User blog comment:Cnoteboat/The Importance of Search Engine Optimization/@comment-1038387-20150126213329

Concerning the question in the last paragraph, which I didn't realize existed until after I already decided to pen this:

Over on DC Wiki, we have a naming standard: Birth Name (Universe). However, that might hurt SEO. Take Aquaman: his birth name, at least in the (previous) mainstream universe, was Orin. So his page would be "Orin (New Earth)". That doesn't get you very high if you're looking for his two most common names, "Aquaman" and "Arthur Curry". So we named his page "Aquaman (Arthur Curry)". Same with Bats, Supes, Wondie, GA, Lanterns and Flashes, and probably some more.

We also have some inconsistent handling of this, especially when it comes to Hal Jordan and Barry Allen - noone calls them Harold or Bartholomew. Also, in some cases, a female character is almost exclusively known by her married name (to the point that people think it's her maiden name), so we don't call the Wall's page "Amanda Blake (New Earth)", just plain old "Amanda Waller (New Earth)".

What also helps SEO in our case is disambiguation pages. Or disambigs have all the versions, with images, and a description that basically namedrops as many aliases, teams, sidekicks and miscellania as we can feasibly put on it - because that's what people look for. See Green Arrow's disambig as an example.

Of course, with the New 52 rebooting all characters in 2011, we've got things to reconsider (do we assign the SEO name to the new versions?) but we haven't figured that out yet.

[Sidenote: the same general policy exists on Marvel, but I'm not up-to-date on their handling of the matter]