The SEO Quiz From SEOmoz

[randfish]

Moderator Note: Thread split from Which SEW Member is The most Knowledgeable

True, Brian - probably too long to list actually. This community is filled with great, knowledgable people.

If only there was some way to test them on their knowledge... wait I've got it!

socengine.com/seo/guide/seomoz-quiz.php

Enjoy! It's purely for fun and not a serious test of knowledge.

[orion]

Some suggestions, rand.

You are using a multiple choice format. By educational standards, when using this type of format, unlike the questions, the answers should be very short.

Also, I would replace all the questions involving specific individuals/firms for how-to and knowledge base questions driven by material that is a must-know rather than "like-to know".


Overall, I do like some of the questions of the test.


Orion

[randfish]

Orion,

It's all in fun - that's why I have a lot of the industry-type questions. It's nothing serious. Maybe in the future, I'll put something more comprehensive and engaging together and ask for your advice!

I would love to see everyone's name on the leaderboard!

[orion]

Ok, rand. I understand.

Regarding the poll, I see it as a silly, for heck off fun exercise/popularity contest rather than anything else. It gives me flashbacks of homecomings.

BTW. Let me know when the article is up.

Orion

[dannysullivan]

SPOILER ALERT -- DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T YET TAKEN THE TEST.

Rand, very cool. I know it's just for fun, but a couple of comments:

Question one is applicable to at least Google and Yahoo, and I think MSN as well. I went with what I thought you thought was correct and guessed right.

Question two, well, I got right. But you might change "do not measure it" to "it may vary depending on numerous factors"

Question three, was impossible to get right, from what I can see. All are accepted regardless of claims.

Question six on emphasizing important text isn't really an SEO question, to me.

Question 8 was fun, but you should say most effective at ranking for XXX term. I also could have gone with either B or D, but I guess what you thought was right.

On the link bombing one, I suspect it depends on who you believe Daniel Brandt would take a different view, but I went with what I believed and was right.

The Google employee blog question -- that wasn't on their blog but instead on the Google Blog. But the person was right.

The first SES was a year later than what's list. The source material you linked to had it wrong. Here's the info: http://www.jupiterevents.com/sew/sf99/

Ah, good times, good times...

Was it cheating to do open book, like look up Yahoo title tag length before answering? (By the way, for word count, you might want to say including spaces).

[randfish]

Thanks Danny! I shall attempt to make your recommended changes. Hope the inconsistencies didn't spoil the fun for you. I see you still got the highest score of anyone yet

[Marketing Guy]

I did what all good SEO's do - guessed my way up the ladder! When in doubt, choose b.

[dannysullivan]

Definitely enjoyed it. I want more. I want a news quiz each month

[randfish]

Danny,

You meant 'news' and not 'new', right? I think that's a great idea - have a new quiz every month on the events in the SEO world last month...

I'll see what I can drum up.

[dannysullivan]

Yep, news. I especially liked things like the patent question. I had to think, now what was that Yahoo patent on again. A good way to see if you've been paying attention.

[rustybrick]

Hmm, now who is that guestbook spammer at http://www.socengine.com/seo/guide/quiz-leaderboard.php ? Tim?

[randfish]

All the links have "nofollow" tags, so they're not gonna help link pop much. I also instituted IP checking and have deleted users that had taken the quiz anonymously before taking it with their "handle" - for shame!

Anyways, I'll continue to delete bunk entries as often as I can. Hope y'all enjoy!

[Nacho]

Originally Posted by randfish

All the links have "nofollow" tags, so they're not gonna help link pop much.

Ohhhh man! and I thought that was the reward for taking the test.

Rand, you forgot to ask, "What's Danny Sullivan's favorite donut?"

[randfish]

Nacho,

There's some bits of trivia to which I'm not privvy... That's one of the reasons I can't take the test myself - obviously I know all the answers (although Danny corrected me on quite a few!!)

BTW - Thanks for splitting off the thread, I should have probably started a new one.

[randfish]

Open book is fine. You can search for answers while taking it.

In the blog entry on SEW it says this, but on the quiz itself, I've got this:

Please don't cheat by using another browser window to find the answers - you'll spoil all the fun.

I think folks might get a tad bit confused... not that I don't appreciate the link

[dilvie]

Oh, I'm no fun at all. I'm bothered by the DMCA question (it's actually a notification of copyright violation that happens to be DMCA compliant, not a "DMCA violation report").

The notification you're talking about is not about violating some new copyright law codified by the DMCA. It's not a DMCA violation, but a violation of copyright that existed long before the DMCA. The DMCA notification is just a codified way of saying, "hey, you're violating my copyright" (not the DMCA itself):

Originally Posted by DMCA

(3)ELEMENTS OF NOTIFICATION.—

‘‘(A) To be effective under this subsection, a notification of claimed infringement must be a written communication provided to the designated agent of a service provider that includes substantially the following:

‘‘(i) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

‘‘(ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.

‘‘(iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.

‘‘(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if avail-able, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.

‘‘(v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

‘‘(vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly in-fringed.

Incidentally, if you sue for copyright infringement, and you don't have a strong case, the party you sue can countersue and win. It's good to have a clear understanding of what qualifies as fair use, and what doesn't.

Also, a lot of people think you have to register to claim copyright protection. Not so. Everything produced and published (electronically or otherwise) is, by default, protected by copyright law in the United States. You don't even have to put a (c) notification on the page.

Always get written permission unless you know for sure that your use qualifies as fair use.

Copyright law existed long before the DMCA. Copyright violation is still called copyright violation.

So, please stop perpetuating this "DMCA Violation" nonsense in the context of duplicate content. =) The DMCA did not add any strength to protection against duplicate content, it actually made the law more lenient to clarify that services like the ones Google provides are legal.

Boy, am I a buzz kill, or what?

=)

- Eric

[dilvie]

BTW.. what does that have to do with SEO, anyway? ahhehehe

dilvie runs away ducking well-deserved flames...

- Eric

[NFFC]

>had taken the quiz anonymously before taking it with their "handle" - for shame!

Shame? shame?? It is the way of the SEO

[dilvie]

>had taken the quiz anonymously before taking it with their "handle" - for shame!

Shame? shame?? It is the way of the SEO

Heheh, isn't it silly to expect whitehat quiz taking of this bunch?

- Eric

[randfish]

dilvie - welcome to SEW!!

Thanks for your input. How would you suggest I re-phrase the question?