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What’s in a name?

When thinking of a new name (for a company, an event, or a product) the sooner you consider SEO, the better. One method for evaluating SEO is to get techy. Perform keyword research. Discover seasonality of search trends. Map out audience analysis. Or you can keep it simple and just Google it!

Situations to look for

• A company 3 blocks over already took the perfect name you just thought up
• A major international behemoth copyrighted the latest idea for a new product name
• Common, every-day, high search volume keywords intermixed in the phrase make it impossible to rank

I often think about the precursor to the phenomenon of internet search engine optimization – the Yellow Pages. There it made sense to name yourself “A1 Plumbing,” or “AAA Insurance.” Because everything presented alphabetically, A’s and 1’s optimized your visibility on the page. Nowadays, it’s less about coming first in the alphabet, and more about standing out from the noise.

Where did “Dijon” come from?

When I firsted started trying to pick a company name, everything I thought of and googled was either taken or flooded with competition. The nickname Dijon derives from my first and middle names – David John. Shortened, that became D. John > D’jon > Dijon. When I tried “Dijon Marketing” I found it to be totally unique! Only a few small marketing firms in Dijon, France came up as results. I minted the name and within the first week, ranked #1 on Google. I ran a few ads, optimized local SEO, and dominated the remainder of the search page. Every company dreams of achieving such results!

Next time you brainstorm a name for your organization or a catchy title for a fundraising event, raise your hand and suggest that a browser open to Google be front and center in the conversation.

What is a backlink?

The most effective means to improve your Google ranking, has always been and still is, generating backlinks to your content. Sounds easy enough. But first, you must understand what a backlink is. Then you can avoid accidentally causing more harm than good.

A backlink is when a site other than yours hyperlinks their users to your site. In order to count as a backlink, it must be on a different domain. Each time someone else links their users to your content, it’s like a vote. A vote for your content being the best on the internet for that topic. The reason you’ve heard the name “Google” is because they were the first to realize this as a ranking factor. They use backlinks to bubble the most popular content to the top – a system called PageRank.

What makes one backlink more valuable than another

But not all votes are equal. A backlink from a very reputable website is worth more than one from an unknown. A single link from whitehouse.gov or apple.com could be worth a hundred or even a thousand regular links. Some backlinks can even have a negative impact if they’re from spammy or malicious websites. In that case, disavow them to tell Google you didn’t ask for nor do you want those backlinks.

There are two important aspects of a backlink – the URL and the anchor text. The anchor text is the actual text you click on to follow the link. Typically that would be blue and underlined. If the anchor text relates to the URL, title, metadata, and content, it’s like a boost to the vote.

How to generate more backlinks

It sounds easy enough to generate a few backlinks to your content. You can ask your friends with websites. You can leave a few comments on some open forums. Or even easier, you can hire one of those link building services online. What’s so hard about that? The problem is that every ranking system is eventually reverse engineered and gamed. So Google has ways of detecting malicious attempts to disingenuously improve your rank. Not only can it be ineffective, it can actually result in penalties being levied against your domain. Most SEO services promising quick rank increases or miracle jumps to page 1 are using networks of spammy websites. They only care about creating a temporary short term bump. This will have a negative impact long term.

That’s not to say that you can’t reach out to relevant and related webmasters and request a backlink. But, the best way to generate backlinks is always to write great, engaging content that people want to read. Then they will want to share. It can take longer, but the benefits of playing by the rules are bigger, better, and longer lasting.

Optimize every image for SEO

Optimize every image, every time. Make this a rule for your website. You’d be surprised how much image optimization can influence SEO – not only for regular search engine queries, but especially for image-only searches. To date, Google has not formally released any image or optical character recognition (OCR). That means there are only a few ways it can query images.

1. File name
2. Alt text
3. Page content

Take this picture, for example. I’ve left the file name unedited for better attribution to the artist on Pexels.com. But if you were using it on your website, you could consider the context, placement, and keywords you are attempting to rank for. It might make sense to rename it with one of these methodologies:

• Literally what is in the image: stethoscope-pen-appointment-book.jpg
• What it might be used for: making-medical-appointments.jpg
• What keywords you are targeting: doctors-without-borders.jpg

Use dashes in place of spaces. If you make it a habit every time to stay disciplined and choose a descriptive file name for every image, your site will be higher quality overall.

Alt text can be a bit more free form, but follows the same methodologies. You set it in the image tag like <img src=”stethoscope-pen-appointment-book.jpg” alt=”Stethoscope and pen on top of an appointment book”> Alt text is good for both SEO and site readers for the visually impaired. In our example, additional alt text examples might be “Making medical appointments,” or “Doctors Without Borders taking appointments.”

The rest is based on the content of the page. Keep images relevant, and supporting the central theme of your page. That will help your images rank giving you another stream of organic traffic to discover your message – both image searches and knowledge tiles!

Google My Business without an address

Google My Business is a great way to reach your customers when they are looking for services near them. You might have heard the term, “Local SEO,” before. Showing up for searches “near me” is a big piece of maintaining your local SEO profile.

But what if you don’t have a physical location? Maybe you’re a massage therapist who does in-home sessions with clients. Or a physical trainer who works out of several gyms but doesn’t necessarily have a store front. Are you still able to use Google My Business?

Luckily, yes! Google has an option to verify your business with a service area as opposed to a physical location. It’s easy. Just select the option, No, in response to whether you want to add a location customers can visit.

You do still need to provide an address to Google, however. They still need to verify your identity using a post card sent through snail mail. You can provide your home address, since it will never be shown on your business profile (unless you decide later to change your settings). Once verified, you can define your service area so people within range of your services can find your business.