Pros and Cons of SEO Competitions
Monday, January 11th, 2010It would be no exaggeration to say that every year hundreds of seo contests take place around the world. They are usually sponsored by companies that would like to increase their visibility in the search engines. The company that administers the competition comes up with a made-up word that has not existed before the competition started. This guarantees that there would be 0 results turned out in Google which means that the playing field is even.
After a predetermined amount of time – usually six months after the beginning of the competition on a particular day at a particular time the made up word is being looked up pin Google and the website that comes up first wins. Simple as that. In addition the the fame the winner also gets a big cash prize. However more people to do for the fame and not for the money
For the most time the SEO competitions are specific for a country. In cases like this the made up word is in that particular language. For instance right now there is a SEO competition in Bulgarian. The made up word is which is read backwards. In the end of March whoever comes up first in Goolge.bg for the keyword would be the winner.
This is not the case for SEO contest when the made up word is in English – basically what happens is that the whole world takes part in the competition. With no doubt contest like these are super competitive. To increase their chances of winning contestants team up. The winning team then divides the cash prize among its members
As I mentioned before even though the cash prize is big people do it mostly because of the fame that comes with it. However both things are inter related. The members of the winning team are contacted by companies that need that type of service.
Over the years I have talked with a lot of people who do SEO for a living but don’t want to compete in such contests. When asked why the main answer is “I don’t believe I can win”. Even in this case I think that competing against the best is worth it. The main motive should be learning new things not winning.
I am the primary example of what I just said. I signed up for the third SEO contest in Bulgaria and it has been a month and a half since it started. I feel like I have learned so many things that otherwise would have taken me months to learn under normal circumstances.
If you wish to participate in SEO competitions but don’t feel like you don’t have the knowledge – don’t despair. Read my ipotpal blog. This is the website I use in the third annual ipotpal competition in Bulgaria