What's The Deal With Squidoo? PotPieGirl Answers
Like bat poop crazy kinda "whacko" (sorry if 'bat poop' makes no sense - it's a twist on a Southern expression to avoid saying really bad words...lol!)
Rules are changing, new quality filters are in place and running, and lenses (pages on Squidoo) are being caught in these filters and being locked (ie, not live online anyone... one little step away from being totally deleted).
And yep, all this kinds of stuff is happening to my pages there as well.
Fun? Nope. But I've been on that site since 2007 and this is FAR from the first time Squidoo has gone bat poop crazy...lol!
So let me try and explain what's going on and WHY these things are happening.
Squidoo has always had some sort of "in" with Google. It's been a pattern all these years that suddenly Squidoo goes bat poop crazy and we're all wondering WHY.... and then BAM, Google does something to their algo....and Squidoo glides thru it (or at least comes thru relatively unharmed).
This time, most in our business already know now that Google IS about to do something... and it's rumored to be a BIG something. A new "Penguin" update is due to roll out - and Squidoo has been scrambling to clean up the site to prepare.
Has it all been handled fairly by Squidoo HQ?
That's a tough one to answer.
From a personal perspective, it sure doesn't FEEL fair. And Lord knows, there sure have been a good bit of casualties - plenty of lenses went down in the mix with the bad.
But let me tell you how I look at all this (even as someone who HAS lost pages there in the midst of all this)...
I stop and ask myself... If I owned Squidoo, how would I handle this?
Time is of the essence. There ISN'T time to stop and be all nice and fair. They have to take action NOW or else the WHOLE site could go down in flames.
Would you rather lose SOME pages on your site... or your WHOLE site?
That is the point Squidoo is at right now.
If *I* owned Squidoo and all it's MILLIONS of pages and all the revenue....and all that money donated to charity each month, and my responsibility to my paid staff - *I* would do anything to save the Big Picture (ie, the site).
And that's what they're doing... whatever they need to in order to save the Big Picture... and by golly, it sure has NOT been a pretty picture there lately.
Could they have done things earlier and been more proactive? Perhaps... but when it comes to Google, it's hard to "guess" at what those things could be.
Regardless of what they could have done or should have done - this is the way it is now.
So here is what I've come in here to tell all of my fellow WA members. This is the same info I am sharing with my One Week Marketing members as well.
If you had a lens locked that matters to you......
Your first goal should be save YOUR Big Picture as well.
If that lens ranked well, brought traffic, and/or made sales - that is an asset to you and you should try and save it.
Here is what I have been doing today in order to save my locked lens urls...
1. Open the locked lens in edit mode
2. Open a site where you can move that content to in another tab.
I am moving my 'locked' content to either a WA blog here....or to a site called SirGo. Where ever you decide to move it, just be SURE it's ok to put that content there. The "locked" content will fall out of Google very quickly.
3. Copy/paste your locked lens content to the new site and publish it.
4. Remember the EXACT url of your locked lens... write it down if you have to because this EXACT url is very important.
5. Now, delete that locked lens
6. Now, click to create a NEW lens and get that SAME EXACT url again.
(once a lens is deleted, that lens url is tossed back into the "pool" and can be used again.)
7. Create a new lens there with all NEW content and get it published. Do not try and recreate the previous "locked" content - go all new.. fresh... pretend it's your first time making a lens on that topic. Link out to where ever you put your old "locked" content.
8. Publish.
Your "new" lens SHOULD publish just fine if you keep things light and don't go overboard with keywords or product links
Presto Change-o... you now own your "locked' lens again and it is still ranking in Google (if you do this quickly enough), AND you also now have another web page with your 'old' content on it to get Google traffic and sales.
So far, this has worked great for me. I had 3 lenses locked yesterday that rank really well and get good traffic and sales so it really REALLY irked me when they got locked. But I acted quickly and hopefully, I will avoid any real disaster.
ONE THING THO -
If you try to publish your "new" lens and it won't publish with a reason of "suspicious incoming links" - you will NOT be able to reclaim that lens url on THAT lensmaster account.
BUT - if you have ANOTHER lensmaster account, you CAN claim that url there and NO "suspicious incoming links" message will show up. (I know, pretty crazy, right?).
You WILL need to delete the lens FIRST from the original lensmaster account, sign in to another account, and then click to create a new lens with that EXACT url.
So far, this has been working great for me.
Again, do NOT put the same content back up. I tried that once yesterday - it published fine, but then in a few hours I received another email letting me know it was locked again with the reason of "duplicate content".
Your main goal right now is to SAVE the lens url. YOU got it ranking... YOU received the traffic and earnings so protect it...get it back.
Right now - this works.
And as I see it, if Squidoo is gonna go bat poop crazy to protect THEIR Big Picture, I am gonna go bat poop crazy right back to protect MY Big Picture. If it doesn't work in the long run, so be it - but at least I went down fighting.
I know this was a lot to take in! I apologize for the length of this post but there was a ton I wanted... and NEEDED to share with y'all to help YOU protect YOUR Big Picture.
If you have questions, feel free to ask, just please be understanding because I don't have all the answers right now ;)
One last thing, then I'll hush...
Many have asked me if *I* am going to leave Squidoo over this...
Answer: Heck, NO!
I have been through all this with them quite a few times over the last 6 years and every time things get bat poop crazy, people run screaming from the site. Meaning: those trying to game the site decide it doesn't "work" anymore and bail - which leaves the good ones behind. (Sadly, yes, we lose some good folks as well - not everyone that leaves is a "gamer".)
But after the 'gamers' leave, the site always gets better after that - and THOSE are the fun times on Squidoo.
What YOU decide is best for you is UP to you. I'm just here to fill in some blanks and give some options for workarounds and saving your work.
Recent Comments
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Thank you for sharing Jennifer! I have a few lenses there and at least so far so good with them, but who knows!
Glad to see that you are still kicking, Jennifer. We miss your face! Squidoo started giving all their crap, ridiculous stuff. I decided to delete a big bundle, all of my lenses, for the second time. I got fed up a few years ago and did the same thing. I'm 81 and just not keeping up like I use to. If I want a free site, I'll just build it here, Hope you and yours are well and that you are still hitting that little white ball all over the place. John
Any website that focuses on QUALITY will glide right through Google Search Algorithm changes and all sites, Squidoo Included, must constantly battle spam and low quality content. Squidoo does not have an "IN" with Google, they simply understand that QUALITY = Rankings and this is the reason why they are making changes to their interna rules on their content.
Frustrating as it may be, many people will lose their lenses in Squidoo, but it's something that NEEDS to be done so that Squidoo can continue ranking well.
It's a huge battle to keep the content helpful, quality, and spam free when you own a network like Squidoo. Street Articles is the same way, we've updated our "Rules" 100's of times for moderation because we simply cannot allow poor content to be published.
Squidoo is locking lenses that no longer meet their quality guidelines and it's a Good thing they are doing it. This may be frustrating on the surface (especially if one of your lenses gets locked), but it's something that must be done if the company is to achieve longevity.
Thanks for updating your fellow WA members on this Jennifer!
What we have been teaching here at WA for nearly 8 years now, is QUALITY always prevails. Every single silly product in the industry that has come and gone fail to understand what Google and the search engines are after...Quality content that is created with the intention to help people, inform people, and educate people.
Whether you're posting on Squidoo, your own website, Street Articles, or another directory, a focus on Quality will mean a business that thrives for a long time to come.
Great stuff here :)
Carson ~ I never know from day to day what will be said to inspire, re-energize or keep me focused and today your comment was perfect.
"...Quality content that is created with the intention to help people, inform people, and educate people."
Thank you for this one. I needed it today. With all the information and training sometimes it's the solid building blocks, the fundamentals, the basics that keeps our business on track .
Awesome.
Your WA Fan!
I think I can shed some light as to what may be going on behind the scenes... and it is NOT pretty.
WA Blog post: http://goo.gl/nr3oN
I clicked your link and like your comments - Leaving your affiliate tracking code here in blog comments is frowned upon and may get deleted.
Thanks for this - I will go look at what is there and tr to decided if there is anything worth saving. I look back and while I don''t think I was a gamer, I probably don't fit the mold of what they want. With all the links being nofollow now, the value is less for me.
Oh boy, sure hope you don't think I was implying that YOU were a gamer.... or that just because someone had a lens locked that they WERE gaming the system! No no no... did NOT mean that at ALL. My apologies if it came across that way.
Regardless of whether you stay on Squidoo or not, be sure to get your content - it is YOURS and can be used elsewhere.
I didn't take it that you were saying that about me. I have everything pulled down that has been locked and a few that may get locked. No Worries!
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I'm gone be in deep s...t with my comment, I already know it before I write it.
But C'mon Jenny, it's 2013 and we still ride on the Squidoo lens wave?? I have a deep respect about you due to your whole story with IM and your success (which I followed for a good while). I have been a fan in the OWM times but then...
Squidoo got bananas and MANY marketers lost their "business" in a blink of an eye like myself - close to 3 k gone.
Upgrades at Squidoo and mainly Google have put the "free site" business model using Squidoo or Hubpages etc. in a bad light and many, including myself, stopped to tell people to use Squidoo as a tool to try to make money, but rather to build Web 2.0 buffer sites to filter PR over mass backlinking.
I think it's time to move on when Squidoo locks your lens - you only have 24 hours in a day so why make the same mistake twice or three times.
You can get yourself a .com domain at some special offer for a few bucks and point it to the 0 cost hosting of Weebly which has some of the coolest features for a free site builder out there today in time.
All the backlinks you build now are YOURS and the day you wish to switch host you ain't gone loose anything at all.
Off course I fully understand your motive to help existing folks to save their Squidoo lense because it was/is your business to help OWM clients over the hoops.
But I think that it's seriously wrong to recommend to invest time into trying to rebuild stuff at Squidoo which just got locked because they don't like that people make money over there.
And two month from now, when Squidoo has another "bat boop"? People with 20 - 30 lenses do have to redo all over again when they lock for the third time?
At the very end of your article you told that Squidoo will get better after the gamers leave?? Those have been gone a long time ago.
The main message here is - don't invest and waste your time on assets you don't own.
Squidoo lenses serve for a specific reason, and that's NOT to make money. So if Newbies here start out and think that a free site like Squidoo is a great way to make their first site then they should know about the fact that they help in first place Squidoo to get content and links for free.
Maybe I'm in a bad mood today, sorry for the rant.
G.
Investing in your own domain is EXACTLY what you want to do.
Article marketing can get your website exposure when it's very new, but the true value is to build your own site. Squidoo or any other directory has it's purpose, and that purpose is to get some exposure to your website that you own. Not to build a business from. These are the teachings of Wealthy Affiliate, and always have been. When you OWN content, you own a piece of the internet sphere, and your website is the foundation of your business. You have full control, no one but you can influence your site, and you don't need to worry about "Gamers" ruining the rankings of a site like Squidoo where your business can be affected.
After Google knows about your website, you are much, much...MUCH better off spending the time to build your content on your site. In time, you will not have any reason to post content anywhere but on your own website.
That's the gospel truth Carson.
Thanks for the heads up on Squidoo :)