You Will Be Googled

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You Will Be Googled Kevin Nakao

You Will Be Googled 0 Shares

Kevin Nakao9 minutes ago Kevin Nakao is a guest contributor for Mashable and CEO of Meritshare. You can follow him on @knakao or on his blog Chances are high that a recruiter or hiring manager will Google you online bef ore of f ering you an interview or job. Search insiders tell me that non-celebrity people searches account f or more than 10% of Google’s search volume.

Here are f ive easy things you can do to manage your online reputation.

1. Google Your Name Admit it, we've all Googled our names. Make sure you are logged out of Google so you see standard versus personalized results. T hink of the f irst page of results f or your name search as your home page. Studies show the f irst page of results get 90% of the click-through volume. Now look f or anything negative in the

next 5-10 pages. If you have a f airly common name and share it with some dubious characters, start using a middle name and initial on your LinkedIn prof ile, resume and job application.

2. Own Your Name When companies build an SEO strategy they look to own the f irst pages of results f or their name, you should do the same. Some quick, easy, and f ree wins include: Get your Linkedin prof ile to show up f irst by making sure you have a custom URL with your name. In the example, Travis Pearl’s custom Linkedin URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/travispearl and shows up in the very f irst result because the URL matches the keyword searched and LinkedIn has high “SEO” authority. Go to LinkedIn and the edit prof ile section and generate a custom linkedin URL with your name. While you are at it, make sure to include a prof essional-looking photo on your LinkedIn prof ile.

T he same picture Travis Pearl used in his LinkedIn prof ile, also shows up in the f irst set of Google results.

Google knows Google, so company properties YouTube, Picasa and Google+ f requently show up in the f irst set of results f or name searches. Make sure to set up and use Google+, it’s f ree and provides lots of options f or providing links, photos, locations and other inf ormation you may want to highlight.

You can showcase your awards online by using MeritShare. Start by setting up a public prof ile by simply importing your LinkedIn inf o. T hen give some kudos to a co-worker and you both will be rewarded with some online recognition with your team play. T he site is optimized f or name searches, and if you set up your prof ile and actively give recognition, this will likely show up in the f irst page of results.

3. Block And Tackle Depending on the website, the instructions f or removing or hiding results vary. On a social network like Facebook you can mark specif ic content as public or with varying levels of privacy. To protect yourself and your f riends, the best policy is to keep Facebook content limited to f riends only. Premium services Reputation or Reputation Changer provide ongoing monitoring and removal of negative or undesired content associated with your name.

4. Advance the Ball Forward T he best def ense is a great of f ense, so make sure to have some great content in the f irst set of results.

Let’s say you f ind an article or mention that you want on the f irst page. Brandyourself allows you specif y the links you want to see advanced. You can also help by cross-linking to the results you want f rom your various prof ile page such as LinkedIn or Google+. Both have sections f or putting in live links. If you have a Twitter or other social media stream you want to show of f , use Vizif y to turn your personal data into a stunning inf ographic.

5. Make Your Own Plays Showcase your expertise in a blog post, answer a question on Quora or comment on a article. If there is a prof essional social network f or your area of expertise, make sure you have a public prof ile. As you can see in the example f rom Travis, he has a Github prof ile that lists his sof tware engineering accomplishments and contributions to open source, and a MeritShare page that showcases awards he has received and recognition he has given. On the business side, Travis has a Forbes result f rom setting up a prof ile and commenting an article. Share posts, contributions and comments on social networks because Google looks at social activity to rank order results.

Do you have any tips or tricks f or managing your prof essional reputation? Let us know in the comments below.

Homepage artwork from Mashable/Emil Lendof