Google punish Squidoo for spam

Affiliates, SEOers and general SEM’s were quick to see the opportunities in Squidoo almost as soon as it launched back in 2005. The actual launch was a funny one and along with the much hyped ‘Everyone’s an expert‘ ebook is worth a post on it’s own. Anyway, for those who are still unaware, Squidoo allows it’s users to create their own section on the site, known as a Lens, and demonstrate their expertise, passion and all round knowledge by writing content around their chosen subject.

So what happens when people abuse this system and look alternative or hidden benefits? Maybe insert a few affiliate links here and there, maybe a little black hat seo, iframe abuse? Well Squidoo have just found out the hard way despite their efforts to reduce Squidoo spam and have had what appears to be a manual filter applied to their Google rankings. Whoops.