Tip of the Day

HOW TO: Clean up your Google trail

1. Google yourself. Come on, you know you do it sometimes anyway. This time, do it thoroughly. Angela Smith, "Angela Smith," Angela-Smith, Angela Jane Smith, Angela Jane Harkins, angelasmith, asmith@yahoo.com, and other variations will all garner you different results. Scan the first two pages of each set of results to see if you show up, and not just people with similar names. Google any pseudonyms you have, while you're at it, to make sure they don't link back to anything with your real name on it. if you own a domain with multiple addresses, Google the @domainname.com extension only to find all references to it. If you have a common name or pseudonym, or are not very active online, you may get lucky; there may be nothing out there. More unusual names/pseuds and people who spend more time online are more likely to have extensive Google trails.
   
   
2. Think about each instance where you appear. Is it something you are comfortable with potential or current employers seeing? What about your in-laws? Your children? Your ex-boyfriend from college? You never know who might decide to look you up. Are your personal details or identifying information (full name, location, address, telephone, etc.) available online? Are you comfortable with that? Note the places where you are uncomfortable with the context or information provided.
   
   
3. Clean them up!
   • Some of them you may be able to clean up on your own - deleting old accounts and web pages and comments on message boards, that sort of thing.
     
   • Others you may need to ask for help in erasing. Unless the page is abandoned or owned by a particularly unsympathetic sort, most people are glad to assist you once the situation has been explained to them. Just write a quick note: "I noticed you linked my real name to the thing I wrote under a pseudonym; I'm applying for jobs and would like it to stop showing up on my Google trail, can you delete/edit it please?" or "I left this comment with my contact information a few years ago, when I was less careful about internet security; I notice it's still showing up in my Google trail. Can you help me by erasing it?" Most people are accommodating about such things.
     
   • If you've got a situation where someone else is badmouthing you, there's not much you can do. If it's seller ratings, many sites let you change your seller name to something that doesn't come up under your real name in a search. If it's a blog post or other diatribe, there's unfortunately not a great deal you can do about it except hope that the other person is sufficiently rabid and/or inarticulate to put the kibosh on their own credibility.
     
   • Clean up your Amazon wish list; if you have it indexed under your name and it shows up, it's a tempting place for people to look for clues about you. Do you really want your prospective employers to see that you list self-help books on procrastination and organization? Do you want your kids to see you read soft-core erotica novels? Do you want your in-laws to see those extremist political tracts that directly contradict their own beliefs? If so, then there's nothing to "clean up" - if not, try creating a related list that is marked "private" and moving the items that are not for public consumption to that one.

It takes Google a little while to re-index pages once their content has changed, but I've found that things clear up within a week or two on average. If they don't , you can contact Google and request that they re-"crawl" a specific page; I've never done this, so I don't know what the turnaround might look like, but it's a possible way to expedite the process.

Good luck!