It's okay to google yourself

Are public perceptions matching the impression you are shooting for?

Spending all your time worrying about what other people think of you is counter productive to the writing and marketing you need to be working on.

That said, you can't afford to ignore your platform. Did you know the vast majority of Google users never look at the search results that aren't on the first page? That means you want to make sure your most important real estate is showing up there.

If your blog or website is missing the mark, this is probably a result of a stagnant site. Search engines love new content. Also, make sure your back end information is set up for daily updates. Even if you aren't making changes daily, you want search engines to check your site often for new content.

Equally important is making sure any old content isn't taking up valuable real estate. About a year ago I realized my old MySpace page was still showing up on the first page of my Google searches. Even though I didn't use it anymore, the account was still active. It took cancelling the account to get it out of my searches. Make sure you don't have any old social media or group memberships that are wasting your precious search space.

We can't control many of the aspects of what shows up in our searches, but that doesn't mean we are without options. Make sure your online presence is as clean as it can be to help your readers find what they're looking for... you.