Why would you want to influence search results when you don't even have a website? Well, perhaps you want people to be able to find your LinkedIn profile ... employers are increasingly using social networks to qualify recruits. Or, maybe you just want friends and family to find your profiles? Maybe you do have a website(s) but you want to maintain a separate identity?
Whatever your reasons, there are a number of ways to influence Google search results (or any search engine results) without actually owning or operating a website. Let's take a look at a few of the easiest, most powerful and least time consuming ways to do that. Keep in mind that one of the key components to success with this technique is to interlink the profiles you create at every opportunity. For example, when you create a LinkedIn profile, link it to your YouTube profile; when you create a Squidoo page, link to it from your LinkedIn profile.
Squidoo/HubPages: The easiest way to influence how a keyword ranks on a search engine results page (SERP) is to start producing content; easier said than done, right? Actually, it is pretty simple. Resources such as Squidoo, HubPages and other websites like them provide consumers with the ability to have content hosted on any content they see fit. This content is crawled and indexed by search engines frequently. Simply select the keywords or phrases you would like to have appear on search results and get writing!
LinkedIn/Facebook: Social networks present an ideal way to ensure that you can be found on pretty much any search engine. All you have to do is create a public profile (emphasis on public) and that content will be crawled by search engine spiders, indexed and displayed for a long time to come. This is ideal for influencing results for an individual name, not necessarily for other keywords and phrases. But, you are a brand unto yourself so get busy!
YouTube/VideoSites: YouTube and other video sites provide users with the ability to customize titles and descriptions of their video - good ways to influence search results, especially on a Web that is more accepting of universal content. Take the effort a step further by using the tag feature; use keywords that you want to appear for and watch the results.
Meetup/Group Sites: No man or woman is an island. Joining websites that are already indexed ensures that your profile will be seen on search results. Case in point? Meetup.com. Join multiple groups and see multiple profiles in the search results.
Twitter-Jaiku/Microblogging: It all comes down to creating profiles at various locations around the Web. One of the easiest ways to do that is to use microblogging services - helpful in establishing more Web relationships, which could turn into more links down the road. While services like Twitter or Jaiku don't let users create overly-detailed profiles, they do offer a chance to get your name on the SERPs - for free.