#google yourself

For me it was:

I Didn't Know I Loved You

Living the Hobbit Way

Thoughts of You

Haha, hey Nonny :)

It sounds a bit vain, but I do Google myself a couple times a year. Though I swear I have a valid reason :P

As an author, my name is my brand. So it’s important that if someone Googles me, my actual stuff is what they’ll find. And I’ve worked hard over the past several years to ensure the SEO (search engine optimization) was done well for the things I want people to find. I could probably do better, but it’s all me until the last result on the 3rd page. Not all of it is for my writing, unfortunately, but none of it’s bad. (There’s some Girl Guide stuff, my grandma’s obituary, and my old Tablo account)

So, yeah... I Google myself from time to time.

I used to do it much more frequently, back when I worked as a Program Facilitator for an employment program, because I used it to demonstrate how important it is to not only be careful about what you share online, but also to keep track of what’ll show up if a potential employer Googles you. Back then there was a lot more personal stuff that showed up in the first couple of pages (my personal facebook, old/abandoned blogs, a random (real) story I shared with a feel-good blog, that sort of thing). Once I published (and then again when I left that job), I made a focused effort to push those personal results back (if I couldn’t remove them outright).

Obviously, the further into the results you go, the more random stuff pops up (like Barbara Witow on imdb...an actress from the 60s...from Germany? My husband’s family are not German, like...at all...so I dunno. At least, the movies she was in have German titles)

So... while obsessively Googling yourself isn’t a good thing to do, I recommend everyone do it from time to time. You might be surprised by how much of your information is out there for anyone to see. And how much of it is stuff you wouldn’t want a future employer, readers, or any other individuals to know.

Thanks for asking!

Type your name in google followed by “is a”. What did you get?

I have no regrets. If that is what the world remembers me for, then so be it.