I have a guilty secret; a bad habit. I’ve tried to give it up, really I have. Sometimes I’ve gone days, even weeks without indulging. But then I’m back. I’m an addict. A creature of my shameful obsession. My therapist tells me sharing is the first step on the road to recovery so here goes…

My name is Kate Toon and I can’t stop Googling myself.

I know, I know, we’ve all done it once or twice; when we’re bored at work and really ought to be finishing off that presentation. But I’m talking about more than just a casual flick through the first page of results. I’m talking systematic, consistent Google abuse. Will I go blind?

It was only when I started to investigate that I realised that Googling yourself (also know as ego surfing, vanity searching, egosearching, egoGoogling, autoGoogling or self-Googling according to Wiki) is a such a ‘big thing’. We’re all at it; apparently, 86%* of people have Googled themselves at least once in the last year.

In this new fangled day and age your Google search results are a huge part of your ‘digital footprint’. Potential employers, colleagues, clients, landlords, neighbours and lovers are all able to get the complete run down on you with a few deft finger taps. According to this site 53% of people have Googled someone other than themselves.

Or as Seth Godin put it:
“Google yourself. If you’re a salesperson, your prospects already do. If you’re looking for a job, your prospective employers already do. If you’ve got a job, your co-workers already do.”

So it’s probably a good idea to find out just what’s out there.

There are now sites dedicated to the art of self-Googling Zoom info amongst others and sites such as QDOS (ooh I helped build this site by the way) which chart your online profile using search results. But of course the easiest way is just to type in your name (One word or two separate ones if you’re being serious) into that famous search field. And here is what I’ve learnt:

The good stuff:

• If you have your own website, the best way to see if your SEO strategy is working to Google yourself (you’re cheating a bit if your URL is actually your name, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it).
• If you’re in the media or have a product or business to promote; googling yourself will give you an idea of how your PR is working and just which sites are talking about you.
• Occasionally little gems pop up. Only recently I discovered a rather flattering review of my play Tumbletots, which cheered me up immensely since I’d just received a rather damning review of another play.
• If there is anything bad ‘out there’ you can do your best to get it removed or at the very least be ready for some uncomfortable questions in that next interview.
• You can find other ‘yous’ (or Googlegangers as they are now dubbed) which can be quite exciting. I was rather pleased to find out I’m part of the Dental team at Wedmore Dental practice.  and that I that recently came first in one of the events at the Blaston Show.

The bad stuff:

• Although your facebook details aren’t public property your profile photo is. So beware of posting up that shot of you naked at your mate’s skinny dip BBQ.
• Facebook wall posts also appear (see this example found on bing) so be careful what you type.
• Forum entries (if you’ve used your real name) will and do appear. So if you’re posting a question on the erectile dysfunction help forum you might want to use a pseudonym
• Posts from support pages will appear so again be careful what you say. I read a nice rant from a coder I know on a Blogging forum, he was so rude to the guy helping him I thought twice about using him again.
• Heaps of sites simply haul names into their keywords hoping that some ‘random’ will search for you, click through to their bogus site and ‘do something’ that earns them cash or worse, installs a virus on your machine.
• Ever donated to a friends sponsorship site? Or a charity site? Your name and your donation amount could appear – so give big.
• Any quotes, comments ANYTHING you have ever typed into a computer ever could be online. A stupid comment I made in a hotel guest book was once the FIRST thing to come up when you searched for me. I’m sure it still lurks somewhere. (50p to anyone who finds it)
• But of course the worst thing about googling yourself must be finding nothing at all. Ouch!

I’d recommend even Yahooing or Binging yourself now and again (once a week max) to see what those weirdos who don’t use Google are seeing and to realise just how rubbish Bing is.

So happy self-Googling I say. I feel better about it already. Now I’d better go, apparently posts to WordPress Blogs appear in Google within minutes, so I’m off to do a quick search and see if that’s true.

For more self googling see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M8-J2pm3xQ
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212040,00.html
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/ego_surfing.html
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ego+search

* As Vic Reeves said “88.2% of Statistics are made up on the spot” – so I made up this one.