Google Yourself: The very first thing you need to do is go to Google and type your name into the search bar. Make sure to.
Sign out of your Google Account. Google employs personalized and local searches when you are signed into your account. In other words, Google will slightly alter your results to make them more relevant to you based on your location and what they know about you through your Google account. The person searching you won't have the same customizations for your name, so make sure you sign out before searching to get a true snapshot of how your results look to others.
Search for the name people will actually use to search you: Do you use your middle name or initial on your resume? Do you go by a nickname that most people call you? Did you recently acquire a hyphenated last name? When you search for yourself online, make sure you use the name that people are going to be searching for you with. Also, search for any variations of your name or common misspellings. In the same vein, make sure you are consistent with your name. Be sure you are using the same name on your resume, social media profiles, website, etc. (and make sure that it's the one that you want to show up in Google results.)
Which Google Ranking Category Are You?
Once you have your search results in front of you, it's time to figure out which category your Google rank and overall online reputation falls under. Decide which of these categories best represents your first page of search results for your name (it may even be a combination of them all!)
Tip: Concentrate on the first page of your Google results - 93% of searchers never go past the first page and use the first 10 search results to form their impression.
Negative: This is the worst category to be in because it means you have one or more negative search results representing you. However, this category is not just reserved for criminals and bad people. In today's world of social networking and anonymous sharing, it is disturbingly easy to have your reputation tarnished. It takes only one status update, tagged photo or blog post from an angry ex, rant by a former employee, false accusation or wild friend to put you in this negative online reputation category.
Irrelevant: The results are about you, but they don't really help or hurt you. These results are completely outdated or irrelevant. Instead of finding out you are one of the most well-respected doctors in Boston, the person finds out you finished 120th in a 5k you ran three years ago.
"Hey That's Not Me!": In this case, your results are dominated by somebody or even multiple people with your name. This person's results are forming your first impression for you - for better or worse. In a best case scenario, they simply prevent the searcher from finding anything meaningful about you. In a worst case scenario, they might actually mistake you for someone else, who has a negative online reputation.
Positive & Relevant: This means your search results are full of positive, well-branded content that is actually about you. If you don't fall into this category, don't worry, the purpose of this guide is to help you get there.
Figure Out How Much Work You Have Ahead and Make a Plan
Once you know where you stand, it's time to be proactive and start improving your search results. Your goal is to fill your first page with as many positive results as possible. Depending on your web presence, you can figure out how much work lays ahead and plan accordingly. We'll cover how to tackle each situation in the next few sections of the guide.
I Have No Web Presence, and No Content: The first thing you need to do is build your online presence for Google. Quite simply, if you don't have any positive content, there is no way for it to show up on your first page.
I Have Specific Content I Want to BURY: Perhaps you have something unflattering out there about you, or you're being mistaken for an ex-con of the same name. You'll want to create content to bury the negative result(s) down.
I Have Specific Content I Want to Push Higher: You might already have a personal website, a LinkedIn profile, an article written about you or other content you want people to find, but they just aren't showing up high in search results. There are specific steps you can take to boost them higher in Google search results for your name.
You can contact me also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/expert_in_orm
Connect with me on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/harpreetbabbar
or you can view my Page on About.me : www.about.me/harpreetbabbar
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