How many times do you search for your name in Google? Do you do it out of boredom or as an ego boost? Believe it or not, ranking well for your own name can be an easy task. Here are a few tips to get a top 10 ranking for your name.
Competition
When you search for your name in Google, how many results are returned? If there are less than a million results, you may have a good shot of ranking well for the term. Try putting quotation marks around your name such as “John Smith”. This will search for exact matches on web pages. The lower the competition is; the better.
On-Page
If you have access to the page you wish to rank well for, make sure that your name is in the title tag. Also make sure that your name is used at least three times throughout the entire document. Have you registered a domain such as yourname.com? By having your name in the URL, it will greatly increase the chances of a high ranking.
Off-Page
Building links is an important step that will aid in top rankings. If you participate in forums, put a link in your signature with your name as the anchor text. Participate on blogs by posting comments with a link back to your web page. The more links you can build, the better your ranking will be. But beware that if you build too many links too fast, Google may flag you as a spammer and your ranking may be compromised.
Results
Results can vary depending on the number of links, the on-page optimization and the number of competing websites. You can sometimes see results in a matter of days or even a matter of months. SEO is a continuous process of adjustments in order to rank adequately in Google.
