are *you* a professional SEO?

[Gurtie]

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/ten-question-litmus-test-for-professional-seos

what in hell is the second largest search engine in China now Google pulled out?

[rcjordan]

Good question. As of the end of the 3rd quarter, G still had a Bing-like hold on marketshare for 2nd.  Have they folded completely now and the distant 3rd just became 2nd by default?

[Gurtie]

no worries, Rand will tell us.....

[4Eyes]

additional question:

Can you think of 10 questions for a quiz that will serve as good link bait, but where the answers when published won't give away anything really useful that I am still relying on to rank my own clients.

[rcjordan]

>here you mean

No, seomoz.

Top 10 lists are a great hook, btw. I have 2 that are consistently high traffic.  Hmmm... their H2's need to be moved now that G preview is here.

[Gurtie]

additional question:

Can you think of 10 questions for a quiz that will serve as good link bait, but where the answers when published won't give away anything really useful that I am still relying on to rank my own clients.

ah, I was reading it more as 'how many questions can I include my own tools in as an answer?'

Jason, you plan to mark all the answer sheets?  

[Brad]

11. Why is it I get slightly annoyed by everything I read at seomoz? 

[Gurtie]

I refer you to a quote from someone we both know

one day Rand (or someone else at seomoz) will look down, see their owns d*cks and conclude that they invented sex.

[4Eyes]

Yeah - I was just pointing out the the only really useful SEO knoweldge from Rands post was that short quizzes like that are good link bait

11. Why is it I get slightly annoyed by everything I read at seomoz?

me too - probably cos I hate link bait



.. and yes, I know that means I am in the wrong profession, but there are no vacancies for gynecologists or beer tasters in my town.

[4Eyes]

@Gurtie

LOL

[TallTroll]

I actually quite like some of the Whiteboard Friday vids. The discipline involved in the production process means they are well thought out, often useful. Maybe they invented YouTube, too

[Gurtie]

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/answers-to-the-seo-professionals-litmus-test

The answer to the China question is Google at #2

[Leona]

lol I wonder though how many people use those questions as qualifiers to hire seos, just like they use google qualifications and degree courses in online marketing!

It always makes me laugh how people use this as an accreditation or deciding factor when promoting or hiring seo services. Because of course google run courses to show you how to cheat their algo and students that have proved they can pass exams on coursework based on information that has been discovered (and in most cases not based on original research), written into a course framework and then taught 4 years ago are of course just the people you want to hire to execute their 'expertise' in an ever changing medium!