Tips for Making a Major Search Engine's First Page

Seeking information on another subject, I was surprised when I Googled a specific word and discovered that something I had written came up as the third item on the first page under that search. I often Google my name, the titles of my works, or a few words that I think may result in something related to me being a part of a Google search engine result, but it always catches my attention when anything comes up as a part of those first ten items on page one, and it certainly caught me by surprise when something I had no idea would include me at that level came up with such prominence.

Of course, if it catches my attention, it no doubt caught the immediate attention of others as well. That is certainly the goal of anyone in any marketing capacity in today's sales arena, but the difficulty of attaining such a desirable position is monumental. Daily, countless companies, organizations, and individuals pay literally billions of dollars seeking to reach the privilege of such rankings. The quest for those prominent rankings is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), so I wondered, given I had not engaged in any type of effort for positioning, what had actually transpired and preceded my unintentional landing in such a coveted position as it related to that specific and very common word.

In this instance, that ranking result appeared when I entered only my first name and the word "poet". I am a poet. I have written a book of poetry that has won a few awards, I contribute to a variety of zines and journals, belong to a few workshops and online poetry groups, and my poetry has been included in other types of works. I also contribute to a poetry radio pod cast, and, now and then I'll win a poetry contest. But, those thing, in and of themselves, are not that unusual. Most sincere contemporary poets could present the same resume. Those things alone are not what catapulted me into that Google posture. Another Google search I did shortly after, (and a quick similar search on many other search engines) showed me what, most probably, did.

Several years ago I wrote an article on poetry. It dealt with the subject of self-publishing, and it gave advice on whether or not it was the right path for a poet to pursue. It was a free article. From the beginning, that article picked up steam, and it became a frequently included article for writing related online zines. Later, a few more widely read online journals and how-to entities included it in their newsletters, and the momentum continued to build. Hundreds and hundreds of times that one article has been used online now. I discovered that when the title of that specific article is included in virtually any of the search engines currently it is going to come up time and time again - even though it is years since I first wrote it - and, although I did not receive payment for the original article itself, the value of my having written it now very clearly nets me priceless, countless ongoing goodwill.

My unintentional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of myself as a poet is merely that of the fruits of my cumulative labor resulting in a strong harvest. It is another path for those who are authors, artist, who have specialized knowledge or skills, interests and talents, who don't have the money to pay their way to a higher profile online, but who have the ability and wherewithal to write about their specialty and to add their written voice to the circle of information available to those searching. It may take a little while for the momentum to build, but if what you have to say is solid, reliable information, it may not be long before you can enter your own first name and the single word of your field of expertise into any search engine and find yourself on page one.