Search engine optimization is the practice of improving your search rankings on search engines, meaning most of the time Google, so that when someone searches for a keyword, your content shows up before others. 
Here you might be thinking, why should you pay attention to search engine optimization? After all, your keyword is your brand name and nobody else has claim to that. It’s not like you’re competing for the keyword of ‘best feet model’. Someone types your model name in the search bar, and your pages come up. That’s usually how it should work. 
The problem of course, comes in the form of illegal links. Piracy is an unfortunate reality that we have to live with, and at any given moment there are pirated links of your content that are floating around on the web. 
These illegal links can impact your business by literally burying your legitimate content under them. For instance, let’s say someone searches for your name, and the free pirated content shows up above your actual model profiles. Considering that more than half of all organic traffic is absorbed by the first three results, and that 3 out of 4 people click the first two results out of instinct, having illegal links rank above your own pages can really hurt your business. 
So here are some SEO best practices that can make sure that your links stay on top of the search engine game. 


1. Claim as many platforms as possible


The simplest thing you can do in order to defend against illegal links is to basically push out as many links under your control. This means grabbing every social media profile available, as well as as many subscription platforms as possible, and other tube site profiles as you see fit. Usually these big platforms get a big boost from search engines, and a page with your name on a legitimate website will almost always be ranked above the illegal equivalent. 
So if you claim as many of these platforms as possible, when a user searches your name, these links will show up before pirated content. And with enough of them, they can just push the illegal links out to the second, third page of the search results, or even beyond, giving them less chance of discovery to begin with. 


2. Start a blog 


Blogging is a common way to improve SEO employed by companies and brands around the world, and the same goes for models. If you want your SEO to really improve and capture new organic traffic, then writing articles is the way to go. A great blog is bound to beat most illegal links in terms of ranking on search engines. 
Plus, if you start a blog, you can start ranking for so many other keywords. Let’s say that you wish to target a certain niche for yourself. You can write an article around that niche, and draw in search traffic. 
These articles don’t have to be too long. They can be as short as 400 words. Or if you don’t have the writing chops, you can always hire writers to create content for you. 


3. Get on Reddit 


Reddit has long been a great tool for SEO. Unlike other social media platforms, links posted on Reddit that are upvoted highly gains SEO value, and this is something that has been verified many times by SEO experts. The good news is that there is a very healthy community of models and fans on Reddit, so you’ll fit right in. 
Post your links on relevant subreddits. You’ll have to ensure that your content is relevant to the subreddit’s theme. If those links gain upvotes and comments, you’ll gain SEO value on those links. Better yet, try creating your own subreddit, inviting fans to post your links on reddit. The more you foster a community around yourself on Reddit, the more you’ll get back. 


4. Be proactive about finding and taking down illegal links 


But the best thing to do is to make sure that those illegal links don’t stay up there. If illegal links are gone, then that will give more breathing room for your actual legitimate links that you want people to find. 
For that, you need to simply get those links taken down. The first part of this is being vigilant of these illegal links. Be proactive and regularly search for your name in Google, so that you can spot pirated content that is ranking highly as soon as possible, because every moment that the link is up is a moment you lose out on your business. 
Once you actually spot those illegal links, target them for Google delisting, and they won’t appear on the search result for your name anymore. 


Play the long game 


Having great SEO is all about the long game, and it’s the same when it comes to ensuring that your links beats out illegal pirated content. Follow the tips above, but also stay dedicated towards protecting your brand. It’s your baby after all.