Need some clarity on keyword research tools, XML sitemaps or search marketing best practices? Good news: The search engine optimization (SEO) resource site SEOMoz has launched a Q&A forum for its pro members.
In relaunching its Q&A site, SEOMoz is opening up the dialogue to members of their community, rather than just having SEOMoz staff members answer questions.
When it comes to SEO and Web marketing, there is often a thin line between acceptable and frowned-upon practices, and there is no shortage of self-proclaimed gurus trying to sell their expertise to businesses large and small. As a result, it can sometimes be challenging to find resources that are reliable and reputable.
SEOMoz has managed to establish itself as one of those resources, offering up a fairly comprehensive repository of SEO and online marketing information and tools. In addition to its own staff, the site is home to a community of SEO and online marketing experts, whose collective expertise tends to lend itself to a more thorough, less spammy approach to SEO.
This new Q&A forum appears to be an extension of that community, and SEOMoz has built controls into it to help ensure that the site’s information remains of high quality.
For starters, while members of the free version of SEOMoz can read threads, questions can only be asked and answersed by pro members or SEOMoz staff. Like Quora and other Q&A sites, answers can be voted up or down.
They’ve also built a little bit of game mechanics into the platform. For example, members can earn points (“mozPoints”) by answering questions, or if that response gets voted up. To encourage users to populate the site with content quickly, extra points are given when responses are posted within four hours of a question being asked.