I have been talking for the past few weeks about how to get your name to the top of Google and how to seo your site to help you be found.

Instead of spending this week with another week giving our readers another step by step guide I want to show you an example an SEO’d site to point out some good and not so good.

Let’s start with our friend Dan Schawbel, he runs the Personal Branding Blog. Now, if you have taken the time to look at his site you will notice that on the home page he uses the words “Personal Branding” 22 times in visible text and a total of 125 times in Reference tags.  And no, for those of you wondering I did not count, I used this really good tool to check the keyword density of the page: http://www.keyworddensity.com/

What does this mean?  It means that if you were to read his site you would see the words “Personal Branding” 22 times and that he has optimized all of his backend content for that keyword phrase as well.  This is the reason that he comes up number 1 for the phrase and that his personal site comes up number two.

So why else does he come up so highly?  There are a couple of really important factors that should be noted.  First off, according to website grader (which scores him as a 99.5) he has over 11,000 inbound links.  This means that in Google’s eyes he has 11,000 votes towards his site being credible.  Always remember that inbound links are one of the most important factors for search engines to determine how reputable a site is.

Some of the other big things that Dan has working in his favor are:

• Publishes content on a daily basis – Search engines want to see content that is fresh, that doesn’t mean rewrite your home page every day but that does mean that you should be adding pages/posts regularly.
• Dan has good content – it is not that he is publishing the same old stuff every day; he is taking the time to put together good articles that are always focused on personal branding.  Search engines want good content for their readers.

What could Dan do better?

• Extend how long he owns the domain name- Currently (according to website grader) the domain name is only registered for another year.  Search engines want to make sure that the domain name is not new so it is good that he has owned it for almost 3 years, but they also want to see that you plan to use it moving forwards
• Leverage Digg – make sure that all of his articles are automatically submitted to Digg so that users are more apt to click on them and it makes it easier for a passive user to Digg his articles.  Social networks are playing a larger part in today’s SEO world.  Dan does effectively get his content out to many of these networks, but it is important to not let any of them slide.
• I would look to see if there is a way to do a 301/302 redirect of his old blog that he used to run through wordpress- Or at least i would start going through that site and creating links on the word personal branding to his current site.  He has not been able to overcome it at the top of Google and a linking strategy could help take away some of the Page Rank from his old site.

Dan’s site is a great example of how to do site wide search engine optimization.  He has done it very well there is no doubt there.  It is a complex process that enables you to go for higher traffic words than you can sometimes achieve with only writing a series of articles about one topic.  Also keep in mind, larger sites such as CNN and the NYTimes can more easily get harder keywords due to their higher page rank.

Next week I am going to focus my efforts on giving you insight into another important case study, a look at a single page SEO strategy and pointing out the pros and cons.  Thanks and I look forward to your questions / comments!

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Here at Brand-Yourself.com, we spend a LOT of time on the Web. One impossible trend to overlook: young people are the ones consistently pushing out new, quality content challenging the status quo. We decided to put together a list of the most influential, thought-provoking young bloggers.

Call them whatever you like – Gen Y bloggers, millennials – it doesn’t matter. As social technology continues to turn traditional business on its head, you can bet you will be seeing these names again; possibly on your paychecks.

1. Ryan Stephens: Ryan Stephens Marketing

Ryan is young but knows his stuff. He words as a media analyst for sports media challenge while running his own business, Ryan Stephens Marketing, on the side. More than anything else, Ryan makes a point to make each article original, thought provoking and open to conversation. Where many social media blogs seem to merely regurgitate the big names and blogs, Ryan brings a fresh, new voice to the arena. My personal favorite: Taking Your Blog to the Next Level.

2. Dan Schawbel: Personal Branding Blog

If you’ve heard of personal branding, you’ve heard of Dan Schawbel. Schawbel works like a dog to help people develop their personal brand and promote them online. Outside of his award winning blog, he has written a bestselling book, published the only personal branding magazine and toured the east delivering personal branding workshops. If you haven’t been there, check it out, if only to catch up with his weekly interviews with truly innovative people.

3. David Spinks: David Spinks

David Spinks is relatively new to the blogosphere but his willingness to share and converse is quickly making him popular. In fact, I first discovered his blog on a discussion board on linked in. He is a community manager at scribnia and has an undeniable understanding of social media and building relationships. Particularly, his weekly “Mentor Monday” contributions are prime examples of social networking done right.

4. Bradley Will: Bradley Will

Add Bradley to your reader if you are a young entrepreneur. In fact, add him even if you’ve felt the slightest hint of the entrepreneurial spirit. His narratives through his own entrepreneurial exploits are illuminating and extremely personal and relatable. He currently works as a social media evangelist for nextvoice247. He is also releasing a series of training videos at socialmedia altitude. To get started, read: 21 things I have learned so far this year.

5.  Rebecca Thorman: Modite

Rebecca is intelligent, thoughtful and an excellent writer. She constantly pumps out interesting content regarding Gen Y, the workplace, personal branding and career advancement. She works at alice.com, a promising start up, doing marketing, PR and social media. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing her and she revealed valuable insights regarding the job search and working for small businesses. My personal favorite on her blog: How to Decide if You Have a Good Job.

6.  Matt Wilson and Jared O’ Tool: Under 30 CEO

Our good friends over at Under30CEO are writing and inspiring Gen-Yer’s to pursue their passion. Their goal “is to make you uncomfortable enough to do something with your life.” A great read to find your new passion and learn something interesting, which is hard to come about these days.  Matt will also be contributing to our eBook so stay tuned for that as well.

7.  Matt Cheuvront: Life Without Pants

Sorry to disappoint you – but he does wear pants. It’s actually an “epic metaphor for the way life should be lived, unrestricted and without regret.” Matt’s blog is a collection of personal experiences tied and social media tips that’s quite intriguing due to his uncanny writing style to make you feel like he’s actually talking to you.

8.  Chris Perry: CareerRocketeer

Career Rocketeer is one of the fastest growing career search, career development and personal branding blogs on the web today, welcoming ambitious career entrepreneurs of all ages and professions who are always driven to “launch” their careers to higher heights. Chris is a current MBA student who also started MBAhighway which is a comprehensive niche job board and career resource website exclusively for MBA students.

9. Ryan Paugh, Ryan Healy (and Penelope Trunk): BrazenCareerist

For anyone interested in social media and how it related to the Gen-Y demographic, Penelope, Ryan and Ryan’s Brazen Careerist venture is the place to be. Together they have formed a tight knit community of some of the brightest minds in Gen-Y. They produce a lot of their own content but do syndicate from other sites to give you an all around feel for what is going on in social media.

10. Jun Loayza: Jun Loayza

Jun gives some of the most down to earth and practical advice about the “startup life” that we’ve come across. He is honest, tranparent, and he never fails to deliver concrete and useful tips. Jun is the President of SocialMediaMarketing.com and the co-Founder of Viralogy.com. As he puts it, “entrepreneurship is not a job; it’s a lifestyle.” That’s why we love him. 

Thank you to everyone on the list and everyone else who has made this possible.

This list was compiled by Trace Cohen, Patrick Ambron (@brandyourself) and Pete Kistler (@pete_kistler).

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