My deindexed squidoo lens is back - What have I done?

by hadsek
3 replies
  • SEO
  • |
I have previously posted here about my lens:

Characteristics of a Good Classifieds Site

being deindexed just few days prior to the penguin update.

As you may now, a lens is somehow treated differently than your webpage. Your lens has two bosses (Squidoo quality filter and Mr G). Squidoo can block your lens in a way not disclosed publically in which case google will have but to drop the lens. A way to check this is to verify your lens still indexed at Bing (assuming you submitted it and made sure Bing/Yahoo guys accomodated it in the first place. Forget to mention, that was my first lens and hence lacks credibility (thing i learnt later).

First, the lens is unique and no seo done to it. It was indexed and ranked on page 1 for 5 months. So, I have a legit right to be pissed off.

So what did I do to get my credit rating back ?

I searched and searched for answers, gathered the tips and applied them(thats' vague, I know).

What I found out is though my lens was written by me and had a unique style, it did have some similarity to other lenses and articles already indexed. You can't help it at this age where most information is exhausted. And since the lens was new and google'index is saturated, it dropped the lens. That could not come at a worse time. It was last April 24.

So I partially rewrote the lens. You know you can't believe how editable your first great lens is. You think you nailed it the first time but it's always starving for edition and can accomodate updates forever . Squidoo has another quality filter they dont talk much about it.

Next I posted the complaint on the squid forum, telling them in details what happened

I posted the complaint on the squid forum, telling them in details what happend. Never estimate this (they have the power of pushing that button or click).

It is easy to figure out what is wrong with your squidoo lens that got it deindexed from google serps. Simply paste your url into google's search and study the alternative lenses showing. By having a look at those lenses that google preferred over yours you can tell the difference.

It makes no sense to create two anchor texts to point to the same url. That is just plain spam since it has no benefit to the user.(sometimes google deliberately leaves some exceptions to confuse the heck out of seors, so you still might see some spamish lenses unbothered).

Limit the number of links in your lens. Keep them under 4 unique urls(internal or external does not matter). Throwing extra anchor text for the same destination url is like throwing bloody tuna near shark-invested waters.

Remember, google has repeatedly stated that their user's search experience is their top priority.That means, if you included the same url for user's convenience not only you will not be penalized, but your lense gets rewarded.

Click here is a call for action that is considered convenient and helpful to the the end user clicking the link. It is,therefore, ok to include it as an anchor text.If you word it otherwise on a previously linked url, it means you care about seo (yourself) and do not have the user's good search experience in mind.


Here's an example:

To simplify your job search, I've created a free step-by-step
guide to help you prepare and be successful in your job hunt. CLICK HERE to access the Job Search & Interview Preparation Guide.

How many links should you include in your lens ?

Squidoo has the answer:

About the limit on "overly promotional lenses"

but that only for squidoo, google has its own limits,too.

Please be aware am talking about outbound links. Internal links are not frowned upon as much. In other words, you can get away with extra anchor text links when linking internally(interlinking your squidoo lenses). In fact, this is smart linking. Heavily interlink your squidoo lenses with a wide array of anchor text variation then supercharge that one outbound link with all interlinking juice. It works crazily awsome and is perfectly in tune with google's algorithm as I've seen it in action.

Hope this helps someone
#back #deindexed #lens #squidoo
  • Profile picture of the author lsargent
    I don't think your total on page link count is a factor at all (especially trying to keep it under 4). Squidoo by default puts 6 links in the "explore related pages" sidebar widget to begin with, and they won't do anything that would be counter-productive to optimizing for search, as the better a lens ranks, the more views it gets, and the more adsense clicks and revenue the lens will make for Squidoo.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6438953].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author onesan
    What rank does your lens have now? Did you just re-write the text or did you add new content?
    I know your lens rank starts to drop in time if you have few views and comments but I’m guessing this is the result of poor content.
    Has anyone seen their lens going up with time, without making any updates?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6439019].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mantasmo
    Most likely traffic to your squidoo page == noindex removed == it's indexed again.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6439738].message }}

Trending Topics