Grounded In Reality

On the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, I’m told that, ” You’re a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well.” (Techmeme link.)  Highlights from the article:

• About 7% of all searches are for a person’s name, estimates search engine Ask.com.
• More than 80% of executive recruiters said they routinely use search engines to learn more about candidates, according to a recent survey by executive networking firm ExecuNet.
• Nearly 40% of individuals have used search engines to look up friends or acquaintances with whom they’d lost touch, according to a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Microsoft Corp.’s MSN unit.

In terms of people search tools, Spock (glowing review by O’Reilly) and ZoomInfo will eat Google’s lunch if it doesn’t care to focus on vertical, people search results.

For working professionals, it is worth asking if your clients (current and potential)  expect to see their name and/or business appear in Google.  If not, why not?  If so, here six easy, inexpensive (many free) ways to quickly establish an online presence: Start a blog, create a Squidoo lens, upload Flickr photos, create a professional LinkedIn profile (yes, it shows up in Google), register a unique domain, and optimize your Web site. (In case you’re wondering, I’ve walked the talk for a nonprofit that I’m volunteering with.)

For my PR brethren, which keywords do/should your clients (high profile individuals and brand) own, and how much time and resource is spent working towards that goal?

In terms of naming a child, I find it rather short sighted for parents to overly concern themselves with the Google results  of their child’s name.  Must be the fear of Google in the air.

Addendum: Fortunately for me, if you are a headhunting “Wilson Tan” on Google, I’m #11 and #13 associated with Paul’s post and my post on this GCI Digital Media blog.  Not too shabby though certainly room for improvement to find myself online.