Tip 2 – Increase Your Personal SEO in Google To Boost Your e-ttraction

blog 2017
Written By Andrew Ford

What is personal SEO?

Personal SEO is where your name appears in a search result for your name. It's what a potential client would see when they are looking for you when they have been referred for your service. E-ttraction is your level of digital attractiveness based on being findable, credible and contactable. 

It’s best to have at least 5 out of 10 results lead to you, but that will take time and we will cover more of that in future blogs. For now, let’s focus on getting you the first link. 

To do that you need to know what is going to be your core site. That’s the one you realistically can get to the top of Google because it has SEO strength and the one that will likely convert a referral to the next step in your sales process.

Have one core site

Have a think about the main site you want your referrals to find? If you are in the job market or running your own business I suggest you focus on LinkedIn. It’s the easiest way to get you to Number 1, with the least effort and lowest cost. 

Appearing as the first link is getting really important now that Siri, Google assistant and others will only read the first name in a search result. So as these artificial intelligent searches become more popular, particularly on mobile, the more vital it is to be at the top.

After working in the social media industry for over a decade, we know that when someone searches on a person's name, 80% of the time, LinkedIn will be the first search result on Google. The reason is that LinkedIn has a huge amount of evergreen content dedicated to individuals. By evergreen, I mean it doesn’t disappear like a Twitter or Facebook newsfeed post, it stays on your profile for Google to crawl and prospects to see. 

Use LinkedIn better

One site that outranks LinkedIn is Wikipedia. This site is designed for celebrities or people ‘of note’ so although we have created them for clients, you have to back up all factual statements with public articles from reputable sources. If you have many online news articles about yourself it is possible. This will be beyond most people so a personal website, one that is dedicated to your name, can be a good solution as it will achieve number one placement. e.g. www.yourname.com.au

If you have a weak LinkedIn profile then other sites such as Facebook, news articles or a website you are featured on may show up first. The issues with these options are they are not the best way to move a prospect forward to contacting you for a job or new business. Another issue is you are not able to control the information so they may not always be positive for your brand. They can be useful for creating first-page domination, but getting the first link is the most critical.

Therefore, for most people, the best chance of getting the first link in Google is going to be LinkedIn. This is great news as many people are already on this platform, yet most people really are not using it properly to convert referrals. 

Fear not! We will cover how to use LinkedIn in more detail in upcoming blogs or you can check out our free eBook on LinkedIn here. 

What’s your name?

One item we need to mention regarding SEO is that it all depends on the search term. If your name is the term we want to appear for, it is critical that you spell your name the same way every time. That means not mixing up nicknames (such as Andrew and Andy), last names remaining consistent and not using stage names on LinkedIn. The name people will use to refer you to others needs to be the name that Google is looking for in LinkedIn. 

For example, you are known as “Andy Ford”, or “Fordy”, and on LinkedIn, your name is Andrew Ford, that isn’t a direct match. Similar, but not the same. Try both searches and see the difference!

Name images

The final tip for your personal SEO is to name your images. When someone googles your name, it generally will have an image bar in the results with photos, so you can find that specific person. Google is smart, they know you are looking for a person and sometimes you need to see their face to recognise them. 

To make it easier for Google to find you, name any images you use online with your name, business name and product name to increase SEO on your photos. (e.g. "Andrew Ford, Social Star, e-ttraction marketing or personal branding" depending on the image.) In SEO’s language, it’s called optimising your Alt and Title tags, which you can read more about here.

I hope these tips give you a starting point for your personal SEO work. There is a lot to learn! If you would like to know more or need some assistance in how to remove negative articles and how to beat famous people who share your name contact our team here. 

Regards,

Andrew Ford

P.S. Why not take advantage of our free brand review by clicking below.

Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
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Tip 1 - How To Be Found On Google for your name: Get more referrals