Ash the Keyword: An SEO Challenge
Posted by Ash on August 1st, 2008 in SEO | 4 Comments »
Being an SEO expert brings everyday challenges and some are more interesting than others. Last week, after being introduced to a potential client as the SEO Expert, I was asked if they would find me at the top of Google if they searched for my name, Ash. I didn’t hesitate in my answer with “of course you will.”
Immediately following our meeting, I did a quick search for Ash to see how my rankings were holding up after not blogging much for about 8 months. I’m usually about #25 but to my surprise I came in at #126 for the keyword “Ash.” however, if you search for Ash Buckles, I come in at #1 and #2 and 16 more of the top 20 spots are my social media profiles, which I control; read my last post for more information.
Thus the challenge becomes ranking at the top of Google for the keyword “Ash” while competing against some pretty huge organizations of the same name.
Some of these huge names include:
- American Society of Hematology (ASH)
- alt.suicide.holiday (ASH)
- Wikipedia page about alt.suicide.holiday (ASH)
- Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
- Wikipedia page about Ash trees
- Wikipedia page about Ash the band
- The American Society of Hypertension, Inc. (ASH)
- Ash – YouTube Video
- USGS Photo Glossary: volcanic ash
- Ash – the hard wood
- Chicago Tribune news about Ash
I’m not sure I’ll ever make it to #1, nor stay there if I do, but I’d like to think I can make it into the top 10 results of Google and maybe Yahoo. Wish me luck.
4 Responses
So do you think posting content on other sites like Twitter, or Flickr, or some where else, will help you get there faster, not just your blog? Is it a matter of ration or relevant content?
I guess the question is can you force the issue by dumping content in many places thus raising the amount of times your name appears?
Thom Allen’s last blog post… The Most Bizzar Political Message I’ve Ever Heard
@thom Um. Getting your site to the top of the engines for your keywords requires on-page content as well as internal and external links that promote that page.
Building external links (from other sites to yours) is the key because your popularity rises for every link that points to you. Keep in mind, however, that links with “nofollow” attached aren’t as valuable but still count so your efforts should be in “do follow” links.
As far as adding your content to other sites (Twitter, Flickr, etc.) this will help to get that page (not your domain) to the top of the engines for your keywords because they’re highly popular already and if you create a page with great on-page keyword density then you will effectively boost that page in the engines. Why would you do this then? Because you can control what information is at the top of Google for your keywords and link to yourself. Whether a human or robot visits, it’s about you and controlled by you rather than some other listing.
Useful information for my hungry brain! Keep it up.
Great write-up, I’m a large believer in commenting on blogs and forums to assist the site authors know that they’ve extra something of value towards the world wide web!