By Khalilah Starks

I’ve heard a celebrity or two confidently say, “Google Me,” which basically means that upon conducting a Google search with their name, you’ll see a string of accomplishments and accolades supporting their supremacy complex. And, while the statement sometimes comes across as arrogant, it’s something that we all should be doing. If you haven’t Googled yourself, you’d be surprised by what you find. When I Googled myself, I was surprised to find that a few Facebook comments that I had posted on a friend’s page, who didn’t employ the tightest privacy controls, actually made it as an entry! Good thing is that I keep it pretty “PG” on Facebook, so it didn’t bother me. And, since I’m a blogger and keep myself pretty busy professionally, that comment was pushed towards the end of the search results.

What you should know is that the first thing that an estimated 78% of employers do when seriously considering a candidate is conduct a Google search to see what results turn up. Also, 35% of recruiters have admitted to rejecting a candidate based on what they found on the internet. You entrepreneurs are no safer than the traditional employee. When a prospective client is looking to hire you to perform services, many will Google your name (in addition to your company name) to see what search results turn up. Therefore, like checking your credit, you should be checking the most popular search engines like Google and Bing to see what results come up when searching your name. As a professional, you should always focus on protecting your personal brand and online reputation.

See What’s Out There. The first thing that you need to do is conduct an initial search to determine if there is any potentially negative information attached to your name. Perhaps you’ve made some poor financial decisions that have become public. Or maybe a crazy ex has decided to start a smear campaign against you. It’s not the end of the world if there’s damaging or embarrassing information out there. But, it’s best to know what you’re up against so that you can determine the best strategy to improve your online presence.

Crowd the Internet with Good Stuff. Most experts will agree that the best way to combat a negative presence is to start attaching your name to positive posts on the internet. There are certain things, such as a recent foreclosure, that are beyond your control. So, it’s best to start doing things online that will push those negative results further down the list, and preferably to the latter pages. Starting a blog about an area of interest is a great way to add positive search results. With every post titled with your name, you’re adding a search entry that will be pushed further to the top of the search results. If starting a blog is too much work or not of interest, start visiting blogs related to your field and publicly comment on them. Your thought provoking comments will start to be pushed to the top of your name search results.

Address Things That Aren’t True. If you find something posted that isn’t true, contact the source and ask that the incorrect information be removed or corrected. You’d be surprised how effective making a request can be in getting incorrect information removed from the Web.

Be Careful of What You Post on Social Networking Sites. Remember, just because you’ve used the strictest privacy controls on Facebook, doesn’t mean that your friend has.

Be Proactive. Stay on top of results for your name search. You should be checking your name results frequently. While Google is only one search engine, the company offers two programs that I particularly like that will help you become more proactive in protecting your online presence. Google.com/profiles allows you to control how you appear in a Google search. And, Google.com/alerts allows you to monitor and get email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your name.

So, have you Googled yourself lately? And, what are you doing to protect your online image and reputation?

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