Whether you’re searching for a job (like me) or just trying to make a good name for your self in your industry, it is important to be able to brand yourself. For the past year, I’ve worked to have an active presence on the web to be found by employers and recruiters and to have the ‘real me’ show up when I’m searched in Google.
There is more to the strategy, though, than just searching “Jessica Owens.” I wanted to be found with the most results on a search that would be most likely to be searched by employers. Although, it is unlikely that I can land even half of the top ten listings when searching “Jessica Owens.” I manually tested different terms and took a mental note on what sites showed up and what key words worked the best. It’s best to try to own all of the complicated searches before I can start really owning all of the results for “Jessica Owens.” Some of my searches include
- “Jessica Owens” Northwood University
- “Jessica Owens” Dow Chemical
- “Jessica Owens” Social Media
- “Jessica L Owens”
- “Jessica Owens” Marketing
As I registered my name on sites for a profile, I learned that “Jessica L. Owens” was a little bit more specific and it would be less likely for “the real me” to get confused with another Jessica Owens. I registered my blog to be http://JessicaLOwens.com and made sure the title was related to my career or linked with my name specifically (I’ve changed it a couple of times to see what works best). I also changed my resume to title “Jessica L. Owens” in hopes that someone searching might use that as a search term verses “Jessica Owens” or could at least distinguish which results might not be mine if something shows up as “Jessica A. Owens.”
I’ve found that by just adding my middle initial, it is more likely for my work to be found. And of course, all of my profiles are linked to each other or linked to my work, so people looking for me, will see things that I want them to see, not what other people have posted, or about things that are not related to me.
Look at the difference between these two searches…
“Jessica L Owens”
Almost all of the top findings are actually something that I produced or links to something that I’ve produced.
Not a single result is the “real” me. There is a Google Profile listing at the very bottom that doesn’t show up on this screen shot that is actually my profile with my photo in the search result. Unfortunately, if you are a potential employer, and have never met me, you might not know that it is actually my profile.
My other, more specific searches that I’ve already mentioned do show some content that is about half true and half random. It’s a work in progress and for me, it’s a continuous learning process.
This is valuable practice for those who need to be found or want to differentiate themselves from others. Make your name or title unique to others and set yourself apart. Try using a middle initial, or a specific title while having an online presence on websites and profile networks. It will advance your online results for your name (or product/topic) much more quickly.
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