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The SEO Theory self-test

Posted by Michael Martinez on April 2, 2008 in SEO Theory

Some of you have been reading this blog a long time, and many of you have downloaded our SEO white papers including our SEO theory ebook. So how well do you think you know SEO Theory (as opposed to the topic of this site, which is “seo theory”)?

Here is a simple test. All of the answers are available on online (but I’ll give you the correct answers at the end of the post).

1. What is the purpose of the SEO Theory blog? If this were an essay test, I’d ask you to explain what SEO Theory’s stated objectives mean to you.
2. What is the Theorem of Search Engine Optimization? If this were an essay test, I’d ask you to discuss how you use the theorem in your search engine optimization.
3. What is a Query Space? If this were an essay test, I’d ask you to provide two examples of query spaces and to describe them in detail (completeness not being a reasonable expectation).
4. What is the Theorem of Four SEO Influences? If this were an essay test, I’d ask you to provide examples showing how it applies to real-life search optimization.
5. What is the Law of Influences? If this were an essay test, I’d ask you to provide three examples of how you can use it in search engine optimization.
6. What is the Theory of Search Engine Optimization? If this were an essay test, I’d ask you to discuss how the theory of SEO is applied every day by the SEO community.
7. What is the Theorem of Query Space Optimization? Which branch of search engine optimization is most heavily influenced by this theorem?
8. What is Crawl-to-Cache Time and how is it used in search engine optimization?
9. What is CPV Latency? What impact does it have on search engine optimization?
10. What is the SEO Method?
11. Name six types of value that links may pass.
12. Name three reasons for why we need links.
13. What is the Wikipedia Principle? What would you think its implications are for search in general? What are its implications for search engine optimization?
14. What is link incongruity?
15. What are micropages?
16. Name three query operators that help you with competitive analysis (hint: “inanchor:” is not one of them).
17. Why can you NOT use Yahoo!’s Site Explorer to analyze Google search results?
18. Does it matter if you use keywords in domain names?

Before I get to the answers, here are some new topics and definitions.

The SEO industry has seen an increasing shift toward developing reputation management strategies and services. So far there is really no consensus on what “reputation management” means or how to achieve it. Andy Beal’s book leaves me disappointed in that it lacks depth, but we’re only in the process of taking our first steps into search reputation management.

One of the key stumbling blocks to forming consensus is that we don’t even use the same terminology when referring to this area of search optimization. For example, should we say “Search Engine Reputation Management” or should we say “Search Reputation Management”? I prefer the latter, mostly for semantic reasons.

People who practice SRM don’t offer any definitions for the concepts they utilize and promote. For example, we cannot really speak of monitoring or managing query spaces in Search Reputation Management. Rather, we should be speaking of name spaces. Definition: A name space is that portion of the search results (on one more or more search services) that is determined by an arbitrary standard to be relevant to a name.

For example, some people advocate only monitoring or managing the top 5 slots in search results. Some people only care about Google search results. And so on. We can agree that these are all name spaces but we don’t agree on what the most appropriate name spaces should be. Also, Web search name spaces are different from News search name spaces (and it’s much easier to protect names in Web search than in News search). Blog search name spaces are also distinct from both Web search and News search name spaces.

In Search Reputation Management (SRM) you have to deal with contested name spaces or shared name spaces. For example, a name space may be shared by a business leader, a politician, and a celebrity or sports figure. If you’re managing the name space for one of those people, you may find yourself in conflict with the interests of the other people.

In Search Reputation Management (SRM) you also have to worry about hostile entities. Definition: A hostile entity is any Web site that produces or promotes more than one unfavorable article in a protected name space. Your local newspaper may write several articles about how you upset your clients, flooding your name space with unfavorable content. That makes your local newspaper Web site a hostile entity. But if some guy on a blog just writes one post about the series of articles, he’s not a hostile entity (even if he is really vicious). You could call him a vicious nut but NOT a hostile entity.

Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) (which I like to call Search Reputation Management or SRM) is more challenging than traditional search engine optimization because you have to look at more than just the first search results slot. Your SEO horizons become much larger and you’re more heavily invested in trends analysis than with traditional SEO. Well, in my opinion, you should be more heavily invested in trends analysis.

So, enough with the new definitions. Here are the answers to the test (and some references):

1. What is the purpose of the SEO Theory blog?

“SEO Theory: Search engine optimization theory focuses on algorithm analysis, Web community relationship analysis, SEO practices and techniques, and related topics such as industry news, etc.” (You can find this on the SEO Theory root URL — the site contains more than just this blog.)

2. What is the Theorem of Search Engine Optimization?

“The theorem of search engine optimization says that achieving optimal performance from search engine results diminishes the naturality of search results.” Source: The Theorem of Search Engine Optimization

There are numerous implications of this theorem, but I don’t have time or space to share my thoughts on those implications here.

3. What is a Query Space?

A query space is a set of queries that are “populated by Web documents which are all relevant to each other because they are all relevant to the queries (the documents may or may not have overlapping topics).” Source: The Theorem of Query Space Optimization

4. What is the Theorem of Four SEO Influences?

The Theorem of Four SEO Influences says that search results change because:

• You did something with your Web site
• Someone else did something with their Web site
• The search engines did something with their data
• People change the way they search

Source: The Theorem of Four SEO Influences

5. What is the Law of Influences?

The law simply tells us an influence reveals itself through its effects. Source: Why Your Nofollow Testing Sucks

6. What is the Theory of Search Engine Optimization?

The Theory of Search Engine Optimization tells us that “search engine optimization is … the use or application of algorithms to influence the predictable content and quality of search engine results according to the chosen criteria of the optimizer.” Source: The Theory of Search Engine Optimization

7. What is the Theorem of Query Space Optimization?

The Theorem of Query Space Optimization says “queries remain productive only as long as there is search interest in them, and only as long as relevant content is promoted for those query spaces.” Source: The Theorem of Query Space Optimization

Which branch of search engine optimization is most heavily influenced by this theorem?

Pay-per-click advertising (or paid placement, or Search Engine Marketing).

8. What is Crawl-to-Cache Time and how is it used in search engine optimization?

I didn’t actually provide a definition for this in the New SEO Definitions To Ponder post because it seemed self-explanatory. CCT is the length of time that elapses between a spider’s fetch of a page and when that page appears in search engine cache results.

Many SEOs use this as a crude metric for determining how effective their optimization is.

9. What is CPV Latency? What impact does it have on search engine optimization?

CTV Latency = Crawl-to-Passed-Value Latency. How long does it take for a page’s outbound links to pass their measurable anchor text (or immeasurable PageRank) to other pages through links? Source: New SEO Definitions To Ponder

10. What is the SEO Method?

Experiment. Evaluate. Adjust. Source: Lots of experience.

11. Name six types of value that links may pass.

Links pass traffic, visibility, crawling, trust, anchor text, and PageRank. (Actually, there are other types of value, too.) Source: SEO Theory for Beginners

12. Name three reasons for why we need links.

We need links to get crawled, to earn trust, and to compete in highly competitive (hyperoptimized) queries. Source: SEO Theory for Beginners

13. What is the Wikipedia Principle?

“A search engine intentionally promotes low quality content that is minimally acceptable to searchers because it costs less to do that than to promote better content.” Source: The Wikipedia Principle

14. What is link incongruity?

A link is incongruent if its anchor text does not agree with (is not relevant to) either the content on the page where the link is placed or the content on the page to which the link points. Source: All About Link Incongruity

15. What are micropages?

Micropages are small imprint documents with minimal structure and relatively little content. They are very useful for the mobile Web. Source: Micropages - State of the Art Content Structures

16. Name three query operators that help you with competitive analysis (hint: “inanchor:” is not one of them).

You can use inurl:, intitle, and intext (or inbody) for competitive analysis. The “all-” versions of these queries are also helpful (but less so). Source: Competitive SEO Analysis for Beginners

17. Why can you NOT use Yahoo!’s Site Explorer to analyze Google search results?

Because Yahoo! doesn’t know anything about Google’s database. Source: Common sense.

18. Does it matter if you use keywords in domain names?

No, it does not matter if you use keywords in domain names. Many people recognize that you can get an additional boost by including keywords in page names. Source: Domain Names Don’t Matter for SEO. You might also want to read Why your domain name sucks.

For a less concise but still-much-smaller-than-this-blog Introduction to SEO Theory, I suggest you browse our SEO White Papers section because you can download a .PDF file there called An Introduction To SEO Theory. If you want to link to that document, please link to www . seo-theory . com / papers / rather than directly to the .PDF document itself. Thanks.

Note: That document does not (at this time) include the “Theory of Search Engine Optimization”.

For those of you who have never read about some or all of these concepts in past blog posts, welcome to SEO Theory. If you’ve already read all the posts, I hope you scored well on the test.

See you in the SERPs.