Did you know you’re being Googled right now? You are.
Google isn’t the only search engine that recruiters are using to find out more information about you. Social networks have search engines too. A recent Microsoft survey, “Online Reputation in a Connected World,” stated that 78% of recruiters are using search engines, and 63% are using social networks, to conduct background checks on candidates.
As an employer myself, I’ve received a lot of internship applications from students who are just plain careless about their online reputation. For instance, I searched for a student’s name on Facebook, and a group appeared that was protesting her getting kicked out of her dormitory. I decided to hire someone else!
The Internet is the global talent pool, which means that everyone in the world, including you, has to have an online presence. It also means that you have to own it, and manage it, for the rest of your life.
Here are the top ways to control your online reputation:
Purchase your domain name. For approximately $10 a year at GoDaddy.com, you can claim your full name as a domain name. This will help you protect yourself from others who may share the same name as you. If your name isn’t available, then use your middle initial, your full middle name, or a shortened version of your name. The .com extension carries the most weight in search engines and then .net. Don’t bother registering .org, .us, or another domain name extension, because they aren’t authoritative in search engines. In addition, if you buy hosting, you can create a Web site that displays your credentials under your domain name. Domain names usually rank first for those keyword terms. For example, if you Google “McDonalds,” McDonalds.com comes up first.
Develop a blog and connect it with your name. You may choose to either have a static Web site or a blog under your name. To get started, I recommend installing Wordpress.org on your hosting service. Your blog doesn’t have to be under yourfullname.com either. You can purchase an additional domain of your choice, as long as you put your name in the description and title. This way, the search engines will recognize the site as being associated with your name, and it will rank high accordingly. A blog can help you control more of your digital presence because you have more opportunities for “backlinks” (links pointing back to your site) and you can publish multiple posts, which is looked upon highly by search engines.
Claim your name on social networks. You should own vanity URLs for the following networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google. Just like your Web site or blog, these are all web properties that you can manage. For Facebook, go to Facebook.com/usernames to claim your short URL. For LinkedIn, create a custom URL when editing your profile. For Twitter, just register your full name as your account name. Finally, for Google, go to Google.com/profiles and fill out your profile completely, because the most thorough profiles (for each full name) will appear at the bottom of the Google search results. If you want to know if your name is available on other social networks, go to KnowEm.com.
Contribute content to other sites. By writing a guest article, or blog post for another site, you’ll not only be able to include links back to your profiles or Web site, but it will increase the number of search-engine results that appear under your name. Create a Web site or a blog before you reach out to others asking to write, so that you can direct traffic back to your Web site, and increase its authority in search engines.
Get attention from the media. If you have a story to tell or expertise to share, locate bloggers and traditional journalists online and build relationships with them. Comment on their blogs or articles for a few weeks, and then send them a note with resources, tips, or even your story. Who knows, you might even get your name in The Wall Street Journal or a small niche blog. When you receive media attention, your name will not only appear in your search engine results, but it may also emerge in Google news feeds.
Review your social network privacy settings. It’s easy for students or young professionals to neglect their privacy settings on Facebook. You now have complete control over how you’re viewed by each one of your Facebook friends. You can set your privacy settings, and then use the PrivacyDefender application to view a graphical representation of what information you’re sharing with your network. This is important, especially when you start connecting to coworkers, managers, and other professionals online.
Use reputation management tools. To protect, and monitor, your online reputation, use a variety of tools, along with Google Reader. Google Reader will capture alerts for your name as they appear across the Web. First, set a comprehensive Google alert for your full name, and common misspellings, so that when you’re mentioned on a blog or in a news story, you’ll be aware of it. Next, use Backtype.com to set an alert for your name within blog comments, and then BoardTracker.com so that you’re notified when your name appears in a discussion forum thread. Use TweetBeep.com to get alerts for when your name is mentioned on Twitter. Finally, use Social Mention occasionally to search through all social sites for your name.
By being proactive with your online reputation, you’re able to have more control over what other people see when they search for you. This will not only help you right now, but for the rest of your career, as long as you keep tabs on it and manage it.
Dan Schawbel is managing partner of Millennial Branding LLC and founder of the Student Branding Blog.
Wall Street Journal
