What Does Google Say About You?
Posted by Candis Hidalgo on March 22nd, 2009
Have you ever Googled yourself? If so, you’re definitely not alone. At least 47 percent of people have performed “ego searches” or “vanity searches”, typing their own name into a search engine (i.e. Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) to find results. If you’re at all concerned about your online reputation, this is a smart way to get and keep control of it. And if you don’t care what turns up from an online search for your name, you should be.
Popular marketer and bestselling author, Seth Godin, tells a story about an employer who researched applicants online before hiring them. The results showed an embarrassing MySpace page, an unfortunate blog post, and a police record for each of the different applicants. Whether you like it or not, Google will find you.
In another revealing statistic, 22% of hiring managers research applicants online, according to a recent study by Reuters. I’ll bet the farm that number is higher than it was a year earlier, and that it will increase next year and beyond. What will your potential employer see when they Google your name? What about your parents, little sister, boyfriend, boss? What will they see?
So, what’s the lesson here? You are most likely on the internet, even if you don’t think you are. Don’t believe me? Go do an ego search for yourself – you just may be surprised at what you find. And in the wise words of Seth Godin, “The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you’re on Candid Camera, because you are.”
Photo credit: CK in TX
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