There is something wrong with the new algorithm

The latest Top 100 by LensRank really looks very strange - it's so hard to find there any interesting lens with great content and layout. Instead, it is dominated by lenses on handbags, tattoos and free downloads.

Yes, free downloads appear to replace the videosense and affiliate marketing lenses. There are about 30 of them - about downloading music, videos, psp games, movies, etc.

I noticed that new trend while looking in the morning at the current ranking. In fact, I got shocked - all of my lenses went down and I had no lens in the Top 100 by LensRank!

I would accept that, because it is possible with growing competition, however I realized that on every lens the update date was described as: "Updated more than a week ago"!

It wasn't true, because I updated all of them 2 days before and the actual date was being showed correctly on the Dashboard. I sent a bug report and got confirmation of receipt, but nothing happened during the day - the update dates didn't change (only after I updated the lenses) and the LensRanks were not corrected.

A number of people were complaining in the Lounge, so I decided to do some analysis of the current situation in the Squidoo rankings.

The results were shocking!

Imagine that profitability is no longer the most important factor. I have never had any problem with it being a significant ingredient in the LensRank formula because Squidoo needs revenue in order to exist, we want to earn money for the charities and we also want to be rewarded for our work.

However, after this tweak, only 24 (!) lenses from Top 100 Most Profitable are also on the Top 100 by LensRank. This is much, much lower than before. I think it's a bad decision, because Squidoo will get less money for charities and lensmasters will not be rewarded as much as before for being creative to find ways to earn money. It simply will have discouraging effect.

But, I did even more analysis and I found Gil's new magic ingredient... His silver bullet this time is traffic!

Yes, by looking at the less known Top 100 Most Visited (most traffic) - http://www.squidoo.com/browse/top_lenses/traffic I found out that 67 - i.e. every two out of three lenses from that list - made it to the Top 100 by Lensrank. It obviously means that that the latest tweak gives the biggest importance to traffic.

I think it is not acceptable, because it is one of the factors that can be very easily manipulated and we had examples of that in the past.

I'm still waiting for full response to my bug report as apparently something was wrong and all of my ranks were lowered because of that. By the way, a look at the Dashboard also confirmed that the traffic is very important now, as my lenses (all updated on the same day) were listed in the reverse order based on the traffic for the last 7 days.

Ilona Zuzalek
Squidoo Lensranking - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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What's Up In Top 100 One Month After The Last Algorithm Tweak

It's time to report on interesting developments in the most important Squidoo ranking - Top 100 by LensRank (LR). Here is the summary of those developments and the trends I noticed when comparing the rankings of Jan. 23, 2007 - when the last algorithm tweak took place and of Feb. 22 - a month later.

- 38 lenses from Jan. 23 were still in Top 100. Of those 38 lenses, 14 belonged to illuminati, 3 to the videosense group and 3 to the affiliate marketing group, which is 53% in total. It shows strength of those groups. However, on Feb. 22 illuminati delivered 24 lenses, the videosense group - 6 lenses and the "affiliates" - 4 lenses; therefore the current share of those 3 groups is 34% - a lot less than 53%! It will be very interesting to see if they can get again over 50% a month from now...

- Top 2 lenses from Jan. 23 were still on the Top 100 by LR - Funky Laptop Bags and Handbags.

- 13 lenses that were in Top 20 appear again among twenty best lenses. New lenses on the top by LR were: #6 Disney Pins!, #7 ASG, #8 Law Of Attraction, #11 Balenciaga Handbags, #14 My Dog Indigo, #16 Affiliate Marketing Guide and #17 SquidooSecrets.com

- only one lens from Top 100 by LR was listed on three other Top 100 rankings - Most Profitable (MP), Most Blogged (MB) and Most Visited (MV). It was at #5 Great Disney World Photos. Interestingly, this lens was the winner of the January People's Choice Award in the Content Lenses category.

- the highest ranked lens that didn't appear on neither of those three rankings (MP, MB, MV) was at #14 My Dog Indigo.

- still the best way to get into Top 100 by LR is to have a profitable lens(es). 40 lenses from Top 100 MP made it to the Top 100 by LR. It's even better - much better! - when we look at Top 20, because 18 lenses from Top 100 MP made it to the Top 100 by LR. The only two that didn't were: Squid Lens and The 3" Dunny Page.

- moreover, having top position on MP list gives you an excellent chance to be also among the best of the best - on Feb. 22, 12 lenses from Top 20 MP were on the Top 20 by LR.

- it's strange to me in the times when blogging is such a big thing that being most blogged is not that important in the current LR algorithm. Only 6 lenses from Top 100 MB were among Top 100 by LR.

- being most visited gets rewarded more than being most blogged. Most visited lenses don't get top spots on Top 100 by LR, but they appear there quite often. 29 lenses from Top 100 MV were on Top 100 by LR. Some of the lenses that appear to be rewarded most for having a lot of visits are: Funky Laptop Bags, The Law of Attraction, Japanese Tattoos, Make Money Online - all in Top 100 by LR.

Ilona Zuzalek
Squidoo Lensranking - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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My 7th lens - Squidoo Lensranking - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better

My 7th lens - "Squidoo Lensranking" - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better is doing very well. Today it was at #196 and I expect it to break the #100 barrier tomorrow!

Yesterday I announced its publishing in the Squidoo lounge and bookmarked it on a number of social bookmarking sites. It seems people are very interested in the subject of this lens. It's also encouraging to see the surfers answering the questions about Squidoo I asked in the plexo modules. I hope that the HQ will consider the results...

According to the sitemeter stats, "Squidoo Lensranking" - How Important It Is And How To Make It Better had today almost 50 visits. That's very good!

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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Another LensRank Tweak? Not exactly...

No, we didn't have a new moon yet... In February the new moon is on 18th, we have to (?) wait two more weeks or so.

There was some action, though, and all of my lenses were around 25,000 - 28,000 early in the morning, but later that bug was fixed and the current results don't differ much from what we've been seeing since Jan. 23, 2007.

In general, it looks that eveything returned to "norm", however, there are a few new and returning lenses that were not present in Top 100 lately. It may mean that there was indeed a minor algorithm adjustment after all...

So what are those interesting lenses? Well, imagine "Michelangelo's David's" return - at #50 or much, much higher - at #4 "SquidLens: The Official Lens on Squidoo", at #47 - "National Parks and Monuments", or at #97 - "A DAY FOR HEARTS - Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day". We'll have to wait and see if it means a higher weight in the algorithm for the content. That would be very positive...

We also had today a very unusual case - at #63 "Valentin Elizalde (Hoy en lugar 64)" - a lens in Spanish. It has some "videosense" content, but I don't think the author has very close ties to the party that I call here "the videosense group".

So the count today is: "illuminati" - 26, "videosenses" - 7, "affiliates" - 6; 39 in total. Nice gain for independent lenses - from 54 on Jan. 23, 2007 to 61 today!

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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What illuminati know and we don't...

It pays to read blogs...

I've just found this interesting post by jeffryv on his post of Jan. 28, 2007 at "Lensmastering" blog:

Lensmastering: Other Top 100 Lists

That post shows that even though the Most Visited and Most Blogged disappeared from the rankings presented to the public (since Jan. 22 or 21, 2007), they are still being prepared and Jeff has access to them. Other Citizen Squids possibly too (see the "shhh"). Other - regular - lensmasters don't...

Top 100 by Rating (star system) was officially gone long ago. Top 100 Lensmasters (by Average LensRank) - which has - in my opinion - very negative impact - was discredited ages ago...

So why does jeffryv blogs about those categories? Is it an indication they they are still included in the current LensRank algorithm? No wonder Gil jokingly calls it a "screwed up" version...

Ah, talking about Gil and his famous sense of humor - if you go to Jeff's blog, you'll see "Staff Favorites". The only lens listed there is "All About Gil" by giltotherescue!

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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Why the LensRank positions on Dashboard and in Top 100 don't match

Many lensmasters complain any time the numbers they see on their Dashboard don't match what is being presented in Top 100.

We have such situation today - Jan. 27, 2007. In fact, todays Top 100 is only Top 99 and one of my favorite lenses - "Google Earth ( My Passion )" by jeffryv - is out of Top100 - where it deserves to be! [as of noon, 01/27/2007]

I looked at All Lenses by Popularity list and found out why!

At #44 we have - Sex Guide - Adding Spice to Your Relationship by Ladylove.

I have no further comments.

Ilona Zuzalek
Getting Married In Las Vegas - Romantic, Extravagant, Or Just Convenient...
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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Plexo module

I incorporated the new module - Plexo into my newest lens - The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music (URL: http://www.squidoo.com/the-beatles-songs/ ).

Now the vistors can cast their votes in a number of categories:

• The best The Beatles songs (Ilona's Top 15)
  
• The best The Beatles album
  
• Who broke up The Beatles?
  
• Anybody bigger than The Beatles?

I'm happy to see that my visitors get involved and do vote. They also can add their choices to the lists. As of today, the leaders are: "Hey Jude" and "The White Album". Also, Yoko Ono is the person most often blamed for the break-up of The Beatles and there is no clear candidate in the category Anybody bigger than The Beatles?

Ilona Zuzalek
The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music

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My Squidoo lenses

Welcome to the blog about my Squidoo lenses.

As of this first day of Winter 2006/2007, I have the following Squidoo lenses:

Title: Best Electronics Christmas Gift Ideas For 2006
URL: http://www.squidoo.com/christmas-presents/
Created On: 10/28/2006
LensRank (current): #6
Peak LensRank (highest the lens has ever been): #5
Days spent on Top 100 LensRank list: 24
Average Rating (stars): 4.50
Number of people who have rated: 21
Clickouts: 1,519
Clickouts per module: 39
Number of times lens has been emailed: 103
Number of times lens has been marked as favorite: 4

Title: Hot Christmas Stocking Stuffers - Amber Jewelry
URL: http://www.squidoo.com/amber-jewelry/
Created On: 12/03/2006
LensRank (current): #11
Peak LensRank (highest the lens has ever been): #7
Days spent on Top 100 LensRank list: 10
Average Rating (stars): 4.00
Number of people who have rated: 9
Clickouts: 106
Clickouts per module: 5
Number of times lens has been emailed: 65
Number of times lens has been marked as favorite: 5

Title: Eugeniusz Tytyk (1920-2006) - An Auschwitz Survivor, My Father, My Hero
URL: http://www.squidoo.com/livingshadows/
Created On: 10/01/2006
LensRank (current): #16
Peak LensRank (highest the lens has ever been): #6
Days spent on Top 100 LensRank list: 13
Average Rating (stars): 4.50
Number of people who have rated: 45
Clickouts: 268
Clickouts per module: 9
Number of times lens has been emailed: 134
Number of times lens has been marked as favorite: 9
This lens was selected as Lens of the Day on: 10/24/2006

Title: Trading Currencies - Introduction to Forex Trading
URL: http://www.squidoo.com/trading-currencies/
Created On: 10/20/2006
LensRank (current): #17
Peak LensRank (highest the lens has ever been): #11
Days spent on Top 100 LensRank list: 13
Average Rating (stars): 4.00
Number of people who have rated: 11
Clickouts: 420
Clickouts per module: 14
Number of times lens has been emailed: 134
Number of times lens has been marked as favorite: 7

Title: The Beatles Songs - My Favorite Kind Of Music
URL: http://www.squidoo.com/the-beatles-songs/
Created On: 12/15/2006
LensRank (current): #23
Peak LensRank (highest the lens has ever been): #22
Days spent on Top 100 LensRank list: 2
Average Rating (stars): 5.00
Number of people who have rated: 4
Clickouts: 41
Clickouts per module: 1
Number of times lens has been emailed: 74
Number of times lens has been marked as favorite: 2

Ilona Zuzalek
Trading Currencies - Introduction To Forex

Technorati tags: The Beatles, Beatles, forex, forex trading, Auschwitz, Holocaust
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