An SEO Contest Exposes Weakness in Google’s Algorithm

[djbaxter]

An interesting read on loopholes and contradictions in Google's ranking algorithms...

SEO Contest Exposes Weakness in Google’s Algorithm
By Roger Montti, Search Engine Journal
November 13, 2018

A Facebook SEO Group held a 30 day ranking challenge. A top ranked winner was a website written entirely in Latin. The winning results exposed how weak Google’s algorithm remains to aggressive SEO strategies.

Read more...

The author includes an important disclaimer or caution that is often forgotten in studies of Google ranking factors: correlation does not equal causation, especially when you are dealing with a large number of factors, many of which are not controlled in a specific study and some of which are not even known with any degree of certainty:

A common mistake in competitive research is assuming that the obvious tactics uncovered are responsible for the rankings. Google might be using those signals or Google might be using other signals.

Nobody can truly know why a site is ranking. Only Google knows for sure. So the tactics you see, especially the obvious stuff, is not necessarily responsible for the rankings.

I’ll outline some of the tactics used but this not meant to imply those are the reasons. I’m only showing what can be seen and rub our chins and mutter, “Hmmm…”

 

[JoyHawkins]

haha - I just google'd this and yep, the entire page is written in Latin. So funny.

 

[Dan Foland]

This is super interesting. I'm glad the article mentions correlation does not equal causation as this is a pretty anecdotal test.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Did Google drop these sites?

I did a search and couldn't find any of them ranking.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Yep - the guy who won posted this: The real reason my site got to #1 in Google for Rhinoplasty Plano – Page Optimizer Pro

 

[JoshuaMackens]

What am I missing?

 

[JoyHawkins]

@JoshuaMackens - that follow up article I referenced says they got hit with a manual penalty just recently so it isn't ranking there anymore

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Oh haha. Gotcha.

Funny how Google is interested in cleaning that up. They really are defensive about that stuff.

 

[OneBlessedDude]

They guy who won, Kyle Roof, is an absolute monster. I've been studying him for a long time, he's gonna be speaking again in Vegas at Seo RockStars this year too!

Dont know if there is a difference, but his site, was, and still is in lipsum ipsum, not Latin.

Even though goog said he was "penalized" he is still number 1. @JoshuaMackens

 

[Tim Colling]

Sometimes it's a little hard to tell which way is up in our odd little world, isn't it?

 

[JoshuaMackens]

They guy who won, Kyle Roof, is an absolute monster. I've been studying him for a long time, he's gonna be speaking again in Vegas at Seo RockStars this year too!

Dont know if there is a difference, but his site, was, and still is in lipsum ipsum, not Latin.

Even though goog said he was "penalized" he is still number 1. @JoshuaMackens

He is in maps where manually penalties don't matter.

He is gone from website search results where manual penalties take effect.

 

[Mike Vannington]

They guy who won, Kyle Roof, is an absolute monster. I've been studying him for a long time, he's gonna be speaking again in Vegas at Seo RockStars this year too!

Dont know if there is a difference, but his site, was, and still is in lipsum ipsum, not Latin.

Even though goog said he was "penalized" he is still number 1. @JoshuaMackens

Where do I find this Kyle Roof? Does he post anywhere? ebook?

 

[JoyHawkins]

The real reason my site got to #1 in Google for Rhinoplasty Plano - PageOptimizer Pro

Today marked a pivotal moment in the life of this controversial experiment from the first Rank or Go Home Challenge by Steven Kang and the SEO Signals Lab Group. The experiment was featured in Search Engine Journal by Roger Montti yesterday and perhaps by coincidence, 4 months after our site hit…

pageoptimizer.pro

 

[Mike Vannington]

The real reason my site got to #1 in Google for Rhinoplasty Plano - PageOptimizer Pro

Today marked a pivotal moment in the life of this controversial experiment from the first Rank or Go Home Challenge by Steven Kang and the SEO Signals Lab Group. The experiment was featured in Search Engine Journal by Roger Montti yesterday and perhaps by coincidence, 4 months after our site hit…

pageoptimizer.pro

Thanks. For some reason the 1st time I clicked that link it went straight to the pageoptimizer home page and I saw no article, and I was looking. Thought the link was dead. Maybe my browser blocker? Can't remember if I turned off the filters or not. Maybe I did and failed to refresh the page. Or maybe this link is different than one that appears earlier in the thread? In any case, thank you. Reading article now.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I think the first link I used on this thread no longer works so it's not just you

 

[aggiejulie12]

Where do I find this Kyle Roof? Does he post anywhere? ebook?

Mike, if you're in the DFW area, he's speaking at a DFWSEM event this Wednesday.