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As previously reported by WebProNews, affiliate network DarkBlue held a contest that measured SEO skills of anyone willing to enter. The goal of the contest was to gain the top Google search engine result for the search of the keywords "nigritude ultramarine." The contest ended today, June 7, 2004, and the winner has been announced.

The winner of DarkBlue's contest was a forum site developed by a contestant named Merkey. Using a wide variety of SEO tactics, mainly ones involving contextual keyword based links, Merkey garnered the top position for the desired keywords. The method he used to win the contest was quite ingenious. Merkey created a forum that is dedicated to nigritude ultramarine.
Not only do are the forum topics largely devoted to the keyword set, Merkey also added a massive amount of nigritude ultramarine text links at the top of the page. Most of the outbound links are targeting pages that Merkey is using for backlinks (pages that link back to him using the keywords in question).

The winner of the first part of the contest receives an iPod. This is considered the Player aspect of the contest, or the one who gains the top ranking by the set date. The Stayer aspect, or the second part, rewards the person who has the number one listing on July 7th. The winner of this portion receives a 17" Sony Flat Panel Monitor.

The interesting thing about this contest is the fact that the techniques used to gain the top spot in the SERPs reveal that Google's ranking methods can be manipulated. Also, according to Andy Beal at SearchEngineLowdown:

"Now, the fun begins. Will Google allow the site to remain at #1 in a month from now and risk losing credibility? After all, if word gets out that Google is that easy to manipulate, it would hurt its IPO."

One can only imagine how Google would react to news that could potentially damage their upcoming IPO. If market gossip is any indication, the search engine stands to make $27 billion off of its offering. I wouldn't think that Google would want to weaken this opportunity.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.