How Competitions Affect SEO Perceptions - Real World SEO
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What does this have to do with Google bombing contests? The winner of the competition may deserve some credit for achieving the top ranking but it does not reflect the real world, since the winner doesn’t really care if a search engine user would have been converted into a real lead. Things like "conversion rates," "brand recognition" and "consumer confidence" are completely outside the scope of a Google bombing competition, but are very much inside the scope of a real search engine marketing campaign.
So, in that case, who cares if the competing site has terrible graphics? If the fonts are ugly and take up half of the entire page? Who cares if the copy of the homepage doesn’t make sense, thus making new visitors leave the site within 20 seconds? And there are more unrealistic elements to a Google bombing contest. For instance, the winner’s site may well be supported by a link campaign that is unrealistic because it has exchanged links with other players in the same exact market, as defined by a set of keywords. Most real clients would be reluctant to exchange links with their direct competitors. All in all, why should the winner of a Google bombing competition care if the winning site cannot convert a single user?
The Relationship Between Algorithm Architects and Professional SEOs
A second reason that I don’t like Google bombing competitions is that they may trigger unhealthy instability in the subtle relationship between search engine algorithm architects and professional, ethical SEOs. I argue that the evolution of search engine technology is beneficial to users, search engine companies and professional SEOs. Thus, when search engine algorithms become more complex and performance is improved, professional SEOs should be happy with that, rather than frowning at it!
Why? Eventually, it requires SEOs to evolve while improving the convergence of their marketing and technical skills. This is harder to do and, in turn, creates a situation where the stronger and more professional SEOs survive while the weaker SEOs are left behind. And if you agree that stability between professional, ethical SEOs and search engine algorithm architects is beneficial for both sides, then both should not support Google bombing competitions that may force the search engine architects to tweak certain parts of an already stable algorithm, just because they must avoid transparency (for obvious reasons).
Summary
To summarize, while it is possible to find certain merits in Google bombing competitions, such as the exhibition and learning of a variety of SEO techniques being used, high publicity of such competitions impose serious disadvantages to the SEO community. For the long term, such competitions present the SEO practice in a bad light.
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