How to influence your name in search results
When searching for a person’s name, results aren’t always flattering. Here’s how to influence the way search engines view you.
Go to Ask, Bing, or Google and search for your full name. Does anything embarrassing come up? Is there anything that you wouldn’t want a potential employer or date to see? If you answer yes, there are ways to change your online perception. The Internet is far too large and fast to ever control someone’s image online, but users aren’t powerless. Here are some tips to influence your search result impression.
Remember that the microphone is always on
Always be mindful of what you say, regardless of where you say it. Just because you make a joke with someone on Twitter doesn’t mean that comment won’t appear in search results. A joke can easily become a problem when those 140 characters are taken out of context. In fact, many people perform direct searches on Twitter, which provides even more reason to be careful. Everything written on the Internet is on the record, so communicate accordingly.
Keep an eye on what rises to the top
Search engine results are influenced by relevance and popularity, so if your name is tied to a popular page, it’s more likely to appear in the results. As a writer, my name tends to yield articles that I’ve written, but it also brings up my social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. I personally don’t want Facebook to be the first impression that people gather from me, so I’m going to opt-out of appearing in these results. These steps are necessary only if your Search Visibility is set to “Everyone.”
- Log-in to Facebook and click “Settings”
- Search for “Privacy” and click on the manage button
- Select “Search” and then deselect “Create a public listing for me and submit it for search engine indexing.”
- Click “Save”
Run interference with Google Profiles
People often turn to Google to perform basic searches on people. They are unlikely to thumb through page after page, so it’s a good idea to grab their attention quickly with something relevant. Setting up a Google Profile, which is often floated to the top, gives you more control over what people see. Register for a Google Profile and you can enter non-private information and reveal only what you feel comfortable about others knowing. You can also link blogs, websites, YouTube, and other profiles that you approve.
Note: I discovered that there’s another Andrew Kameka out there. This can complicate attempts to influence my image because one weird result tied to the “other” Andrew could potentially cancel out everything I try. Because my name isn’t exactly common, people are less likely to assume that a result could be tied to someone else. This is one time where being named Bob Smith wouldn’t be so bad. :)
I never EVER publish my name when I comment, nor do I publish my email (unless it’s a fake account that I use when it says I need to publish my email) I also have a pretty common name so whoever is looking for me will go through a lot of people with the same name – none of which will be me. I googled myself – no info, no email, no phone number nada. But seriously, employers should not be doing background checks on google or facebook – use backcheck for legal info and that’s it – get back to work and stop using superficial sites to spy on potential employees – for all you know you might be reading up info on the wrong Jane Smith.