I have just created my first Squidoo lens and then noticed that all of the links to Amazon and their suggested blogs were all Nofollow. Also the link that I had put in to our own website (under the Your blog I have to admit) was not there. Will this change if/when the lens gets approved? Also, is it worth spending the time making this lens really good? Is it more likely to get a dofollow link if it's very long - or does this just depend on how many Squidoo users vote for it - or - how many Squidoo lenses you have already made - or are all Squidoo lenses nofollow? Do the Squidoo staff come back to approved Squidoo lenses and delte all external links? Would appreciate any advice. PS - I may well continue with Squidoo for the pleasure of it but would like to know whether it's worth spending time on for SEO purposes.
Yes the links will be dofollow once the lens is approved. Apparently Squidoo lenses don't help Google rankings much anymore. As long as you have enough unique content, your lens will be approved. It doesn't have to be overly long, but that would help get more direct traffic through the lens. They will leave external links intact. The effectiveness of squidoo probably varies depending on your niche & keywords. So go ahead and try it out for a bit and monitor your results.
vansterdam - many thaks for the info. - Does getting more traffic thru a Squidoo lens affect the ratings that Google gives a link to my website - or is it just good for Squidoo? Also, can I add links to my site in after it has been approved or should I do so before????? Does anyone know of any social bookmarking sites that do help???
All links are nofollow for the first day or so, and will remain nofollow if the certain criteria are not met. Read www.squidoo.com/wip for details. As long as you have 3 modules (not counting Intro or Guestbook), then the links will become dofollow Affiliate links in the Amazon module are automatically tagged nofollow, but any links you put in the Introduction, Text module and some other modules will be dofollow.
Squidoo is definitely worth it for SEO purposes. If you know how to perform effective keyword research and you understand basic optimization techniques, you can dominate niches and drive search engine traffic with your lenses. People are doing it with Squidoo every day. Just continue to educate yourself on Squidoo as a platform. Learn how to use it well, and you will know how to leverage it for what you want. Don't give up :-D
If you see the green tick mark, its a dofollow! if you dont meet the criteria then ofcourse, its a red which is nofollow!
I've heard this before but am not sure where to look for it - is it on the forum (I can't see any green or red ticks) and none appear on my dsahboard although that does tell me that my lens is featured.