How to Own Your Name in Google Searches
Have you ever done a Google search for your name? We all have. The better question is are you satisfied with the results?
A regular question or request I often get asked to help with is “how do I own my name on Google?”
A popular strategy by many companies or prospective clients is to Google search the name of the person of interest. Thanks to all the spam sites and social networks a Google search for your name could very well hurt you.
For the most part, as long there are no risqué photos or defaming articles you will be fine; however, for many people, owning their name is a great way to control their identity and build their credibility. For example, a journalist might want a webpage they created to be displayed at top of the search results as a starting point for anybody looking up the person. The page could give the reader a background and directly point to highlighted articles the journalist wants searchers to read.
Now depending on the popularity of your name, it may prove to be harder to take back your name on Google. If your name happens to be Michael Jordon or George Bush there is probably not much that can be done.
Take a look at an interview I published on The Wild Investor that ranks high for the interviewee. In fact, for the past year it has ranked number 1 for his name.
Along with our 7 steps for effective search engine optimization, below are some tips on how to claim your name in Google search engine results.
1. Buy your name as a domain. If possible try to get a domain with your name in it. The structure and words in a URL play a huge part of ranking high for certain key terms.
So for myself, I might go for ameyshivapurkar.com or asantmedia.com/amey-shivapurkar. The idea is to get your name visible somewhere in the URL of the page you are trying to get picked up.
2. Delete unused social network profiles/accounts. How many websites have you created an account for and haven’t used them in months or even years, but somehow you will notice that many of these websites actually rank high for your name.
Delete as many of these accounts as possible, and soon enough you have already eliminated some of the competition.
For those accounts you want to keep, but also don’t want to keep it floating out there in the public, consider checking the private box in your options page that will hide your profile from search engines. I do this for my Facebook account.
3. Go image crazy. One of the best and yet most underused aspects of search engine optimization is using images.
Name the image using.. well.. your name and title different images other variations of your name that people might use to search. Also use the “alt” attribute in the image tag to give your name even more boost.
4. Link your social networks together. Because you will be fighting against random spam sites and social networks, odds are you might not get the number 1 spot for your name, but at least you can manage the sites that do show. Take all the social networks and websites you do use for your name and link them together. This will create a web of sites that will point searchers where you want them to go.
Also make sure you create your Google profile as they will show up at the top of the search results no matter what.
5. Sit back and wait. Even after taking all the required action, you won’t claim your name overnight. It could take weeks or even months. Ultimately the speed is determined by how often your websites of choice are crawled by the search engine spiders, but slowly and surely you should hopefully see the Google search for your name turn more into your favor.
Tags: search engine optimization