SEMMYS.org

Let’s skip the corny, canned jokes and the awkward moments at the podium and just open the envelope, shall we? Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the 2008 SEMMY Award in the SEO category is … drum-roll, please …

Search Engine Ranking Factors Version 2
Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | 4/3/07

Congratulations to our winner! Here’s a choice bit from the winning post:

Internal Link Popularity of Linking Page within Host Site/Domain

Eric Ward
I’ve seen instances where one link from one internal page from one site resulted in page one rankings for the site being linked to.

Michael Gray
properly focused internal anchor text is very helpful once domain trust has been established.

Chris Boggs
This can backfire if gamed too ehavily and if the site has too few IBLs from other domains.

Runners-Up

The top two runners-up in public voting were:

1. Sculpting Your PageRank For Maximum SEO Impact
   Stephan Spencer, Search Engine Land | 12/20/07
2. SEO Linking Gotchas Even The Pros Make
   Andy Beard | 11/27/07

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The winner and runners-up are welcome to grab the appropriate badge — we have a badge for both winners and runners-up.

How the Voting Ended

Here’s a look at how each finalist fared in the public voting:

Thanks to all who voted, and congrats again to the winner, runners-up, finalists, and all nominees. We look forward to reading your acceptance speech soon!

The judges have made their choices, and the finalists in the SEO category for the 2008 SEMMY Awards are:

The Finalists

• Search Engine Ranking Factors Version 2
  Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | 4/3/07
• Five Reasons to Aim Low When You’re Just Learning SEO
  Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide | 9/11/07
• Advanced Keyword Research — The power of understanding your visitors
  Hamlet Batista | 10/8/07
• SEO Linking Gotchas Even The Pros Make
  Andy Beard | 11/27/07
• Sculpting Your PageRank For Maximum SEO Impact
  Stephan Spencer, Search Engine Land | 12/20/07

Congratulations to each finalist! Please grab a finalist badge and let your readers know that public voting on the finalists has begun.

Here’s How to Vote

Now it’s your turn to choose a winner! Please read each article above and decide which one you feel is the best. When you click below, you’ll be able to vote in this category only. To vote in other categories, please visit the pages listing those finalists. Voting is open now, and will close at end-of-day on January 30, 2008.

VOTE NOW IN THIS CATEGORY (link will open in a new window)

The following are the nominees in the SEO category for the 2008 SEMMY Awards. Our judge(s) will narrow this group down to 5-6 finalists. Congratulations to all nominees! Please grab a nominee badge and let your readers know that public voting on the finalists is just around the corner.

• Search Engine Ranking Factors Version 2
  Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | 4/3/07
• SEO Is Easy? Let’s Look At The Hard 5 Percent
  Todd Friesen, Search Engine Land | 4/5/07
• The SEO Playbook - Welcome to the Rabbit Hole Alice
  Todd Malicoat, Stuntdubl | 4/18/07
• Impact of Changing Registrar Data on Search Rankings
  Tamar Weinberg, Search Engine Roundtable | 5/2/07
• 7 Signs You Should Run Screaming From An SEO Consultant
  Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot | 5/14/07
• Pages Ranking Poorly in Yahoo Search But Well in Google?
  Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Roundtable | 5/17/07
• The Basics of Search Engine Optimization
  Matt Bailey, SiteLogic | 5/21/07
• Information Architecture is the Most Underrated Component of Effective Search Marketing
  Aaron Wall, SEO Book | 5/23/07
• Mindmapping Audiences and Tasks for Category and Keyword Development
  Bill Slawski, SEO by the Sea | 5/26/07
• Branding v Optimization- Something Has to Give
  Matt Bailey, SiteLogic | 5/31/07
• How To Get More Pages Indexed With Nofollow
  Dan Thies, SEO Fast Start | 9/4/07
• Evaluating Client Search Marketing Readiness
  Lee Odden, Online Marketing Blog | 9/4/07
• Five Reasons to Aim Low When You’re Just Learning SEO
  Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide | 9/11/07
• When Your On-Page SEO Goes Too Far
  David Wallace, SearchRank | 9/15/07
• The SEO Fool’s Errand for the SEO Fool
  Stoney deGeyter, E-Marketing Performance | 9/17/07
• 20 More Ways that Search Engines May Rerank Search Results
  Bill Slawski, SEO by the Sea | 9/19/07
• SEO Forecasting
  Todd Friesen, Oilman | 9/25/07
• My Personal Opinion - 90% of the Rankings Equation Lies in These 4 Factors
  Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | 9/26/07
• The Top 10 List For Finding A Competent Plumber — or SEO
  Bob Massa, Ask the SEO Guru | 9/30/07
• Why Website Grader is a Bad Idea
  Michael Gray, Graywolf | 10/5/07
• Advanced Keyword Research — The power of understanding your visitors
  Hamlet Batista | 10/8/07
• Learn SEO Basics: Long Tail Keywords
  Michael Jensen, Solo SEO | 10/18/07
• A Universal Search Success Story
  Patrick Schaber, Search Engine Guide | 10/23/07
• How Glossaries and FAQs Can Improve Search Engine Rankings
  Ross Dunn, Stepforth | 11/8/07
• Yelp SEO Analysis: Part One
  Andrew Shotland, Local SEO Guide | 11/12/07
• 7 Steps to Get Your New Site Indexed in 24 hours
  Michael Jensen, Solo SEO | 11/26/07
• SEO Linking Gotchas Even The Pros Make
  Andy Beard | 11/27/07
• About URL Tracking Parameters and Duplicate Content Issues
  Carsten Cumbrowski, Search Engine Journal | 12/7/07
• Sculpting Your PageRank For Maximum SEO Impact
  Stephan Spencer, Search Engine Land | 12/20/07