But WAIT! Back up. See what I said back there? Add a Featured Lenses module to your other quizzes. Or any sort of links to your lenses on related topics!

I think this could be very powerful for SEO. I didn’t figure out the system until lens #3, but I soon realized there’s an SEO trick staring us in the face.

1. Identify a keyword on one of your popular lenses
2. Make a Squidoo Quiz TARGETING that keyword, with the keyword in the lens title, lens image filename, and module titles
3. LINK back to your popular lens with the keyword in the anchor text
4. Rinse, repeat!

This is something like the blog effect. Google tends to like backlinks from fresh content, so links from blog posts are great for SEO. SquidQuizzes are so quick and easy to build you can do one or two an hour. No, it’s not as fast as submitting to random directories, but how much weight does Google really place on StumbleUpon entries (which are nofollow) or Digg entries (which are cloaked behind a Diggbar)? The keywords on the SquidQuiz lens demonstrate that it’s relevant to your keywords, and the link then passes that keyword-SEO juice back to the mother lens.

So what do you think? I’m going to give it a try.

Tonight I have made:

• Greek Mythology Trivia Quiz
• Greek Mythology Quiz: Athena
• Greek Mythology Quiz: Apollo

I’m going to make a few more, then create a navigator bar in the introduction of each module linking them all together. I’ll add a Featured Lenses module at the bottom of each lens reminding visitors of the other lenses.

Linkbuilding is a necessary part of SEO, but people waste so much time building links on sites that are nofollow or not particularly relevant to their content, thus passing little or no backlink value. How about linkbuilding by building Squidoo lenses, each of which promotes all the other lenses it links to AND earns you a royalty? Lazy Lensmaster SEO says: YES!

It’s time to sort out Squidoo tags and how to use ‘em.

On the one hand, Squidoo tags have a powerful internal function within Squidoo: they cause lenses with the same tags to be featured in the Discovery Tool, and Squidoo’s search box uses Squidoo tags to help decide which Squidoo pages to list first. See Fluffanutta’s recent posts on How to Pick Primary Tags and Improved Tag Pages for some not-to-be-missed info.

Due to how Squidoo uses its tags to cross-link similar lenses, it’s best not to get too specific. There simply aren’t going to be many lenses tagged with long tailed tree wees (unless we get invaded by a horde of aging Elfquest fans writing trivia contests —did I just date myself?) No, my pointy-eared friends, you’ll be wanting to tag lenses with Elfquest and comics.

I view Squidoo tags as similar to the labels above grocery store aisles: they group together a whole collection of things you might also be interested in or be looking for.

On the other hand, Squidoo tags get fed into the meta keyword tag of a lens, and here’s where things get interesting. We’ve been told the meta keyword tag is dead…but is it?

Let’s back up. What the heck is a meta keyword tag?

The meta keyword tag, along with the meta title and meta description tag, is an invisible bit of code embedded at the beginning a webpage (you can see it by choosing “View Source” from your view menu). The meta keyword tag says, “Here’s some words and phrases that are related to my webpage. If anyone searches for those words and phrases, send ‘em here!”

About five seconds after people started using meta keyword tags, they realized they could steer gullible search engines into sending them more traffic. Sneaky people repeated keywords and used popular keywords, even if they had nothing to do with a page.  Search engines had to find other indicators, such as number of links to a page and on-page headers, to get a better handle on what each page was really about.

Nowadays, search engines still use the meta title tag (which on Squidoo is the title of your lens) and the meta description tag (which on Squidoo is the introduction module) to help identify page content. So it behooves you to lavish extra SEO attention on those areas. But what about the meta keywords tag, which Squidoo fills with your Squidoo tags?

Google doesn’t use the meta keyword tag at all. In the past, Yahoo, MSN and some other search engines have continued to let the keyword tag be one of the factors influencing how they rank webpages. One by one, search engines abandoned the meta keyword tag, until the last major holdout was Yahoo.

In October, a Yahoo rep announced that Yahoo no longer indexes the Meta Keywords tag. SEO bloggers celebrated keywords’  demise for the umpteenth time since they were first declared dead back in 2000 or so. A few SEO wonks did some tests once the champagne dried. To their horror, they discovered the meta keyword tag was still lurching around like a zombie. For example, if you search for “dsrurejjnr”, Yahoo’s first result is a test page with that gibberish embedded in its keywords tag and ONLY there, whereas other search engines turn up articles discussing the test.

Yahoo claims that it’s not being fooled: a representative insists that Yahoo weights title, description, and on-body text ahead of keywords, and only pays attention to keywords when no other “ranking signal” is present. Wrong. I just checked, and a webpage with “dsrurejjnr” in the title tag and URL ranks first on Google, but lower on Yahoo.

So what? Well, one, it reminds us of the backdoor approach to keywords: every search engine determines webpage rankings differently, so if you can’t get on page one of Google, you might on Yahoo.

Two, it suggests that we still have to juggle two conflicting uses for Squidoo tags: the “grocery store aisle label” approach I espoused above, and the “long tail” approach that is so effective for SEO. Lots of people use Yahoo search, yet we tend to  use Google-specific tools to research keywords.

My advice? Use your traffic stats tab on your dashboard to see what the top 1-3 long tail searches are that generate traffic on your lens over a period of time: 1-3 months. Add those. But reserve most of your Squidoo tags for Squidoo-optimizing (as opposed to major search engine optimizing) purposes. If you want to get really diligent about this, register at SEObook or one of the other websites that actually gives you Yahoo-specific data about keyword searches.

One thing, though, we gotta remember. Squidoo puts its tags on a lens not just in the meta keywords field, but as a list of links in the sidebar. Google and other search engines use “link text” to help determine search relevance. So keywords aren’t as dead on Squidoo lenses as the rest of the web! They can still help.

If you haven’t seen the video, you need to– it’ll make you smile. VERY effective. So far it’s gotten nearly 13 million hits, and that’s not counting all the duplicate copies floating around on YouTube plus a few million more on various European YouTube sites.

It’s a great case study in “linkbait,” content that’s so good people start linking to it. (Also known as “viral,” since linkbait this good can spread by word-of-mouth to millions of web users within days, even hours).

It also illustrates an SEO blunder.

I discovered that this video was, naturally, not a total accident, but a way to market something — an upcoming production of The Sound of Music in Antwerp.

As a promo, it succeeded brilliantly. Apparently it and the reality TV show used to choose the “new Maria” had everybody in Belgium in a frenzy to see the new show, which opened to sold out crowds just 5 months later.

One itsy bitsy problem. Google “Antwerp Sound of Music.” Say you want tickets or info about the production. You can’t find it! The viral video went global, took the blogging world by storm, and hogged the top keywords that probably should’ve gone to the musical production. I’m sure the website for the show wasn’t up yet — giving the promo months to attract thousands of SEO-boosting backlinks. So all the search results for those keywords are about the viral video.

Usually methods of self-promotion aren’t this wildly successful. However, users of lensroll.com may have noticed that posts there tend to get indexed a day or so before Squidoo itself, which may mean the lensroll.com entry about your lens gets a head start in search engine results for your keywords. I’ve had the same problem when I put a video on YouTube attached to a lens. Probably, YouTube gets crawled by search engines a few times a day.

In most cases, this is fine. Just make sure that wherever you talk about your site on the web, you leave a bright shiny link TO your site as close to the top of the webpage as possible. Be sure to use your lens’ keywords in the anchor text to help it in its quest for search engine domination. Also, be aware that if you ever stumble on the holy grail of SEO, content that goes viral, it’ll eat all the search engine results for its keywords as thousands of people blog about it.

First up:  CLONE YOUR VISITOR.

This is an idea I’m trying, not yet proven, but it makes sense to me.

Situation: A series of lenses, a sequence of lenses that are all linked up, like different pages of an article.

Query: Which of them should you give the best keyword phrase to for the URL/title?

In the past, I’ve given it to the first page, the gateway lens, so to speak. But that’s linear thinking.

What if I use the keyword with the highest traffic potential on one of the secondary lens, with a link in the introduction module saying, “Welcome to part 2 of my 3-part series on X. If you’re just tuning in, here’s [link]part 1[/link]”

Why?

Squidoo lensrank is boosted by clicks. If you can entice the visitor to click, you’ve guaranteed yourself a click. Also, you’ve just turned one hit into two, one for each lens. [EDIT: Apparently passing traffic between lenses doesn't count. Squidoo is wise to the tricks we do. But the "double hit" theory holds true.]

Drawbacks:

1. It’s all well and good to use the best-optimized keyword in the URL of lens #2 … who types those anymore? But to optimize it, you also have to include the keyword in the lens title. It may make more sense to have the primary/gateway lens have that title.

On the other hand, it may make more sense to have the popular keyword in the primary/gateway title. You know, the keyword you couldn’t use because too many other pages have optimized for it? Well, this way you can use it, too.

2. Bigger risk: as soon as you are asking visitors to do something— click a link, navigate to a new page, read an advertisement before getting to the content they were really looking for— you test visitor patience. It’s hard enough keeping them on your page. If they don’t see what they want in a hurry, they’ll hit the back button and look elsewhere. So that link to Page 1 needs to look shiny and enticing. The introduction for page 2 needs to be clear, well-written, compelling — to demonstrate you know what you’re doing — and show that yes, what they want really is only a click away.

So I’m not 100% about this method. I have created two pages linked together in this fashion and will be watching to see how many people landing on page 2 click the link for page 1.

I got the same advice. I bought into it. But does social media/social networking really benefit SEO (search engine optimization)?

Hey, let me be social and ask you, the readers!

Now, let me give you my answer…

Answer: Tagfoot, as far as I can tell, is one of the few social media sites that benefits SEO.

It’s time for me to remind you of that social media links and SEO rant by Michael Martinez of SEO-Theory (you should really read the whole post to understand the context):

“Social media link building is a complete waste of time from a search engine optimization point of view. Even if you know of social media sites that haven’t yet implemented nofollow you don’t know how long that gravy will continue to taste good. Google is chasing your sorry social media linking profile and you need a better plan than that.”  —“Real Advice from Bad SEOs”

How do we know he’s right? How do we know which social networking links still pass the “backlink gravy”?

We need more than just a NoDoFollow Firefox plugin, although that’s a start.

That tells us that links on StumbleUpon, Del.ici.ous, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook are set NoFollow.

NoFollow means that search engines won’t follow or index those links. So for SEO purposes, those links are invisible! Links on those sites won’t boost your webpage’s position in search engine results one jot.

LinkedIn? It depends. The “Website” listed in your profile is Follow, the “Additional Information” section, including “My Websites”, is NoFollow. So, one link from a not-particularly-relevant website with no pagerank. Whoopie.

Reddit? Another “It depends.” Submitted URLs start out Nofollow and may be promoted to Follow if enough people up-vote them. But Reddit members react like antibodies when they sense self-promotion– they will BURY you.

Digg? Ah yes, the holy grail of linkspam. Nevermind that you can get your account suspended for self-promotion on Digg. Links on Digg are Follow, right? Linkbuild me, baby! I can always open a new account!

Except now Digg has implemented an ingenious way of redirecting all the SEO benefit to itself for links submitted to Digg. See The Truth about Digg’s Diggbar, The Digg Toolbar Exposed or 5 Reasons Diggbar Sucks for more information. (In light of their findings, I’ve added a Frame Free WordPress plug-in to block Diggbar from this blog. Nice PR disaster, Digg.)

Tagfoot is the only social networking I’ve found whose bookmarks are set Follow, whose robots.txt file doesn’t block spiders, and which doesn’t ban users for self-promotion. But before you all run out to spam Tagfoot, remember that Tagfoot members will block you or flag you as a spammer if you abuse the system. [[UPDATE June 9, 2009: Tagfoot has set its links to NoFollow for ordinary users, DoFollow for special members. See this post for more info.]]

So, am I saying you should give up on using social networking to promote your (quality!) webpages?

No. My point is that social media sites are lousy for search engine optimization– getting search engines to send you traffic. So don’t bother with SEO tactics on social media sites. When participating in social networking, optimize for humans!

Post a viral video on YouTube or a good photograph on Flickr with a link back to your website, and members of those sites may click on the link, even if search engine spiders ignore it.

Likewise, if you participate in a social media community, recommend good websites, and earn a following, your followers will follow your links even if search engines don’t.

That means investing time in meaningful participation on social networking sites. Interact with people. React to people. Carry on conversations. Read and rate what others are linking to. Retweet. Etc. You can’t cheat with social networking — you have to be social.

You may find that you’d prefer to sink more effort into passive forms of traffic generation — e.g. keyword optimization — which continue to work when you’re busy doing other stuff. With blogs, forums, and social networking, as soon as you stop participating, most of the traffic dies away.

Which brings me back to the point I keep making about building web traffic with social media: join social networking communities if you enjoy being active in online communities! Getting visitor traffic from followers is a secondary return on your (time) investment. Your primary ROI for social networking sites is the enjoyment and satisfaction of social networking.

Unfortunately, I forgot one of my favorite tricks: make sure your keyword’s first appearance on your webpage is in a sentence that reads well when Google excerpts it in search results.

I took steps to correct the problem. To some extent, my corrections helped, but I still haven’t got it quite right. So here’s another quick lesson in how to shape your search engine results to make them look sexy– or at least what NOT to do.

To review, here’s what I mean by “sexy” search engine results, a term I coined for my Squidoo SEO lens. Your results should tell what your page is about and what your visitors will get out of going there:

Sexy Search Engine Results

That time, I got it right. Here’s my UN sexy search results that I’m trying to fix:

Un-Sexy Search Engine Results

What I did wrong: I forgot that search engine results tend to quote the first instance of your keyword on your page that’s not in the page title or H tags.

To correct this, I added a “Squidbits are…” blurb in my sidebar summarizing what the blog is about, before the sentence Google had latched onto. However, my correction turned up as the second, not first result, and it still needs fine-tuning:

Slightly Better Search Engine Results

Things to note from this example:

1. Google lists only two search results per domain unless someone clicks the “similar pages” link. If you’re publishing on a user-submitted-content site like Squidoo, you must make sure there aren’t several other articles optimized for your keywords. If you don’t check, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle to dislodge them from the top two spots.
2. The first search result here is the front page of my blog, but it’s a front page from a few weeks ago. Once a search engine crawls a page, it may not come back for a while. Again, make sure the first sentence in which your keyword is embedded illustrates what your page is about and helps “sell” it.
3. Notice what Google has highlighted as my keyword: it’s got the keyword I expected it to highlight, and a two-word version with a space in it. I’m not sure if that would trump the single-word version, but remember that search engines often index variations of the search term. This reminds us to use plurals instead of singulars, because the singular form of the search term is found in a plural, but not vice versa.
4. For the first result, why did Google choose the excerpt it chose, instead of my “Squidbits are…” blurb which also appears on that page? Oh, right: on most templates, the sidebar-content “follows” the main column’s content, even if they’re side-by-side.  Less obvious is the fact that two instances of the keyword within a sentence or two in the body text seemed to rank better than two instances earlier on the page, in which one was an alt-tag (see #6 bel0w).
5. The second search result is a blog post uploaded less than an hour before I originally performed this search. I don’t know whether Google’s fast indexing of that post is due to WordPress’Google sitemap plugin, the plugin that auto-tweets each new post, or a routinely-scheduled visit by a Google spider. But the fact that Google picked the most recent post with that blurb on  it — a blurb which appears in the sidebar of every page of my blog –  is one modest example of how freshness can trump a page which has more links (I’ve got some blog posts which Squidlog.com and other sites have linked to). Unfortunately, I don’t have enough experience to know when Google’s freshness boost trumps the SEO boost from backlinks, or by how much. But I think it’s safe to say that all else being equal (or close to it), Google may privilege the most recent blog entry as second in your search results after your blog’s homepage. And golly gee, that makes sense!
6. The second search result excerpt includes two instances of my keyword: first the blog’s header image, and then the “Squidbits are…” blurb. Problem: I had forgotten about the alt-tag in my header image. It is NOT sexy, referring to a “rotating header image” that I had disabled in my blog template since it slowed down page loading time. Remember the alt-tags of images are searched by some search engines, and may be counted as the first instance of your keyword on your page.

You may have noticed that I’ve barely mentioned my blog’s name in this post, instead referring to it as “my blog title”. After seeing what happened with the above results, I’m being extra-cautious about how often I use my keyword within a short span of text. However, avoiding using a keyword isn’t a very good form of keyword management!

Instead, I should be working my keyword, “Squidbits,” into every page of my Squidbits blog in a way that demonstrates effective SEO. I should be able to control which excerpt Google features for “Squidbits” through repetition and emphasis. I make the excerpt “sexy” by telling searchers what Squidbits is about, so they’ll want to check out my Squidbits blog on Squidoo tips and basic SEO. On the other hand, blatant, clumsy repetition of “Squidbits” may drive visitors away, since I’m clearly trying to manipulate my search results for Squidbits, at the expense of readability.

Figuring out how to weave keywords into your webpage to optimize for search engines while communicating effectively with your readers is an art! You want your page to be fun and readable for visitors. Your human audience must be your first priority; search engines come second. But with practice, one should learn to appeal to both, unobtrusively.

Obviously, I’m still learning how. Stay tuned for the next chapter of my quest for “sexy” search engine results!

EDIT: Two hours after posting this blog entry, it’s been indexed:

Sexier Search Results

Squidbits – Greekgeek’s Squidoo Blog › Edit Post — WordPress

Notes:

I see my alt-tag adjustment has now registered: I changed the alt-tag to say: “Squidbits: Squidoo and SEO Tips”.

In fact, I’ve now succeeded in getting the “Squidbits are…” blurb to show up at the top of my search results, as I had intended. Why? Because the old entry mentioning “Squidbits” has been pushed to a back page, instead of being on the front page. Therefore, Google’s seeing instances my keyword on my front page in the following order: 1) Page title 2) the image header’s alt-tag “Squidbits: Squidoo and SEO Tips”, and 3) the blurb in the sidebar. If I write another blog post mentioning Squidbits before the “More” break, I predict that it will edge out the sidebar blurb again. See how careful you have to be to track where your keyword shows up?

And again, the second search result turning up is from the most recent post — at the moment, this one. I notice that my experiment with keyword repetition and emphasis a few paragraphs back didn’t trick Google. It is giving the first instance of my keyword in the body of this post, even though it’s not the most well-optimized instance on the page (which, I think, would’ve been the version that’s boldface and a link).  So, again, the first instance of your keyword on a page is likely the one that Google will quote.
Checking out Yahoo search results, it looks like it’s a lot slower on the uptake than Google. So far, it’s only listing my blog post on Samhain the Cat’s guide to search optimization, and that’s 2 pages back in the SERPs. Meanwhile, Live search from MSN only has my Twitter channel talking about Squidbits. Showing just how different the different search engines are… AND it is not wise to discount them.

I’m not talking about the best steps, in theory. I’m talking about what you do, for good or ill. And consider why you do them, and whether you know they work, or you’re just hopin’ or have “heard it works”, which a lot of us SEO journeymen do too often.

Confesssion time: here’s my “flail at traffic and lensrank” list. Some of these are good ideas, some of them “here’s hopin’.”

This is a tweaked version of a post I made at SquidU today answering the question.

Even the expert lensmasters are struggling to maintain their highest-ranked lenses in the top tier.
Two of mine have just barely dropped below 2000– they were bumped by two of my other lenses which have moved up! They may cancel out each other’s top tier lensrank at the end of the month unless I can fix this.
I can’t seem to get the ones that dropped to come back; they’re both sitting in the 2000-2200 range.

Steps I’m taking:

Updated it with new, useful information that I know people have asked for, and SquidCasted this fact. [Alert! I have added rounded corners code to my CSS quick reference guide, color codes for a few more colors I've noticed Squidoo using, and links to free tools that let you test how your lens looks on different browsers! Alll this and more on CSS-Codes: Making Your Webpages Look Great! ]

Now, here’s two quick tips to help tweak the your SEO of existing Squidoo pages — and give it a lensrank boost to boot!

Keywords and Alt-Tags: Match ’Em Up

Check your traffic stats and see what keyword phrases are drawing traffic. (Hopefully, they match your chosen keywords.) Copy and paste them to a spare window.

Now go edit the lens and add alt-tags to all your images. That’s one of those chores we often neglect or put off. In naming images with alt-tags, keep your keywords in mind, especially those which keep turning up in searches.

If you don’t know what alt-tags are, read my section on How to Use Images to Drive Traffic to Your Lens!

Keywords: Plural Is Better Than Singular

Many search engines can find a singular from a plural (cat from cats), but not a plural from a singular. For some search engines, using the plural form is slightly better for optimization, as long as it’s not an irregular word like geese tht doesn’t have the word “goose” in it.

If you don’t know what a keyword is, get yourself back to my Squidoo SEO tutorial for a brush-up on search engine optimzation 101. It’s okay. There’s a lot of jargon out there; sorry I keep throwing it at ya!

Lensrank Boost?

Yep. Remember, regularly-updated Squidoo lenses receive a lensrank boost; if you leave a lens untouched for months, it drops. It’s usually better to scour the web for new quality content and link to it, and/or update your own content. But SEO  counts. After all, it’s bringing visitors.

After a year or so of exploring search engine optimization practices, here’s the procedure I use for search engine optimization.

Step One: Research and Choose Keywords

1. Brainstorm relevant keywords for my page.
2. Use keyword tools to find out how often people actually search for those keywords [Tools: Wordtracker, Google AdWords, SEOBook]
3. Examine my competition: how many pages have those keywords in their page titles, URL, and anchor text? I do this with Google searches: intitle:"[keyword]"  inurl"[keyword]"  inanchor"[keyword]"
4. I may check to see how many backlinks the competition has using Squidaholic. However, I do not put the same emphasis on backlink-building that many SEO-advocates do; this is simply to get a feel for the niche.
5. I weave my keywords into my URL, page title, a few links (anchor text), some module titles (H2 tags), and filenames and alt-tags of a few images. If it’s not too intrusive and makes sense to the human reader, I’ll emphasize the keyword’s first appearance with boldface or italics.
6. On Squidoo, I’ll add my keyword phrase to my Squidoo tags, but use a more general (not long-tail) version of the keyword for my primary tag. I will mostly use general Squidoo tags (e.g. “volcanoes” not “how hot are volcanoes”), but include a few of the most popular long-tail searches in my Squidoo tags (e.g. “volcano videos” and “Mt Redoubt”).

While I do check keywords for popularity of search (#2) versus competition’s optimization (#3), and avoid keywords for which the competition is high or the actual number of searches is low, I do not practice methodical Keyword Efficiency Analysis… yet. (I’m thinking about adding this vital SEO step to my routine, but I’m laaaaazy.)

Step Two: Get Page Indexed by Search Engines and Start Traffic Flow

1. On my own websites, I make sure I have a properly-constructed sitemap (There’s a plugin for this on WordPress).
2. For Squidoo lenses, I take advantage of Squidoo resources:
   • I make sure the Discovery Tool is turned on and that my Squidoo tags are common enough for my page to start showing up in the “Explore related” box on other people’s lenses.
   • I add the lens to a few closely-related groups, preferably those with the same keywords.
   • I add the lens to the “what’s Greekgeek up to now?” part of my signature in SquidU and/or announce it in “Lenses we Like.”
   • I may submit it to lensroll.com or a few other widely-used Squidoo lens directories like Squoogle, Isle of Squid.
   • I may add the lens to appropriate Plexos on good lenses that are related to my topic. (Not “add your lens here!” lenses.)
3. I Twitter it, Tagfoot it, and occasionally submit it to one or two social bookmarking sites (I don’t often do this, since I’m mindful that self-promotion is discouraged on many of these services).
4. I link to it from my related lenses, posts, or webpages.
5. Occasionally, I’ll add links to my lenses from my very old, now-disused homepages from the early 90s, which are still out there and might as well give the spiders one more way to find my new pages.

Step Three: Monitor and Tweak

1. I watch to see that I’m getting incoming traffic from Google and other search engines. If I don’t start getting them in a week or so, I may improve or redo my SEO (Step One and Two above).
2. I check my SERPs.
3. I monitor and respond to the keywords and searches actually bringing me visitors.
4. I monitor and respond to which links on my page are getting clicked.

I use visitor data to help me refine my page’s optimization and target visitors more accurately.

If  I see many visitors searching for a keyword phrase that my webpage doesn’t address, I will either adjust my page to address it, make and link to a new page addressing it, or at least send them to a good webpage answering their question. In this way I establish trust and value for my pages even when I don’t have all the answers. Plus, on Squidoo, clickthroughs boost lensrank.

If some folks are coming in via a repeat “long tail” search, I may do keyword research (Step One) on that “long tail” phrase and adjust my page to include it in the body text and/or add it to Squidoo tags.

If I’m really having trouble getting Google traffic, I may go back and read up on how Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines differ from Google and try to capture their traffic. I may also do more social promotion, but that is basically (in my opinion) giving up on search engine optimization (getting search engines to send you traffic automatically) and switching to a personal outreach strategy where you drum up traffic manually. Personal outreach can be highly effective, but it’s not SEO.

Summary

I don’t obsess about backlinks and social promotion, although I engage in some of both. I don’t have the time, and I’ve become overly cynical of backlink-building (even strategic, SEO-worthy, keyword-focused backlink-building) because of all the people who trumpet social networking and scattering random backlinks across the net as the way to do SEO.  I don’t obsess about Pagerank or rel=nofollow, because Michael Martinez (a scholar I know from other circles, so I happen to trust his research)  has written several convincing posts on why “Pagerank sculpting” doesn’t work. I don’t obsess  about keyword density,  because it takes a LOT of keyword stuffing to trip Google’s penalty.

I do obsess about keyword research and optimization, the long tail, and trying to capture search results from other search engines than Google (but not at the expense of Google traffic). Above all, I care about content (and, to some extent, organization and presentation of content), because visitors will not stay on or recommend a webpage which they do not find useful, interesting, informative or fun!

The advantage of the keywords-and-content method is that they’re self-maintaining: once you’ve established them, you can move onto the next project while they’re drawing traffic, whereas a ton of backlink building and promotion means you never have time to create more content. I use content to drive traffic to content. It won’t work for everyone, but it works for me.

The Limitations of Basic “Rule of Thumb” SEO

I’d like to close with a case study which demonstrates both the effectiveness of my method and its limits.

(Most data, including inlinks, from Squidaholic.com. Age of competiting lens is an estimate based on date of first comment on that lens).

I created my lens right before I learned how to check for other webpages using the same keywords in the URL. It turned out there was another Squidoo lens with my keywords in its title, in reversed order!

My competitor’s lens has over a thousand backlinks. Does this mean that my attention to keyword optimization is beating out his backlink building strategy?

Not necessarily. On this particular lens— which happens to be a very Squidoo-related topic —I’m getting most of my traffic from other parts of Squidoo. No search engine involved!

I have no idea where my competitor’s visitors are coming from. But I’ve seen enough examples like this to convince me that backlink building is not the magic wand to traffic many people seem to think. It is one tool in the SEO toolbox, and that’s all.

What, exactly, is giving my lens the traffic boost over its twin’s? In this case, it’s probably nothing to do with SEO, although in many other cases, my search engine traffic shows that I do have some basic grasp of SEO.   Possibly it’s my activity and presence in SquidU, but that’s a tough call: the other lensmaster is almost as active. Is it my content? Not necessarily. He covers the same topic well, in a different way. Maybe my lens is just getting more love because I’ve updated it more recently, and it’s still pretty new, so it’s getting a freshness boost from Google. Mabe it’s due to the tides, or astrology, or because I’m left-handed.

The point is, I can’t be sure. Nobody is really an SEO expert unless you do controlled statistical analysis. I can’t “prove” my keyword-optimizing strategy is better than his backlink-building strategy, because I haven’t got a good way to test every factor on each of our pages and see which things are helping, which hurting our traffic and search engine results.

That said, since most of the web doesn’t know a THING about SEO, I usually get pretty good results with my “beginner’s SEO” method even though I don’t have the expertise of SEO industry experts.

I noted that the two-line blurb that shows up in Google search results is your big chance to “sell” your page to the searching public:

A juicy, “I want to read more!” excerpt is what you want people to see. You can’t necessarily bait every possible “long tail” search phrase with juicy verbal bait, but at least make sure your keywords first appear in a sentence that shows off what your page has to offer.

Did I pay attention to my own advice when making this blog?

Look! Look! It took 1 day to get my Squidbits blog to the top spot on Google, even though there’s a surprising number of webpages out there about “Squid bits”!

There’s just one… little… problem…

Yes, it’s all right to point and laugh.

Lesson: If you optimize nothing else, make sure the blinkin’ title of your website, webpage or blog first shows up in a “sexy” sentence. Probably a good idea to make sure your Username doesn’t have a metaphorical piece of lettuce stuck between its teeth, while you’re at it.

I actually detected this problem yesterday, and took steps to correct it. (Note cute little text box serving no apparent purpose at upper right.) But it may be a while before I can convince Google to re-index content it’s already indexed. A stitch in time and all that!

There’s one other thing to learn from my SEO blunder: while words in headers count for SEO, they may get replaced with “…” when Google shows an excerpt of your page.