Adrian Berry

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So it seems someone has set up a blog to promote an "SEO competition" amongst Manchester SEO firms.

If you don't know, an "SEO competition" traditionally involves picking a specific keyword phrase or term and setting a time limit and the winner is whoever's at #1 on the finishing date. The thing is, this encourages people to "spam" and use less than ethical methods to push their way to the top of search engine listings, where it would affect businesses legitimately trading in that area.

To be honest, businesses already undertaking Search Engine Optimisation for a reasonable period of time should already be ranking (or working on ranking) for some or all of the terms they need anyway.

This is all besides the point because everybody whose knows even the slightest about SEO understands that web ranking is pretty much a meaningless metric these days. Reputable SEO companies will prioritise Return on Investment, the number of unique visitors plus bounce and conversion rates well above ranking position. Being #1 in Google means nothing at all if you are not getting a reasonable return for your investment.

Yes it still advantageous to be showing up in Google in the top half of the web page listings for your most important search terms - but the introduction of universal search, local search, personalised search images, news results, social media and different data centres presenting geo targeted results by Google and the other search engines means that search engine results can differ dramatically from PC to PC.

So how could you even determine who is truly #1 anymore if it changes from location to location and PC to PC? Well the real answer is that it's not that important to prioritise being top of the search rankings - instead good SEO practices should prioritise and target quality traffic that converts.

SEO is not solely about rankings and anybody who prioritises this metric above ROI, quality of traffic, conversions, bounce rates and unique visitors really doesn't know much about SEO in 2009.

Tags: Ethical Seo, Google, Search Engine Rankings

Discussion

Posted by David on Aug 18th, 2009
I am sorry but you might be missing the point of the exercise. I am that someone.

You're right about "competitions" in the traditional sense of the word, but the point of this exercise (on the back of conversations had with SEO professionals yesterday) is that no one had looked at how SEO firms in Manchester rank against each other in a longitudinal exercise. None of the firms in this conversation want to engage in any effort but they are interested to see how the normal effort they exert on their own key phrase performance rates against other local businesses.

Why would this be important? Well, many people noted that their page ranking for key terms on client sites dropped significantly last week (and for no apparent reason). Sure ranking might be "so 1998" as you say (Mindy's words from our Twitter dialogue yesterday) but it's still a KPI for people and a readily visible one at that. However much we dislike it.

It won't encourage spam - as Simon from Push-on noted in his tweet, almost all firms in Manchester operate ethically and won't adopt this approach. Maybe the name "competition" is misleading, but I can't see how anyone particularly wants to spam a longituidinal study. There's no prize. There's no end.

I spend a lot of time talking to people about ROI (although you have to be cautious about using the word investment when talking about marketing spend, as any former Enron employee will tell you), quality of traffic and so on when dealing with digital marketing strategy. Yet they're still interested in ranking - why do you suppose that might be.

And finally - to suggest that "it would affect businesses legitimately trading in that area" is a misnomer. At any time, any player can affect this - and I don't think an invisible exercise in listing performance of people who want to participate in a quiet backwater will make much of an impact on their business. It's a benchmark that's visible to a small audience only. And maybe some people will find it interesting.
Posted by Mindy on Aug 18th, 2009
I was quoting Ade yesterday on Twitter.

And I agree with him - suggesting that you're going to build an SEO "league table" or run an ongoing "contest" is not only impossible because of geotargeting and personalisation of SERPS but is also a massive red rag to a bull.

All those black hat SEO experts who make a great living on their own affiliate sites, arbitrage sites and who are involved in domaining stay out of the SERPs targeted by SEO agencies and consultants for the most part - because it makes them no money.

However, if you start publishing lists like this and publicising it, you're just asking these guys to throw their black hats into the ring to make the (off-)white hats like us look stupid. From experience, the only way to compete with these guys is to be as black as they are - because what they do works very very well - for a while.

They don't need to stay in the SERPs for long with a single site because they can always build a new one. What they will do, however, is pollute what is for the most part a decent set of business listings with a lot of garbage that will contribute even further to the idea that SEO's are just a bunch of unethical, dirty spammers.

Locally we all already know who's good and who isn't and who's ranking in the same SERPs as us. All we have to do is search.
Posted by adrian berry on Aug 18th, 2009
"it's still a KPI for people" yes that's very true but for people who do not fully understand SEO and SEM.

Surely it's our job as reputable SEO firms to educate clients about this? Ask your clients would they like to be #1 in Google for a keyword phrase that makes no money at all or be at #7 for a term that generates revenue or leads. I think you know what the answer will be.
Posted by Simon Wharton on Aug 18th, 2009
I cant say I would agree with your thinking. We're not going to be taking part in any competitions, way too busy at the mo. But I think such would illustrate some points.
Black hat works way too often. While Google isnt sharp on it, it will get used.
Clients, if they have an idea about search at all, think in terms of ranking. We can educate them in ROI, conversion, growth etc but first we need to win the business. Thats the commercial reality.
If you want to talk search, then I'll be at Dukes in 90 minutes.
Posted by adrian berry on Aug 18th, 2009
Hi Simon - we're in the same position work wise to worry about competitions, which is a sign that the SEO practices that we both do are proving successful for our clients.

Search Marketing is now well past it's infancy in the UK and to be honest a lot of our clients are now much more savvy than simply wanting to be #1 in Google - they are now beginning to realise the importance of ROI and analytics.

I recognise that the SERPS are a way of showing quick results but it will never beat conversions and ROI as a metric to impress clients.

I'd love to go for a drink some time. I'm sure that there is lots that we can talk about unfortunately I can't make it tonight - drop me an email and we'll arrange a suitable date / time.
Posted by Mindy on Aug 19th, 2009
I'd like to back Adrian up here by pointing out that generally when we get prospects talking about rankings, we can usually remove that fixation during the sales process by talking about how we measure results. Sometimes ranking a specific keyword phrase is part of the first stage of the SEO process, but it's important to keep driving the client to focus on the long term goals of improving enquries / sales.

What prompted my Twitter rant (@justhipper) and Adrian's post though, was worry at the way the idea was couched - as a competition.

SEO competitions have a long history, and are highly entertaining to watch - and I'm pretty sure Google has used them in the past to improve the algorithm (see Nigritude Ultramarine and V7ndotcom elursrebmem) - but they have also been based around gibberish phrases for good reason - 1) for a level playing field and 2) to avoid spamming actual SERPs.

However the idea itself - as a means of encouraging more discussion and interaction (or "banter" as @groovegenerator so lovingly called it) between people involved in SEO in Manchester is an idea to be encouraged wholeheartedly, especially in light of the not-quite-revulsion expressed by our non-SEO social media comrades. If for no other reason it may help all of us further the education and knowledge of people outside of our industry about what we can do for them.
Posted by Simon Wharton on Aug 19th, 2009
Maybe it's time to get the Chamber of Commerce involved. Quickest route to educating our local audience.
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