Crystalline Incandescence Competition
How we got listed first...
The magazine .net commissioned an
article about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques, and a centrepiece of this is a competition
between six SEO companies.
Click here for results
The Idea
This is the cover feature - so it had lots of useful
information in it for readers who want to get their sites to the top
of
Google's listings as well as being an entertaining, enjoyable read.
One of the things readers continually tell the magazine is that they
want
more information about SEO techniques, and the editor thought it
would be interesting if they were to pit a few top SEOs against one another
in a
similar experiment. The idea would be for the magazine to choose a phrase that
currently generates zero Google results -
crystalline
incandescence, and to give the same phrase
to each of the SEOs; after a month, they'd see whose site was the top of
the
pops on Google, Yahoo! and MSN for a search on
crystalline
incandescence.
No Rules
There were no rules - if a
respectable SEO wanted to play dirty and use all kinds of underhand
tricks that they wouldn't use for a real client, that would be just
as
interesting as (and potentially more fun than) legit techniques -
the magazine
offered the SEOs a good plug: a photo, URL and blurb about them and
why
they're so great, followed by a few paragraphs explaining how the
SEO
approached it, what the results were and what lessons their readers
can
learn from their SEO expertise.
Six Search Engine Optimisers were given the challenge to optimise for
crystalline
incandescence, then each SEO had to explain what methods they
used and how they went about it. The magazine also had a control page - with
basic meta tags and then do nothing, to see how far down the search results it
ends up.
Potential Downside and Upside
As you can see, there was a potential down side here: not everyone can win the
competition side of things. But that's why some companies thought it
worthwhile going to extremes,
trying some unusual techniques, having some fun with
crystalline
incandescence.
We got to talk about our business for a while, why we're
better than the competition, and we offered words of advice to the
magazine's readers and so on.
The deadline was 23rd December 2004. The contest was officially started on Friday 5th
November 2004, and the results appeared in the March 2005 issue.
We scored the major success of getting listed first. Within four days of the
competition starting, the site we constructed specifically for the competition was listed top on Google for "crystalline
incandescence". We then did practically no further work on the special site,
and it stayed top for two weeks, while our competitors all worked hard to catch
up.
We were also listed 3rd out of 56,300 results (and above all the competing
SEOs) for the single keyword
incandescence. In many ways this was a better achievement, as it more
closely corresponds to real life, where there is competition amongst a large
number of sites to get to the top. We got to 3rd position without specifically
optimising for the single keyword.
We've now removed most of the links, so you may not see our site
(www.webvisible.co.uk) any longer if
you search Google for "crystalline incandescence".
Legitimate Techniques Only
We only used legitimate techniques. We did not use keyword stuffing,
deceptive re-directs, hidden links, hidden or "cloaked" text or other techniques
which might get your site banned by search engines.
Please contact us if you think you might like our help in getting
your site seen!
Beaufort Web Design Welcomes a New Associate
We are pleased to welcome on board a new Associate - Arthur Fitzjohn.
Arthur is an experienced computer consultant who will strengthen our
technical capability and client support. He has over 25 years experience in
Information Technology, and has worked on a wide range of technologies and
platforms (both Windows and Unix). He delivers professional quality in design,
implementation and support. His most recent clients include TNT, OFSTED, and the
Home Office.
Arthur is based in Hertfordshire.
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