Big Oak SEO Blog » Ranked Hard – SEO Comic

The Battle for Internet City – RankedHard.com comic

Shell Harris — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:30:56 +0000

Here is a snippet from our latest SEO comic, Ranked Hard. Please visit the RankedHard.com site to see the comic this month. It is the best one we have done so far, in my opinion.

From time to time I use Ranked Hard as my soap box to comment on SEO-related topics such as link buying, SEO Celebrities and Internet spam, but with this comic I decided that I would poke some fun at three well-known Internet personalities: Seth Godin (Founder of Squidoo), Jason Calacanis (Founder of Mahalo) and Jimmy Wales (co-founder of Wikipedia). Each of these web celebs has created a force on the Internet.

But have they created a force for good on the Internet? Have they made the Internet a better place? In some ways they have, but in many ways–not so much. Of course the negative effects on the Internet aren’t really their fault. Let me explain.

I’ll take each person in order and, since this is my site, I am going to give my opinions. You may disagree, and if so, please post why in the comments below. A good debate is always worth the risk of offending someone.

Want to read more and see the comic? Head over to see “The Battle for Internet City“.

Link Buying Becomes Comical

Shell Harris — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:17:16 +0000

Our latest Ranked Hard, SEO Comic, is up for viewing. It deals with the concept of link buying and Google’s sporadic approach at curtailing the purchase of link. Take a look at Crazy Eddie’s Link Emporium.

Here is an excerpt from my post under the comic. Please visit and read the entire rant on link buying.

If you would listen to Google, and why wouldn’t you, you would be led to believe that they are against link buying and don’t reward sites who do buy links. In fact, they will penalize sites that do buy links. Don’t believe me? Read Google’s engineer Matt Cutt’s own words on buying and selling links. They even provide a handy dandy form to report paid links. Find a site selling links? Report them. Find a competitor buying links? Report them. Then, your site, which is honestly gathering links, should rise to the top of the rankings. Right?

Wrong. Oh, so very wrong.

Google has been caught selling links more than once. So they understand the temptation and financial rewards of selling a link. But the rewards can be much greater when buying a link: higher search rankings, more customers, more sales and more profits. But if link buying is really being stamped out by the big G, then why, oh why, are so many people doing it and dominating the search rankings?

Read the rest of rant.

April Issue of RankedHard.com is live

Shell Harris — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:06:51 +0000

Please visit RankedHard.com, our online SEO comic and see April’s Ranked Hard comic.

This month’s comic deals with the absurdity of the some of Google’s more spammy search results and touches on the sore point of Google rewarding black hat SEO when their own rules say don’t do it.

SEO Celebs Lampooned in Comic

Will Paoletto — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:52:54 +0000

This month’s Ranked Hard Comic, SEO Squares, launched on September 8th, 2008, a day that will live in comic infamy. The comic satirizes famous SEOs by plopping them into a game show reminiscent of Hollywood Squares. Ah, Hollywood Squares. The show Whoopi Goldberg couldn’t leave because she was locked into a one million year contract.

You can check out the comic here

And don’t be shy about leaving comments.

If you have a concept for a SEO comic you’d like to see us create, write it out and then send it to us at contact [at] bigoakinc [dot] com. Please try to keep the comic within 5 to 6 frames. We’ll have our illustrator draw it and give you full credit.

So if you have a comic idea you’d like to send to us, don’t hesitate to shoot us a line. Now onto a more pressing matter. A few people have inquired about advertising on RankedHard.com. We’ve thought about putting ads on the sidebar and possibly even allowing ads to appear in the comic itself. How do you feel about this?

August SEO Comic Hits the Streets

Will Paoletto — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:49:19 +0000

The August edition of our SEO comic, Ranked Hard, Your Link Here, is available for public consumption. This month’s comic sends up link purchasing.

View the comic in all of its glory here

Be sure to have a look at Ranked Hard’s rave reviews and find out why people have called it a “very funny comic.” If you have an idea for a Ranked Hard comic you’d like to see put into action, shoot us a line at contact [at] bigoakinc.com. We won’t bite. Well, Roosevelt Jones might, but that’s a story for another time.

July Comic for Ranked Hard

Shell Harris — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:19:35 +0000

Our newest SEO Comic, which pokes fun at Jason Calacanis is live. You can read “Jason Calacanis – SEO Has No Future.”

Not sure who Jason Calacanis is? If you are in the SEO industry you would probably have some interest. You can read about him at Wikipedia, of course and you can check out his very opinionated blog as well. Suffice to say Mr. Calacanis doesn’t have a high regard for SEO and that is the crux of this month’s issue of Ranked Hard. Enjoy and please make comments on the comic. We love feedback.

Ranked Hard, SEO Comic – June 2008

Shell Harris — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:26:43 +0000

Our latest SEO Comic, Ranked Hard, deals with the delicate subject matter of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising. Read “The Real Reason Your Site Dropped in Google” and leave your thoughts about this tricky issue in the comments area.

And for all the conspiracy theorist out there let me make a statement, saying definitively, that we do not believe Google changes the ranking’s of any web site based on whether or not you use Google’s Adwords.

Outsourcing Reservations

Shell Harris — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:36:07 +0000

This month’s Ranked Hard, SEO Comic deals with the touchy subject of overseas outsourcing in the SEO industry with a humorous twist of course. Take a look at Outsourcing Reservations, leave some feedback and laugh a little.

Black Hat SEO Comic – Ranked Hard

Shell Harris — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:53:55 +0000

April’s installment of the SEO Comic Ranked Hard has been published. Read “Beware the Dark Side” which deals with the duality every search engine optimizer must sometimes face.

Thanks to our friends at Internet Marketing Sucks for the April Fool’s Joke using the Ranked Hard comic strip.

Matt Cutts Enters Ranked Hard, the SEO Comic

Shell Harris — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:12:12 +0000

We have finished our third installment of the “hit SEO comic,” Ranked Hard. Sorry to keep pushing it on our Big Oak blog, but we want to give the comic a fair chance so I’m announcing it on our blog.

Take a look at the latest strip, “Cutt Her Some Slack.” It deals with the SEO industry’s obsession with all things Google, particularly, Matt Cutts, a Google Engineer who has been the voice of Google to the SEO community for some time. A lot a value is placed on what Matt says and probably he would admit that everyone should relax a little and not over analyze every word he speak or types.

Suffice to say if you don’t know who Matt is you may not find this strip as funny as the rest, but hopefully it introduces you to Mr. Cutts and expands your knowledge of the SEO Universe.