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Some times life serves forth a story better than any fiction.
Sometimes reality can offer the most impressive forms of allegory.
I have always been intrigued about how legends and myths come to fruition. Interested in the bits of reality that lead to historical fantasy.
During my trip to San Jose for SES I was privy to such a moment in history. A moment where a legend, a mythical creature was born. Our industry from this time will forever know the name, SEO Champion.
Below find an Oral History of the birth of the SEO Champion legend compiled from eye witness accounts via Twitter and recollections to yours truly from attendees.
Day 1: August 17th - The Arrival
I arrived in San Jose last Sunday. Upon checking into the Arena Hotel I made my way to my room weary from the East to West Coast trek. On my way I was stopped by a guy who pointed directly at me and said, “Internet!”
I explained that I did work on the internet. He quickly responded with, “Do you need SEO?” Selling the service as though it should be in a mini zip lock baggy.
I explained I was in San Jose to speak at SES. He again asked, “So you need SEO?,” adding, “I am the SEO Champion.”
At first I thought him pompous, but then he handed me his business card, and sure enough he was the “CEO of SEOChampion.com.”
I was courteous and simply made ado and went to my room.
Sitting in the room, bored, I went on to SEOChampion.com to see what this guy, who introduced himself in a supremely bizarre manner was about.
Some key points from his site (quoted from SEOChampion.com):
1) Be #1 on Google, Yahoo, MSN Live within 24 hours (Update: The Champ Updated his site to read Be #1 on Google, Yahoo, MSN Live within 24 hours on Pay Per Click Results)
2) Match client sites to 70+ part algorithm formula that is used by Google, Yahoo, Msn, Ask and every major search engine worldwide.
3) Every Seo client’s website is submitted to all engines worldwide 4-5 days a week using Web Position Gold 4 and Seo Suite 8.
4) Michael Rotkin was mentored by a “1995-2005″ algorithm specialist during 2000-2006 , which knew the first 48+ parts of the algorithm very well, some to this day are not understood by 95% of the top 5000 Companies in the Dow and Nasdaq
I quickly tweeted my discovery. Having found the white whale of sorts.
@davesnyder: @nickwilsdon its funny right .. he stopped and said “I am the SEO Champion… ” I was like ok
Throughout the day I spread the story of my interaction with the SEO Champion, mostly due to my own intoxication. And so his legend began to grow.
Day 2: August 18th - First Day of SES
Cindy Krum was the second speaker on the first panel of the first day of SES (poor Cindy). It didn’t take long for The Champ to get to work on his legend.
Cindy Krum:
I expected there to be some dissenters in the audience and some controversial questions after the presentations were done, but I never expected anyone to be quite so rude. There are a lot of people who have a lot of money invested in dotMobi domains and dotMobi websites, so presentations that represent it as a failed initiative are bound to ruffle a couple feathers. Hopefully the SEOChampion will leave the presenting to the people on stage if he is ever let into another show again.
Kate Morris:
Then in the Viral session (day 1, session 2), in the Q&A, he stood up and started pitching his company and one of their clients, a college dating site. The panel was amused and pointed out that the business idea probably wasn’t best. But still at that point we all blew him off as a stupid newbie that didn’t know better.
Then we heard that he was the one that cornered you and started the argument in the 1st panel Lisa covered. I think that is when he became a joke. We looked up his site and started laughing even more.
———————————–
That night, as the Internet marketing community got together to eat drink and be merry, his name was the center of many conversations. A humorous day one had turned into a memorable day 2, and many wondered what was next for our hero.
Day 3: The Satya Nadella Keynote and Meeting
This was a pretty slow day in all.
But not for The Champ.
I was sitting around with some Microsoft folk, including my favorite red headed male, Jeremiah Andrick, when they began to tell the tale of a person who had bipassed Microsoft PR to weasel his way into the private Microsoft meeting room, which contained company big whig and morning speaker Satya Nadella.
My ears perked up.
Then I heard it.
“Yeah it was the guy that started the argument in the first session yesterday.”
The SEO Champion.
Day 4: The Black Hat/White Session
My fourth day in San Jose was a busy one for me. I spoke on two panels, and didn’t have much time to get into the myth that was growing around me. So I will let Twitter tell Wednesday’s tale.
@sandiegoseo: @seochampion just outted as someone who should represent the “SEO’s that suck” group of SEO’s.
@sandiegoseo: @seochampion invited to take a seat on the Black hat panel, but he’s not in the room.
@dantemonteverde: WOW, tension in the session from SEOChampion calling out Greg
@Babiesonline: Wooooo @seochampion just unloaded on the black hat panel … Awesome!
SEOChampion (this is from a press release put out by The Champ explaining what happened during the panel) :
Michael Rotkin: addressed the Greg on his lack of knowledge and misleading the conference attendees around 5:00pm and asked the so called” Seo Experts that knows Black Hats ” Greg and His next door panel neighbor how many parts of the seo algorithm there is to cut to the chase”
Michael Rotkin went on to state: ” Black Hat guys are guys that know a lot of Seo first parts of the algorithm and think outside of the box from mid 90’s- 2001. White Hat Seo guys are newer generations born in the later mid to late 80’s.”
” I was born in the mid 70’s where the internet was invented when I was 15. See Bruce Clay was maybe 30 my age now, when I was 15. So those firms are above me because they have been around, but the good news is I represent a two fortune 500 companies, and a few select small business to large businesses and a Top RnB artist, which I am proud of in conclusion.
Kate Morris:
The breaking point was when he came to the Black Hat/White Hat panel to stand up for himself and continued to make it worse for himself by saying he knew all 70 points of the Google algorithim and personally attacking Greg Boser. The 15 years of experience in this industry was impressive as well.
Jennifer Stafford:
He made for an interesting SES, monopolizing Q&A and becoming belligerent with panelists. My favorite was the show he put on in the White Hat/Black Hat panel. Seems like one of those SEO’s that companies are warned to stay away from. He guarantees rankings, claims to know all 70 parts of Google’s algorithm (even though Matt [Cutts] confirmed over 230), and seems to endorse some questionable link practices.
sandiegoseo: @shoemoney he goes by @ seochampion. should be quite the expert, doing internet marketing for 15 yrs an all.
Day 5: The Press Release
Thursday saw the SEO Champion submit a press release bashing almost everyone on the panel, and some of our industries most beloved figures. I woke up o find the release on his blog, and quickly tweeted it out.
It was an action that would take his growing legend beyond SES. The Twitterverse now had a hold of Champ-Mania
@sandiegoseo: those you were at the Black hat seo session yesterday will find this amusing: http://www.seochampion.com/seoblog/?p=12 seems someone lives
@martinbowling: wow just read that horribly written press release over that @SEOChampion put together. Who wrote this a third grader?
@SexySEO: @pageoneresults WTF?! http://www.seochampion.com/seoblog/?p=13
@SexySEO: @GregBoser WTF?! http://www.seochampion.com/seoblog/?p=13 Who hell is Michael Rotkin?!?!
@SEOHolicc: @SexySEO holy crap, that seochampion article is hilarious. That guy is such a tool. The first time I saw his site I thought it was a joke
@Skitzzo: @SEOChampion “Remember if you have one more content match inlink than your competitor, you will over take them!” srsly?
@cvos: from SES: seochampion.com promises top rankings on important search engines such as Alta Vista and All The Web
@Skitzzo: @SEOChampion, I mean honestly, are you trying to play into every horrible stereo type that SEO’s have? “Be #1 on Google… within 24 hours”
@graywolf: is luvin that seochampion.com says dont waste UR money renting PPC keywords but offers ppc mgmt as a service
The Aftermath
Like with any legend the mythology of the tale lives on beyond the actual event. Since his entrance into the lore of our industry The Champ has captivated us all.
@BrentDPayne: @SEOChampion heard you created quite the stir at SES SJ. Not exactly the best way to break into the search community. What was ur goal?
@briancarter: If you are the @seochampion, am I an SEO loser? Are you really the best? Can we have a competition? I will DESTROY you!!! ;-)
@AussieWebmaster: cannot believe people are following seochampion… hopefully for the laughs
@GregBoser: @pageoneresults I would tell you, but I don’t want seochampion to write any more mean things about me.
And the questions about this mythical being continue to come –
@notsleepy: Someone clue me in on SEOChampion. Due to previously scheduled beach time I couldn’t make SES. What did he do? It must be bad.
Editors Note: Keri Morgret also found this http://www.webproworld.com/199233-post1.html
Update: I have decided to close out comments on this post, because I feel that everything that needed to be said has been said. I need to get back to focusing on what I do best, Internet Marketing, and I think Michael Rotkin has learned from the disturbances he created at SES, and that is all I wanted. Thanks to Rae Hoffman and Jill Whalen for the advice on refocusing my energy on things that are truly important.
31 responses so far ↓
1 David Temple // Aug 25, 2008 at 10:46 pm
When I first heard your story early in this myth building event, I thought it may have been exaggerated a bit but now I think you may have played it down because it was so surreal.
“Own your keywords not rent”, now that’s a tagline. And this is the best part, “When you hire us, you are not getting someone we trained or sub contracted to do your work for you, or give you a quick fix.” (Except getting #1 ranking in 24 hours).
2 Garrett Pierson // Aug 25, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Dude thanks so much for this post it totally brought the SEO Champion tweets to life and makes total sense now. Not to mention I laughed the entire time I read it.
3 Augusto Ellacuriaga // Aug 25, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Dave,
Here are some more for your collection right out of the horse’s mouth via Twitter:
“I haven’t heard from any Seo Guys on here, wanting to claim their Expertise in Seo. VendorSeek is a Seo lead Gen-Watch out for Fake Seo’s”
“I cannot believe how many fraud seo ” people out there selling ” seo services that havent even done seo for more then 5-8 years. Please ask”
“Bottom like. All non Seo Firms will be exposed on http://www.seochampion.com Myself and the #1 Seo Guru with over $775mil in Revenue for clients”
“I have a private session with seo algorithm guys at Google Headquarters.”
Now this is by far the dumbest thing about spamming the web with thin/duplicate SEO sites:
“Matt Cutts is right on the money. He always told everyone to build in word press to fullfill the algorithm. I did on 140 seo .coms I own”
4 Todd Mintz // Aug 26, 2008 at 6:55 am
I bet he’ll find it hard to get a ticket to future events :.)
5 michael streko // Aug 26, 2008 at 6:57 am
i would like to see him and Doug Heil get into a debate. Just for entertainment purposes.
6 michael streko // Aug 26, 2008 at 6:57 am
@ToddMintz the way most conferences are going, he will probably be giving a key note soon.
7 Mindy // Aug 26, 2008 at 7:14 am
This guy has been spamming on Twitter as well, adding people with “SEO” in their profile so he can brag about how much better he is than everyone else.
It’s somewhere in between highly amusing and incredibly annoying as I actually stopped what I was doing to look at his profile and I’ll never get that wasted time back.
He did manage to inspire this: http://www.i-com.net/blog/how-to-alienate-people-with-your-twitter-account-58/
8 Dante Monteverde // Aug 26, 2008 at 7:22 am
Dave,
Great post. This guy is obviously a joke and a big chump, I mean champ.
He is either incredibly stupid or brilliant because he is attracting a lot of attention around him. I guess any press is good press.
However, my main concern is that this is exactly what the SEO world does NOT need. It’s hard enough building confidence with clients who have been burned by unethical SEO Firms in the past. Now this joker is offering the exact services you should be leery of: #1 ranking on Google in 24 hours, Site submitted to all the SE’s with Webposition Gold 4 (come on, at least advertise you are doing a manual submission), etc. etc. etc.
It’s obvious he is targeting uneducated clients and in the process giving the rest of the SEO world a bad name.
I wish this guy would just go away…
9 Shannon @Babiesonline // Aug 26, 2008 at 8:32 am
I’m so glad that I sat in on this session. I started following the champ after the big to do so I could see how things evolved. This post does it better, though. Thanks, Dave!
10 Dan // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:19 am
Man….
The sad thing is that people like this actually convince people that this is possible.
11 seosniper // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:34 am
actually… JUST what SEO needs…. an example to point to… he should be used as an ethics, and bad practices example and should be blogged about endlessly with support from matt cutts.
12 Tony Spencer // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:36 am
Great roundup. I asked and you delivered. Kicking myself for not being there now.
Hmm. Need to find out if he’ll be at Pubcon. I wasn’t planning on going but…
13 Feydakin // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:51 am
It seems like one or two extra special people like this show up every year.. It’s nice to be seeing this from the outside this time..
14 Jane // Aug 26, 2008 at 10:23 am
Until yesterday, I had no idea that all of these stories from SES originated from the same person. I knew that someone started a “fight” in a session. I knew that someone cornered Dave. I didn’t know that one person had caused all this havoc!
15 Jeremiah // Aug 26, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I cannot confirm that the Champion was the break in guy, but from all accounts this seems correct.
16 Jaan Kanellis // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I guess SEO Champions from Vegas should stay in Vegas.
17 Ross Dunn // Aug 26, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Oh man, he is an expert in Alta Vista? Oh well then… my Senior SEO Scott Van Achte and I are going to start a new business… we are going to specialize in Infoseek! Take that SEO Champion!!
18 Eric Brantner // Aug 26, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Absolutely amazing… His website copy reads as if it were written by someone who’s been huffing gas for the last few years. I’d say that this guy needs to be buried, but he’s so damn entertaining.
19 Dave R // Aug 26, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Ross, thats awesome - can I join in? Infoseek is the next Google! :)
Dave, great article. It always surprises me that there are people in this world like him. What a joke.
20 g1smd // Aug 26, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Is this some massive wind-up link-bait, with an actor hired to play the part and make it all look so (sur-)real?
Surprised he wasn’t put out on his arse after the second session.
I have *no* idea what the heck some of those blogs posts are blathering on about. Disjointed mash of random, badly-written “thoughts” (if you can even call them that).
21 Andy Beal // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Finally, I know the story behind the legend. ;-)
22 I’m not obsolete yet! » They’re everywhere // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:12 pm
[…] found this time, they found my friend Dave Snyder. And his special buddy is none other than the SEO Champion. How cool is that?? An honest to goodness […]
23 Eric Brantner // Aug 26, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Sorry to double comment, but Ive been reading through some of his Tweets. On several occasions he mentions that he provides press release writing services. After reading his web content and that press release, who in the hell would let that guy create their press release?
24 MikeTek // Aug 27, 2008 at 8:28 am
I’m sorry I missed all the fun. This guy really put on a show and “made a name for himself.”
Here’s an interesting and timely repercussion of his actions in the new Google Suggest feature: screen shot
Now he’s got some reputation management issues!
; )
25 WilliamC // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:35 am
I must say, I now wish I could have been at SJ. Sounds like a fun time the eintire show thanks to this guy.
26 Scott Van Achte // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:41 am
I wonder if this guy is buddies with the SEO Trademark guy, Jason Gambert? These two should get together - they’d be the ultimate hated SEO team.
They could do workshops on how to stir up controversy.
27 Tim Rule // Aug 27, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Wish somebody got a video of this guy in action.
After reading some of the posts on his site, I’ve added it to my RSS feeds under the “Humour” section.
The articles look like first draft copy, with zero proofing, well, maybe 80 proof ;) , no spell checker and possibly a bad case of low blood sugar as well.
28 MikeTek // Aug 29, 2008 at 7:09 am
I just checked, out of curiosity, the WHOIS info for one of his domains.
Get this…listed company: Hydroponics Wholesale, LLC.
Here’s the link:
http://tinyurl.com/5mx2hx
29 Irvin C. // Aug 29, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Dave,
Thanks so much for putting this together. I would not have written this as reserved as you did.
This guy was a serious bag of trash. I sat through the APAC and LatAM session and was amazed how the SEO Champ began his question. “I have the microphone”. Who does that?? Then, blah blah blah about I do this and that. It was all garbage. He finally got to his question which was already covered in the session by all the panelists. Which Search Engines are the largest in each market? He obviously has no ability to pay attention. I was cracking up. I still think it is all a big joke somehow.
I was also in the session where his college dating site idea got shot down. One panelist was like “I don’t think college students have problems dating”. DUH
On the bright side, it is good to have people like this. Keeps things interesting and I had a good laugh along with many other folks.
Cheers
30 Michael Rotkin // Aug 31, 2008 at 2:58 am
My college dating site has been around for 5 years and just got capital funding for the last gentleman, that made some amazing accurate comments.
Please read my blog to see exactly what happened as SES. SES was better before they got bought out.
People will not be coming to SES much anymore.
Pubcon is where is the place to be. Pubcon is the old SES where the jokes are left out and the knowledge people paid for exists.
For anyone that wants to chat with me in any manner see booth#504 in Vegas Sept 20-21.
Greg Boser called me out for no reason and I confronted his knowledge. Now you all can say what you like and assume most, Ask the non bias members that Sat in The Black Hat Panel crowd which are the real judges, as they paid thousands to fly to San Jose and thousands to get in to here legends give brief info and make jokes
Well everyone acts like I came on the scene recently, lol. I have been coming to SES for many years and the funny thing , is I hear everyones funny comments about them never going to let me in.
That is so funny. Its like blocking someone from doing business.
I am a corp executive that happens to own several thousand domains and loves Seo. So I advise listen to what you hear and believe 10% until you speak with the person themselves.
Have a good one
Michael Rotkin Seochampion.com
http://www.seochampion.com/seoblog
31 admin // Aug 31, 2008 at 7:28 am
Michael,
It confuses me that you have been the industry so long, and have attended PubCon and have never heard of Greg Boser.
He is hands down one of the smartest people in our industry, and holds a complete understanding of both the dark and light side of SEO.
Read his blog http://www.gregboser.com/ .
You also point out two other marketers on the panel that are amongst the most respected in the industry, Dave Naylor http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/blog/index.php and Todd Friesen aka Oilman http://www.oilman.ca/…also who speak regularly at PubCon.
The reason that you were “called out” so to speak, is that you put yourself out there throughout the event. By hijacking sessions and upsetting the community in other ways you obviously drew attention to yourself.
From this attention, people explored your website, found gross errors in SEO tactics and salesmanship, and this further led to your current reputation issue.
I personally hope that you take this event as a signal that you need to further educate yourself on SEO and search in general. Also that you clean up your sales pitch and services to leave out things commonly held to be untrue.
I am also open to helping people learn more about this industry. Feel free to contact me.
Dave Snyder