Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of optimizing websites and webpage content to be found in search engines. The goal is to attract visitors to the optimized webpage from search engines.

Optimizing webpages for search engines involves content optimization to match the searchers' intent and give answers to the likely questions users have.

There are three main disciplines in SEO:

• Technical SEO optimizes the technical aspects of a webpage, like fast load times, easily parsable HTML code, or appropriate metadata such as title, description, or schema markup ^[1].
• Content SEO optimizes the content of a webpage or website to answer the questions in the mind of the reader.
• External SEO optimizes mentions and links to your page from other pages, preferably pages on third-party websites with a link. "Link building" is often used as a synonym for external SEO.

The Role of Search Engine Optimization in DPO

The main goal of digital persona optimization (DPO) is to dominate the search results page ^[2], or SERP, for the query of the person's name. Accordingly, DPO is the art of applying SEO to all appearances of a person in the digital realm.

A person usually has full control over their own personal website. That website should be optimized for search engines for name queries as well as for topics the person wants to be associated with. It also functions as the digital persona hub that links all appearances on the web.

On publishing platforms, such as social media, a person has shared control with the platform. In DPO, we are primarily concerned with the author profile on a platform. Furthermore, we want to ensure that the content matches the topics they want to be associated with. Last but not least, we want to ensure that at least one link from any profile goes to the digital persona hub [^digital_persona_hub].