{"id":82,"date":"2020-09-28T06:29:04","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T03:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/phdcareerguide.org\/?p=82"},"modified":"2020-09-28T18:18:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T15:18:41","slug":"have-you-googled-yourself-lately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phdcareerguide.org\/have-you-googled-yourself-lately\/","title":{"rendered":"Have You Googled Yourself Lately?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Some might think it narcissistic, but Googling yourself gives you a glimpse of what the rest of the world sees when someone is interested in discovering more about you.\u00a0 In social situations, like after a first date, the consequences of unflattering search results can be embarrassing to be sure (oh,\u00a0that\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0why they never called me back\u2026). \u00a0However, the real danger is the damage that can be done in professional situations like when you are looking for a job and recruiting managers decide to do their due diligence.\u00a0 That being said, stop reading and Google yourself right now, I\u2019ll wait\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

OK, now don\u2019t hyperventilate; everything\u2019s going to be just fine (probably).\u00a0 Your main focus should be the first page of results that comes up since most people don\u2019t bother going any further than that when casually doing background internet snooping. What you saw on that first page of results can basically be sorted into one of three categories:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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  1. \u201cOh no, I totally forgot that I posted those photos from Cancun on Facebook!\u201d<\/li>\r\n
  2. \u201cHmm, apparently there is a drug dealer who has the same name as me and their mug shot is the first search result.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\r\n
  3. \u201cEverything is fine, there is nothing that I wouldn\u2019t want my grandmother to see.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    While specific details will vary, there are steps that you can take right now to address each of these situations:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    For the situation where you have unflattering pictures posted from one of your social networking accounts, just delete them or make certain that you have your privacy settings set so that only your friends have access to your information and photos.\u00a0 If it happens to be one of your friends or family that posted an unfortunate picture and tagged you so that it appears in searches, untag yourself or contact them and explain how you would rather not have pictures of yourself be public without your permission.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    If you happen to have a rather common name or are just really unlucky and discover that there are some unsavory characters coming up when you Google your full name, I have some good news and some bad news.\u00a0 Bad news first: there is really nothing that you can do to take the bad results down.\u00a0 The good news is that you can send the bad results down indirectly by creating new results that outrank the bad stuff, hopefully pushing your evil namesake off of the first page of results.\u00a0 How might this be done? Create some new web pages that display your name prominently!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n