v7ndotcom elursrebmem Two new words for the internet announced on January 15 2006, by John Scott of V7n. Why?
It's an SEO contest. Open to anybody who fancies their chances at Search Engine Optimization - specifically for Google.
Here's the background, the people, the websites, the bitching, the problems, the prizes, the rules, and more, on the biggest SEO contest ever
It's an SEO contest. Open to anybody who fancies their chances at Search Engine Optimization - specifically for Google.
Here's the background, the people, the websites, the bitching, the problems, the prizes, the rules, and more, on the biggest SEO contest ever
What does v7ndotcom elursrebmem mean?
Is it Latin?
It's not Latin - it's Marketing. Internet Marketing of the viral kind. Self-fulfilling reverse SEO that very cheaply created its own one-way link-farm and an instant anchor-text industry.
1. v7ndotcom = V7 Network Dot Com - the home of the SEO contest hoping to boost the membership to its forums
2. elursrebmem = members rule spelled backwards, because V7n Supreme Bean John Scott is proud of the sense of community shown by the webmasters that participate in V7n forums
1. v7ndotcom = V7 Network Dot Com - the home of the SEO contest hoping to boost the membership to its forums
2. elursrebmem = members rule spelled backwards, because V7n Supreme Bean John Scott is proud of the sense of community shown by the webmasters that participate in V7n forums
Problems With Such Competitions
But I thought it sounded like fun?
- Meaningless - Gibberish is gibberish, and on this scale of participation (of which this site by definition is equally guilty), the internet is cluttered up with content that means nothing.
- Spam - Domain names, splogs on blogspot and elsewhere, fake forums, sub-domains, and on and on. We all profess to want more relevant results from Search Engines, yet for the sake of a few thousand dollars are happy to make their job much more difficult. Also the vast majority of entering pages are just spammy pages rather than content.
- Link Whoring - Free For Alls and Link Farms have long been unfashionable (as long as they've been ineffective) but now people are swapping, trading, and selling links to each other's nonsensical pages. This way does not help grow an organic web.
- Defacement as Irrelevancy - People have their contest sites in their signatures in forums in irrelevant threads, in comments on blogs where the post commented on carries no relevancy. Titles of existing websites have been altered to include the competion words.
- Selling Text Links - Although the originally conceived rules were modified slightly, the inclusion of a link to the home page of the contest organizers as one of the qualifying features permitted for entry, without making the nofollow tag mandatory, is effectively selling text links for prize money. Common sense told us before Google via Matt Cutts did, that this is very obviously wrong.
- Circus - It's what happens when a group of kids realize the pinata has smashed. Webmasters of the world catfight - there's money on the ground.
- Reporting - How does any website - news, blog, academic, encylopedic, etc. - actually report about the competition without entering it? By listing the rules and providing what would ordinarily be considered a relevant link (even with nofollow to deny PR juice flowing) a page is effectively entered in competition and adding to the circus.
- Wasteful - We want our search engines to be faster and yet through such competitions we throw tons of extra work at them so we can examine and optimize. And don't SEO professionals who wear Whitehats have better things to do with their time?
- BlackHat Encouragement - Of course any successful Blackhat practitioner is likely to be too busy messing up the Internet on a larger scale for more money than this 1st prize to invest too much time in this contest, but those new to SEO are unfortunately likely to be lured to the dark side by the offer of easy money.
- Implications - What next? What if the words chosen are not gibberish - how then do Search Engines filter out competition pages from SERPs? Do we really want grafitti on our actual best works of art? For 30 pieces of silver?
But It's For Charity
Many Entrants are Promising the Prize Money to Charity
If you want to give to charity - give to charity (and don't tell us about it). Is robbing an honest business person and giving the spoils to charity okay? Is it okay if the business person is dishonest? Are you Robin of Loxley?
If you win, and give the money to your chosen charity - do you get nothing? Really? No links to your websites, no boost in advertising income, no increase in affiliate sales, no new clients in search of your SEO expertise? And if your chosen charity pockets the $4,000 (or $7,000 or whatever it ends up being) do the competition organizers still not gain, and do they deserve to? Are they a charity?
Is there not something grotesque about having different charities effectively fight over the same money? I'm a charity - are you going to donate it to me?
If you win, and give the money to your chosen charity - do you get nothing? Really? No links to your websites, no boost in advertising income, no increase in affiliate sales, no new clients in search of your SEO expertise? And if your chosen charity pockets the $4,000 (or $7,000 or whatever it ends up being) do the competition organizers still not gain, and do they deserve to? Are they a charity?
Is there not something grotesque about having different charities effectively fight over the same money? I'm a charity - are you going to donate it to me?
The Main v7ndotcom elursrebmem Websites
Background, Blogs, and People involved in the birth of v7ndotcom elursrebmem
- Contest Announcement
- The Thread at V7n where John Scott officially announced the v7ndotcom elursrebmem SEO contest.
- V7N
- Home Page of V7 Network, the Web Development Community which launched the v7ndotcom elursrebmem SEO competition
- ShoeMoney
- Blog by Jeremy Schoemaker of ShoeMoney Media, who has added $2,000 to the 1st prize in the v7ndotcom elursrebmem contest - just because he likes contests.
- Internet Marketing Blog
- The rather erratic blog by John Scott, the man who gave the world v7ndotcom elursrebmem
- Web Guerilla
- Blog by Greg Boser who matched the original V7N prizes if entrants don't link to V7N but do link (ironically) to the blog by Matt Cutts (non www version) of Google.
- Oilman
- Blog by Todd Friesen who has also ponied up $1,000 for the alternative rules set out by Greg Boser.
- Mike Grehan
- Blog by Mike Grehan, Search Marketing superstar, and final part of the triumvirate with friends Oilman and WebGuerilla, offering prizes for ranking v7ndotcom elursrebmem in Google's SERPs by alternative rules to V7N
- Matt Cutts
- Blog by Google engineer Matt Cutts, which the alternative prize-givers want you to link to (specifically the non-www version) instead of to V7N.
- g00gl3r
- Blog by Dan Freakley, donator of iPod that is awarded as 1st prize in 'official' v7ndotcom elursrebmem contest along with $4,000 ($1,000 from V7n, $2,000 from ShoeMoney, $1,000 from Stoner3221)
Has This Been Done Before?
Other SEO Contests
Yes v7ndotcom elursrebmem is not the first such piece of gibberish to infect the Web - there have been quite a few contests - usually started for fun or marketing. And webmasters themselves often indulge in private SEO contests. Here are some search terms used for some of the more notable recent public SEO competitions:
1. nigritude ultramarine SEO Contest FAQ
2. loquine glupe SEO Contest Winning Site!
3. hommingberger gepardenforelle German SEO Contest
4. Mangeur de Cigogne French SEO contest
5. seraphim proudleduck Wikipedia's take on this SEO contest
6. redscowl bluesingsky SEO Contest Info
1. nigritude ultramarine SEO Contest FAQ
2. loquine glupe SEO Contest Winning Site!
3. hommingberger gepardenforelle German SEO Contest
4. Mangeur de Cigogne French SEO contest
5. seraphim proudleduck Wikipedia's take on this SEO contest
6. redscowl bluesingsky SEO Contest Info
John said, Greg said, Mike said
A Brief Pollution of Blogs and Forums
John said he'd have a contest to rank for gibberish but you had to link to his forum
Greg said the link request was lame so he'd run an alternative contest for same gibberish
John said he never required a Search Engine Indexable link
Greg said he never said that John said the required link be Search Engine Indexable
John said everybody knows you mean Search Engine Indexable link when you say link
Greg said his buddies Todd and Mike were also donating to the alternative contest booty
John said thanks to Greg for the publicity
Matt said the idea is tired
John said Greg's last name differently
Greg said that John likes to call names
John said the gibberish eponymous words to begin his contest
Greg said you need to link to Matt for his contest
John's friend said that wasn't funny
Greg's friend said it was irony
Matt said he'd didn't need Greg's pity
John said he had a lot of respect for Mike
Mike said who's John
John said here's a link to Greg, only he used unsavoury words in the anchor text
Greg and Todd said, Matt, John likes to call names
Matt said what did you expect when you hijacked his contest
Todd said John had really gone past funny
Mike said he was upset with John
John said he had no respect for Mike anymore
Mike said John put up Jill hate sites
John said he never
Mike said again that John put up Jill hate sites
John said he never, that he even said it was creepy
Black Knight said yeah but in John's own forum John acquiesced, if not encouraged
Mike said sorry, it was a hate campaign, not a hate site
John said he never
Jill said wow, two guys fighting over me
John said he called Mike but Mike said he didn't want to talk about this
Mike said John called him, and said things that were very upsetting
John said Mike asked him to call him
Mike said John's friends were mean
John's friend said a whole lot of mean words on Mike's blog
John said forgiveness was a beautiful thing
John's friend said he wasn't John's friend any more
Aaron said sorry to Mike, and he was pulling his thread
John said he wasn't showing his thread any more
Mike said he wasn't talking about it any more and everyone should move on
Greg said the link request was lame so he'd run an alternative contest for same gibberish
John said he never required a Search Engine Indexable link
Greg said he never said that John said the required link be Search Engine Indexable
John said everybody knows you mean Search Engine Indexable link when you say link
Greg said his buddies Todd and Mike were also donating to the alternative contest booty
John said thanks to Greg for the publicity
Matt said the idea is tired
John said Greg's last name differently
Greg said that John likes to call names
John said the gibberish eponymous words to begin his contest
Greg said you need to link to Matt for his contest
John's friend said that wasn't funny
Greg's friend said it was irony
Matt said he'd didn't need Greg's pity
John said he had a lot of respect for Mike
Mike said who's John
John said here's a link to Greg, only he used unsavoury words in the anchor text
Greg and Todd said, Matt, John likes to call names
Matt said what did you expect when you hijacked his contest
Todd said John had really gone past funny
Mike said he was upset with John
John said he had no respect for Mike anymore
Mike said John put up Jill hate sites
John said he never
Mike said again that John put up Jill hate sites
John said he never, that he even said it was creepy
Black Knight said yeah but in John's own forum John acquiesced, if not encouraged
Mike said sorry, it was a hate campaign, not a hate site
John said he never
Jill said wow, two guys fighting over me
John said he called Mike but Mike said he didn't want to talk about this
Mike said John called him, and said things that were very upsetting
John said Mike asked him to call him
Mike said John's friends were mean
John's friend said a whole lot of mean words on Mike's blog
John said forgiveness was a beautiful thing
John's friend said he wasn't John's friend any more
Aaron said sorry to Mike, and he was pulling his thread
John said he wasn't showing his thread any more
Mike said he wasn't talking about it any more and everyone should move on
Not Everybody Gets Along Then?
- John Scott Sucks
- Somebody doesn't like the creator of this SEO contest. One person's history of events surrounding Scott, including past controversies, and finishing with the grand finale before peace broke out in the current contest.
Won't Google Learn a Whole Bunch From This?
Pass the Goldfish Crackers and I'll Tell You
No.
Seriously they really shouldn't. Some people will likely expose some dodgy link networks, but Google is well aware of the dark arts that some in SEO perform. And these search results are no more informative than any other search results for actual real terms which are worth far more than the prizes in this silly competition. And there are millions of other searches every day. Think about it.
Oilman perhaps phrased it best:
Anybody in the room that thinks for 2 seconds that Google will learn anthing at all from a buncha link whores fighting over a gibberish phrase for the next 120 days please stand up so I can throw goldfish crackers at you.
Seriously they really shouldn't. Some people will likely expose some dodgy link networks, but Google is well aware of the dark arts that some in SEO perform. And these search results are no more informative than any other search results for actual real terms which are worth far more than the prizes in this silly competition. And there are millions of other searches every day. Think about it.
Oilman perhaps phrased it best:
Anybody in the room that thinks for 2 seconds that Google will learn anthing at all from a buncha link whores fighting over a gibberish phrase for the next 120 days please stand up so I can throw goldfish crackers at you.
What Does Matt Cutts Say About It?
The Google Engineer is the Elliott Ness of the SEO world
On Dec 29th 2005, in WebGuerilla's Blog when Greg Boser announced his alternative rules SEO contest for the same search term (v7ndotcom elursrebmem), this included the requirement of a link to Matt Cutt's Blog - the non-www version which has a lower PR than the www version. Some people don't understand this requirement and think Greg is guilty of what he accused V7N's John Scott of doing. It's called irony; it's supposed to be funny; it is funny; Greg Boser benefits in no way.
Matt Posted a comment in reply:
December 30th, 2005 at 3:53 am
WebGuerrilla, I don't need your brand of pity..
I agree that the "have an SEO contest, but you have to link to a certain site" schtick is tired.
Matt doesn't seem too upset as he has agreed to appear on January 31st on SEO Rockstars Radio hosted by WebGuerilla and Oilman.
Matt Posted a comment in reply:
December 30th, 2005 at 3:53 am
WebGuerrilla, I don't need your brand of pity..
I agree that the "have an SEO contest, but you have to link to a certain site" schtick is tired.
Matt doesn't seem too upset as he has agreed to appear on January 31st on SEO Rockstars Radio hosted by WebGuerilla and Oilman.
v7ndotcom elursrebmem in Google News
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byWhat Does Wikipedia Make Of It?
The people speak, but do they speak spam?
They're not sure. They're caught in a wonderful debate between explaining a piece of current Internet culture to the world, but not contributing to the problems the event creates.
When an SEO competition is ongoing, and especially when it is over, the otherwise meaningless phrase becomes a legitimate phrase by which people search to find out about the competition, or just to find out why people are searching on it.
But if Wikipedia covers the competition, it then is bound to link to some external websites, and whatever they are, they're ultimately part of the same circus everybody entering is - including this Lens on Squidoo.
Wikipedia's page on v7ndotcom elursrebmem is currently mixed in with information on SEO contests in general.
When an SEO competition is ongoing, and especially when it is over, the otherwise meaningless phrase becomes a legitimate phrase by which people search to find out about the competition, or just to find out why people are searching on it.
But if Wikipedia covers the competition, it then is bound to link to some external websites, and whatever they are, they're ultimately part of the same circus everybody entering is - including this Lens on Squidoo.
Wikipedia's page on v7ndotcom elursrebmem is currently mixed in with information on SEO contests in general.
Where Does This Page Rank for v7ndotcom elursrebmem?
Google's Organic Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)
#61 of 1,070,000 on Jan 24
#73 of 1,380,000 on Jan 25
#82 of 1,740,000 on Jan 26
#85 of 2,580,000 on Jan 29
#90 of 2,790,000 on Jan 30
#97 of 3,440,000 on Jan 31
#86 of 3,140,000 on Feb 1
#90 of 2,850,000 on Feb 2
#86 of 2,850,000 on Feb 3
#94 of 2,890,000 on Feb 4
#162 of 2,540,000 on Feb 5
#97 of 2,910,000 on Feb 6
#95 of 2,920,000 on Feb 7
#197 of 2,200,000 on Feb 8
#203 of 2,980,000 on Feb 11
#104 of 2,510,000 on Feb 13
#212 of 2,780,000 on Feb 15
#99 of 3,210,000 on Feb 19
#192 of 2,530,000 on Feb 25
Google has different DataCenters which serve up different results - these search results are from differing DataCenters, they are not an aggregation or average.
On Google's new BigDaddy this page is performing typically about 70 ranking places behind other DataCenters. With the roll-out of BigDaddy, this is likely to be the actual SERPs used to judge the competition on the closing date.
I expect the ranking for this page to slide down as I won't be embarking on any linking strategy.
#73 of 1,380,000 on Jan 25
#82 of 1,740,000 on Jan 26
#85 of 2,580,000 on Jan 29
#90 of 2,790,000 on Jan 30
#97 of 3,440,000 on Jan 31
#86 of 3,140,000 on Feb 1
#90 of 2,850,000 on Feb 2
#86 of 2,850,000 on Feb 3
#94 of 2,890,000 on Feb 4
#162 of 2,540,000 on Feb 5
#97 of 2,910,000 on Feb 6
#95 of 2,920,000 on Feb 7
#197 of 2,200,000 on Feb 8
#203 of 2,980,000 on Feb 11
#104 of 2,510,000 on Feb 13
#212 of 2,780,000 on Feb 15
#99 of 3,210,000 on Feb 19
#192 of 2,530,000 on Feb 25
Google has different DataCenters which serve up different results - these search results are from differing DataCenters, they are not an aggregation or average.
On Google's new BigDaddy this page is performing typically about 70 ranking places behind other DataCenters. With the roll-out of BigDaddy, this is likely to be the actual SERPs used to judge the competition on the closing date.
I expect the ranking for this page to slide down as I won't be embarking on any linking strategy.
Rules of the Competition
1. In order to win the first prize, you must place first in Google (organic rankings) for the search term on May 15, 2006, noon, PST.
2. Prizes for 2nd place through 5th place will be awarded based on web page placing in the corresponding positions in Google on May 15, 2006, noon, PST.
3. For the purpose of this competition, indented listings in the SERPs will not be counted.
4. To qualify, a web page must include one of the following:
a) A link back to the V7N home page.
b) One of the Official V7n SEO Contest banners
c) The following text: We support v7n.com
If datacenters show different results on the 15 of May, the winner will be declared solely at the discretion of V7N. If there are any disputes as to the validity of the winner declaration, V7N will be the sole arbiter.
2. Prizes for 2nd place through 5th place will be awarded based on web page placing in the corresponding positions in Google on May 15, 2006, noon, PST.
3. For the purpose of this competition, indented listings in the SERPs will not be counted.
4. To qualify, a web page must include one of the following:
a) A link back to the V7N home page.
b) One of the Official V7n SEO Contest banners
c) The following text: We support v7n.com
If datacenters show different results on the 15 of May, the winner will be declared solely at the discretion of V7N. If there are any disputes as to the validity of the winner declaration, V7N will be the sole arbiter.
Prizes (of so-called official contest)
as at time of contest announcement
- $4,000 + iPod
- $500
- $100
by Eolaí
Full-time Artist and Web Professional. An experienced bicycle tourer and commuter, who has cycled solo across 2 continents. Maintains event listings a... (more)
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