SEO or search engine optimization has a number of different approaches and strategies associated with the process. Although ranking higher requires some general practices such as building natural links and technical and on-site SEO, there some approaches which most people successfully use in their own niches. For example, local SEO is an excellent way to gain traction against the larger competitors or use long-tailed keywords in order to achieve a more targeted approach. But one of the best ways to propel your SEO efforts forward is to use personal branding.
What exactly is personal branding?
The term personal branding refers to a practice of establishing an online identity for yourself. In practice, it’s similar to organizational or corporate branding, however, personal branding is used for individuals instead of the whole organization. The identity itself includes a personality and a public image which you will use as a basis for advertising and marketing communications. The most common use of personal branding in the business world includes creating a branding campaign revolving around the CEO in order to become an additional outlet for the company’s brand.
1. Design the Google+ snippet
One of the best places you can use to start your personal branding strategy is, of course, Google. First, you should optimize the profile you know will definitely get indexed by Google, and that’s your Google+ profile. By creating the profile and filling it out with information, you’re actually helping Google create the snippet shown in the search engine results page.
This snippet will always contain a title, or a name, an image and meta description detailing your line of work. It’s important to use keywords relevant to your brand and personal skills and to avoid including the location inside the snippet. This is a job for local SEO and as such requires you to add your city in the employment field instead.
2. Make your LinkedIn resume more search-friendly
This may sound a bit complicated, but in truth, it’s anything but. What you need to do is to properly fill out all the information fields in your LinkedIn profile with is required by Google in order to make a snippet. This information includes the name of the company and your position in it, as well as the name of the city that company is located. Additionally, you need to change the default URL for your public profile so it includes your name and make sure you connect it to a WordPress blog, active Facebook and Twitter accounts, etc.
3. Create a profile on your own website
Unlike profiles on popular social media platforms, which can be considered as a rented space, creating a profile on your own website means that you have complete control over every single aspect of it. This includes creating the perfect design, writing some amazing content and focusing on the on-page SEO. In order to make the best possible profile, it’s important for the profile to have its own dedicated page. This page should be connected to all your current and active profiles on various social media and make sure you’ve included your name in the page URL, as well as at the beginning of the page title.
4. Focus on maintaining domain authority
When it comes to personal SEO efforts, one of the more important factors is the domain authority. It can be divided into three main areas of work you need to focus on:
- Content quality
- Quality of domains linking to you
- Social signals
As engagement continues to be one of the biggest factor regarding organic ranking, focusing on unique, relevant content which is tied together using cross links and appropriate tagging structure ensures that your engagement metrics will grow and your website will be more relevant to the search engines. Additionally, whether you’re posting content on your website or on a social media platform, consistency is the key in order to rank high in the results page.
5. Use other social media for promotion
Twitter accounts rank extremely well in Google. So do Facebook, Tumblr, Vimeo, Quora and even About.me accounts. Even if you don’t find them relevant to your business, a lot of people use them and depending on your personal privacy setting, a lot of people can view your profile. This is why it’s important to maintain a professional look and use a more professional profile picture. Fill out a short bio, place links leading to your website and if you’re not using a specific platform but you do have a profile on it, make sure to let the people now and provide them with other means of connecting with you.
There are numerous advantages when it comes to personal branding and not all are strictly SEO related. Those who are just getting started should now that this isn’t a quick and easy fix. In fact, this is a slower approach or a long-term strategy if you will. It takes real effort and time in order to generate any real momentum. Fortunately, this is a strategy which is guaranteed to pay off in the end and it’s definitely worth the costs necessary for its development.
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