SEO Quiz

[crankydave]

How SEO savvy are you?

Here's an interesting quiz. There's 75 multiple choice questions so be sure and allow youself a bit of free time before you start.

Link bait? Ummmmm... I kinda think so but what's nice is that after completing the test, for any wrong answers you may give, you're provided with the correct answer as well as brief explanation so it can be a learning tool for some as well.

SEOmoz | SEO Expert Quiz

Have fun!

Dave

[incrediblehelp]

I saw this last week, but have not taken it yet. I really liked Vanessa Fox opinions on the quiz:

» Why the SEOmoz SEO Quiz Is [Almost, in a Philosophical Sense, Somewhat] Completely Wrong | Vanessa Fox. Nude.

"But why is this quiz so wrong? Too many of the questions go beyond the science and into the art of SEO, where things are fluid and changing and open to interpretation. The quiz is more accurately a test of how much of your personal SEO philosophy matches that of SEOmoz. Like a match.com compatibility test. You and SEOmoz, sitting in a tree. Romantically optimizing title tags."

Maybe it is one reason I havent taken it yet.

[crankydave]

Personally, I disagree with Vanessa on several levels. And from the looks of it, several of the folks that commented as well.

I won't disagree that much of SEO is an art and fluid in nature. Lot's of things in life are. So because of that you cannot create a quiz or test? I'm sure there would be a whole lot of philosophy or psychology majors very happy to hear that.

As far as it being an indication of whether or not one shares the same philosophy as SEOmoz... Sure, if it was an essay test that they graded but it isn't. It's a multiple choice quiz that requires selecting either the most correct or least correct answer available. It doesn't mean that there's no grey areas.

Of course there are questions that have grey areas. It's not a math test. It goes back to what I said above, using what one knows to try and select the most or least likely answer to question posed. There were several questions where I could think of other "right" answers. Any question that made you think served a purpose. It made you think. Yes, there were questions they had wrong.

Now, I don't think anyone should go into to the test thinking that it's going to give them some sort of definitive measure of "how good they are", but I don't think this kind of test or quiz should never be constructed because of grey areas nor do I think it should be constructed to only have black or white answers.

SEO is not black or white.

Dave

[incrediblehelp]

Well that is my point Dave tests are pretty much black and white. They have to be. They are tests. This is one reason colleges probably cant create a proper curriculum around a SEO degree as of yet. The "SEO degrees" online thus far from places like SEMPO seem lacking as well. Well at least as far as the weight they carry in the industry.

Now I am not saying it is impossible to create a decent test for SEO, but you would really have to update this test weekly and then have those re-test and test again considering how much changes in this space daily.

I would love to see standardized testing of all SEO's. I think it would really lend credibility to industry that has a many scammers floating around, just don't see it happening anytime soon.

[crankydave]

That's where you and I disagree Jaan.

Test's are not black and white. No they don't have to be nor should be. Colleges create proper curriculums around philosophy and psychology and they are most definitely not all black and white. And what about art majors? Humanities and the arts?

Sure there are black or white issues but there are grey areas too. Grey areas are what require you to think, to interpret, to theorize, and not just memorize.

Dave

[ctabuk]

I took it and we all know how technical I am but over 50% correct - where I failed was on the redirect numbers - I guessed

Self edit
» Why the SEOmoz SEO Quiz Is [Almost, in a Philosophical Sense, Somewhat] Completely Wrong | Vanessa Fox. Nude.

I know that that has been posted, but after reading it - I felt much better about my score

[crankydave]

David... Do you better know the redirect numbers now?

Dave

[ctabuk]

Oh yes -give me your main sites code access -and I'll have you top on Google in a jiffy.

[crankydave]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

Oh yes -give me your main sites code access -and I'll have you top on Google in a jiffy.

LOL David!

If you took it again, would you score higher than you did the first time?

Dave

[mjtaylor]

I liked the test and got a low B (80%) ... I tended to miss ones like which is the most popular search engine in other countries ... and what happens when there are too many vote at Digg for a given post ... and now I know what Oneboz answer is ... sort of.

I also thought most of the questions were rather black and white ... though, of course, things will change, but for today the quiz seemed valid to me ...

I am sure Webnauts will not like this one:

Question 13/75
Which of these is NOT generally considered to be a highly important factor for ranking for a particular search term?
· Link popularity of a page within the domain (internal link popularity)
· Quality and quantity of external links to the page
· Keyword usage in the title tag of the page
· HTML Validation (according to W3C standards) of a page
· Temporal relevance - the number and quality of links pointing to a page over a given time span

#13 Which of these is NOT generally considered to be a highly important factor for ranking for a particular search term?
Your Answer: HTML Validation (according to W3C standards) of a page
Correct Answer: HTML Validation (according to W3C standards) of a page
As this document would indicate, W3C validation is clearly the odd man out in this bunch.

Cheers, MJ

[ctabuk]

I did -I Did - Idid

Yippee

I have No Vices - Non Whatsoever - it said you have scored 1 you are a Novice

See - I told you I could crack SEO

Now Webnauts -about your site

[thegypsy]

Interesting convo .... my question is.. 'Why should I care?'

As ya know oviously CD, this 'quiz' has made the rounds the last while, so I have seen it.... I just don't know why I should care? It's certainly link bait.... that's what I took for it and it worked great....

... but much of SEO is supposition since the 'secret sauce' is closely guarded. I care less about what some quiz thinks as I do what my accountant thinks of my SEO Skilz....

As you know Cranky much of MY personal beliefs in SEO come from technical stuff I pour over, not what is 'commonly accepted' (obviously testing and experience is part of my understanding).

I have learned nearly as much from Black Hat as I have technical stuff, the commonly available information is generally rudimentary for me at this point.

So, to me it is a SEO test according to SEOmoz ..... I am pretty certain (haven't taken it) that many of the points would be debate-able....

2c

[crankydave]

Originally Posted by thegypsy

Interesting convo .... my question is.. 'Why should I care?'

As ya know oviously CD, this 'quiz' has made the rounds the last while, so I have seen it.... I just don't know why I should care? It's certainly link bait.... that's what I took for it and it worked great....

... but much of SEO is supposition since the 'secret sauce' is closely guarded. I care less about what some quiz thinks as I do what my accountant thinks of my SEO Skilz....

As you know Cranky much of MY personal beliefs in SEO come from technical stuff I pour over, not what is 'commonly accepted' (obviously testing and experience is part of my understanding).

I have learned nearly as much from Black Hat as I have technical stuff, the commonly available information is generally rudimentary for me at this point.

So, to me it is a SEO test according to SEOmoz ..... I am pretty certain (haven't taken it) that many of the points would be debate-able....

2c

Link bait? You bet. And after having taken it, I asked myself the same question... Why should I care?

I can't say precisely what, if anything, SEOmoz intended other than that, but the funny thing was it reminded of a psych prof I had and caused me to take a step back and take a second look.

Some of the questions made me think. Didn't really make a difference as to why, just that they did.

Dave

[mjtaylor]

Originally Posted by thegypsy

I am pretty certain (haven't taken it) that many of the points would be debate-able....

2c

Funny. I am pretty certain, having taken it, that few, if any, of the points are debatable ... why don't you back up this assumption with the facts?

[thegypsy]

Originally Posted by mjtaylor

Funny. I am pretty certain, having taken it, that few, if any, of the points are debatable ... why don't you back up this assumption with the facts?

Uhhh.. because I could care less??? It's a forum and I am simply chatting... I am not looking to be some bloody big shot dear. A great deal of SEO is open to dabate.... Ever looked at their ranking factor page? More than a few debateable points in there....

I stated I hadn't taken it and wasn't about to... and I am still not simply to appease you. You know why? I can only guess at the reponses I would get from what I BELIEVE is dabateable... this is a light hearted chat about some link bait. Why are you worried about it?

... I can give you this fact... A lot of folks around this board sure like to have an attitude and challenge others.... What's up wid dat???

I have been around the game since 1998... I know what I know and others are free to their opinions. I simply stated mine. I also stated it was a loosely based since I hadn't bothered with the 'quiz'... so why the beef? I thought forums were a place to help folks and exchange ideas?? Not to constantly challenge them....

yeeesshh.....

I like what Vanessa said about it

It’s impossible to know everything about SEO because some things aren’t hard and fast rules. You also have to pay attention the trends, see what works, keep evolving your tactics. And anyway, I would bet that there’s no one person who even knows 100% about how a search engine handles each step of the crawling/indexing/ranking process. Even those within the search engines don’t know all the parts to to the process. Yes, even him. Go ahead, ask him. I’ll wait. He’ll tell you the same.

Go argue with her about it then.... she doens't know jack about search right?

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by thegypsy