I admit it; I search for my name a lot. First name Last name, click, send, wait, smile! It's exciting to see what the search engines find most relevant about me. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Everybody likes to feel important or at the very least less obscure and more accessible online to friends, loved ones, fans, viewers, colleagues you name it.
What's interesting is the distinctly different types of websites and information that the top 3 (Google, MSN, and Yahoo) return in response to a first name last name search. Now a lot of these differences are not specific to a name search and would fit in the categories of conational SEO, but the reasons why I think it's important to talk about this specific search separately from regular SEO are:
1. this search is one of the most important to an individual emotionally. Your first and last name appears on everything you create. It can represent your reputation, your family heritage, your professional image, your expertise, and your experience, all at the same time. Give me another two search words that cover all of that.
2. People use their first and last name in documents and websites in similar ways that differ extensively from other words Most of us, for example, don't have social networking accounts, blogs, press releases, work history, personal comments and video files all attached to a string of keywords like "buy movies now".
Recently, do to the pending release of the free movie Boy Who Never Slept and an aggressive marketing campaign, references to 'Solomon rothman' have increased dramatically and span many different sources. Considering this, I thought it would be a perfect time to do a search comparison on the different types of results to gain a fresh perspective on name searches and what each of the search engines prefer.
Initial things to note:
1. My myspace account is very new with almost to no outside links pointing at it.
2. I use my real name solomonrothman in my usernames for website profile pages. Examples of this are below.
On MSN (results summarized in bullets)
* My website
* My profile page on associated content
* My profile page on Design Firms
* My profile page on Blogs Flux
* My user page on Wikipedia
* Google Video listing
* Contact page on top design firms
On Yahoo (results summarized in bullets)
* The other solomon rothman's website (not me)
* My website
* Specific associated content articles
* Deep pages within my website
* Archive.org
* Press releases
* Creative commons blog
* Directories
* Comments I made on some substantial blogs
* Dig article
* Google video
On Google (results summarized in bullets )
* My website
* My user profile at Associated Content
* Profile at blog Flux
* WikiNews Article
* Design Firms Profile
* Internet Archive
* Feedburner URL
* LOTS OF PRESS RELEASES
* Google Video listing
* Wikipedia User Page
* Myspace Profile
This is my no means scientific, but by comparing all three there are some interesting conclusions that could be drawn or at least hypothesized about. You would of course need a lot more test data, to make any concrete, but here are some interesting comparisons.
Analysis on searching for a persons name or first name, last name searches
Commonalities among all 3:
* my personal website to be the most important / relevant (yahoo liked the personal website of the other solomon rothman more)
* individual Google Video Listings were included in the top results
Individual Relevancy Preferences
MSN
* Values both topic related and general Profile and user pages on large established websites and social networks over other results.
* Wikipedia pages including user pages
* Link Directories
It's interesting that it brings up my wikiusername page on the first page results, this is just a free user page used to let editors I may be working with know more about me.
Yahoo
* Specific Articles (as opposed to the profile pages at article submission or promotion sites)
* Deep pages within personal website
* Internet Archive Listings (put them above Google Video)
* Listings and tag entries on technorati.com (blog search engine with listings and tags)
Google
* Highly values profile pages on topical sites like (designfirms.org)
* Myspace
* Wikinews items rank very high
* Internet Archive Video Listings appear EXTRMELEY high
* Individual Video Listing from other video distribution websites like bolt, and vivemo.
* feed burner urls
* press releases
Individual Dislikes or things that seen to rank substantially lower specifically on these engines
MSN
* Doesn't rank press releases very high in results for a person's name, puts them after profile pages, and directories.
* Listings and tag entires on technorati.com (blog search engine with listings and tags) none show up in the top 100.
Yahoo
* Wikipedia Items (not one listing in the top 100, as opposed to msn, (in top 10) and Google in top 30
Google
# listings and tag entries on technorati.com
Remember that I use my real name as my username and repeat it specifically on the about me pages etc of each of these websites, that I'm sure obviously if you don't use your first name or last name on these sites, they won't come up.
Interesting things to note:
In the top 50 resutls of MSN was included my user page on the social bookmarking system delicious solomonrothman . That's EXTREMELY intesting because in the meta tags on that page say no index, no follow and no archive:
It appears msn is not only indexing this page, but ranking it above other information rich sites for certain keywords. YET ANOTHER REASON TO start SOCIAL BOOKMARKING.
Interesting trends applicable to all searches
Video in regular search results
Video listings, especially on Google Video and the Internet Archive are showing up for regular keyword searches that don't use the word video, movie, etc. It appears all the search engines consider topic specific videos (at least the video listing pages) to be as relevant as regular information / text rich websites. A great example is search Google for Helicopter fire California. Thinking the "old way" I would guess this search to bring up news articles using those keywords, and it does for some of the results.
In the first 15 entires there are 3 separate references to a video file I uploaded showing a helicopter drop over a fire in California. 2 separate entries for various listing on archive.org and another listing for the Google video listing.
This is very powerful and although it may have been prominent in the past, I don't remember bringing up very many video listings on my normal searches, but things are changing, video is becoming the new sought-after relevant content in the online arena.
My space is a very powerfully free resource(other social networks are too) Even without any additional promotion (outside links for example) my myspace account ranked among the top sites in for my name in both MSN and Google. That's huge. If you want to put some information on the top spots for a name search and don't have a lot of time/budget/knowledge to undergo an SEO campaign, consider joining myspace and using your real first and last name.
You could have your personal page among the top spots in a matter of weeks. Of course if your name is extremely common, this tactic probably won't work.
No luck for John Smith.
Wikipedia is a great place to contribute information
As an extra bonus you may receive some Search Engine Recognition for it
Articles are still a great way to promote yourself and there are some great places that will even pay you for your published articles and still link to your site.
I admit it, I search for my name a lot. First name Last name, click, send, wait, smile! It's exciting to see what the search engines find most relevant about me. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Everybody likes to feel important or at the very least less obscure and more accessible online to friends, loved ones, fans, viewers, colleagues you name it.
Search Engines To Submit
Even if you are new to internet marketing, you have probably read about the importance of ranking well with the search engines. When people search for a specific keyword or term, you want your website to be in the top 20 search results. Although there are a number of other ways you can bring visitors to your website, ranking well with the search engines is one of the most important factors. Even though the rules are constantly changing, you can succeed if you follow a few timeless tricks.
Both Google and Yahoo have algorithms which allow their search engines to bring up the most relevant results for searches. These algorithms must be changed on a consistent basis because some webmasters try to use bad SEO techniques to trick them. There are a number of honest techniques you can use to make sure your site is prominently ranked within the search engines. It is important to make sure you practice honest methods. While using black hat SEO technqiues can get you ahead, your site will be permanently banned when the search engines realize that you are trying to trick them.
A classic way you can optimize your site is by using keywords. By using high quality keywords on your site, it is easier for the search engine to find it when a user types in the phrase. It is also important to make sure you are constantly updating your keywords. While there are a large number of search engines online, the three largest search engines that you will want to optimize your site for are Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The vast majority of internet traffic goes through these three search engines, and having your site listed in all three will greatly increase your chances for success.
While keywords can improve the ranking of your site, it is important to make sure they are relevant. Many webmasters use keywords which are not related to the content on their pages. This is done because they know these keywords will bring them traffic. However, what good is traffic which is not targeted? If someone comes to your site and doesn't find what they're looking for, they will be frustrated, they will probably not purchase any products they you may be trying to sell.
Both Swati Haritash & Roberto Bell are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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