SEO for babies
Anyone who has spent any time at all ego-surfing can relate to Abigail Garvey Wilson’s story, as told in today’s Wall Street Journal. As the paper says, “before Abigail Garvey got married in 2000, anyone could easily Google her. Then she swapped her maiden name for her husband’s last name, Wilson, and dropped out of sight.” Turns out a search for Abigail Garvey led straight to her, while she was buried among all of the other Abigail Wilsons after her wedding. Determined to make sure her baby would avoid the same fate, she decided to provide a little pre-emptive SEO by giving the tot such an obscure name that any search for him would be sure to lead to the right place. Her chosen name: Kohler. Never mind the fact that naming your child after a company that makes bathtubs just to make sure he rises to the top of a search engine doesn’t exactly seem like the best idea as far as the kid is concerned. It’s also probably not a very good SEO strategy either. After all, search engines get smarter every year, and by the time little Kohler is old enough to care whether he’s being found online, Web 10.0 technologies may make his mom’s chosen strategy completely irrelevant. Fortunately, the kid’s dad vetoed mom’s idea, and the kid was named Benjamin instead. Good thing. A quick search for Kohler Wilson turns up, among other things, a Yahoo Shopping page for Wilson Home & Garden, which includes plenty of links to sinks and bathtubs. (And, yes, I’m quite relieved that I totally rule the Marc Perton SERP.)