Brief Summary
This video is an SEO trivia challenge where an SEO expert with 17 years of experience is quizzed by a ChatGPT model trained on Ahrefs' SEO course. The expert answers questions on various SEO topics, including search intent, keyword selection, internal linking, and handling traffic drops. The expert scores high, demonstrating a strong understanding of SEO strategy and tactics, ultimately proving their expertise in the field.
- SEO expert is quizzed by AI on SEO topics.
- Expert demonstrates strong understanding of SEO strategy and tactics.
- Expert's job is safe, setting the standard in SEO.
SEO Trivia Contest Intro
The video starts with a challenge to an SEO trivia contest. The SEO expert is put in the hot seat, with Chad GPT as the quiz master. The expert acknowledges that AI has access to a vast amount of SEO information but questions whether it can apply tactics and strategies as effectively as someone with practical experience.
Question 1: SEO Definition and Purpose
The first question asks what SEO stands for and its primary purpose. The expert correctly answers that SEO stands for search engine optimization and its purpose is to rank pages higher in Google to gain visibility and access to Google's search audience. The AI quiz master gives a score of 10 out of 10.
Question 2: Search Intent
The second question asks to explain the concept of search intent and how failing to match it can hurt rankings. The expert explains that search intent is the reason behind a searcher's query and that Google aims to provide the most relevant result. Failing to match search intent will negatively impact rankings. An example is given of a page targeting "best headphones" that only recommends one pair instead of comparing multiple options. The AI quiz master gives a score of 10 out of 10.
Question 3: Key Factors for Keyword Selection
The third question asks about the four key factors to evaluate when choosing a keyword to target. The expert identifies search intent, the difficulty of ranking for the query, and business value. The AI quiz master notes that the expert missed traffic potential, resulting in a score of 7 out of 10.
Question 4: Search Volume vs. Traffic Potential
The fourth question asks to explain the difference between search volume and traffic potential and why traffic potential is often a better metric. The expert explains that search volume indicates how often a keyword is searched, while traffic potential shows how much traffic a page could get if it ranks number one for a topic, as top pages rank for multiple keywords. The AI quiz master gives a score of 10 out of 10.
Question 5: Handling Mixed Search Intent
The fifth question asks how to decide what content format to create when targeting a keyword with mixed search intent. The expert says they would target the dominant intent, creating a blog post for informational intent while also considering a product page for transactional intent. The AI quiz master gives a score of 9 out of 10, noting that the expert didn't mention keyword-level content gap analysis or using SERP features.
Question 6: Internal Linking Strategy
The sixth question asks how to structure an internal linking strategy for a large content site to improve topical authority and crawlability without relying solely on traditional site architecture. The expert suggests creating content hubs, grouping topics by categories, and internally linking pages within these hubs to pass page rank. The AI quiz master initially gives a score of 8.5 out of 10, citing the lack of mention of crawl depth minimization, contextual anchor text variations, and auditing internal link flow. After a pushback from the expert, the score is revised to 9.5 out of 10.
Question 7: Diagnosing Declining Organic Traffic
The seventh question presents a scenario of auditing a site with declining organic traffic despite a stable backlink profile, clean technical SEO, and unchanged content. The expert says they would analyze major keywords where rankings were lost, compare current ranking pages with past ones, and make educated guesses based on the comparison. The AI quiz master gives a score of 9.5 out of 10, noting the absence of isolating the traffic drop by type (branded vs. non-branded, mobile vs. desktop, etc.) and checking for crawling/indexing anomalies.
Question 8: Tactical Response to Google Core Update
The eighth question presents a scenario of managing SEO for a large affiliate site in the personal finance niche that experienced a 50% traffic drop after a Google core update, with competitors who gained being mostly big media brands. The expert says they would first determine if media sites are generally gaining share across niches. Tactically, they would audit the site to identify traffic loss patterns, compare with other finance affiliate sites, and analyze content changes. The AI quiz master initially gives a score of 7.5 out of 10 but updates it to 9 out of 10, and then 9.5 out of 10 after the expert challenges the AI's suggestion of rewriting intros to hit EAT signals harder.
Question 9: Turning Data-Driven Content into Backlinks
The ninth question asks about a plan to turn a newly published data-driven piece of content in the marketing niche into backlinks, given low brand visibility and a limited network. The expert details a strategy of identifying outdated statistics on other SEO statistics pages, creating updated statistics, and reaching out to those who linked to the outdated information. The AI quiz master gives a score of 10 out of 10, praising the real-world precision of the answer.
Question 10: Keyword Research for a Startup SaaS Tool
The tenth question asks how to approach keyword research for a startup SaaS tool for automated screenshot testing of websites, with no brand presence or existing traffic. The expert says they would start by researching the problems faced by the target audience, such as SEO teams during migrations. They would gather seed keywords from customer interviews and forums, then use Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer to find related keywords and questions. The AI quiz master gives a score of 9.5 out of 10, suggesting mining competitors' top pages in Site Explorer.
Final Score and Conclusion
The expert receives a final score of 47.5 out of 50, or 9.5 out of 10 overall, which is considered elite tier. The AI quiz master acknowledges the expert's strategic thinking, nuance, and ability to operate in real-world SEO. The AI admits that the expert is better at SEO and that their job is secure. The video concludes with a call to action to check out Ahrefs' free SEO course and SEO quiz.
