Do You Have The Ego For Self-Googling?
May 15, 2008 at 11:56 am | In Personal Branding, Positioning, SEO | 16 CommentsTags: google, seth godin, Teyana Taylor, William Arruda
Background
Google is the dominant search engine, with about 70% of all search traffic. At the end of last year, the Pew Internet Research Team found that 47% of people search for information about themselves online (Self-Googling), which was more than double 5 years ago. I have written about the importance of Google before, when I mentioned that you have to be #1 in natural search because mobile devices only list the first one, unless you scroll down. I’ve also spoken about the importance of securing your brand on Google by purchasing your domain name and the difference between natural and paid search. Finally, I noted that Google is a background checker.
People are Googling you as we speak and you better make sure you have some internet presence if you want to exist. Employers will be searching for you or people like you. “Given that everyone from potential employers to potential mates is likely to be Googling you, you should have a good idea of what they will find,” said Alexander Halavais, a Professor at University of Buffalo. The Wall Street Journal even wrote a story called “You’re a Nobody Unless Your Name Google’s Well.” The article can be summed up as “Before Abigail Garvey got married in 2000, anyone could easily Google her. Then she swapped her maiden name for her husband’s last name, Wilson, and dropped out of sight.”
Try Self-Googling Right Now
If you Google “Dan” you get 683,000,000 results, whereas if you Google “Schawbel” you get 89,000 results and “Dan Schawbel” gets you 28,700 results total. I’m not sure about “Dan” but “Daniel” (my legal name) is the 7th most popular baby name this year. There are even Baby Naming businesses that select distinct names for children and families are purchasing the children’s domain name as presents. Also, my uncle purchased “Schawbel.com” and has an internet presence, so if you Google “Schawbel” it will be 98% me and 2% him (and my aunt laughs about it). Why do you get the results you do?
What Does the Dictionary Say?
Self Googling: The act of using the Google search engine to look yourself up. Extreme cases of self-googling have resulted in googlitis.
“I was dying to know how many different ways people could find me on the Internet, so I did a little self-googling in order to count. Sadly, I’m not nearly as popular as the other person out there with my exact name.”
Seth Godin’s Words of Wisdom
“Google yourself. If you’re a salesperson, your prospects already do. If you’re looking for a job, your prospective employers already do. If you’ve got a job, your co-workers already do.” – Seth
William Arruda’s Classification
William is one of my friends and a fellow personal branding guru, more focused on executives and companies. This is part of his entry on a MarketingProfs article he wrote, based on how he categorizes your Google presence. If you want to calculate your online identity, go to his website. I’m sure he’s monitoring his Google presence, so he should be reading this as we speak.
- Digitally Disguised: There is absolutely nothing about you on the Web. Your Google search yielded no results. This is easy to remedy, but you’d better get started right away.
- Digitally Dissed: When you fall into this category, there is little on the Web about you, and what is there is either negative or inconsistent with what you want to be known for. Although not where you want to be, it is easy to improve your on-line profile.
- Digitally Disastrous: This is the most challenging situation because there is lots of information about you on the Web, but it has little relevance to what you want to express about yourself.
- Digitally Dabbling: There is already some on-brand information on the Web about you. Although the volume of results is not high, the material that is there is relevant and consistent with your personal brand.
- Digitally Distinct: This is nirvana in the world of on-line identity. There are lots of results about you and most, if not all, reinforce your unique promise of value –- your personal brand.
Google Me – A BRAND New Film
For more clips, go to the YouTube channel. The full-length movie is there, which runs about an hour and a half in length. It’s very interesting and if you have time, you should watch it. It is a documentary about Jim Killeen, who Googled himself and then went all over the world meeting others with his name.
Google Me – The Music Video by Teyana Taylor
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I totally google myself all the time. Great synopsis on why it’s important!
Comment by Rebecca — May 15, 2008 #
Dan -
Just recently I have worked very hard at building up my personal brand. It’s been semi-tough getting much of a google presence because there are so many people with my name. The domain name was already purchased, but I’ve worked up to having the #2 and #3 spots, and occasionally I’ll slip up to #1 for a bit…
In any event I have some content out there that I guess is a bit pedestrian that is some tips on how to make money with GPT sites, but they’re still pulling referals and profit so I have been hesistant to get rid of them. Most of this is under a username type monikor though, so I realtively happy about where I’m potentially headed.
I guess you could say I am digitally dabbling…
Good read, and all of it is 100% true. I told my girlfriend I googled her before we started dating, and she was surprised.
I also told my grandpa (he is a prolific rodeo coach) that there’s alot of stuff about him on google and he got worried. He said he didn’t want anything about himself online. It was pretty funny.
Anyhow. Good post, per usual.
Comment by Ryan Stephens — May 15, 2008 #
[...] ce am citit de cateva ori … stau sa ma gendesc ce sanse vor avea copii nostrii ? dar copii copiilor [...]
Pingback by 1 Milion de dolari by Tica2 » Blog Archive » Do You Have The Ego For Self-Googling? — May 15, 2008 #
[...] Do You Have The Ego For Self-Googling? Does “Go Google Yourself” mean what I think it does? [...]
Pingback by 080515 Daily Links | johnsumser.com: Recruiting News and Views — May 15, 2008 #
I googled my name and came out 4th place! Your youtube clips doesn’t work!
Comment by MarketingDeviant — May 15, 2008 #
Dan, I totally agree with you.
Once Self-googling also called Vanity search but
Its not about Ego anymore.
The way you appear today on the google search results under your full name quary is the basic of your Personal Ebrand.
Which means alot.
Have a good weekend, Maor
Comment by Maor Kaplanski — May 15, 2008 #
Great post. Some tips on raising your Google score would be nice. I can’t seem to overcome the great James Seay who was at best an extra in many movies…
Comment by jamesseay — May 16, 2008 #
I google myshelf all the time. Great post
Google Me Gerald franklin
Comment by Gerald Franklin — May 16, 2008 #
I thought everyone goolged themselves these days. Or mostly it is just I have self-obessed friends. Seriously though, I do google people after I have met them and also very much so if they are approaching looking to supply services etc. It is almost dissapointing to frustrating when there is little there – as I do think it has become a key way of researching and assessing people.
If you google me (Gary Bembridge) most of the 4800 entries are about me, though there is another chap with the same name who works for MSN that gets some mentions. So recently, a bit like actors do a Equity in the UK where you have to have an original name, I am considering adding my 2nd name to my stuff so it is clearly me and not him….
Gary
Comment by Gary Bembridge — May 16, 2008 #
It will only become more common and force people to build eBrands, or lose opportunities.
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — May 16, 2008 #
[...] Dan Schawbel Google Yourself Right Now [...]
Pingback by Google Yourself Right Now : Brazen Careerist — May 16, 2008 #
Try Yahooing yourself once in a while too…makes for entertainment to see what the other 30% are seeing when they search for you. Only takes one bad search result to tarnish your brand! If your target audience use Yahoo – then check it out NOW.
Comment by Luke Harvey-Palmer — May 18, 2008 #
[...] We’ve already gone over using Google to search for your brand and other people’s. Technorati is also a great search engine to locate people by blog topic. What we haven’t looked at is people-specific search engines and there are quite a few now. My two favorites are Twello, which just came out, and Wink. Twello is a personal brand locater for Twitter. It works much better than Twitters search interface and is much cleaner looking. I enjoy Wink because it’s the most accurate of all the people search engines, which isn’t saying too much. It locates your LinkedIn and Facebook account as well and displays your avatar. [...]
Pingback by Perform a People Search Instead of a Job Search « Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel — June 26, 2008 #
[...] perceptions because people will judge you solely based on what’s available to them when they Google your name. In this regard, you can shape perceptions by using these describers to your advantage in resumes, [...]
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