These days with the dominance of digital technology in our lives, if you want to know who someone is, you simply Google them. Let’s face it; most of us have Googled ourselves, or our friends, perhaps even Googled a potential employee to see what you could find out about them. What you find out about yourself from the Internet isn’t always favourable, and it’s not necessarily how you want to be found.
What’s more, it can be very difficult to get yourself uniquely singled out on the web, without having to compete with all of the other Mark’s, Paul’s and Claire’s of the same name. So Google, always ahead of the game, have come up with a way to ensure that you can be individually found through their Google Profiles. Google Profiles make you instantly findable, in the same way that Facebook profiles sometime appear in Google searches.
These days, if you don’t appear on Google, you don’t exist and if you don’t exist people, friends, family or potential clients and customers also cannot find you.
With Google Profiles, when someone searches for a name, users will appear at the bottom of the SERPS (Search Engine Ranking Positions) list. Users don’t need to worry if they have common names, they can customise their profile, with a photo and personal details. Think of it as a way to control what Google tells people about you when they search for you. Have you ever searched for someone and they didn’t come up on Google, it’s frustrating, but more recently, you have to ask, who doesn’t appear on Google?
Companies like Ecademy and LinkedIn (Impact Media on LinkedIn) are already using profiles to highlight their members in Search Engine Results. Ecademy is particularly good at helping their customers to appear in the SERPS, although not necessarily on the first page, and so not necessarily the result they want.
Like all details that you reveal on the Internet, you should take care how you give away your personal details online. Identify fraud can begin with unscrupulous people collecting data on you from various websites. Google Profiles allows you to control who has access to your details and what details they find. By controlling what others can find out about you, you can ensure the right people find you and the wrong people can’t get their hands on your personal information. Anyone with a Google Mail account address will be able to send you a message directly without giving away your personal email address.
Google Profiles makes finding people much easier. What’s more it offers a small bio section, so you can use keyword-friendly language to ensure you can be found first if they use your name and some suitable keywords such as ‘Keith Blake Gosport Plumber’.
At present, this system only works in the USA via the Google.com site, but as with everything on the Internet, you need to get in early to make the most of it. It will come to the UK and when it does, those that have pre-registered will hold the dominant positions. Don’t miss out on raising your profile online with Google Profiles.
