Boost your Brand with Google Profiles

Posted on | September 25, 2009 | No Comments

Branding is the buzz word of the moment and businesses are looking at how they can increase their online visibility.

I believe that many companies have a valuable, untapped asset in their staff. These individuals are no doubt engaging in social media activities on a regular basis such as blogging, tweeting and updating Facebook profiles etc. so why not take advantage of it?

There are a multitude of social sites that you could encourage your staff to sign up to, and add links etc. to your company website – but focusing on Google’s own profile pages would be a great place to start.

A company reputation is often linked to the quality of its service and the knowledge and experience of its employees. Encourage your staff to create Google Profile pages where they talk about their role at your company and their knowledge they have of your industry.

One advantage of Google Profile pages is that currently links are followed. There are rumours that the no follow attribute is being brought into use, but I set up a brand new profile today and there is no evidence of this.

Optimising a Google Profile Page

Treat the profile page as you would a web page that you are optimising for search. Write quality unique content and take advantage of the no follow links sparingly. Remember, this is a branding exercise so mention keywords and phrases in the text but focus on the company name. I would suggest only adding links to the company name rather than keywords, so not to be deemed as spamming the profile for back links.

Competitors and potential customers may do a Google search on the name of one of your employees so ensure that the profile remains professional. It will do no harm to show a bit of personality with details of out of work interests but give consideration to who may read it.

Link to articles, blogs or press releases that show your company in a good light. Google Profiles should be seen as a personal branding exercise within a ‘bigger picture’.

When filling out the profile boxes, be aware that the full name of the creator will become the title tag. One trick I have tried today is adding ‘SEO’ to the end of my surname. Only time will tell whether this has any positive or negative impact.

Also the ‘What do I do’ text will become the meta description for the profile. As with every web page, ensure that this is 25-35 words long or Google will pull in content from the page itself. Writing a good ‘What do I do’ section is also your chance to manipulate what is displayed on SERPs.

I have seen profiles with a ‘Verified’ name. In order to obtain this you will need to sign up to the Google Knol project.

Lastly, ensure that when you choose the URL, your profile is displayed under that the friendly URL with your name used rather than the numerical option as with my profile:

http://www.google.com/profiles/CarolineLBell

Caroline Bell
SEO Advisor

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