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Personal Search Engine Reputation Management

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Your personal online reputation is important

People lose jobs and miss opportunities when the search engines produce results for their name which may not be very flattering.

Sometime what others find out about you may be directly attributed to your deeds and misdeeds and sometimes not. You have no control over how people choose to interpret what they find out about you online.

What do they find when they look for you?

If you are interacting in online settings such as myspace or facebook things that you share there may be turned against you.

A teacher in St John's County Florida was fired because he stated he was single and looking to meet others. Story here

While that type of content is not unflattering at all but others can construe it the wrong way. That is a good example of why we need to be careful of what we share with others online.

A writer Googled his name and found this:

"Happy as I was to find links to others' blog posts on my work, a few other high-performing results were less cheering. One result sent readers to GayNZ.com, a website for gay men living in New Zealand, where there's a Matt Creamer in a high-profile position at an AIDS organization. (I'm neither gay nor a Kiwi.) More worrying was a Delaware blog about a Matt Creamer whose appointment to a county government post sparked controversy." from SocialMediaOptimization

Now if you are the gay Aussie that is probably not bad. However if you are a popular writer it may not be so flattering.

Other public records can show. Things such as divorces, arrest records and bankruptcy filings. Even if they are not personally attributable to you others may confuse the situation and assume they are. You may miss a job or opportunity because people decide not to investigate further.

Other things that can show up for your name that may affect your business when people search for your name is listing at sites like ripoffreport.com or yelp.com. In addition to maintaining what shows up for your name you have to also make sure your dealings with others can not be considered unflattering.

Also you need to make sure anything you send to someone cannot show up online. I personally have had this work in both directions. Once when I sent an email to someone asking them to chill out and another time when I received a "lawyer letter" for a blog post.

I published the lawyer letter for the world to see because it was a misguided attempt by someone to threaten me and the email I sent was published by the recipient to further an online argument that I was trying to curb. Either way it did not affect my online reputation and may of affected others.

Some tip to use in Online Social Settings

I borrowed some of these items from LifeHack.org and added a few of my own.

Please add your own tips to this list as well.

1

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Don't do it during work time unless you have permission to do so

Better yet, don't use it at work unless you think more...0 points

2

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Don't post anything that you wouldn't feel comfortable posting or discussing in the lunchroom at work.

Some people got busted for posting photographs of more...0 points

3

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Remove comments posted by others that can get you into trouble.

Edit them directly or ask whoever posted them to r more...0 points

4

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Raise your privacy settings.

Be mindful that these settings only prevent the av more...0 points

5

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Do not ever admit to anything even remotely resembling a crime.

Cops and prosecutors know how to use Facebook as w more...0 points

6

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Don't disclose personal information that you are not comfortable having out there.

Birthdates are a crucial piece of information used more...0 points

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Monitor your information.

Google your name often, set up alerts and let peop more...0 points

8

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Be considerate of others when you are posting things.

If your friend just started a new job as a Whiteho more...0 points

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Don't discuss confidential stuff online.

If you aren't sure, err on the side of caution. Do more...0 points

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Be careful if you mix your personal and business online.

People often make the mistake of carelessly mixing more...0 points

Become Radically Transparent

If you are comfortable with letting the world know your views and predilections become radically transparent. Let the world know all about you online.

Here is a great book that will guide you through the hows and whys of becoming radically transparent.
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My blog about owning the SERPS for my name

There is no reason for you to listen to any of this unless I can show you what I am doing personally to control the Search Engine Result Pages for my name.

So I am doing what I do best. I am blogging about it.
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Paul_Rushing

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