Auto Parts for Brains

A few weeks ago, I got word from a friend about what they call an SEO World Cup, hosted by a company called Busby Web Solutions.  This is not the first time that I have come across this contest and with a little background on internet marketing I decided to check out how this thing goes. 

Since this is an SEO challenge with organic Google rankings as a final measure, I thought it wise to try for find out more about the company hosting the contest first.  So the first thing I did was to type in the word “busby” in Google’s search bar.  I reckon that since they are an SEO company, and they have the cred to host a “world cup” they should rank well for their brand.  These are the results for the query.

I also clicked on the next few pages and found some stuff referencing it but not really one that goes straight to their company domain or at least to their contest page.  (I later found it on page 3 but only with the knowledge of their domain name already.)  On my first search however, I overlooked it since it does not give a lead relating to my search.

I found it funny that Busby runs an SEO World Cup when they do not even rank first for their brand name.  Oh well, I guess ranking out of five million results is way out of their league. 

I also checked “Busby SEO” and instead found the entrants to their contest using the same Title tags , filling Google results with their content.

I did check the entrants to the contest and though I laud the efforts made by these SEO “experts” in making names for themselves, I think the whole idea misses the point on what SEO is about.  Branding the contest as world cup where one who wins is supposed to be the world’s best, is also a misnomer.  I wonder how come I do not see those really good SEO gurus like Aaron Wall, Rand Fishkin, Shoemoney, Stuntdbl and Michael Gray winning the competition, or at least being judges in it.

The keyword to rank for for this contest is “Busby SEO Test” and checking the current top three contenders here’s what I found:

I found it funny that the contest rules state that there should be no black hat strategies to be used for this contest.  Still, I found the sites vying to win this full of SPAM and duplicate content. 

I think this contest is a big slap to all those who are doing real and meaningful internet marketing to bring useful content to those who surf the web.  It is interesting to see just how this contest would finish at the end of the month.  I guess I can only cross my fingers with the hope that one of the “big guys” out there would do something to counter competitions like these which tries so hard to wrongly represent and redefine search engine optimization.

Sigh.