Google reputation management has long become one of the most important online marketing niches. It doesn't matter whether your brand is online or not; it will be googled.

So, before you choose your brand name, you should understand the following three major facts about how Google rates and ranks personal and business names.

1. Some searches have an 'obvious' result

Some search queries leave almost no doubt about what a Web searcher is looking for.

Based on leaked information about Google's rating guidelines, Google distinguishes among the following three types of possible search query interpretation:

That said, in some cases, even when a word has several possible meanings (and the user's intent is not clear), Google won't suggest a choice. The entire first page of search results will be dominated by one meaning of the word.

So, before you pick a particular brand term, check whether any "obvious" search results for your brand keyword exist. It is easy: Just run a quick search of a word you are planning to brand yourself with. If you find "dominant interpretation" for that search query, the first page of search results will be stacked with that meaning, as in the case of "apple":

You don't want to start a business to later find out there's no way to rank in the top 10 results for your own business name. A company named "Apple Vacations" will not rank for the word "apple," as the previous example illustrates.

2. 'Generally-known' does not mean 'obvious' (or 'dominant')

Some brands managed to turn very generic words into brand-specific queries. You won't see any fruit-related search results for a search of the term "apple," and you will not see any mention of the river when searching for "Amazon." So, no matter how obviously biased some results are, general knowledge does not really influence search results.

Even when a search term has no obviously dominant result, Google won't always focus on a better-known (or likelier) search result.

In other words, common interpretation will not necessarily rank higher than minor interpretation (especially if the latter is a brand name).

Here's an example: What's your instant association with the name Armstrong? Tour de France? Space? Moon?

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What Every New Business Should Know About Google's Ranking of Names

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Ann Smarty is founder of ViralContentBee, a Web-based platform that uses a crowdsourcing model to facilitate the generation of real "social buzz" on quality content. She also offers guest-blogging services at SEO Smarty.

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