SEO Contest Finished – Learn From The Results
If you have read my previous post, you know that my good blogger friend hospitalera took part in a special SEO contest. The contest finished a few days ago and I am sad to say that she did not make it in the first 3 spots, but ended up on rank #21 – which is still quite good but didn’t earn her any Christmas spending money! 😉
Hospitalera has written about the contest results on her blog, and I can only urge you to have a read about what she has learned from the competition regarding SEO and how to (or not to) optimize your blogs or websites for SEO. It is an interesting read and I have certainly learned a few new things from it.
SEO is a very fluid theme at best of times, but there are certain key factors in SEO that every blog/site owner should know and follow when building their sites. Things like picking the right domain name, or writing most of your posts with a keyword in mind. Or like linking within your site, with the right keywords as anchor text. Or backlink building the right way.
Fact is that most site owners (the ones that do not do Internet Marketing) don’t have a clue about all this, and they will struggle to get their site seen because of missing SEO Optimization. Getting your site optimized for the search engines will give you a lot better chance of appearing on page #1 of Google. So whenever you can, learn about SEO! – I might actually write a post about it soon 😉
Category: SEO
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Thanks again, Petra, for the mentioning and help. The more time I spend with SEO and Internet Marketing, the more I am convinced that the best way to end up on top of Google’s search results is to make the best site possible, a site you would like to find when you search for your key word, a site that you would recommend to a friend for finding the best information possible about a certain theme / niche. In the end, I am convinced it is better, and long term more successful, to play by Google’s rules, then by trying to “trick Google”. Just my 2 cents, SY
PS I see two times the “Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail” check box under the comment form, I am using FF latest version if that helps 😉
.-= hospitalera@blogging´s last blog ..Why I am not participating in this Seo contest =-.
Thanks for your input about SEO, and I too believe that what you say is the key to good rankings in Google. You have to put in some work to get “Google Love” back! Hmmm, there seem to be a few things wrong with my plugins, I have to check this out…
>Fact is that most site owners (the ones that do not do Internet Marketing) don’t have a clue about all this,
Yea, I am sometimes surprised that otherwise good marketers don’t have a clue about SEO. When I visit sites of friends and competitors often the Google toolbar will show NO links. When I talk to friends with sites they are amazed at my knowledge of even the most basic stuff like linking and page rank.
This is especially odd when the information is available free on lots of marketing blogs.
.-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..Today’s Quote =-.
Petra, this article is so spot on. Most people do not know how to optimize their sites for SEO. Unless you are a “known” entity, people will not find your work without proper SEO.
And, if you write a post without keywords in mind (and keywords that you will link in on), your post is all but doomed!
Thanks for this note reminding people of that.
All the best. Merry Christmas to all!
For a fun, interesting read, your visitors might enjoy SEO: The Seven Deadly Sins, which addresses what to do and what not to do.
.-= Richard Cummings´s last blog ..SEO: Error Traffic Control =-.
Thanks for the awesome blog, and especially the post! I submit articles all the time, they are WELL worth the time
Hi Petra,
Hospitalera didn’t win but all of us who participated in blogging about the SEO contest benefited.
We can learn from her post about why she didn’t win. I’ve read it and it’s packed with great information.
Helping other bloggers is great and it certainly comes back.
By the way I did tweet the blog the other day and I noticed that it didn’t register on your counter. Nothing was showing there when I came back after a few days.
I have know idea how it’s supposed to work, if it’s a plug in or whatever.
Vance
.-= Vance@Get Blog Traffic´s last blog ..Get Blog Traffic Increase With Blog Comments =-.
Hi Petra,
So much to learn, so little time! 🙁
I am slowly understanding SEO, but truthfully I am learning from reading posts from you and some others. There are times when I think we can get information overload and get confused.
I have noticed the like linking on your blog and wondered why, now I understand. As we develop content on our blogs we can like link and improve our own SEO.
Yes you should do a post on what you have learned so far that works for you! Maybe do a series? 😉
Hope all is great and you had a great festive season.
See you back here soon!
Jacinta 😎
.-= Jacinta Dean´s last blog ..By: Jacinta =-.
Hi Petra,
I learned quite a lot by analysing the backlinks of these contestants.
I felt that phreakaholics who came 3rd had the best overall link building campaign (in fact he is #1 in my country’s Google search results for the term ‘oes tsetnoc’).
But as well as external backlinking, it does come down to good on-site SEO and internal backlinking (and getting the perfect .com domain name definitely helps too).
I can’t wait for the next contest (mma pound for pound) to see what new tricks they come up with.
Hi Petra,
Yes, you are right with “Getting your site optimized for the search engines will give you a lot better chance of appearing on page #1 of Google.”
I would actually word it a bit stronger: Only if you optimize your site for the search engines, you will have a chance to appear on page #1 of Google.
HP
.-= HP@link building services´s last blog ..Free SEO Tool Called TouchGraph That is Really Helpful for Link Building =-.
Article submission, it’s easily and really great, The great thing on article submission is that you are able to choose what the article is about. So someway you control the onsite optimisation of your backlink, and then you are able to bring in yourself a highly onpage optimised excellent backlink that’s connected your competition page. You can also apply the primary contest keyword as much as you.
You’ll want to do a good bit of link building, through blog commenting, social bookmarking, article writing, etc. Make sure your links are dofollow for the most effect and benefit on Google. Also, be sure that your site has refreshing content to attract the crawlers.
I just went over to Hospitalera’s blog about failing in SEO. I’m glad she learned from her mistakes, and she had fun doing it as well.
.-= Kai@SEO Company´s last blog ..Keywords That Sell =-.
It would have been an interesting contest. I got this information very late otherwise I could also take part in that. Blog commenting appears to be interesting hobby.
.-= fslshzd@cosmetic marketing´s last blog ..This is a test post =-.
Nice blog. As beginner in SEO I’ve learned a lot for this blog, very help full. Great post, great tips.
You have great post with enjoyable writing style. Nice to visit your blog. Thanks for sharing your opinion about SEO contest
.-= Tine Tracy´s last blog ..Business Continuity Planning Software =-.
Interesting link to the SEO contest result – thanks for sharing 🙂
Even though you don’t want to go into the technical side of SEO, you should have a certain understanding of what it is all about. So to stay updated on this subject I find to be just as important as having basic knowledge about the financial stuff (even though you don’t do the book keeping yourself).
I’ve been an avid reader of your SEO posts on this blog. Keep up the good work! I look forward to your next SEO contest. 🙂
Hey, 21st is better than nothing. 🙂
The key is to keep learning SEO, apply new strategies and participate to next seo contests as well. 😉
Hi Petra,
It’s nice to see a fellow blogger of yours participate on an SEO contest like that. I’m also planning on joining an SEO contest that will held in our home seo forums and I hope I can win. But for now I might still need to read more stuff about SEO.
Vins
Make sure your links are dofollow for the most effect and benefit on Google. Also, be sure that your site has refreshing content to attract the crawlers.
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