E-Journal#1 Personal Branding and SEO

a person using computer

Keyword: Personal Branding 
Keyword MSV: 880 Canada
Author: Xinyue Li
Publish Date: Feb 6, 2024
Buyer Persona: Aspiring digital marketers and professionals seeking to enhance their personal brand.

Introduction

a person using computer
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

In this post, I will discuss some aspects of personal branding from Daniela Furtado‘s presentation. She is an SEO professional, an educator, a writer, and the founder of Findable Marketing Agency. I will discuss the values of personal branding, how it can add to the career, and how it can improve online presence, which based on her presentation and my researches. Discover how marketers can stand out on the Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) and optimize the website.

What is persona branding, and why we need it? 

Personal branding is the process by which an individual actively tries to manage others’ impressions of their skills, abilities, and experiences (Johnson, 2017). 
Customers will use social media to search your service and reputations. Social media can be used to increase your social capital (Johnson, 2017). Your personal brand is how you want people see you.
According to Daniela (2024), for interior designers, Arthur Erickson and Associates is a great example, Erickson put himself in the spotlight as the firm’s spokesperson. He created a personal brand and bring his brand to the front.

Terms to Know

Social capital: is the value derived from positive connections between people.
Knowledge Panel: Knowledge panels are information boxes that appear on Google when you search for entities (people, places, organizations, things) that are in the Knowledge Graph.
SERP: stands for “search engine results page.” It’s a page that a search engine displays to a user after they enter a search query.
Online presence: refers to the collective visibility and representation of an individual, business, or entity across various digital platforms and spaces on the internet.

What makes up a Personal Brand

A personal brand is composed of various elements that collectively shape an individual’s professional identity.

According to Chris Brogan (www.chrisbrogan.com), a strong personal brand is a mix of reputation, trust, attention, and execution:
“A personal brand gives you the ability to stand out in a sea of similar products. In essence, you’re marketing yourself as something different than the rest of the pack” (Harris, 2011).

The diagram below shows the key tools available today to enhance a personal brand:

(Harris, 2011)

How to build your Personal Brand on GOOGLE


Daniela (2024) presented on her presentation how personal brand in the digital world.

  • Search yourself on google
    This would help you analysis your current online presence, identify your conpetitors, and planing for improve your online presence.
  • Understand Google’s Algorithmthm
    E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is a crucial concept in SEO. It represents a set of guidelines used by Google’s quality raters to assess the quality of search results. While not a direct ranking factor, a strong E-E-A-T can enhance user trust and lead to higher conversions on your website (Semrush, 2024).  It is not a ranking factor but a component of Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (SQEG).

    Moz(2023) offered a summary of each of the four E-E-A-T factors and tips, to support markets focus on how to be sure you’re taking E-E-A-T into consideration in the online publishs.
  1. Experience
    Google instructs its Quality Rater staff to identify whether your content is based on first-hand experience with what the subjects is covered. For example, searchers are looking for real proofs of other uses experiences, instand of what brand said about themselves. So, a review shown include photos would add strong credibility to the proposition that they have genuine experience about what they are writing about.
  2. Expertise
    Based on how much the content might impact your audiences’ life, Google’s Quality Raters are instructed to determine the level of expertise existed behind your content. For example, a experienced photographer showcasing the process how she took her photo for the client, and posted the photo after the session, demonstrates that she acquired the necessary skills to do the photo sessions.
  3. Authoritativeness
    Whereas being an expert involves proving yourself in your field, being authoritative depends on how others seeing you as an expert. This often relies on the amount and quality of other websites linking to or mentioning your web pages or brand.
  4. Trustworthiness
    This final E-E-A-T metric is one that Google has cited as being the most important of them all. This hinges largely on the accuracy, accessibility, and validity of the information your business publishes (Moz, 2023).  the fellowing factors that Google may consider:
    – your contact information is accessible and accurate
    – your website is secure and with up-to-data customer protctions
    – all the information you posted on website is accurate
    – policies like shipping and return policy are accessibble and accurate
    – accurately representing user’s review
(Moz, 2023)
  • Knowlesge panel
    According to Daniela’s presentation, this will be how personal brand looks like in 2024. And besed on the research, Google Accounts for 91.54% of the Global Search Engine Market (semrush, 2024).

How to create a Knowledge Panel

A Google knowledge panel is a valuable feature of the search results page (SERP) that provides users with quick access to essential information about a particular entity, be it a person, place, organization, or thing. This prominent and visually appealing display appears on the right-hand side of the search results, presenting key details in a concise and easily digestible format. By showcasing essential information such as a brief overview, images, links to social profiles, and related entities, the knowledge panel aims to provide users with a comprehensive understanding of the entity they are searching for, without the need to navigate through multiple websites. This not only enhances the user experience by offering quick access to relevant information but also reinforces the entity’s online presence and credibility. The inclusion of a knowledge panel in the search results can significantly impact how users perceive and interact with the entity, making it a highly sought-after feature for individuals, businesses, and organizations looking to establish a strong digital presence.

According on Daniele’s presentation and researches, creating a knowledge panel on google requires google’s recognition of your contributions and achievements. it happens automaticlly based on your online presence. Some suggestions offered by Daniele to improve your online presence.

(Daniela, 2024)

Suggestions from Daniela (2024) including: 1) the domine include the individual’s or the brand name, 2) include an about page include the name in the URL, 3)social medias handles with your name, 4) speaks in same topics.

Semrush (2023) suggested to entity home page on a “about” page rather than a homepage. Some website suggsted creating a Wikipedia Website, while this action need to be used in custion because the web page is not competely control on your own.

How this may impact my career path

I think this presentation is helpful for me to understand about how to improve online presence on google, with the knowledge of E-E-A-T, and Knowledge Panel, am aware that how google giving credit to the high quality content of website. With the insignts of content creating on website, I did a redesign of my website, and planning to present a user centered and fellow the E-E-A-T when I am editing my content and website.

Resources for Personal Branding

The Importance of Personal Branding in Social Media: Educating Students to Create and Manage their Personal Brand 

Google E-E-A-T What does E-E-A-T mean in SEO?

What Is Social Capital and Why Is It So Important?

What Are E-E-A-T and YMYL in SEO & How to Optimize for Them

How our Quality Raters make Search results better

How to Get a Google Knowledge Panel 

About knowledge panels

What’s on a Google SERP? And How Do SERP Rankings Work?

16 Effective Ways to Build Your Online Presence

Personal Branding for Architects and Interior Designers

34 Eye-Opening Google Search Statistics for 2024

In conclusion, building a strong personal brand on Google is a multifaceted journey that demands dedication and strategic effort. Through optimizing the Google profile, consistently sharing valuable content, and engaging with the target audiences, marketers can position themselves as an authority in their field. Online presence on Google is a potent tool for shaping perceptions and creating new opportunities. Begin cultivating personal brand on Google today and take the first step to unlocking full potential of the brand.

References:

References:

Johnson, K. M. (2017). The importance of personal branding in social media: educating students to create and manage their personal brand. International journal of education and social science4(1), 21-27.

Harris, L., & Rae, A. (2011). Building a personal brand through social networking. Journal of Business Strategy32(5), 14-21.

Leave a comment