Can A Simple LinkedIn Like Help Build Your Name On Google?

Every now and again, I put my own name into Google to see what comes up. I don't really do this for vanity reasons; I'm genuinely interested in SEO and like seeing what Google is finding and indexing.

Yesterday, I noticed something that really caught my attention. On page three of Google was a LinkedIn result with my name attached to it. The interesting thing was that it wasn't actually my post. It was somebody else's LinkedIn post that I had interacted with, and all I had done was like the post. Incidentally, the post was from 3 years ago!

I thought this was interesting enough, but I then decided to repeat the search using an Incognito window. I half expected the result to disappear completely or move much further down Google, especially as Google wouldn't have my normal search history available in the same way.

What happened was almost the opposite. The LinkedIn result appeared on page two rather than page three.

Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that liking somebody's LinkedIn post gives your website some sort of powerful backlink or suddenly pushes your website up the Google rankings. I don't believe that's what is happening at all. However, it did make me wonder whether we sometimes think about SEO too narrowly.

Google isn't only trying to understand individual web pages. It is also continually discovering information about people, businesses, brands and how different pieces of information around the Internet relate to each other.

I then tried another search:

site:linkedin.com "Roy Bretton"

That made things even more interesting. I started finding results connected with people whose LinkedIn posts I had commented on or interacted with. In other words, Google was finding pages where my name had become associated with somebody else's content through activity on LinkedIn.

What also surprised me is that my LinkedIn business page is very small. I think it only has around nine or ten followers at present, and yet I'm seeing LinkedIn content connected with me appearing in Google's search results.

This made me realise that perhaps we shouldn't always judge the value of a social media platform purely by the number of followers, likes or views we have. From a social media point of view, nine or ten followers sounds almost insignificant. However, if Google is crawling LinkedIn and finding content associated with my name, there may be another benefit that isn't immediately obvious from looking at the LinkedIn statistics.

When I search my name, I'm now seeing various things that I've been involved with over the years appearing in Google. There are social media results, videos, websites and other pieces of content. Interestingly, I haven't yet noticed much from Wealthy Affiliate appearing when I search my name, despite having been active here for many years. If I add my name to Wealthy Affiliate, then I see lots of posts.

This whole experiment has made me look at LinkedIn in a slightly different way.

If I write a LinkedIn post, leave a genuine comment or interact with somebody else's content, that activity doesn't necessarily stay within LinkedIn. Google may crawl and index some of it, which means an interaction that perhaps only took a few seconds could potentially become another small part of my online footprint.

Of course, I wouldn't suggest going onto LinkedIn and randomly liking hundreds of posts because you think it's going to improve your SEO. That would completely miss the point, and I doubt it would achieve anything useful.

However, I do think there is something to be said for being genuinely active on platforms such as LinkedIn, particularly if you're building a business around your own name. Over time, Google starts finding your website, your social media profiles, your videos, your comments and other references to you around the Internet.

This becomes particularly interesting when somebody hears about you elsewhere and decides to Google your name. Perhaps they've watched one of your videos, met you at a networking meeting, read something you've written or had your name recommended to them. The Google results they find then become part of your online reputation.

I'm going to keep experimenting with this because I find it fascinating. It's one of those things I discovered accidentally rather than something I deliberately set out to achieve.

You may want to try the same experiment yourself. Search your name normally in Google, then try it again using an Incognito or private window. After that, try:

site:linkedin.com "Your Name"

Have a look at what comes up, particularly content that you didn't actually create yourself. You can also do the same type of search with YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

I'd be very interested to know what other Wealthy Affiliate members find. Have you ever Googled your own name and been surprised to discover something ranking that you didn't actually publish yourself?
Thank you for reading.

Roy