It’s tough enough to handle things as an SEO expert considering the various forms of SEO there are to understand. Business SEO, Local SEO, are just a few of the areas of SEO that must be mastered if one is to get the profitable ranking positions in the search engines. Now comes along Personal SEO and it’s a whole different approach altogether.
Personal SEO is where you construct your website and web presence to capitalize on your name. For example, if your name is Joe Smith and you’re an expert in plumbing, then you want your name to epitomize plumbing to such a degree that when people search for you, they find you and your business references. That may seem simple but it’s far from the case. Personal SEO means hat you’ve got to position your name as foremost for your business niche and not have your name confused with others. It also means you can’t have someone else with a different name to gain the high ground in the search engine results over you. It’s tricky but it can be done. There are insurmountable odds in some cases which we’ll detail here.
First of all, your website and blogs and social media information have to be precise and up to date. It must also include the keywords and combinations of keywords, key phrases, and key groups that all point to the fact that your name is the personification of the business that you’re in. Some people are fortunate that their names are unique. Not common at all and by optimizing their web presence they can capitalize on such a name quite easily. Other people often have hundreds of other people with the same name or variations of the same name thus causing confusion when a prospective client is looking for you via your name. If there are 500 “Joe Smiths” in your state alone and 5 of them in a similar business, you’ll have a chore of differentiating yourself from them. This now calls for expanding your web presence so that search engines will recognize you as the preeminent “Joe Smith” for your business niche.
Another problem is the fame game. If by chance there’s a famous person or two or three who have the same name your chances of hitting the high marks in the search engines could be extremely challenging. There’s no way around it other than lots of money or doing something so spectacular that your name rises to the top, even if it be a short time.
The biggest problem is if a person with the same name or if you yourself has made a fool or controversy of significant proportions on the web. The worst case scenario is someone with a similar name who commits a heinous crime. People rarely forget the name of a dire criminal and often that criminal’s name becomes a metaphor for the type of crimes society abhors. In this case, there are extra strategies involved.
The bottom line here is that your name if used as your brand is your signal flag for promotion and position. Personal SEO is how you fight this battle. It will or won’t take lots of work, but it’s part of today’s big time SEO game you’ve got to win.