The city of Topeka, Kansas will rename itself Google, Kansas for the month of March, in an effort to persuade the company to locate its test of an ultra-fast fiber optic network there.
The city’s real-life version of search engine optimization (SEO) went into effect with a proclamation signed by the mayor and seven city council members at a meeting held on Monday, which was initially called to consider matters unrelated to the Google experiment.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the company is also considering Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Grand Rapids, Michigan for its test, which will involve the installation of a fiber-optic internet connection to provide greatly increased connection speeds for the residents of the winning city.
The city that becomes the test bed for the Google project could become a tech hub overnight, experts say, as companies flock to the area to take advantage of the high levels of available bandwidth. Search engine optimization (SEO) practitioners should pay attention to the contest as well, given the marketing campaigns surrounding the event.
