fact that their pages over the past week or slow have indexed slower than my crappiest auto-blog

If you want a space for to talk about what you did today, they Squidoo will be great for it...You want to market? It sucks.

[TiffanyDow]

I haven't had any slowdown whatsoever in indexing of my lenses.

[Jagged]

Figures....just when I start making a few sales through my squidoo lens...they go & change everything...

[khtm]

I have noticed my Squidoo pages get indexed slower than other free sites like Wordpress or Blogspot.

But it could just all be in my head because I head about the Google Squidoo hate that happened a while back.

[thefluffanutta]

For full details of the upcoming changes, read the Squidoo Policy Update - generally I think that this is a good think that will help clean up the site. The limit of 9 links per domain shouldn't really be a problem, and many sites have been whitelisted.

Squidoo have been mindful about ClickBank too - they accept "many lensmasters find great personal success with their Clickbank lenses. However, the number of people using Clickbank and spamming their lenses around the web is ruining it for the good guys." So while they're not blacklisting Clickbank on lenses, they're also not Whitelisting it either. This means the 9 links per domain still applies.

In other news, last week Squidoo lenses got a complete facelift, with the addition of new themes* and the removal of the Discovery Tool (aka Explore Related Lenses). Also, be aware that the "Min" or "Unmax" lens format will be changing soon to match the new "Max" format.

[AlfredKo]

Well at least they still give you a dofollow backlinks.

Unlike Hubpages, 99% of my hubs are nofollowed.

[Zack Lim]

Hi Tiff,

Thank you for the update.

I will take note of it when I use Squidoo

Zack

[Marian]

Hm, interesting news... never mind.. I've have lots of allowed stuff as well :-)

Marian

[GeorgR.]

what happens with old lenses?

[Harry Behrens]

Classic example of the abusers ruining it for the good guy... although in this case the ruining doesn't seem to have been as bad... although they do day that that list is "NOT exhaustive" and that any overly spammy lens will be taken care of, so I guess we'll have to wait and see for the most part.

It's a pity, since Squidoo was made by a marketer for the use of marketers (even if it was the viral/word-of-mouth type), and even they can't avoid getting hit by the abuse.

[Sandor Verebi]

Hi Tiffany,

Thanks for your heads' up. There are several good things in this change I feel.

Because of the changing of economic situation more and more people trying to make money online. Squidoo provides a free and comprehensive platform on which you can make your individual appearance. It's good.

The bad side was till now that these people trying to jump on the "get-rich-quick-with-no-effort" bandwagon by building poor quality lenses with minimal content (oftentimes a la copy/paste). IMHO it's good to see Squidoo's strong stance against plagiarism.

I think that these policies help us to understand better what to do for benefit for us and for the Squidoo community. The more familiar you are with what Squidoo considers spam and junk, the less likely your lens will be take down.

All the best,

Sandor
___________
"If you wish to persuade me, you must to think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words." (Cicero the Roman)

[AlfredKo]

#3 - No Junk Topics

Example:
-Free movie downloads.
-Hoodia Gordoni.
-Acai berry reviews.
-Toenail fungus sales.
-LoseBellyFat!
-Pharmaceuticals.
-WoW gold farming.
-Forex reports.
-Adult content.
-And on and on.

Blacklisted domains:
-Reverse phone lookup sites.
-Paid people finder sites.
-Lots of dating websites.
-Many affiliate websites

Looks like 90% of Clickbank products are prohibited.

[Andyhenry]

I got that email too - I don't mind, I never made any spammy lenses anyway.

I'm only running 87 lenses now so they're fairly simple.

[Dmg2242]

Hope this isn't considered too far off topic, but...

Can someone tell me how Google's Knoll "sites" measure up to Squidoo lenses? Are Knolls moving up the ranks in popularity at all? Since it's owned by Google, are Knolls indexed faster than Squidoo lenses?

Looks like to me some great changes ... Thanks for the notification.

James

[RedMatrix]

Oh wow. But I agree. I've read lenses that have 5 links to the same domain, same page even! Come on, it's not a sales page with buy-now buttons.

[SarahMcHarry]

OK, so you set up a free portal and you encourage people to use it and you sound off a lot of stuff about 'freedom of expression' and 'opening up the web' and 'Tribes' and you encourage users to build more and more lenses and you make money off their content...

And then you decide that you're too pure to carry information that's attractive to people who want to play cards or lose weight or make a bit of money on the side.

I don't play poker but I play bridge. I could do with losing a bit of weight. I earn my living online. I'm not a gambler or a spammer or a liar. But it looks like I'm doomed

So, Seth, when they come for you in the middle of the night, you might be glad that there are a few fearless squids around to publicise your plight.

Sarah

[sree94]

This is yet another reason why people should not base their internet businesses on free internet hosting sites

If you want to use these sites to see if there is a market for your products, great, but I would never solely depend on free sites, because you don't have full control over your content (which you do have if you have your own web site)

Think about all the people out there who were told "don't worry about creating a web site, just use Squidoo." All their hard work is now wasted (and their income could be gone)

[sbucciarel]

I just deleted all my lenses. I haven't put much effort into Squidoo in some time and this was as good a reason as any just to drop it.

[tommygadget]

I have a weight loss lens too. Hmmmm... I don't even remember the login. Wonder if it's still there

TomG.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Goodbye Squidoo...hello weebly

[Michelle Adams]

Originally Posted by Jagged

Figures....just when I start making a few sales through my squidoo lens...they go & change everything...

Yup, I avoid free web real estate as I'm a control freak...I don't want anyone knocking on my businesses' door telling me I can't help people with their debt or weight problems anymore. Long live owning your own real estate.

[melanied]

Looks like they got sick of bum marketers. LOL Bye bye, Clickbank promotions.

[Valeriu Popescu]

Thanks Tiff,

There been some time since I last login to my Squidoo acc.
Hope my pages are still there...

Valeriu

[humph63]

Thanks for that. I just started on Squidoo and I didn't know that! I'll be sure to watch my promotions

[KAINSMONEY]

The only good thing about this , is to remember , we arent the owner of our own free host blogs , blogspot , squidoo is , if you are trying to make a good page rank , back links , better avoid free hosts .

[shan05]

I've received their email informing of the changes this morning. Now we have to be extra careful not to fall foul of their rules.

[Sheryl Polomka]

So is weight loss altogether gone or just those like hoodia and acai berry etc?

What happens to the current lenses, do they just delete those that fall into those categories or do they delete your whole account?

I will have to go through and have a look and see if I have got any prohibited topics

[inspired1]

I honestly think this is a positive change, and while there will be some disruption to start, in the long term if squidoo becomes more of a trusted place for consumers to source information that is only going to help people who are willing to put the time into creating high quality lenses full of great information.

I am wondering if people actually create USEFUL lenses about weightloss with realistic topics if the lenses will get flagged. For example, why not create a lense about foods that increase metabolism, or different age groups and the affect of aging on weight gain or any other number of topics that could be presented in an encyclopedic style.

I really don't think squidoo will lock lenses that really contain quality researched information and don't just repeat the same old **** about hoodia and acai etc etc. Give readers real quality and throw a couple of links in the text leading to the clickbank product or whatever it was you are promoting and all should be fine.

I mean who wants to read lenses full of hoodia is great, hoodia makes you lose weight, this brand of hoodia is available here, I think it just ruins it for everyone!

I don't really use Squidoo much, don't know my login anymore but I think people just need to be a little creative and honest when using it for IM purposes

[waken]

Hey guys..

in addition to this page squidoo.com/squiddont, check out 2 more pages about the change. Just got it from PotPieGirl..

NEWSFLASH! A Squidoo Policy Update

About the limit on "overly promotional lenses"

And for CB affiliates using Squidoo ...

Similarly, many lensmasters find great personal success with their Clickbank lenses. However, the number of people using Clickbank and spamming their lenses around the web is ruining it for the good guys. So while we're not blacklisting Clickbank on lenses, we're also not Whitelisting it right now. This means that the "No more than 9 outbound links to the same domain" limit applies to you. So be selective with your outbound linking and don't overdo it. (Reminder: Giant Squids are greenlighted out of this).

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Awaken,

Originally Posted by waken

Hey guys..

in addition to this page squidoo.com/squiddont, check out 2 more pages about the change. Just got it from PotPieGirl..

NEWSFLASH! A Squidoo Policy Update

About the limit on "overly promotional lenses"

And for CB affiliates using Squidoo ...

Just one more reason to let Squidoo collect adsense clicks from Sally homemaker blogging about dusting her shelves and watering her plants rather than collecting big checks from higher paying niches.

Seriously, if you use Squidoo under the current rules, you are taking a BIG gamble. Especially, if you put any effort into your lens at all or spend any time or money promoting it. They are for the most part saying that they are going to start pulling the plug on anything that is promotional...HELLO, we are marketers, remember? Just about everything that we do is promotional

[geofftop]

Ya people need to stop being so cheap and shell out the small amount of cash required for their own web site. Why would you wan't to split your audience up like that when you can have all your content in one place, on your site, where you control what you do with it.

I tried the third party site marketing thing for a while. But eventually I came to realize, What does Squidoo and sites like it do for us. At the end of the day with sites like this your just creating content for them and in exchange for your efforts you get to put up with a ton of their stupid rules. Of course if they decide to ban you all your hard work is down the drain plus word tends to spread so it may damage your reputation despite the fact you may have done nothing wrong.

Squidoo, Digg, Stumble Upon are really little more then legit scrapper sites as far as i'm concerned. Even if you do get traffic from sites like this I find it never lasts as people who use sites like this seem to have short attention spans.

[Tom Brite]

The removal of the explore related lenses option (discovery tool) is a really bad move because now their is a minimal amount of traffic coming from within squidoo itself which use to be the main reason i used them.

Now they are just there for a crappy backlink to my money site and i couldn't care less about how great the content is on the lense.

Tom Brite

[geofftop]

As far as link building is concerned, I find simply making your site extremely interesting does more to build links then anything else. Plus you don't have to be paranoid and your site doesn't look spammy.

It's funny that they are removing all the promotional lenses thats all the site is, there will be nothing left.

[tommygadget]

Just build tons of lenses with your best keywords. Lenses rank better than new sites any day. Also, you can shoot links to your lenses from anywhere and you won't get your domain banned for doing it

TomG.

[TiffanyDow]

Geofftop I wasn't cheap re: not having a domain (I have domains, etc) but building apage for someone who has zeor tech skills is HARD. Looking at my pages, I'm cool with wordpress or a simple minisite layout, but to have various modules, polls, guestbooks, etc - wayyyyyyyyy too easy to drag and drop on a site like Squidoo.

But I'm getting better

Tom, really? I always hated the explore more - link leakage. I wanted 100% of the traffic myself and didn't care about inner Squidoo traffic - I'm curious how you used it if you don't mind sharing?
tiff