Speaker 1: 0:54

Hello and welcome to. Seo is not that hard. I'm your host, ed Dawson, the founder of the SEO intelligence platform, keywordfupoleasercom, where we help you discover the questions people ask online and learn how to optimize your content for traffic and authority. I've been in SEO and online marketing for over 20 years and I'm here to share the wealth of knowledge, hints and tips I've amassed over that time. Hello and welcome back to SEO is not that hard. It's me here, ed Dawson, as usual, and today I want to sort of jump into a topic that might surprise you, but it's how personal branding can be an essential part of your SEO strategy. If you're wondering how to connect who you are with what you do online, then this episode is for you, and even if you haven't been wondering how to do it, I still think this is something in this episode for you. So you know, obviously, when we think about SEO, the first thing you might think about would be keywords, backlinks, technical audits, content strategies, all those kind of things. But what if I told you that one of the most powerful SEO tools you actually have is your own personal brand? And today I'm going to explore how building your personal brand not only boosts your credibility, but it can also really boost your website search and your performance too. And we'll look at some examples on the way, like Martin Lewis, who I've mentioned before, but his hugely successful money-saving expert website, and my own journey on a much smaller scale with keywordspeopleusecom.

Speaker 1: 2:10

So let's get into it. So what is personal branding and why does it matter for SEO? Well, first, let what is personal branding and why does it matter for SEO? Well, first, let's design define personal branding. So, in simple terms, personal branding is how you present yourself and your expertise online, and it's the unique combination of skills, experience and personality you want to share with your audience. So think of it like your digital reputation, almost. So why is personal branding like such a leveler for SEO? Well, here's a few key reasons. Okay, trust and authority. So when you consistently deliver quality content and present your personality, people begin to trust you. Search engines notice that too, and these trust signals and authority are major ranking factors you know, think EAT and they come naturally when your personal brand is strong differentiation.

Speaker 1: 3:00

So if you're in a crowded digital space, it's hard to stand out if you're just another website and your personal brand is something that can make you unique and when people search for topics in your niche. A strong personal brand can tip the scales in your favor and engagement. People like to connect with people. By sharing your story, your values, your expertise, you encourage interaction, you encourage shares, you encourage backlinks all of which contribute to better SEO. So the way you need to think about this is, like every time you share a personal anecdote or an insight that resonates with your audience, you're building an emotional connection, and that connection can lead you to more loyal followers and improved online visibility.

Speaker 1: 3:38

So, first of all, let's look at the martin lewis example and money saving expert. Now, I've mentioned martin lewis before and and some of the things he's done, but this is more all about his personal brand. Okay, and he's the man behind money saving expertcom, which, if you're in the uk, is a very well known site. Okay, and martin lewis has built his brand on transparency, practical advice and a deep understanding of personal finance, and also some slightly bad dad jokes. He makes deliberate bad jokes, but that's just part of his brand, okay, um, and when people think of saving money or looking for financial advice in the uk, then martin's name is often the first thing that comes to mind.

Speaker 1: 4:17

How does this connect to SEO. Okay, well, first of all, it's authority and expertise. You know Martin Lewis, he isn't just a faceless website, he's a trusted personality. You know his name carries weight because his name for being honest, straightforward advice, and when search engines see a website associated with a trusted person, it adds credibility and it can help you know, help that site rank. Higher user engagement. Okay, money saving it's not just a collection of articles, it's a community martin's personal insights, regular updates and his entire team that he's built to um sort of encapsulate and share that same kind of enthusiasm and the same style. You know he's created a community that invites users to engage, comment and share. And again, these interactions, they send positive signals, you know, to the search engines and backlinks and mentions, because Martin's such a recognised authority.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Other websites naturally link to MoneySafeMX. But you know he's in the news all the time. Because Martin is such a recognised authority. Other websites naturally link to Money Saving Expert. He's in the news all the time. So, whether it's news articles, mentions on financial blogs, mentions in social mentions, all over the place, these backlinks boost the site's domain authority and in previous SEO rankings it goes back to why do people link to Money Saving Expert? They link there because it's Martin Lewis's website. They know they can trust martin lewis. They know their audience know who he is, so if they're linking to him, it's not an unusual link for their audience to want to want to think is a relevant, good link. Um, and you know, if money saving expert had been built without martin lewis at the front, it never would have become the site that it has become today and it never's made tens of millions of pounds out of it. He sold it to MoneySupermarketcom in the UK another big site in the UK but he still works for it, still earns well from it, and he's still got his own independent journalistic output as well, which he obviously earns from. So it's amazing how he's built this brand on some quite basic financial advice, but just by really being authentic as who he is and as a journalist and and his enthusiasm for the top.

Speaker 1: 6:24

The other example is me. Okay, I'm not trying to equate myself to martin lewis and his achievements, but in a much smaller way, I've done a similar thing. So, when it came to building keywords, people use a site that is built on the idea that SEO isn't just all about algorithms. It's about understanding real people and how they search. My brand is at the core of that mission. Okay, now authenticity.

Speaker 1: 6:52

With this, with keywordspeopleusecom, I can focus on being authentic and transparent. I can share my journey, struggles I've had and the lessons I've learned along the way, and this personal touch makes my content hopefully more relatable and trustworthy, which in turn encourages people to stick around, share and engage. If it was just the tool without my story behind it, it was just the tool without my story behind it, then it would be harder to get people to care about it, to see how it works. You know it's important to put a brand my brand, my story to it because it gives context of how it can work and it's that kind of niche expertise. The personal branding helped me establish myself as an authority in the seo niche because before those of you know my story know that I've very successfully run websites for 20 years before getting into any kind of personal branding now.

Speaker 1: 7:47

When I sold broadband at kdk for um, you know it was a very big sum of money at the time. Um, I still have other sites going, but I wanted to do something different and I wanted to get in there and help people with SEO and I saw so much bad advice around, but I'd survived 20 years of doing this, through all the ups and downs, and I thought I have got something that I can share with people that can help them. Okay, and the byproduct is if by me helping people with their SEO helps them become aware of keywords people use and it might be able to help them, then that's a win-win for both of us. Okay, I've helped people whatever. If people want to carry on and see more, want to learn more, if they're interested in my tool, if there's a right tool for them, then me having that personal brand and putting myself out there helps raise visibility for the tool and the website. So this is why and sharing your expertise can help prove why the service or the tool or whatever it is you're offering is actually value.

Speaker 1: 8:45

You're not just something faceless. You're not just someone trying to pull a fast book. You're not just someone who doesn't know what they're doing. You can prove that authority in your niche and it provides social proof. Over time, the trust I've built with my audience um, it's led to word of mouth referrals. I know that I've seen that I've spoken to people who said oh, I've heard of you because of such and such or so people said to me oh, I've told all my friends about you, I've told all my colleagues about you. Um, you get shares, get organic backlinks and all these factors. They contribute directly to improve search rankings. We wouldn't be where we were if I hadn't put myself out there as a personal brand. So what I've learned really is that investing time in your personal brand isn't separate from your SEO efforts. It can be integral to them and by letting your personality sort of shine through, building trust with your audience, you can create a virtuous cycle, that flywheel, where great content leads to better SEO, which in turn drives you know, drives more traffic to your site. So that's some examples of how some very well-known people have done it and some very less well-known people like myself have done it.

Speaker 1: 9:49

But if you want to integrate personal branding into your SEO strategy, then what do you do? Okay, so here's some practical steps. First of all, show your face and tell your story. Don't be afraid to appear in videos, podcasts or even simply putting your picture on your website. People really connect with faces and stories. You need to introduce yourself, share your journey and let your audience see the human side of your brand. Secondly, consistency that is really key. Whether you're blogging, tweeting, posting on LinkedIn, podcasting, you need to be consistent in tone, the style, the message and build a coherent personal brand and you need to align your content with your core values and whatever unique perspective you offer. And along with that, consistency is turn up and do stuff when you say you will. I say I'll do three podcasts a week and I've done that again and again and again and again and I've never, since I started, I've never missed those through monday, wednesday, friday slots. I've put content out okay and that consistency, again, is really key.

Speaker 1: 10:52

Turn up where people expect you and when you said you get a turn up and you want to engage authentically. You want to engage authentically. You want to respond to comments, answer questions, participate in conversations, both on your site and elsewhere. Engagement shows you're not just another faceless company. It shows you're a real person with real expertise. Now leverage all kinds of content multimedia, whatever. Integrate video, audio, infographics. Make your content engaging. So, if you're explaining seo strategies, consider creating a video where you walk through the process.

Speaker 1: 11:27

If you're selling guitars, show yourself playing a guitar. Show why you are the guitar expert. Talk about the guitars. Talk about if you teach people how to learn. You know you need to be there showing them, showing what you can do, showing your learning process and this kind of like you know, content in over many media is makes it shareable. Push your authority and your site's authority. Share case studies and personal experiences. You know you've got to use your real life examples to illustrate your points. So, like you see with martin lewis and with my own experiences on people, use real stories, resonate with audiences and that's what builds trust and they don't have to be your own stories necessarily. Martin lewis he shares lots of other people's stories. He shares his own personal story but obviously he now knows that everyone knows how rich he is, um, and that struggles that he's helping people with aren't struggles for him. But he talks about other people's stories and he also talks about other people's stories and he also talks about how he helps charity and that kind of thing to help people who are struggling. He always admits he's in such a fortunate situation, but he always says it hasn't changed his mindset when it comes to how he approaches money.

Speaker 1: 12:31

Finally, optimize your personal profile. You need your about page, your bio and social media profiles to be optimized with all the keywords relevant to what you're talking about, what your niche is, and this not only reinforces your expertise, but it also helps the search engines associate you as an entity within the area of focus that you're really trying to. You know your topic area that you're trying to rank for and you're trying to engage people on. If you take these steps, you'll not just build a personal brand. You'll also enhance your overall seo strategy and your brand will become a magnet for organic traffic and it'll turn those casual visitors over time it'll turn them into loyal followers, which is what you want to do.

Speaker 1: 13:10

You need to um, you know you've got to obviously know what you're about. You can't just do this if you don't know. So it's that I wouldn't suggest people fake it, but everybody I've spoken to who you know is try out. They're trying to do something. They are authentic in what they're trying to do. It's very rare I see someone who's just trying to, you know, fake something and blag people and scam them.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Okay, that's not going to work. If you haven't got any expertise in your area, then it ain't going to work. But you'd be surprised. You know you don't have to be the very top level expert in seo in the world. I'm not the top level seo expert in the world. There are people who definitely know, at least in some areas of seo, more than me. You know, like I've always said, I'm not an expert on link building. I know a lot more about link building than some people uh, many people even but I know that the very best link builders aren't me, and that's why I invite people like christopher uh pantaleon the week to talk about link building. But you'll, you'll, you will know a lot more than most people in your niche, okay, and people are trying to learn about your niche. People are new to your niche. You're always going to know more than so. Don't be afraid, don't worry that you're not the very best. You'll become better just by doing this, okay, just by building a brand. It will help you improve or make you improve. Okay, just by starting. Okay.

Speaker 1: 14:31

Now there are some pitfalls you know that you want to avoid when you're doing a personal brand, okay, so let's run through a few of them. So one too much self-promotion. It's easy to fall into the trap of constantly promoting yourself. So now, while personal branding is about sharing who you are, you've got to make sure you also provide value. You need to focus on solving people's problems, educating people, offering actionable insights, rather than just self-promotion. If you just talk about yourself, yourself, yourself, yourself, your product, your product, your products all the time, then people are going to get turned off by that. Okay, it's fine to do a bit of that and obviously that is part of it, but you've got to provide more value than you cost people in promotion essentially. So just think about it in terms of you're there to provide value and anything else is kind of the bonus on top.

Speaker 1: 15:23

Inconsistency you've got to avoid inconsistency. You know your personal brand needs to be consistent and I mentioned that before across all your channels. You know you've got to keep your tone and your message the same. If it varies wildly, then people are going to, you know, get confused about who you are, what you're saying, and can dilute your message. So stick to a consistent narrative. Really, you know be who you are and be consistent with it.

Speaker 1: 15:48

Ignoring seo fundamentals is another thing you've got to be careful. Obviously, personal brand it's a part of seo. It's not the be all and end all. You still got. You still need all those fundamentals. You know you still need high quality content. You still need to optimize your keywords. You still need to be mobile friendly, fast loading all those kind of things. Okay, personal branding won't pay paper over cracks. Okay, you've still got to have that, those fundamentals underneath.

Speaker 1: 16:11

And finally, not measuring the impact. You know it can be really hard to measure what that, what personal brand impact is, but you should at least try. You know you want to look for things like engagement, referral, traffic, the backlinks you gain, the people that contact you. You need to just be sure that you're getting impact over time. You've got to remember personal branding it's a long-term investment. It won't show overnight Just because you put one video online or one podcast or one thing. That's not going to be enough. It, okay, something you've got to be persistent with and consistent with, and the benefits will compound over time.

Speaker 1: 16:49

So, yeah, just to wrap up, you know, um, personal branding is more than just a buzzword. It's actually a real thing. It's about building that trust, showcasing your expertise and connecting with your audience. Hopefully, like I am now. Hopefully, if you've been listening to my podcast for a while, hopefully there's a connection there, okay, from having listened for such a long while, for knowing who I am, what I've done and hopefully, how I've helped you.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Remember that integrating personal branding into your seo means showing your face, sharing your story, staying consistent and engaging with your audience. It's an approach that's in the round and enriches your online presence, and it builds community where you help them and, in the long term, they help you too. And yeah, just avoid those common pitfalls Don't overpromote, don't be inconsistent and, just again, focus on providing value and being cohesive across all your channels. And as you continue to work on your SEO, just remember that your personality is and can be your secret weapon. So embrace it, invest in it and watch how it transforms not just your search rankings, but also your overall digital presence. So you know, that's it for today. So until next time, keep optimizing, stay curious and remember seo is not that hard when you understand the basics. Thanks for listening. It means a lot to me.

Speaker 1: 18:15

This is where I get to remind you where you can connect with me and my seo tools and services. You can find links to all the links I mentioned here in the show notes. Just remember, with all these places where I use my name, that Ed is spelled with two Ds. You can find me on LinkedIn and Blue Sky. Just search for Ed Dawson.

Speaker 1: 18:29

On both you can record a voice question to get answered on the podcast. The link is in the show notes. You can try our SEO intelligence platform, keywords People Use at keywordspeoplesusecom, where we can help you discover the questions and keywords people asking online. Post those questions and keywords into related groups so you know what content you need to build topical authority. And finally, connect your google search console account for your sites so we can crawl and understand your actual content, find what keywords you rank for and then help you optimize, continually refine your content and targeted, personalized advice. Keep your traffic growing. If you're interested in learning more about me personally or looking for dedicated consulting advice, then visit wwweddawsoncom. Bye for now and see you in the next episode of SEO is not that hard.