I don’t often gloat (correction, I don’t like to gloat – my pompous ten year old know-it-all self is testament to that), but I think on this occasion some self-congratulation is deserved. About a couple of times a month (or whenever I remember to) I check the SEO status of my other portfolio domain. On Monday night, while searching my name on Google, I discovered this:

That’s right – I am now ranked #1 on Google, out of a possible search query of 27,800,000 results. How good is that!

For at least a few years since I published my official website, I’ve struggled to stay within the top 3, at best being ranked #2 or #3, but usually #4. I’m still trying to understand the mechanism behind Google’s Page Rank system, but I’m no professional in SEO – I just do the rudimentary things like using appropriate keywords and meta descriptions, and linking to the site via other channels. WordPress is wonderful in that there are plugins available to help optimise your site’s rank, though I myself have not used them to their full potential. But it looks like my humble methods have finally paid off.

It’s been especially tough given that there are so many other prominent women out there with the exact same name as me. Funnily enough I’ve noticed at least 3 artists and graphic designers who share my name, the most prominent one being the fine artist (formerly #1). I still wish I’d got to the .com domain first, but I have also been considering getting a .com.au so I can be more local, as it were. We’ll have to wait and see.

It’s not a huge deal even if I remained ranked at #2 or #3, but being #1 certainly has a lovely ring to it. Consider my ego well stroked. I’ll be monitoring my site’s SEO progress in the weeks and months to come . I should probably consider using Google Analytics – I’d never really thought it necessary to use in the past, but knowing the statistics should be worthwhile knowledge to have.