I know the first SEO Lab was promised awhile back, but with all the other things I have going, including the new design of the site and just getting the site up to par, I have been very busy. While writing SEO Lab #1, I decided it would be a better idea to give some basic instructions first, and information on what should be expected from these SEO Lab posts before taking a dive into things. This lab post will be used as a primer to give a basic understanding of the SEO Labs:

1) Give a brief overview of the SEO Lab concept
2) How all future labs will be structured
3) How readers can make the most out of these labs

1) Brief Overview of the SEO Lab Concept
I came up with the idea of setting up an SEO Lab section on the blog to provide our readers with valuable, concrete evidence about how the search engines and their algorithms work through actual real world tests. There is so much misinformation on the web it becomes extremely difficult to separate false SEO information from SEO fact. Like I mentioned in my first SEO Lab post, I have been doing small tests in the past to learn how the search engines work, so I decided why not just take it to a much larger scale by documenting my research and sharing the results with other people. So this is the beginning of the idea you see here.

The SEO Labs are meant to be in chronological order so the most simplistic algorithm tests are completed first. The higher the SEO Lab numbers go the more difficult/advanced the algorithm tests become, therefore it is suggested that all visitors interested in the SEO Labs read the labs from the very beginning first, and then follow through to the present. This will provide a more complete, understandable picture of the whole process.

2) Structure of SEO Labs
All future SEO Labs will have the following structure:
-Opening Remarks
-Testing Information
-Questions
-Closing Remarks
-Results

3) How Readers Can Make the Most Out Of The SEO Labs
An open dialogue is probably the most important factor I want to accomplish through these SEO Labs. I do not claim to be the all-knowing, end all and be all source for SEO. I am only human and know I too can make mistakes (even though it’s hard to believe), so if readers notice any inconsistencies or errors in the SEO Lab posts by all means bring them to my attention and the readers attention by posting a comment.

In addition, if you have a question which is similar or relates too an SEO Lab which you would like answered I more than welcome you to post a comment with your question, and if your question is relevant I will add it to the SEO Lab.

Finally, again I suggest that new readers to the SEO Lab read all posts chronologically from beginning to present as each lab builds upon all previous labs.

Popularity: 95% [?]

The SEO Lab I’m creating is just about ready to start testing the search engine algorithms. For our first few labs I’ll be testing the simplest concepts to produce concrete evidence about how the search engine algorithms work.

For these tests I have registered four brand new domain names for doing simultaneous tests, setup the DNS, and setup the four domains - each with different IP addresses on different physical servers. For various reasons I can’t give out the actual names of the four domains because there may be people that may try to sabotage the testing, so for posting purposes I’ll be calling the four domains alpha.com, beta.com, gamma.com, and delta.com.  If for any reason I need to add more domains for future labs I’ll just keep going up the Greek alphabet for naming the new domains epsilon.com, zeta.com, eta.com, etc…

When I was doing testing for my own purposes in the past, I actually just used one domain with subdomains to do minor tests, and this still works for testing so if you want to run your own tests to mirror the SEO Lab as we move along feel free too. All you have to do is create four subdomains on a domain you own and name them: alpha.domain.com, beta.domain.com, gamma.domain.com, and delta.domain.com. I suggest you place each subdomain on a separate IP address and server if possible.

Once the DNS propagates and I’m able to bring up the domains I’ll be making another post for our first actual SEO Lab. For the more advanced SEO people out their please bare with the first few SEO Labs as they will be very basic, but I think it’s important to start from the very beginning so that everyone can follow along with these labs once we get into the more advanced concepts.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Hearsay, rumors, myths, etc…!!! What do these all have in common? They are a big part in the search engine industry when it comes to so-called experts dishing out information on the inner workings of search engine algorithms - especially on all those wonderful message boards. So how do you figure out what information is fact and what is fiction?

You create your very own SEO Lab for running tests to see how search engine algorithms function. I’ve done this in a really small-scale in the past for doing various tests on the algorithms, but I’ve decided to make it official and create a full-blown SEO Lab to run experiments for each and everyone of ValuedAffiliates.com’s readers.

For the SEO Lab I will be running various experiments starting with the simplest/novice tests all the way to the more advanced SEO tests. When I start an experiment I’ll make a post with information about the experiment and what exactly I am trying to test, and when the experiment is finished and results are in I’ll make a follow-up post containing all the results of the experiment with other relevant information that was discovered.

So if you want down to earth, factual, no-bullshit, concrete evidence of how search engine algorithms work stay tuned! In my next SEO Lab post I’ll be providing more information on how I’ll be setting up the actual SEO Lab to run these tests.

Popularity: 15% [?]