Last week we mentioned that creating a nice, big digital footprint can help you get found more easily online. This week, we follow up with an in-depth look at what that means.

The art of SEO has shifted from identifying keywords and stuffing your site with them, to being the most relevant in your world. And, it’s grown far beyond the old days of being limited just to your Web site. Today everything is so interconnected that search engine optimization means taking ownership of your space across the entire Web.

What does that look like? Consider the following screen grab, running a Google search for Matt Weeden:

Of the top 10 results, 7 are to do with the owner of MWD Web. And, the only Matt Weeden to appear in the people result is yours truly. (It happens that there’s another Matt Weeden who does Web sites, out in Charlotte. What are the odds?)

Now look at the sources of these hits: our old corporate site, the CIPA (Colorado Independent Publishers Association) site, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Meetup.com and Facebook have in the past also come up as results.

The point is: the bigger the net you spread, the better your odds of turning up in results.

Consider too the rumblings in the digital world that Google is shortly going to stop ranking based on the old standards of inbound links, page rank, etc., and move toward a paradigm of likes, shares, and follows instead. They have bought Twitter’s information, and according to those in the know, they skim off of Facebook’s API as well. Add it all up and you’ve got that much more reason to put some effort into getting involved in venues besides just your own site.

What are you doing to build your digital footprint? What can you add to that? Be mindful of avoiding spammy techniques in the process (see last week’s post), but by all means – if you haven’t been making an effort to grow your brand’s presence, now is the time to start.

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is right now.”
– old proverb

Photo by Aaron Jacobs