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EngineWorks 2009 Blog Bracket: Cyber Road to the Final Four

Posted by Jesse Liebman on 04.07.2009

engineworks-blog-bracketThe NCAA tournament may have ended last night, but we at EngineWorks aren’t ready to move on from our busted brackets. Introducing our own ‘One Shining Moment’ for the Internet marketing community: EngineWorks has internally compiled our favorite SEM, SEO, SMM, and other industry relevant blogs to create the EngineWorks 2009 Blog Bracket.

The EngineWorks blog bracket seeding was based upon traffic, popularity, and our own internal bias. The seeding for the bracket is as follows:

Seed East Region West Region South Region Midwest Region
1 Seth Godin Mashable TechCrunch Search Engine Land
2 Search Engine Watch 43Folders.com David Wallace Smashing Magazine
3 eMarketer Michael Gray SEOmoz Joelonsoftwear.com
4 Chris Brogan Search Engine Journal Top Rank Blog Matt Cutts
5 Social Media Explorer Valeria Maltoni Vanessa Fox Ian Laurie
6 Neopoleon.com Bruce Clay Search & Social Dallas SEO Blog

Now, let’s get down to the match-ups!

First Round

eMarketer vs. Neopoleon.com

eMarketer ensures there will be no Cinderella coming from the East as they win the 6 vs. 3 match-up against Neopoleon.com. Rory, of Neopoleon.com, is a great source of entertainment and marketing insight, but from a sheer information basis, eMarketer wins this match-up easily. eMarketer’s daily posts and newsletters bring their game day-in and day-out. eMarketers article on Search Marketing Spending and Trends is a perfect example of their insight.

Winner: eMarketer

Search & Social vs. SEOmoz

When Search & Social puts stuff out there, it’s always worth a read. Search & Social has some pretty cool YouTube videos up, and I love his laidback approach. His speculative article on the future of search even earned him 70 Sphinns. But in the end, SEOmoz tramples the bottom seed in this bracket, just like the fellow #1 UCONN Mens’ BBall team did early in the NCAA tournament.

Winner: SEOmoz

Chris Brogan vs. Social Media Explorer

In potentially the toughest match-up of the East region, Jason Falls and Social Media Explorer pulls-off the narrow upset over the traditional powerhouse Chris Brogan. When you combine Social Media Explorer TV, and Jason’s daily blog posts, the value is at least equal to Chris Brogan. Throw in the fact that video is starting to become more mainstream, as Jason displayed in his interview with Katie Paine, and you have an unbeatable combination. The Social Media Explorer wins by virtue of coolness over his opponent Chris Brogan.

Winner: Social Media Explorer

Vanessa Fox vs. Top Rank Blog


History has shown that the 5 seed typically has the best chance of creating an upset in the first round. Vanessa Fox ensures this trend continues. Vanessa gets double credit for her SEO blog at Nine By Blue and her development blog at Jane And Robot. Her Podcast ‘Office Hours’ is also worth an iTunes subscription. Vanessa’s all-around game earns her a trip to the second round. I’m sure TopRank Blog is fantastic, and had it landed on the other side of the bracket, I may have tapped it for the Final Four. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to give it a fair showing, but you’ve caught my eye TopRank! Better luck next year.

Winner: Vanessa Fox

Michael Gray vs. Bruce Clay

On paper, the 6 vs. 3 match-up of Bruce Clay and Michael Gray looks like a potential upset. Both blogs are great resources, and Bruce Clay always has great insight from the biggest and best SEO conferences around. The tipping point was Michael’s blunt, straight forward, no BS approach to his posts. A perfect example of Michael’s style is his KISS SEO post. He is different, but different is good.

Winner: Michael Gray

Dallas SEO Blog vs. Joel On Software

According to Danny Sullivan, there is a thriving search marketing industry in Dallas, Texas. The Dallas SEO Blog, as far as we can tell, is one of the companies that is leading the charge. I like the site for industry news, and some good content on social media. Its well-maintained content is enough to upset the programming site ‘Joel on Software.’

Winner: Dallas SEO Blog

Search Engine Journal vs. Valeria Maltoni

The West’s 5 vs. 4 match-up pits a search engine blog giant and a marketing expert against each other. Search Engine Journal has the versatility of SEM, SEO, PPC, and SMM posts on a daily basis. Valeria doesn’t have a specific daily focus, but her posts are equally as versatile as Search Engine Journal. Valeria always seems to give a new perspective that I typically didn’t see before. Valeria blew us away with her post on the Future is Now. It’s this perspective and insight that allowed her to punch her ticket into the second round.

Winner: Valeria Maltoni

Ian Laurie vs. Matt Cutts

This is the toughest match-up of the tournament. Ian is a great writer, and I always enjoy his mix of humor and practical SEO tips on his site conversationmarketing.com. This makes it all that much harder to announce his first round loss to Google’s Search Quality guru, Matt Cutts.

Winner: Matt Cutts

Second Round

Matt Cutts vs. Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is a great place to learn how to build a cool site. It’s very well organized and useful, but when you’re going-up against the guy who features instructional SEO videos and apparently loves drawing stick figures with ‘Paint,’ you need to bring more to the table. Cutts, moves-on to the next round.

Winner: Matt Cutts

Seth Godin vs. eMarketer

Seth Godin is considered a god in the marketing world, and was awarded the overall number one seed. First seeds don’t lose in the first round. Period. From a content standpoint, Seth always finds a way to bring valuable information, like his post on personal branding. Statistics only tell part of the story; what you do with them makes all the difference. eMarketer is no match for Seth Godin’s intuition.

Winner: Seth Godin

Tech Crunch vs. SEOmoz

Tech Crunch is great for keeping-up Internet Marketing news. We especially enjoyed the article earlier this year titled Why Google Employees Quit. Like Sphinn, it’s an essential read to keep-up with the news. But as Pittsburgh taught us this year, sometimes the powerhouse who seems like it has every facet of the game covered, it can fall to a team that exploits one part of the game. Information from SEOmoz can be immediately applied to any site, and delivers on all things SEO.

Winner: SEOmoz

Search Engine Watch vs. Social Media Explorer

From a sheer volume of content, the Social Media Explorer cannot compete with Search Engine Watch. But when Search Engine Watch’s content is broken-down, it appears they’ve just been playing a 2-3 zone all year. Jason Falls has a pass-first mentality, often sharing related articles and contrasting opinions to help enhance his posts. After all, you might be able to win your conference through individuals, but teams win championships.

Winner: Social Media Explorer

David Wallace vs. Vanessa Fox

Like that of SEOmoz, the information from Search Engine Guide, headed by David Wallace, is very applicable to my day-to-day routine. So, he wins. This is going to be a tough battle getting into the final.

Winner: David Wallace

43Folders.com vs. Valeria Maltoni

The entertainment value of 43folders is second-to-none, but the tangibility of the content is suspect. From a post-to-post comparison, Valeria doesn’t take a day, night, or afternoon off. She’s rolling-on into the West Regional Final.

Winner: Valeria Maltoni

Mashable vs. Michael Gray

Mashable has all the tools, and subject matter, to win the championship. Sometimes forcing the action allows your opponent to sneak-up on you, and Michael Gray found himself in exactly that position. Content is king, but interaction is the kingdom. Mashable CEO, Pete Cashmore, pushes the envelope and their agenda full throttle on Twitter. But, when it comes to sharing the rock, they’re a little bit of a ball hog. Micahel Gray once again proves to be the man. His regular tweets send him into the Regional Finals.

Winner: Michael Gray

Dallas SEO Blog vs. Search Engine Land

The top-seeded Search Engine Land, created by Danny Sullivan, is far too much to handle for Dallas SEO Blog. Search Engine Land combines news, tips, and observations from several great SEOs.

Winner: Search Engine Land

Regional Finals

SEOmoz vs. David Wallace

As our Director of Search, Scott Fish, has pointed-out, in the history of the NCAA tournament, there have been more 3 seeds that have gone on to win it all, than 2 seeds. Rand Fishkin and company must have heard this fact as well and were motivated enough to surpass the well-matched #2 seed, Search Engine Guide.

Winner: SEOmoz

Seth Godin vs. Social Media Explorer

After two tough match-ups, it appeared the Social Media Explorer, Jason Falls, had run-out of gas. As Seth proved, with his April Fools post, simplicity has its benefits. You won’t find very many thesis papers on Seth’s blog. He’s straightforward and to the point. We relish the ability to read Seth’s posts while we drink our morning coffee. Seth Godin’s going to the Final Four.

Winner: Seth Godin

Search Engine Land vs. Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts is going all the way to the Final Four, ladies and gentleman! Matt’s post on how he deals with removing undesirable content for the Google index, is exactly the type of content that champions are made of. It’s this kind of artistic ability that propels him past the much-loved Search Engine Land.

Winner: Matt Cutts

Michael Gray vs. Valeria Maltoni

Valeria was looking to become one of the lowest seeds ever in a Final Four, and to win the tournament. Unfortunately, this year was not her year. Michael Gray’s technical background, as he showed in his link building strategies post, is too much to compete with. Michael Gray is heading to the Final Four.

Winner: Michael Gray

Final Four

Matt Cutts vs. Michael Gray

This isn’t the first time these two haven’t seen eye-to-eye. They are, in a way, polar opposites. Cutts is an employee of Google, the closest thing we have to access to Mountain View. Whereas Gray’s mission is to knock-down that wall, and help his readers reach their full profit potential. In a close one, Gray outlasts his worthy adversary.

Winner: Michael Gray

Seth Godin vs. SEOmoz

Seth Godin is cool. The guy even has his own action figure, along with a string of popular marketing-is-simpler-than-you-think books. But SEOmoz, with highly useful resources such as the Keyword Ranking Factors carries too much practical SEO information and tools, enabling them to reach our championship game.

Championship

SEOmoz vs. Michael Gray

And then there were two. Of the many tiny faces who’ve appeared on Sphinn, and of all the RSS feeds, and bookmarked pages, it comes down to these two SEO Goliaths. In the end, we’re all winners for having access to the knowledge of all players listed above. Our imagined championship game ends-up being a nail bitter. SEOmoz launched a last second attempt for the win that rims-out. But, Gray Wolf fails to box-out Rand, who leaps over his opponent, and dunks it home for the win, shattering the backboard into a million pieces.

Winner: SEOmoz

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