How can I know if someone searched my name on Google?

“Who is searching for me online?”

A common question asked by many these days, especially since it has become the norm to look someone up on the internet. Whatever the reason for the search may be – maybe they want to buy a product from you, hire you, or even date you – you know people are looking for you, and you just want to know who they are.

Want to Find Out?

If you want to find out who is searching for you online in general, you can create a simple website (yourname.ca) and then install Google Search Console. Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results.

Additionally, you can connect Google Analytics to track how many people visit your website. It’s easy. To get started go to google.com/analytics and create a free account. Next, set up a property in your Analytics account. A property represents your website or app, and is the collection point in Analytics for the data from your site or app. Lastly, follow the instruction to add the tracking code to your website.

With Google Analytics, you can gain information on who’s visiting your website and how. Better yet, it’s free.

Protect your online image

Maybe you don’t want your searchers to know where you live, find information about your children, or discover who your last employer was. That’s why it’s important for you to have a plan in place for protecting your electronic privacy. Here are three steps you can take to ensure your online reputation remains positive.

Monitor

You can sign up for a privacy scan to see what’s out there. There are many online monitoring services that will tell you when you’ve been mentioned on the internet.

The most popular site is Google Alerts, but there are others like Mention.com that you can use if you prefer. Google Alerts will prompt you to enter your name and any other words relevant to your reputation. You can also enter your name and keywords into our free privacy scan on our website. Here, you will see a list of links that contain your name and/or the other search words that you entered.

Google Alerts will notify you via email whenever it finds new information about you online.

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Remove your information

If you find your personal information has been exposed online, not to worry; many websites have opt-out options that allow you to remove your information from their databases.

The process varies depending on the website, but you can look for the steps under each page’s Terms of Use, help or FAQ section. You may need to provide a list of past addresses, a picture of your government-issued ID, or sometimes a removal request letter. Even after your personal information has been removed it is best to follow up on the websites for compliance, in case they re-add you automatically.

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Control your search results

One of the best and most effective ways to control your search results is by maintaining a positive online presence. How? By generating as many top-ranking links as possible, which in turn, will push down negative search results where people are less likely to find them.

Sign up for social media

Create free social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram LinkedIn, Twitter; these sites typically rank strongly. If you’ve heard about a popular social website but haven’t signed up for it, what are you waiting for?

Create a personal website or blog

Because you control the content, there’s nothing quite like a personal website or blog that will shine you in the most positive light. Fill your website with your interests and accomplishments. The more you post, the better. Just make sure you mention your name prominently on the website.

Share links

Once you have your social media pages and personal website up and running, make sure you add links between each medium. Including links on each page will increase your presence on the web and in the eyes of Google and other search engines.

Set up analytics

Get your websites set up with Google Analytics. This powerful tool allows you to get important information about who is visiting your site and what they are doing while they’re on it.

Next steps

Finding out who is searching for you on Google is not impossible, but it does take some legwork. If you are not completely sure how to get started, or you simply don’t have the time to manage your reputation online, Reputation.ca can help. We use a variety of tactics to make sure when someone searches for you online they see positive information. Additionally, we can track your reputation using custom software.

In short...

Google is the go-to destination for consumers to perform research on people, products and services. People will be Googling you for a long time. The results will not go away or change on their own. The internet never forgets.

To learn more about how Reputation.ca can help you control your online presence, contact us:

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