The Lensmaster Lounge

thefluffanutta · 12/18/2007 2:02 pm

The Primary Tag is the first tag you get to define when creating your new lens, and it is an often misunderstood and very under utilised by many Lensmasters. Admittedly, it doesn't seem do a whole lot, but there are some important points to note:

- In some lens formats (e.g. Ever.com and SquidWho) the primary tag appears at the very top of the page, next to "Explore more:".

- Most lenses (maxxed) have a box in the side bar titles "Explore more...", containing links to the Category and Primary Tag of the lens, plus all the groups it belongs too.

- Another feature of the sidebar (which is not always present) is the tag list, which is usually headed by the Primary Tag (on un-maxxed lenses), and then the first 5 regular tags (in alphabetical order). The remaining tags are hidden, and search engines may ignore these ones.

- Every appearance of the Primary Tag on your lens adds weight to that key phrase on your lens.

In addition, I am working on a new project that will make these Primary Tags even more important! So, you need to make sure that your these tags are as optimal as possible.

Here are some tips:

1. Your Primary Tag wants to be the most important key phrase that you can think of. For example, if your lens is about a person or a product, stick to just their name.

2. Keep your tag to just 2 or 3 words, where possible. One word is not always specific enough (unless the subject is a strong brand like Pepsi), and more than 3 words can sometimes be too specific. Of course, it does depend on your subject matter.

3. Don't simply repeat your Lens title again (even though this is the default when building a lens). Your title should include as many keywords as you can sensibly fit (no keyword stuffing!), while your Primary Tag is about your key phrase.

4. Format your Primary Tag nicely - keep it Capitalised, spelt correctly (!) and don't include any special characters or quotes ("). Use spaces between words, not dashes or underscores.

5. Make sure you repeat your Primary Tag as a regular tag too. The tags appear as the Meta Keywords at the top of the page, and you don't want your key phrase to be missing from it.

6. Pick a Primary Tag which is popular, i.e. people will be likely to be searching for it and other lenses are might also have the same Primary Tag.

Here are some examples: Doctor Who :: Discworld :: Digital Camera Accessories :: Smart Phones

Bad examples: The Whole Lens Title Again :: Kee Frase Spelt Wong :: lowercasewithnospaces :: "Phrase in Quotes"

I hope that people remember these tips - I need to go and change a lot of my own Primary Tags having just looked at a few of them. And remember - I'm developing a project that'll bring these tags in to their own...

PS: Spread the word - you may republish this on your blogs if you want too...

giltotherescue · 12/18/2007 2:21 pm

Great post!

relache · 12/18/2007 3:00 pm

fluff, that is a superlative post.

robinz · 12/18/2007 8:14 pm

Thanks for the very useful tips!

iSnorrie · 12/19/2007 12:20 am

Awesome!

Thanks!

rms · 12/19/2007 4:53 am

Thank you Fluff!

Waterwalker_Publishing · 12/19/2007 6:37 am

Brilliant!

Thanks Fluff

Evelyn_Saenz · 12/19/2007 7:40 am

Thank you

Evelyn_Saenz · 12/19/2007 8:04 am

I have been rewriting and reorganizing

www.squidoo.com/riverotters

and was given a suggestion to work on the titles and tags. I have read your suggestions and am trying to apply what you suggest. I have a few question though.

1. My lens is about River Otters rather than Sea Otters. Should I make the primary tag River Otters or Otters. I just changed it to River Otters at someone else's suggestion but after going through the lens and adding the term River Otters everywhere it seems kind of stilted to me.

2. Should the other tags be as general as possible or as specific as possible?

General: river, animals
Specufuc: River Otter prey, Using Word Walls in a River Otter Unit Study

3. Should I add tags for topics that I just touch on or stick to only the main topic?

ie: prey, Word Walls

whitney05 · 12/19/2007 8:06 am

Great tips. But I have a question...

You say not to use the entire title as the main tag, but what if that is the best description.

I have a dog training lens that is titled Dog Training and a lens titled How to Litter Box Train a Dog. And, if I remember correctly, the primary tags are "dog training" and "litter box training a dog."

What would you suggest in cases like that?

Susan52 · 12/19/2007 8:43 am

Fluffa, that is an awesome post. Thanks for permission to republish, which I took the liberty of doing on my Squidoo blog, full credit given, of course.

dougeby · 12/19/2007 10:06 am

Great stuff Fluffa! Easily overlooked. Fixing my lenses now that I have overlooked this important bit on.

Doug

thefluffanutta · 12/19/2007 10:49 am

Evelyn_Saenz wrote:
1. My lens is about River Otters rather than Sea Otters. Should I make the primary tag River Otters or Otters. I just changed it to River Otters at someone else's suggestion but after going through the lens and adding the term River Otters everywhere it seems kind of stilted to me.

I suggest that you put "River Otters" as your primary tag, and use the full key phrase where ever you can sensibly fit it. For example, you could put "River Otters" into most of the module titles, but in the body of each module you would use just "otter" most of the time. You want to have "River Otters" appear often, but remain natural. I would probably use the full phrase just once in a block, and "otters" the rest of the time.

Evelyn_Saenz wrote:
2. Should the other tags be as general as possible or as specific as possible?

General: river, animals
Specific: River Otter prey, Using Word Walls in a River Otter Unit Study

Single word tags are not very useful most of the time - "river" is certainly too broad. The tag "animals" might be okay, though "river animals" would be better.

"River Otter prey" is okay, but "Using Word Walls in a River Otter Unit Study" is far too long and specific, and should only be used if that is the actual subject of your lens.

Evelyn_Saenz wrote:
3. Should I add tags for topics that I just touch on or stick to only the main topic?

ie: prey, Word Walls

Stick to the keywords that are directly relevant to your lens. Irrelevant tags are of minimal benefit.

Hope that helps,

thefluffanutta · 12/19/2007 10:56 am

whitney05 wrote:
You say not to use the entire title as the main tag, but what if that is the best description.

I have a dog training lens that is titled Dog Training and a lens titled How to Litter Box Train a Dog. And, if I remember correctly, the primary tags are "dog training" and "litter box training a dog."

If the best Primary Tag for your lens is your Title, then your Title is too short!

In this example, I would give the "Dog Training" lens a longer Title, such as "A Guide to Dog Training" or "How To Train Your Dog", keeping the Primary Tag as it is. The Title of the second lens if fine, but I would make it also have the "Dog Training" as the Primary Tag.

If you have several lenses on the same topic, then try to give them all the same Primary Tag. This will strengthen the page for that tag, and increase its benefit to your lenses, as well as link the lenses together.

Evelyn_Saenz · 12/19/2007 11:24 am

Thank you so much for your very welcome and detailed answers. Please permit me to ask about one more little detail.

If I use "River Otters" (Plural) as my Primary Tag will using "River Otter" (Not Plural) count in the titles and the rest of the lens?

How about "River Otter's" and "River Otters'"?

Would it be better to use "River Otter" for the Primary Tag and if so would the singular form "River Otter" cover all the other forms?

OOOPS Another Question:

I believe that Alternative Texts on images are used as tags. Should I use "River Otters" for all the pictures?

I have several lenses that are all related. They are about Woodland Creatures that come from a series of books. Should I use Woodlands in all of the Alternative Texts on images?

Last edited by Evelyn_Saenz (12/19/2007 12:04 pm)

thefluffanutta · 12/19/2007 1:47 pm

Search engines are bright enough to figure out the relationship between singular, plural and posessive forms. Just write naturally.

You alt tags should be written for people who can't see the pictures, and describe what the pictures show. If it's a picture of a couple river otters, then put "Two River Otters on the bank" as the alt tag. Use "River Otters" where it is appropriate, but consider each picture independantly and honestly.

Write for people first, and for search engines second.

Susan52 · 12/20/2007 9:23 am

If the best Primary Tag for your lens is your Title, then your Title is too short!

Another "duh" moment for me. The more I learn, the more I figure out there is to learn! Fluffa, you're a great person to learn from. Thanks again for your willingness to give and give and give.

Evelyn_Saenz · 12/20/2007 9:32 am

Thank you fluffanutta for all your help and the time you spend teaching the rest of us.

"Search engines are bright enough to figure out the relationship between singular, plural and posessive forms."

Who would have guessed that Computers have come along so far since they first learned Basic?

Evelyn_Saenz · 12/20/2007 12:07 pm

I am up dating all my lenses after reading about the Primary Tag. Each day with Squidoo brings new insight as well as new questions.

Do Search Engines know that mice is the plural of mouse?

Do they associate starry with stars?

Is there a way to tell them that you are talking about mouse the rodent instead of a computer mouse? For example could you make a tag with a subtraction sign

ie: mouse -computer

Last edited by Evelyn_Saenz (12/20/2007 12:11 pm)

KimGiancaterino · 12/21/2007 7:25 pm

Great post, fluff. You are so generous with your advice and helpful tips.

thefluffanutta · 12/22/2007 12:40 am

Evelyn_Saenz wrote:
Do Search Engines know that mice is the plural of mouse?

Do they associate starry with stars?

Is there a way to tell them that you are talking about mouse the rodent instead of a computer mouse?

Google, for example, has vast amounts of computer power, and some very advanced naturual language processing algorithms, and employs some of the brightest people on the planet.

Yes, they know these things

Evelyn_Saenz · 12/22/2007 2:14 am

Thank you so much. I truely appreciate your taking the time to answer these questions.

Writertiff · 12/22/2007 6:55 am

Great post, fluff! One more thing - I'm not sure if it's still this way, but during one of my monthly contests, we realized that unless we put that primary tag ALSO in the other tags list, then we weren't showing up within Squidoo for that primary tag.

So for instance, we were putting "affiliate marketing" as our primary tag, but nowhere else. Only those people who ALSO put it in their other tags list were showing up. As SOON as we others added it to our other tags list, we showed up. Very weird!
tiff

The-Bohemian · 01/02/2008 10:59 am

this is so helpful and i am REALLY trying to apply it to my specific lens topic. I was going to ask about changing lens titles midstream, but the above may help. I have a 'bed and breakfast' but the name is 'the bohemian.' How do i tag the lens. i think i've got the tags down for the 40 you can have but i think i am missing the boat on the primary one. do we need to figure out our goals first also? traffic to the lens and seo, correct? why? to share my passion and expertise with others who may b interestd in my field, but also heads in beds. as i brand the bohemian, i figure they have heard of me, so I also want to build my presense with people looking for staying in a bnb or wanting info on the topic? So can we chang our lens titles and how does that relate to our tag?

thefluffanutta · 01/17/2008 1:19 am

I'm going to *bump* this thread because of how important I feel it is, especially as there are two exciting new projects coming out soon that will really make use of the Primary Tag; one from Squidoo HQ, the other from SquidUtils. Get a head start on everyone else, and sort those tags out!

Thanks to MrLewisSmile for reposting The Importance of the Primay Tag on his blog, and to anyone else who's been helping to spread the word.

More advice about tags (in general) can be found here.

SquidU

The Lensmaster Lounge

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Evelyn_Saenz wrote:

Evelyn_Saenz wrote:

Evelyn_Saenz wrote:

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whitney05 wrote:

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