Why Ranking for Your Name in Google and Social Media is Important


Have you ever Google’d yourself, or searched for your name on Twitter or Facebook? You likely have. Even more so if you are a business, brand or famous personality. No matter who, where, what and why you are searching online… there is a good chance a lot of people come up for your name in the results.

Today I’m going to show you a few different ways to help you rank your own websites and social profiles higher in Google and on social media — specifically for people who might be sharing the same name for you.

A Personal Resume Online

Before doing so, let me first cover why it’s important to rank at the top when someone searches for your name.

  1. If you are ranking your own content, then you are in control of your online reputation and what people see.
  2. When someone searches for your name online, don’t you want them to find you and not someone else?
  3. There are plenty of people in the world with the same name as you, stand out from the crowd by being #1.
  4. When applying for a new job, it’s important that your employer finds your information and not someone else’s.

Ranking for your name is also very important for online reputation management, the more digital assets you own and control the more influence you have over search results for your personal brand. A perfect example of this would be if you just graduated high school or college and looking to make a name for yourself in the world. You already have a resume and submit it to a bunch of businesses and websites… but when someone searches for your name online to do a cross check.. they find someone else! Not only is this person not you, but they could also be damaging your name and reputation without you even knowing it.

Like it or not, people are going to have the same name as you. With over 7 billion people in the world, it’s simply a numbers game.

With all of this in mind, let’s take at a name like “Stephen Collins”. It’s a somewhat generic name, but there are many prolific people in the world with it. Here’s a look at just a few of them.

  • Stephen Collins – Famous actor from 7th Heaven.
  • Stephen Collins – Award-winning illustrator and cartoonist
  • Stephen Collins – Political journalist at the Irish Times.

What’s the common theme between all three of these examples? Their name of course!

They all share the same name, but if you were to search for them online, you would find them in different orders.

This is a perfect example of what likely happens what someone searches for your name online — you simply get lost in the mix. Also, when you are in control of your own name and where it ranks in the search results, you don’t have to worry as much about social media PR disasters like many brands around the world do.

Names and Faces on Social Media

The good news is, that there are several ways you can move up in the rankings, for both social media and in Google search results.

I’ve listed three working methods below.

1 – Create a Website or Blog Immediately

First, you should create a website or blog. This is extremely simple, and quite fun as well. If you aren’t a personal brand or business, you might not feel you need a website or blog of your own, but you should anyway. Even if you have no reason to create a site, start one today and simply write up a short bio about yourself and link to your other social profile pages. You might not have a need for a website now, but if you can register your name as a domain (.com, .net, .org), you definitely should before someone else does.

2 – Grow Your Reach on Social Media

Just like having a website or domain name, having a solid social profile is also key to ranking higher in Google, Twitter, and Facebook. To improve your chances of ranking higher, try to get a username that matches or is similar to your name. At the same time, also be sure to create original images for your social profiles, so your audience starts to see consistent branding and personal photos across each network. If you already have a website (or planning to make one), be sure to cross link the two together. Google loves to rank social profiles in the search results, and it should only take a few links to your profile page on Twitter and Facebook to start moving it up in the rankings.

3 – Slowly Grow Your Reach and Exposure Online

In addition to the two methods above, if you really want to see your name rank at the top of the search results, then you are going to need to focus on your content creation, exposure, link building and becoming an authority within your space. In the example of the three Stephen Collins above, they are all experts at what they do, so they are three of the most well-known people in the world with that name. Depending on who your competition is and how common your name is, it could be easier or harder to improve where your social profile and website ranks online. If you are going to put in all of the time, work, and effort to build a platform and rank your content online, you might as well also be building an email list in the process. This is always something that is good to have, as it’s something that will keep growing on a daily basis and always be there is you wanted to send out an announcement, do a launch promotion or even create a product or service of your own.

Protecting Your Name Online is Key

The takeaway here is that there are currently over a billion websites on the internet today, while there also being over three billion people online. That is still less than half of the world’s population. When you think about how many people are in the world today and how many of them actually share the same name with you, it can be quite important to start establishing where your name ranks online today… rather than waiting a few years in the future.

If you think it’s hard to rank for your name online today, imagine how it will be just a few years from now. Take action today, follow the tips above and start thinking about why it might be a good idea for you to start focusing on how your name ranks and appears online.


Zac

Zac Johnson is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the world of online marketing and branding. Follow his journey at Blogging.org and ZacJohnson.com.

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