Repair your Online Reputation

When you enter your name into Google (or the search engine of your choice), are the results flattering, or at least accurate? Even if you aren’t keeping tabs on your online reputation, others may be. From potential employers to prospective love interests, information linked to you on the Internet can affect your livelihood, your love life; even create a first impression for new people you meet. Take control of your online reputation with a few simple steps to ensure that when someone searches you out online the results are favorable.


According to a research report commissioned by Microsoft in 2009(.doc download), about 70% of U.S. recruiters and HR professionals interviewed indicated that they have rejected a candidate based on information they found online. Recruiters indicated that concerns about the candidate’s lifestyle; inappropriate comments or text written by the candidate (even their friends, colleagues and work acquaintances) and unsuitable photos, videos or information are most detrimental.

Take proactive steps to ensure that you’re presented in the best light:

Do your research: Google yourself. Before you start, sign out of your Google account so that you see the results that others see. Use all variants of your name, particularly the one you use on your resume and applications.

In most cases you’ll find mediocre results, primarily other people that share your name and old or irrelevant information. About 15% of people have “bad” search results that offer up severely unflattering information or images.

Take control of your results.According to BrandYourself.com, only 7% of people navigate past the first page of results. The key is to create enough positive buzz about yourself so as to have relevant and flattering content appear higher in search results.

Start by joining websites that are noticed by Google's search scanning algorithm like LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), Google+ and Twitter. Complete as much of the personal profile as possible, particularly the sections that relate to job skills and experience. Even publicly accessible Facebook info will appear in your results page.

Bloggers should post content to Wordpress (http://wordpress.org/) as it typically ranks above other blogging sites like Tumblr and Blogger. Use Vimeo and Flickr, respectively, to share appropriate videos and pictures on the web.

Even better, purchase your domain name (if it’s available) and build a personal website that utilizes SEO (Search Engine Optimization). See the BrandYourself blog for tips (http://blog.brandyourself.com/brand-yourselfcom/introduction-to-personal-search-engine-optimization-seo/).

Damage control. If you find embarrassing or unflattering content linked to your name, don’t despair. In many cases, once you know they exist you can systematically track down things you want to get rid of and attempt to delete them. If the content is posted by a friend on Facebook, ask them to remove it and un-tag yourself from inappropriate images or posts. Update your Facebook privacy settings to customize what you share and what others are allowed to share on your wall. If you discover posts that seem to be particularly malicious, contact the administrator of a website to request that it be removed.

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After removing what you can, your goal is to push down unfavorable content. Create more profiles, particularly on sites that end in .edu or .gov as Google considers those sites more credible and may push those results higher than potentially damaging links.

Stay proactive. Sign up for Google alerts (www.google.com/alerts) so that you’re notified if a new reference to you appears online. BrandYourself (www.brandyourself.com) is a great resource for free information about improving your online search results. In addition to a wealth of tips and tutorials, create a complimentary account to push three links about yourself up the Google results ranking. Premium members pay a monthly fee to promote an unlimited number of links.

Job Hunting after Graduation: Manage your Online Reputation

Manage your Online Reputation while Job Hunting after Graduation

Once your proud graduate has grown up too quickly and has left the podium with her diploma, she's probably ready to jump into the “real world” of getting a stable job at a big company and starting a career. But we all know that the “real world” has gotten much more complicated than that. One of the biggest complications is navigating the tricky world of social media and its affects on finding a job after college. So many young people spend their teenage years posting content on the internet that can be difficult to manage when they're going to look for a job.


In January 2012, Microsoft released a study of consumer behavior activity online. Out of more than 5,000 polled, they found that 14% of adults reported negative consequences from their online activities. Out of those 14%, 21% were fired, 16% lost out on a job, and 14% were passed over by a college.

In December 2009, Microsoft reported that 79% of hiring managers reviewed online material and 70% of them supported rejecting candidates based on this online material.

With the majority of employers checking the online reputation of graduates and job seekers, it's more important than ever to know the message that's being spread about your online reputation. Your online reputation is easy to check, but difficult to manage. As always prevention is the best protection, but you'll never know how bad it is until you look. Here's the steps to taking control of your online reputation:

Google Yourself: 42% of people in the U.S. Google themselves. While it may often be merely a form of amusement, it provides valuable insight into your online reputation. Whether you like it or not, the first page of your Google results often weighs more heavily on your reputation than the first page of your resume. To get the best view, Google yourself using private browsing mode so that your personalized results don't affect what you see. Then set up a Google Alert for your name so that whenever a new page is published on the web with your name, you'll be among the first to see it.

Build Your Buzz: If there's not much about you on the web, or all the results are people with similar names, you're in luck: all you have to do is build content and they will come. Most people who haven't marketed themselves will be in this category. But even if there's been some stuff posted that you don't want associated with you, the method to improve your results is the same: create content that Google can associate with you. Sign up for LinkedIn, which is a professional networking service that is good for building positive results. It's free and can tell potential employers about your skills, education, and employment. If you already have a LinkedIn account, simply create as much content on the web that features your name prominently, as well as any keywords you want people to associate with you. Over time these links should rise to the top.

Present Yourself Professionally: Sometimes the most damaging content about you or your recent graduate isn't content posted by others. Typos, embarrassing photos, and revealing statuses can send warning signals to potential employers. If you don't believe your friend circle on Facebook is the place to worry about grammar and spelling, make it private. Whenever you post something visible by potential employers, think about how it will come across to them.

The Last Resort: Sometimes you can't always clean up the content by yourself. Many people have found themselves in this situation, usually maliciously, but sometimes passively slighted by online content. There are services for managing your internet reputation like reputation.com. However, these services are expensive.

Most problems can be solved simply by creating enough content relevant to you. Unless you've done something worth plastering all over the web, the content most favorable to you will usually float to the top. Just make sure there isn't any debris floating around in there.

Want to Control Privacy Online? Read this

Control Privacy Online With These Tips

Typing your own name into Google may prove an eye-opening experience.  Even if your personal information isn't easily accessible, your computer may be sharing information about your habits, preferences and activities that you'd prefer to remain private.  Here's how to keep a lid on what your computer shares about you with strangers.

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have the right to change their privacy options at will and some exercise this right regularly (I'm talking to you, Facebook).  Even if you meticulously reviewed each setting when you activated your account, system updates can change default settings, or add new rules that effect posts.  The only way to make sure you aren't "over-sharing" is to regularly review your account's privacy settings in detail.  Aim to do a thorough audit every six months.

More information about how to audit your Facebook privacy settings can be found here: http://www.callnerds.com/control-facebook/.


The main option for Twitter users to consider is if you want to leave your account public (so that any Twitter user can see your posts) or make it private by selecting “Protect my Tweets” via the account settings menu.  If you check the box, future Tweets will only be visible to people you approve to follow you.  While you’re here, click the box next to “Always use HTTPS” to connect securely whenever possible.

AdjustYourPrivacy (http://adjustyourprivacy.com/) is a free resource that provides a collection of links that allow you to update the privacy settings on each of your major accounts, from YouTube to Yahoo.  This saves you hunting through each site manually for their privacy settings page and offers a great way to ensure that you don’t forget any of the accounts you have floating out on the web.  Their tools also allow you to conduct a detailed search to find out what information about you is publicly available.  It even offers suggestions for ways to beef up your privacy and keep it under control.

Don’t forget that apps you install on Facebook have access to your personal information, regardless of if you are using them actively.  Many can post to your Twitter feed, access your LinkedIn data or connect to your email, and it’s difficult to limit an application’s permissions individually.  MyPermissions (http://mypermissions.org/) can automatically scan your apps permissions so that you can choose which ones to ditch and it will send you alerts when applications obtain access to your private information.

If you’d prefer to audit your Facebook apps manually, click on App Center (left of your Newsfeed), then choose My Apps (at the bottom).  Delete using the X button that appears when you hover your cursor over one, or modify how the application interacts with your Home Page by clicking on Settings under each one.

The last time you were surfing the web, did you notice that advertisements seemed eerily targeted toward you?  Your internet navigation is most likely being tracked.  DuckDuckGo (http://fixtracking.com/) offers a tracking-free search engine, or links to add-ons for your favorite browser that block third-party trackers.  It also provides detailed instructions on how to adjust your Internet Explorer options to prevent websites from accessing your location information.

Deleting old accounts where you've stored personal information is a great idea, but can be harder than you might think.  AccountKiller (www.accountkiller.com) provides links and instructions to make account termination easy for all major websites around the Internet.  Before opening a new account, check their "whitelist" and "blacklist."  Those on the "blacklist" make deleting your profile very difficult should you ever want to do so in the future.  A few surprising sites to make the blacklist: Fox Sports, CNN, Starbucks and Whole Foods.  Who knew?