Google Problems? BrandYourself Helps You Control Search Results Of Your Name

Peter Kistler used to have a Google problem.

In college, he discovered a startling reason why so few employers were responding to his resume on job boards: The first result that showed up when someone Googled Kistler's name was an article about a convicted sex offender who had used drugs and done jail time. But Kistler's record was clean. The article was about another man with the same name and a long rap sheet.

"I am not a drug dealer," reads the message on the sign that Kistler holds in a promotional photo for the startup he co-founded after this discovery. The company, BrandYourself, aims to help people control what shows up when others Google their name.

On BrandYourself's website, users can submit three web pages that they would like to appear in the top spots of their name's Google search results, along with any content they wish to bury. BrandYourself analyzes each piece of content and provides tools and tactics to increase or reduce its visibility on Google, all at no cost to the user. Boosting or burying more than three pieces of content through BrandYourself's site costs a subscription fee, with pricing that starts at $9.99 a month.

That's less than what most online reputation firms charge for such services. Online reputation firms tend to target businesses with marketing budgets or doctors and lawyers willing to pay relatively hefty fees for others to polish their Internet image. Reputation.com, one such reputation firm, charges its customers at least $1,000 a year, or $83 a month.

"We hated that these firms overcharged customers for something they could easily do themselves if they simply had a platform that educated and empowered them to do so," BrandYourself's site states.

But does BrandYourself really work? After all, there's a ton of value in controlling the top spots of your Google results. A recent study found that more than 94 percent of users click on the first page of results, while less than 6 percent visit the second page and select a result displayed there.

To find out, I decided to try out BrandYourself for myself by submitting two articles that I'm particularly proud of. The site instructed me to follow some basic steps to boost the pages' rankings. Then about a week later, I received an email alerting me to the fact that the two articles now reside in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots of Google search results for my name.

Thankfully, I have nothing too damning to bury (save a few spring break Facebook photos). Turns out, the same goes for the average BrandYourself user, according to Patrick Ambron, one of the company's three cofounders. "Most of our users aren't on the platform to fix a Google problem," he said. "They simply want to be more visible, which is why the product is free, to help those people as well."

According to a 2010 study by the research firm Cross-Tab Marketing Services, 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human resources professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about their candidates. And 70 percent of the surveyed recruiters said they have rejected candidates because of information found online.

"The first few results of your name are all you've got," said Dan Schwabel, managing partner of Millenial Branding LLC, a personal branding agency.

"Searchers -- whether they're recruiters or consumers -- have little time to gather information about who you are," Schwabel said. "They're increasingly relying on Google and social networks, and if you can't put your best foot forward there, or if you don't appear at all, they're going to go with someone else."

Here are six easy steps -- based on Ambron's advice -- to adopt so you can start taking control of your own results:

1. Google yourself. Most people find that the top search results for their name fall into one of three categories: negative, irrelevant and the "hey that's not me" sort. Once you know the results for your name, you can take action.

2. Claim your domain name. Visit a site like GoDaddy.com and purchase all domains containing your name (yourname.com, yourname.me, etc.). It's the most important thing you can do for 10 bucks. These show up high in searches for your name. So even if you're not planning to create a personal website, you'll prevent others from hijacking Google search results of your name.

3. Build a personal website. With free tools like Wordpress and Tumblr, anyone can quickly build a website. This will be an important hub of information about you that shows up high in results.

4. Set up profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Search engines tend to rank these social networks' links high, so you should definitely have a presence on them. Even if you don't plan on using your accounts much, it keeps other people from hijacking search results of your name.

5. Do some basic search engine optimization. Use your name wherever possible (Patrick Ambron not Pattyboy22, say), and link all your various pieces of online content to one another. This gives your content a huge boost.

6. Sign up for alerts. When your name ­appears in a news article or blog post, Google.com/alerts will let you know about it. Socialmention.com also provides alerts that will inform you when your name pops up in a tweet or is tagged in a photo on Flickr or ­Facebook.

Comments

[inkhosi]

01:47 PM on 01/13/2013

This guy is a jack***. He says the service is "free", then when you sign up you find out oh, oops, you only get the first 3 links free. $79.99 for a year :-). Just as slimy as all the other online reputation firms.

[JaiserAbbas]

03:50 PM on 03/28/2012

love to read the post, before start internet marketing Google was don't know about my name but now it shows bout 50 pages :) :D

[Jonnyboy007]

07:21 AM on 03/23/2012

No I am not Slim Shady!

[RazorLust]

05:54 AM on 03/23/2012

How much did the web hosting company mentioned in the article pay to be mentioned in it, I wonder?? I mean, after endorsing SOPA a few months ago, they are hardly a recommendable source for anything any more, yet here they are in an article mentioned specifically and solely in their category.
Is this really an article, or a series of paid product endorsements???

[Yoretha]

05:13 AM on 03/23/2012

OH MY LAWD!!!!!! I just did it. OH MY LAWD!!!! I gotta change my name and MOVE! OH MY LAWD!!!!!!

[gr8bsn]

04:04 AM on 03/23/2012

The bigger question that no one asks: Why are employers actually doing this? We've survived off of resumes, interviews, and reference letters for years. It worked well. Relevant information for the application process. Now employers have this sick stalker-like obsession with Googling people to see what dirt they can dig up? Nonsense! What average working stiff has the time to scour the internet like a paranoid freak making sure their digital tracks are covered? Moreover, shady companies like "Reputation Defender" are cashing in on this, blackmailing people with their "online reputation."

Also, in 2004, I started using the old Myspace. Even back then, I figured out that I should use an Alias online.

[Christina-Xena]

03:09 AM on 03/23/2012

What if when you do a search of your name, nothing comes up, on you or anyone?
(and no my name is not odd, the three parts are quite common).

Does an employer see a "no name" as a bad thing?

Also I understand employers sometimes force you to let them see over your shoulder at your private facebook page (the parts you see and your wall.

Again, is it bad not to have a facebook page, or twitter etc.???

Another view is whether they would prefer to hire someone with a facebook page and can be googled over someone who has neither??

Am I and others simply too far off the radar???

Of course I will allow it may depend on the type of job, and how far up the ladder the job one is applying for. Call it lower business management for purposes of this discussion.

[jordanbaby10]

12:41 AM on 03/23/2012

That's rediculous. There are so many people with the same name. How a potential employer could go by that is crazy. I wouldn't want to work for someone like that.

[Billv1]

05:40 AM on 03/23/2012

i wouldn't work for a bagger mentality like that either.

[tolchocks]

12:22 AM on 03/23/2012

If you try to google me ....and click on any link.....you get a free virus.

[Jayne Kier]

11:56 PM on 03/22/2012

How do we know that companies similar to Brand Yourself aren't putting the negative info out there, or searching for people and creating bad images purposely in order to make money 'protecting' their images? Employers shouldn't be able to hold information like this against people unless they have an opportunity to explain the rhetoric. Hmm....I'm thinking a good Employment/discrimination attorney might make an equal amount of money on ventures such as these.

[quixmar]

11:38 PM on 03/22/2012

Some people have same names. Sheesh!
My Google ranking (just last name) is usually number two, until January when I assume in California they study a Governor from the late 1800's with his first name being my last name and I drop to number 3 for a few weeks.

There is also another individual with my same name at a site called deviantart.com and that kind of causes concern, but I have enough good stuff which settles any doubt, and I handle my brand myself.

[BamaRainbow]

12:48 AM on 03/23/2012

There's nothing wrong with deviantart.com.

[Allison Patrick]

01:12 AM on 03/23/2012

Just so you know, deviantart is just a website that enables talented and budding artists to share their work with each other and the world. So don't worry about it too much :)

[quixmar]

01:21 AM on 03/23/2012

Yes, I know. It's just that it sounds so "deviant." LOL
Hopefully if they find "me" there, they will look beyond the search result to verify that it isn't me. If you keep digging, I am also a Catholic Saint, and a character in some German Medieval soap opera, along with some art foundation, and a physicist.

As for the web site, the guy with my name drew and posted a video game character that my son likes and he uses it as his online avatar.

[Shell71]

11:24 PM on 03/22/2012

I can't really see a respectable company just going by a google search and not an actual background check on someone they are thinking of hiring.. This seems more like an ad for BrandYourself's website.. It also never mentions if after doing this he was hired by someone.

[King72]

12:43 AM on 03/23/2012

It is an advertisement for his company. And as far as I can tell, he didn't get hired by a company, instead he started a company of his own for people like himself who got rejected. Regardless, AOL is making money on Huff Po's pseudo articles that are really adverts.

[ctslair]

09:58 PM on 03/22/2012

I'm a rugby player, a minister, a chef and a character in a comic book. Couldn't find anything actually about ME. (Guess I'm also the Invisible Man. LOL).

[abbigirl33]

09:40 PM on 03/22/2012

The sad realty is that some companies DO google their applicants names. I've googled my name before, and the results were not pretty. Apparently I am a porn star. Enough said.

[LiBra99]

10:49 PM on 03/22/2012

I've had the same problem as you. I used to write for an online magazine. Someone took my name and the city where I live (they found it in my bio) and said I was an escort. They even had a fake picture up and a whole profile about me. Unfortunately, I have a very uncommon name so people think it's me! So annoying!

[phontphoneez]

11:09 PM on 03/22/2012

abbi....I knew that was you! I have all your films......big fan, big big fan....

(just kidding)

;-)

[Beverly Schifferling]

09:38 PM on 03/22/2012

This is very scary - anyone can look up a name and find out where they live - it is against our privacy that Google or the other companies are doing this and making available our home addresses and telephone numbers. Yet when you go to Google and ask them to remove your name, you have to pay for it - but they used it without your knowledge! Something is not right about this - doesn't smell quite right.