I just got through answering all 75 questions of SEOmoz's SEO Quiz. I hate tests as much as the next guy. Well, to me more accurate, I hate tests where I don't get a perfect score as much as the next guy. Still, I couldn't resist taking this one. There are, after all, few public measures of one's SEO knowledge.
So the big question, "is how did I do?" I scored 81% which turns out to be 12 incorrect and 63 correct answers. Not horrible I suppose, but 100% would've been a lot nicer. Still, the score qualifies me as an SEO Expert which is just one below the top level of SEO Deity. Here's where I went wrong. My ego won't allow me to post my errors without an excuse for them
SEO Quiz Question 22
"How can you avoid the duplicate content problems that often accompany temporal pagination issues (where content moves down a page and from page to page, as is often seen in lists of articles, multi-page articles and blogs)?"
I answered that there are no duplicate content problems here. My understanding of the question was that content was rolling OFF one page and ON to another. It doesn't exist in two places at the same time. Hence no duplicate content issues. Apparently I misunderstood the question.
SEO Quiz Question 35
"Which of these is least likely to have difficulty ranking for its targeted terms/phrases in Google?"
I answered a brand new domain that quickly buys a large number of links from a link broker. My excuse is pathetic in this case. I somehow missed the word "least" which of course made my interpretation of the question completely opposite from reality. Ugh.
SEO Quiz Question 36
"What is the advantage of putting all of your important keywords in the Meta Keywords tag?"
I answered it increases relevance to Yahoo! and MSN/Live, although Google & Ask ignore it. The correct answer is that it has no benefit, but I disagree. My best counter-example is the use of misspellings in meta keywords which I've seen bring traffic even when the misspelling didn't appear anywhere else on the page.
SEO Quiz Question 41
"If you want a page to pass value through its links, but stay out of the search engines' indices, which of the following tags should you place in the header?"
Errr…This one is embarrassing. I answered Use meta robots="autobot, decepticon". My team and I were reminiscing about our Transformer days and how Megatron was the coolest of them all. Somehow I ended up selecting this as my answer as a result.
SEO Quiz Question 53
"Which of the following is an acceptable way to show HTML text to search engines while creating a graphical image to display to users?"
I answered use CSS layers to show the text on a layer underneath the image atop. I guess my answer is no officially approved, but I've seen sites push the envelop a lot more with IP delivery and cloaking without penalties. Oh well.
SEO Quiz Question 57
"Let's assume that you're running SEO for an auction website with many listings, sorted by categories and subcategories. To achieve the maximum search engine traffic benefit, what should you do with individual product/auction pages after the auction has expired and the product is no longer available?"
I answered nothing, leave them alone in case they have links to them. The correct answer is to 301 redirect them. I disagree though. The question asked what is the way to achieve MAXIMUM SEO benefit and not what is most beneficial to users.
SEO Quiz Question 62
"Which of these queries would not have an "Instant Answer" or "Onebox Result" on Google?"
I answered Edward Hopper. I had a hard time choosing between two of the answers offered. As is the case in my life, when given a 50-50 chance, I will choose the wrong one.
SEO Quiz Question 65
"Links from 'noindex, follow' pages are treated exactly the same as links from default ('index, follow') pages."
I answered false. Apparently Matt Cutts once wrote that they are treated exactly the same. Who is this Matt Cutts fellow anyway!?
SEO Quiz Question 67
"If they have the same content, the Search Engines will consider example.com/avocado and example.com/avocado/ to be the same page."
I answered false. I have no excuse for this one.
SEO Quiz Question 69
"In which of the following countries does Ask.com have the most significant percentage of search engine market share?"
I answered United Kingdom. I figured the UK folks liked "Jeeves". And didn't he have a British accent? Oh well. So much for logic.
SEO Quiz Question 72
"The linkfromdomain operator displays what information and is available at which search engine(s)?"
I answered Data on who is linking to a given website - available at MSN/Live only. I was half right as the operator is an MSN/Live feature only.
SEO Quiz Question 74
"Which of the following pieces of information is NOT available from current keyword research sources?"
I answered demographic data on searchers who use a particular term/phrase which is silly because I believe I've seen such data from Microsoft Labs. I think I may have been getting tired by now.






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