How to make the official site for a person, rank first?

Case study:

I’ve worked on the official website for a person (professional). Done the following:

  • Important SEO aspects (page titles, meta descriptions etc). Check!
  • Optimized website for speed (pagespeed etc). Check!
  • Lots of original content… Check!
  • Submitted to (and profiled by) google webmaster tools?
  • Link Google+ profile with website? Check!
  • Sitemap? Fully indexed by Google? Check!

3 months later, when I google search for the person (even by full name), the official website ranks low. The various directories that hold short info about the person, and even 3rd party sites with some of his work, rank higher!

Anyone can shed light into this? Any tips appreciated… Thanks!

The various directories that hold short info about the person, and even 3rd party sites with some of his work, rank higher!

I have been there with a normal website - I assume the 3rd party sites generally have a bigger SEO presence.

Link to the website from all social media accounts. Also, start using it as a blog, and posting on forums and other blogs and linking to it as your own personal site. If you are active, Google will eventually recognize that this is the site most closely correlated with your name.

It may even take some time for google to rank on top. 3 months will not be enough for some keywords to come up in google

Thank you everyone. I just find it odd that google would put directories higher than a site dedicated to that specific person/entity/business. Maybe 3 months is indeed not enough time for Google to “trust” the website. I will try some of the other suggestions as well. Thanks again.

Promote it to some sites with the same niche with also the keywords you are aiming to rank for. :wink: