WTF is Personal SEO? April 2010 By Ben Cotton [email protected] www.twitter.com/bencotton www.socialwebthing.com www.linkedin.com/in/bencotton
Dec 06, 2014
WTF is Personal SEO?
April 2010By Ben Cotton
[email protected]/bencottonwww.socialwebthing.comwww.linkedin.com/in/bencotton
Introduction
• Studied BA (Hons) Public Relations at Leeds Met and graduated in 2008
• Worked in the Leeds Met press office, Yorkshire CCC PR dept and PR research centre
• Been at Edelman Digital since Feb 2010
• Won blogging award in Feb 2010
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Personal Brand
“the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual; this includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable.” (Tom Peters, 1997)
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Outdated?
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Personal Brand vs. SEO
• Personal brand is pre-google
• 1997 vs. 2010
• People mention personal brand or digital footprint, they are often referring to something that is better described as personal SEO
• People describe what happens when someone Google’s your name
• Having good stuff come up is the essence of personal SEO
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What is Personal SEO?
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• March 2006, Business Week
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You are what you post
Why is it important?
Stephen Waddington, MD Speed Communications, 2009:
“Inevitably employers are using Google as a personal reputation engine and scrutinising these types of sites to review an individual’s career history and work ahead of hiring an individual.”
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Why is it important?
Stuart Bruce, MD Wolfstar, 2010:
“As more and more people use Twitter, Facebook and blogs we know far more about people than we’ve ever done before. The first thing that I do when recruiting someone is check them out online. It’s a matter of few minutes to go back and read hundreds of their previous tweets and find out far more about the real them than any CV, reference or interview could ever reveal.”
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• Potentially a much larger audience
• Show understanding of SEO
• Show you ‘get’ digital
• Enhance your reputation
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Why?
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Why?
Where to start?
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Blogging
• Voice your opinion
• Improve writing
• Google loves blogs
• Familiarise yourself with industry issues
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Blogging
• Guest blog
• Make use of a good title, tags and first sentence
• Promote!
• Networking opportunities
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Real Work
• Presentation decks
• Examples of writing
• Clippings and coverage
• CV
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Real Work
• E-portfolio?! Show digital skills
• Bridge the gap between academic and practical
• Great for search
• Impress employers
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Networking
• Social networks
• Agree/disagree with people
• Let them know about your blog
• Let them know you are looking for a placement/job
• Find out about industry issues
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Networking
• Great access to senior PR people
• Find out what senior PR people are thinking!
• Build up a reputation online
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• Write for other blogs/websites
• Privacy settings
• Make your work sharable
• Make yourself contactable
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Other considerations
• Tag
• Title
• Promote
• First Sentence
• Description
• Share
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Practical tips!
• Jed Hallam, Wolfstar
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Success stories
• Matthew Watson, Speed Communications
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Success stories
Success Stories
Dave Turnbull, Skywrite Communications:
‘I believe that being able to produce something a little different, whilst also demonstrating proficiency with technology is something that appeals to employers.’
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Pitfalls
• Client confidentiality
• Personal privacy
• Extremely public
• Could look stupid and damage reputation
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Conclusions
• Look after your personal SEO
• The Y Generation are increasingly expected to ‘get’ this stuff
• You have a fantastic opportunity to allow employers to know lots of positive info about you - before they meet you
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Q&A
Any questions?
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Thank you
Contact details
[email protected]/bencottonwww.socialwebthing.comwww.linkedin.com/in/bencotton