5 Tactics for Optimizing Your Online Visibility in Google Search Results

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Thinking Digital According to the Bloomberg article, Microsoft has Herculean Task in Taking on Google, Americans conducted 65% of their online searches using Google in May 2009. Bing, Microsoft's latest competitive offering, is making some headway and apparently caught the eye of Google co-founder, Sergey Brin (click here for the June 14, 2009 Mashable article). Bing's potential competitive threat benefits all online users because Google will continue improving its core business. This August 10, 2009 Mashable article discusses how Google's engineering team is upgrading the speed, accuracy, size, and comprehensiveness of Google Search. The project is still in beta mode and is code named, Caffeine. In the foreseeable future, Google's online search dominance will continue so understanding its influence and impact on your online visibility is critically important.

Various reputable news sources report signs of an improving U.S. economy, but I'll believe the economic turnaround when I see it. Unfortunately, Corporate America is still conducting layoffs. Therefore, high online visibility to potential networking connections, corporate recruiters, or employers is vitally important. Whenever any of these three contact points researches "your name" on Google, you want to dominate the first and second page search results. If you don't own the majority of the Top 20 Google results, you may as well be invisible.

To boost your online visibility, I suggest the following five tactics. Each tactic is worth your time and effort. Remember that perfection and technical expertise are not a requirement — Just Get Started! The most important critical success factors are your commitment and persistence.

  • Start a Blog
  • Create a Google Profile
  • Participate in the Big Three Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
  • Post Comments on Other Blogs
  • Register with Frequently Updated Profile Sites (i.e., MyBlogLog, FriendFeed)

Tactic #1: Start a Blog
Blogs rank high in Google search results so this tactic cannot be emphasized enough. The Google algorithm rewards websites with frequently updated content. High ranking blogs are routinely updated on an hourly and daily basis. As a result, blogs garner a distinct advantage in the search engine results pages game (e.g., SERPs). This advantage is exactly why businesses and individuals should implement blogging as the foundation of an online marketing strategy.

For an easy-to-understand primer on how to create and maintain a blog, I highly recommend Dan Schawbel's eBook, Blogging Your Brand: A Complete Guide to Your Success. This well-structured reference literally walks you through a step-by-step process that's accessible to both Beginner and Expert bloggers.

Tactic #2: Create a Google Profile
One of the quickest and easiest ways to achieve a front-page Google search engine result is by creating a Google Profile. Google introduced this service in Spring 2009. For individuals completing a Google Profile, their name and profile is shown as Google search engine result #10 (in a search for that person's name). The Google Profile launch received a lot of press during this time which triggered a "land grab" for individual names. Still, this shouldn't discourage you from filling out an individual profile.

Another important reason for completing a Google Profile is you can use the customized URL created for your Google Profile as a "virtual business card" when posting your comments on other blogs. When you post a blog comment, you want the blog author and other respective commenters to "see who you are." Until I got my blog up and running, I relied on my Google Profile for posting blog comments or other instances when I required a personal web site URL.

If you need more information about Google Profiles, here are some helpful online resources:

Tactic #3: Participate in the Big Three Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
On June 18, 2009, eMarketer published the article, Facebook Overtakes MySpace. The statistics confirmed Facebook's supremacy as the top social networking site. Additional data I found interesting included how Twitter experienced explosive growth of ~2,700% and LinkedIn grew by 90%. MySpace still ranks as the second largest social networking site, but its traffic and membership are steadily declining. Profiles from these sites rank high in Google Search, but I recommend focusing on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (especially if you're a social networking newbie). To maximize your online visibility, make sure you consistently employ your real name as your profile username (i.e., www.twitter.com/yourfirstnameyourlastname or www.twitter.com/tonyfaustino or www.facebook.com/tonyfaustino).

Tactic #4: Post Comments on Other Blogs
Commenting on other blogs provides an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge in a particular subject or industry. In the online world, commenting on another person's blog is the equivalent of attending a face-to-face networking event. Take advantage of this opportunity to make a great impression! Your comments also give Google another means of indexing your name. By consistently posting blog comments, you'll compile a critical mass over time. As a result, Google will display these comments in future search results related to your name.

Also, register with BackType.com so you can maintain an online record of all of your blog comments. You never know when those comments might come in handy for a future blog post.

Tactic #5: Register with Frequently Updated Profile Sites (i.e., MyBlogLog, FriendFeed)
Member profiles in social networks like MyBlogLog.com and FriendFeed rank high in Google Searches because their content is frequently updated. These sites aggregate your activity or updates in other social networking sites such as Twitter or Delicious.com. Therefore, every time you send out a tweet or bookmark an article or website, the activity is automatically recorded as "an information stream." These "information streams" are searchable, indexed, and provide a great opportunity displaying your name in the Top 20 Google Search results.

Photo Credit: By Karl Schneider via Flickr

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Categories: Blogs, Digital Marketing, Facebook, Google, How To, Inbound Marketing, LinkedIn, Personal Branding, Reinvention, Social Media, Twitter

2 thoughts on “5 Tactics for Optimizing Your Online Visibility in Google Search Results”

  1. Good suggestions. People should also be buying their domain name. People wanting to show up for “john smith” will easily do so with the domain http://www.johnsmith.com. Exact match domain names are SEO steroids.
    Even people that decide to go with different domain name (as you have – which can also be a good strategy) should still do it. I know several people who have ended up buying theirname.com from brokers for $100+ because they didn’t buy it early when they should have.
    @WebsterJ

  2. @WebsterJ — First, thank you for stopping by and sharing your great comments! I absolutely agree that people should buy their domains to not only gain the SEO turbo-charging benefits but also to build their personal brand (the you’ve done really well at http://www.WebsterJorgensen.com – a cool looking site btw).
    Second, I purchased the .com, .net, and .org domains for http://www.tonyfaustino.xxx along with the domain for http://www.socialmediareinvention.com before I started blogging. You can imagine my relief when my hosting service said these domains were available – whew! I certainly didn’t want to go through the scenario of having to purchase my domains from a broker like you correctly described above.

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