Sorry for the long delay I’ve not been away and have been blogging elsewhere but have gone through a period where I feel I have had nothing to say about SEO or Drupal. Part of the problem with being one in a crowd is that you need to scream to be heard unfortunately everyone else knows this as well.
Recently I decided to take a break from blogging on Venture Skills blog, not a long one just some time to refocus, while I was away I read large quantity of blog posts and discussions on SEO and I slowly dawned on me that most SEO’s are fakes.
Search engine optimisation is not search engine marketing period.
They work hand in hand but they are not the same thing, SEO at least in my mind has more akin to information architecture then marketing after all the SEO job is not to influence people or even to get them through the door it’s to make the information easier to find.
I therefore propose some questions to all those so called SEO’s see if you can answer them (and in a Rand like moment I will do my best to answer them in another post). Be honest with yourself try and answer without googling them first.
Which of these HTML elements is the odd one out?
1)A 2) IMG 3) H1 4) ALT
When did Google first start using no-follow and what is it used for?
What is the difference between a 301 and 302 redirect?
Why does mybloglog and similar services not show bots when counting visitors?
What is a URL and how is it different from a URI?
What is this formula the original version of?
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))
Explain why it has no relevancy to SERPs today…
Latent Semantic Analysis is useful in SEO when?
Why is most Cross site scripting ineffective for gaining backlinks?
What does WAI stand for and what baring does it have on SEO?
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August 27, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Now at least one of those questions you will get conflicting answers, and the answer you think it is might be wrong.
As an example take a look at Ezine article as tell me why all their 2 million articles are not in the main index.
It is partially architecture, but there are just too many pages for the amount and quality of the juice they receive.
August 27, 2007 at 9:40 pm
The questions are based on ones I use for my SEO class though I have severely watered them down and left them a little open ended.
By the way my plan is to answer each question as a blog post.
August 27, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I feel that this is an excellent blog entry to an issue that needs to be addressed. My name is relatively unknown within the SEO/SEM industry, but feel that I have at least some validity as I’ve come from a successful ecommerce background (much of which was acquired due to SEO). That being said, I’ll never claim to know everything and I’ll never guarantee a client #1 results.
I believe that I can answer 8 of the 10 questions above, but am absolutely clueless to the formula that you had listed without Google or any research which does bring up a valid point.
August 27, 2007 at 10:38 pm
[...] a quick(?) set of 10 SEO questions, I came across this weekend, to see how much you really know about about SEO, courtesy of Venture [...]
September 22, 2007 at 9:17 am
I certainly don’t qualify as an seo expert, but I do not claim to be. I actually had never heard of seo until 3 months ago.
I am a fast learner and built my own linux kernel after three weeks of even know what linux is. I cannot answer all of the questions you posted, but it has certainly gained my attention.
I am here to learn with an open mind and and evolve my knowledge in this area. You apparently know quite a bit and you have just gained a new reader!
I look forward to learning much from you! Have yourself a great weekend:)
September 22, 2007 at 9:55 am
I will get the answer post finished its been bad form on my part to not get it done.
I don’t claim to be an SEO “expert” simply an Engineer who works in the profession these questions were ones I posed to some undergraduates I taught earlier in the year at the start of a course. I’m pleased to say most could answer them in depth by the end and some perhaps better then myself.
September 23, 2007 at 4:29 pm
You can seem be an “expert” to your peers in a locale, especially when you can get “Google” to promote you as such but I totally agree with your article.
In the end, a good seo is one who increases the visibility of a site while at the same time imporves the quality of the leads which should lead to higher sales for the customer.
I was “forced” by my partner to target this term as people who I trained / introduced to seo where ranking for “expert seo” etc when we were not, but it still doesn’t sit right with me.
Let’s face it there’s always somebody else who knows more about something than you do.
I don’t like the term “expert” as I am not long enough in the tooth to class my self as one, but I do work hard at it, and now I try and make sure in my posts I tell people to do their own research and try and demystify some of the fake seo claims out there, at least.
I always tell people noone knows everything about any search engine, or they would be too busy counting their money to seo a customer site if they did.
I just try and make sites better – to be al they can be. More in line with what Google rewards. I think seo is a mix of diferent skills, neither of which is too complicated to learn, but with enough experience an expert brings these skills together in an effective “product” which is scaleable and workable, for both parties.
November 30, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Those are some great questions. I think people do get the true meaning of SEO confused.