Today I was catching up with my colleague Haig Armen when he asked me if I knew Steve Andersen.

“You mean, Steve Andersen from Salesforce?” I asked.

[“You mean, Steve Anderson of Open Media?” my husband asked later.]

“No, Steve Anderson of Get Mental Notes,” Haig replied.

“See, this is why it’s better to be named Haig Armen,” I pointed out.

“Not when you’re 15.”

Haig’s point is well-taken. When you’re 15, it sucks to have a funky name. It sucks to be distinctive. It really sucks to be unique.

But S.E.O. is the ultimate payback for all the teen freaks. Not  (just) those who are reincarnated as dot-com millionaires, but all those with freaky interests that let us rule a corner of the blogosphere, freaky aesthetics that let us rule on Etsy or Flickr, or freaky names that guarantee that when someone googles your name, they actually find you.

So, teen freaks of the world: it gets better. You may want to blend in today. But tomorrow, when you’re ready to stand out, Google will reward you.