Have you ever wondered how Google decides the order for their search results? How some sites make it to the top while others stay hidden in the Internet abyss? The truth is there are thousands of factors that come into play for Google's PR (Page Rank) algorithms.
My name is Brett Miller. You may know a few Bretts and I'm willing to bet you know several Millers. If you search "Brett Miller" on Google you'll be left with an astonishing 18 MILLION results! How do you get noticed with that kind of competition?
Which brings me to this experiment. Because my name is insanely common it seems like the perfect variable for a search engine ranking experiment. First we need to take a look at what steps are involved with SEO.
Step 1: Keyword Optimized Site
The first step is building a site optimized for your keywords. Use tools like Market Samurai or Adwords to find popular words or phrases with minimal competition. I don't really have a choice in this case and I'm not interested in changing my name. Try to register a url with your keyword. Make sure your meta description contains your keyword and try to use it in your H1 tags, H2 tags, 1st paragraph etc. DON'T OVERUSE KEYWORDS. Google will kick you for it.
Step 2: Content is King, Seriously
Although this article is slightly self-serving, I'm attempting to add value by providing SEO education. If you produce crappy content people won't share it. It's that simple! Your BLOG posts, articles, videos and more should be relevant and well produced. That goes for guest posts, Tweets and anything connecting back to your brand.
Step 3: Social Media Mogul
Google released a major update to their algorithms in July of 2012 which punished spammers and highlighted social media. I suspect this has something to do with Google+. Make sure to have a brand presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Take advantage of linking back to you site.
Step 4: Backlinks Are Critical
Let's review the point of this article. Backlinks are links from other sites pointing to your site. Ideally those sites are relevant to your site and the hyperlinks contain your keywords. The more relevant links on the web, the higher your page ranking. The bottom of this article will contain backlinks to my personal website. I'm currently ranked 1 on Bing and Yahoo, but 12 on Google. I plan on submitting versions this to article to a few directories and waiting a few weeks to see what happens. Wish me luck and check back for the posted results!
My name is Brett Miller. You may know a few Bretts and I'm willing to bet you know several Millers. If you search "Brett Miller" on Google you'll be left with an astonishing 18 MILLION results! How do you get noticed with that kind of competition?
Which brings me to this experiment. Because my name is insanely common it seems like the perfect variable for a search engine ranking experiment. First we need to take a look at what steps are involved with SEO.
Step 1: Keyword Optimized Site
The first step is building a site optimized for your keywords. Use tools like Market Samurai or Adwords to find popular words or phrases with minimal competition. I don't really have a choice in this case and I'm not interested in changing my name. Try to register a url with your keyword. Make sure your meta description contains your keyword and try to use it in your H1 tags, H2 tags, 1st paragraph etc. DON'T OVERUSE KEYWORDS. Google will kick you for it.
Step 2: Content is King, Seriously
Although this article is slightly self-serving, I'm attempting to add value by providing SEO education. If you produce crappy content people won't share it. It's that simple! Your BLOG posts, articles, videos and more should be relevant and well produced. That goes for guest posts, Tweets and anything connecting back to your brand.
Step 3: Social Media Mogul
Google released a major update to their algorithms in July of 2012 which punished spammers and highlighted social media. I suspect this has something to do with Google+. Make sure to have a brand presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Take advantage of linking back to you site.
Step 4: Backlinks Are Critical
Let's review the point of this article. Backlinks are links from other sites pointing to your site. Ideally those sites are relevant to your site and the hyperlinks contain your keywords. The more relevant links on the web, the higher your page ranking. The bottom of this article will contain backlinks to my personal website. I'm currently ranked 1 on Bing and Yahoo, but 12 on Google. I plan on submitting versions this to article to a few directories and waiting a few weeks to see what happens. Wish me luck and check back for the posted results!
About the Author:
Learn more about Brett Miller. Stop by Brett Miller's marketing site where you can find out all about Web Marketing Strategy and what it can do for you.
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