By now, most of us will know what SEO is and, at least roughly, how it works. Personal SEO isn’t as well-known or as popular, even though it is something that can and should be relevant to a great number of people.
We will all agree that maintaining a good reputation in the business world is key to a successful career and lucrative job. For many, that means not to post any drunk pictures on Facebook and to keep embarrassing posts to a minimum, however in today’s world that isn’t all there is to it anymore.
Positive storytelling, as it is called, is the art of reputation management on a personal level. The same way a company will try to gear its website and articles towards the best possible search engine placements, the same thing is possible on a more personal level and it should definitely be done.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone, but to younger people, people active in the IT sector, or any kind of leading personnel and managers as well as exposed people, this should be considered a functional skill. As we all know, as far as the internet is concerned, once something is out there, it’s out there forever, which means that we should not only avoid negative content to be spread, which essentially leads to a void of information, no, instead we should actively spread and confirm positive things.
If for no other reason, then because employers, more often than not, google potential employees before hiring them. Now, them finding nothing is still better than finding negative things, however in an ideal situation, the applicant’s reputation management skills will have allowed them to create a positive image that will reinforce the employers intent to hire them rather than not giving them anything at all.
After all, lack of information is also lack of positive things to find, and that should be avoided. Simply having a website with a personal ‘about me’ section and perhaps a few mentions of past projects or awards, successes or jobs will kick-start a personal SEO campaign. That doesn’t necessarily mean that a full scale web page needs to be bought or developed-although if that’s possible that’s a great thing to do as well, no, a front or landing page with a few personal details and a nice smiling picture will, in this case, really tell more than a thousand words, by giving a positive impression to anyone who stumbles across it.
Reputation Protection, Reputation Management, Positive Storytelling, Personal SEO
