My username is similar to another Hubber's - what should I do?

1. 66

   Cardiaposted 13 years ago

   I just went to Google to search my URL (cardia.hubpages.com) to see how it ranks, and I noticed that articles and other things by another Hubber who has a really similar name to mine (she has an extra letter in it)is showing up, and not mine at all.
   
   I was just wondering if this would hurt my incoming traffic? would it? I've already put a lot of work into this account.
   
   Thanks!

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   1. 89

      mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The Internet is vast, there will likely be thousands of Internet writers with names the same or similar to yours. I honestly wouldn't worry about it as it is very unlikely to effect your viewing figures unless you write on exactly the same topics.

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   2. 82

      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Search this instead - site:http://cardia.hubpages.com - yes cardisa is coming up before you if a search is made for your exact username. I suppose that is because cardisa has a lot more hubs than you and is therefore more prominent. I would be annoyed if I were you because Google search is not supposed to find cardisa before you, because she has the extra letter. (Google should find both cardia and cardisa on the same search, if they searched for cardisa, but should find only you for cardia because the 's' wasn't part of the search).
      
      But no it makes no difference at all to your hub rankings, as no-one searches for them by your username (unless it's your mother or something). Everyone else will find them through their keywords.

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   3. 91

      wordscribe43posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Cardisa, you mean?  I always get you two confused.
      
      That said, I don't think it's going to affect your earnings or traffic.

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   4. 77

      lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      In the beginning I used to get confused between you and Cardisa but now I know you'll both. No it won't effect your earnings because people aren't going to search for your name. They're going to search for your hubs

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2. 71

   LeanManposted 13 years ago

   I have actually been contacted by someone using the same user name elsewhere for their website that claimed copyright over the user name - but thankfully you cannot copyright a name or a domain name - so don't worry!
   
   And who would search for cardia? (I didn't mean that as a your not a good writter or anything!) They will search for something that forms the content of one of your hubs and find your writing that way - people will go to serps to ask "where can I buy a new bikini for my Austrian Dachshund fritz", not lets search for "cardia" or "leanman" or "izzym" or any other user name on here - now if your name was famous maybe that would be different - but if you were famous would you be on here?
   
   Concentrate on ranking your keywords in your hubs not your user name, it will rank all by itself if you have lots of good performing hubs..

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   1. 89

      mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      Brilliant, I laughed out loud over this example

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3. 59

   tussinposted 13 years ago

   Since you have very few hubs on this account, why don't you create a new account with a username that you have tested in Google first.  The user Cardisa has a much older account with many more and much older hubs.  It's probably not worth your time to try to outrank her for your HP name.

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4. 66

   Cardiaposted 13 years ago

   Thanks for all the replies!
   It was a total coincidence! When I was coming up with a username, I used a short combo of my first and middle names (Carla and Diandra)
   To be honest, while my account doesn't have a lot of Hubs, I have put a lot of work into it, so I have my first three accolades, plus followers and comments.

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5. 60

   Cassie Smithposted 13 years ago

   I think you should change it while you have less than ten hubs.  Cardia and Cardisa is too close and I would think in a google search, could draw potential readers to someone else.  I have a very common name. It sucks that there are a lot of Smiths.  However, I don't write a lot of hubs so I'm okay with it.

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   1. 82

      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Cassie this is nonsense, having a similar name to someone else on HP makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. Please don't offer out bad advice to hubbers.

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      1. 60

         Cassie Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I don't see how this is bad advice.  Your hub name is essentially your brand name.  If it's too close to someone else's and they're more popular, it could draw away your traffic if someone is doing a search.

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         1. 82

            IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            But this is the point - no-one will search for your username outside of Hubpages. Our target market is the search engines.
            Cardia has earned her first accolades and she is rightly proud of them. To start again would mean losing them, and for what?

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            1. 60

               Cassie Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Once you have built up a presence on hubpages and you have many hubs, people will know you by your hubname.  It becomes your brand name.  There have been times when I have looked for a recipe that I knew habee had and I typed in habee and her name is first on google. That's why she should reconsider her hubname while her stock of hubs is less than ten.  She can easily gain her accolades back under a new name.

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               1. 89

                  mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Just say a hubber has 2000 followers (of which probably only a relatively small percentage are 'genuine' and who actually read their hubs), but Google has millions of people who are searching by question or subject! What I am trying to say is that nice though it is to have followers or readers here on HP, they are a miniscule dot in terms of your traffic, and if they want to read your stuff they will probably catch it in the daily email from HP. Therefore 'brand name' here on HP is essentially not all that important when you think about it. Even as a hubber I never start my search for info on Hubpages, I always do a Google search for the subject I am looking for, not the author whose work I like, (and if I like them that much I will easily spot the difference between a 'Cardia' and a 'Cardisa' if their name pops up in a search result). Not forgetting what I said earlier in the comments, which is that on the Internet there are going to be literally hundreds if not thousands of writers with the same or similar names to yours. The best bet is to stick with the name you have chosen and make sure you write well enough to get decent traffic the old fashioned way, through talent!

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6. 82

   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   Apparently there is user Writeangle, who joined 23 months ago and has no hubs.
   
   Searching WriteAngled on Google reveals a couple of sites starting from page 2, but nothing that would get me worried. I have enough page 1 stuff to catch anyone searching on this ID (not that I particularly expect anyone to do so)

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   1. 82

      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I did  a hub search for my name using just Izzy that most folk know me as, and I don't exist.

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7. 77

   mega1posted 13 years ago

   unless you and Cardisa are writing on the same subjects, no problems!  If you are writing on similar subjects (that would come up ina search) then change your name - since Cardisa was here first.

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   1. 82

      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      They could even write on similar topics. Yes they would come up together but the better hub would be tops, or the hubber who carried more weight, or however it is judged. But there is no harm in that.

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8. 62

   lukeukposted 13 years ago

   This might also be a good thing because of so called "overflow" traffic. The more articles this other user you mentioned makes, the more chance that you might get some of her traffic too if that makes sense ?

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9. 0

   klarawieckposted 13 years ago

   Any Klarawiecks out there I should know about?

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