Search Advisory

There are a number of websites that allow anyone to create a page on them, on just about any topic.  This is another great way to create optimized content that can appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  You can also build links into the content, pointing to your main website, which may help boost that site’s rankings.

Here are the three most well-known content sites:

Squidoo
Squidoo calls web pages “lenses” (because they’re supposed to be focused on one topic – get it?).  Squidoo encourages commercial lenses, so you can add one about your business as a whole, and/or you can repurpose articles and other content for their site.  Bottom line:

- Lenses appear in SERPs.

- You can include links, in which you can change the text of the link (anchor text) to include search terms.

- These links do pass link juice!

- In addition to lenses you’ve created, the above also applies to your “lensmaster” profile page.

Google Knol
A “knol” is a unit of knowledge, according to Google.  Bottom line:

- Knols appear in SERPs.

- You can include search terms in anchor text.

- Google has said that these links do not pass link juice…except for some particularly “trustworthy” knols (whatever that means).  Still, it can’t hurt to have quality content about your company hosted on a Google property.  Just keep it editorial and informational more than commercial.

HubPages
Keeping with the clever nomenclature, HubPages calls web pages “hubs.”  Bottom line:

- Hubs appear in SERPs.

- You can include search terms in anchor text.

- Links pass juice if the “HubScore” is over 75.  HubScore is based on original content, amount of traffic, number of “thumbs up” votes, and the quality of the “Hubber” (author).  So the more time you spend creating quality content for HubPages, the more likely that content will pass juice to any sites you link to.

When working with content sites – or any social media, for that fact – remember to do it appropriately and add value for the community.  If your time is limited, it’s worth spending some of it in Squidoo, if nowhere else.