1. Overview

The SEO Reborn Hackathon 2026 (“Hackathon”) is an online SEO competition organized by IMG Science, a division of Internet Marketing Gold. Teams compete across 3 tracks on WordPress sites at {slug}.imgscience.net. A real-time KPI leaderboard tracks performance. Official judging uses a separate rubric (the leaderboard is informational only).

2. Eligibility

• Open to individuals 18 years or older.
• Employees, contractors, and immediate family members of Internet Marketing Gold are eligible to participate but are ineligible for prizes.
• Void where prohibited by law. This competition is void in jurisdictions where registration, bonding, or other legal requirements for skill contests apply and have not been satisfied by IMG Science. If you reside in such a jurisdiction, you may participate for informational purposes only but are ineligible to receive prizes.

3. Team Composition

• Teams consist of 1–4 members.
• Each individual may participate on one team only.
• Each team competes in one track: On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, or AI/GEO Optimization.
• Teams must register via the official registration form. Late or incomplete registrations may be rejected.

4. Competition Structure

• Each team receives a pre-configured WordPress site at {team-slug}.imgscience.net with GA4 tracking.
• Teams optimize their sites within their chosen track’s scope.
• KPIs are collected automatically from GA4 and Google Search Console approximately every 5 minutes.
• The public leaderboard displays rankings based on normalized KPI scores. It is informational only — not used for official judging.
• Hackathon duration, start/end dates, and prize announcements are communicated on the Site and via registered email.

5. Judging Criteria

Official judging is separate from the leaderboard. Judges evaluate teams using a subjective rubric covering strategy quality, technical execution, creativity, and measurable impact. The full rubric is published in the Judges Guide. All judging decisions are final and binding.

6. Prohibited Conduct

The following will result in immediate disqualification:

• Modifying or interfering with another team’s WordPress site.
• Tampering with GA4 tracking codes, measurement IDs, or KPI data collection.
• Using bots, click farms, or automated traffic generation to inflate metrics.
• Exploiting security vulnerabilities in the hackathon infrastructure.
• Attempting to manipulate or reverse-engineer the leaderboard API or scoring algorithm.
• Uploading illegal content, malware, phishing pages, or content that violates third-party rights.
• Harassing, threatening, or impersonating other participants, judges, or organizers.
• Using black-hat SEO techniques intended to deceive search engines (e.g., cloaking, keyword stuffing, link farms, content scraping for the purpose of republishing without attribution or transformation).

7. Code of Conduct

All participants must maintain professional and respectful conduct throughout the Hackathon. Harassment, discrimination, hate speech, or any form of abusive behavior will not be tolerated. Violations will result in disqualification and removal from the platform.

Report conduct violations to conduct@imgscience.net.

8. Intellectual Property

• Your published content: You retain ownership of content you create and publish on your team site during the Hackathon. By participating, you grant IMG Science a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license, for a term of three (3) years following the conclusion of the Hackathon, to display, distribute, and reference your published site content in case studies, educational materials, and hackathon recaps (with attribution where practical).
• Proprietary tools and trade secrets: This license does not apply to proprietary tools, software, pre-existing methods, or trade secrets that you bring to the Hackathon and do not publicly post on your team site. No abstract techniques or strategies are captured by this license — it covers only the content you choose to publish.
• Team site infrastructure: The WordPress instance, plugins, themes, hosting are owned by IMG Science and are provided temporarily for the duration of the Hackathon.
• Leaderboard data and KPI measurements: Aggregate and anonymized performance data becomes the property of IMG Science for research and publication purposes.

9. Prizes

Prize details (categories, values, and winners) will be announced during the Hackathon on the Site. Prizes are non-transferable. Winners are responsible for any applicable taxes. IMG Science reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value.

10. Privacy and Data Use

Hackathon participants’ site analytics data (traffic, rankings, engagement) is collected via GA4 and displayed on the public leaderboard. Team names, slugs, and track assignments are public. Personal email addresses and registration details are handled per our Privacy Policy.

11. Disqualification

IMG Science reserves the right to disqualify any team for violations of these Rules, the Terms & Conditions, or at its sole discretion for conduct deemed harmful to the integrity of the Hackathon. Disqualified teams forfeit any prizes and may have their team sites suspended. Disqualification decisions are final. IMG Science will provide a brief written explanation for any disqualification upon request.

12. Disclaimers

Participation is at your own risk. IMG Science is not responsible for:

• Technical failures, downtime, or data inaccuracies.
• KPI collection gaps or delays.
• SEO outcomes — there are no guaranteed results, rankings, or traffic levels.

13. Contact

For Hackathon rules questions or conduct reports:
Email: conduct@imgscience.net
General inquiries: hackathon@imgscience.net