In today’s economy you cannot afford to have any loose ends – and that means you have to make sure your online reputation will not hinder you from getting a job. A report in the news disclosed that the majority of employers are snooping social networking sites and the rest of the internet as an informal background check. Rants, obscene Facebook photos, and inappropriate Tweets have all come back to haunt their fair share of job hunters.
Your digital footprint must not be found at any crime scenes. Rather, it should highlight how great of an overall person you are that would be an asset to any organization. What’s also negative is if someone searching for you on the internet found nothing at all. This shows that you are behind the times and have not done anything noteworthy. Below we take a look at how to protect and control your online reputation.
Google Yourself
Google your name and see what comes up. Most people find that the top results of their name are either negative, irrelevant or someone else. Any one of those three can hinder your reputation.
Buy Your Own Domain Name
Google gives a lot of weight to domains that contain the key word or words being searched for. So if an employer is searching for “Bill Jones” you should buy up the domain billjones.com. But buying the domain name is just the first step. You then have to put content on your website. Take advantage and put an online resume with a professional looking picture. Domains can be purchased for as low as $3 for an entire year.
Set up Profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
Set up profiles that contain your real name. Do not use nicknames or unprofessional handles like kegdrinker123 or dirtydiva707. They make you look unprofessional and won’t help in terms of search engine results.
Basic Search Engine Optimization
You don’t have to be a professional SEO expert to do some basic SEO. All this entails is linking your social media profiles to your personal website. That means include a link to Billjones.com on your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. This will give you a huge boost in the search engine rankings and drive any sort of negative stuff further down the search engine results.
Your goal is to dominate the top 3-10 spots. The top 3 spots get 75% of the traffic so concentrate your efforts on those, but don’t forget about lower spots in the top 10.