Let’s talk about your online presence.

I wrote about the benefits of personal branding yesterday, so I wanted to follow up with some strategies. (Here’s the post if you missed it.)

It’s bizarre to think that I’ve been blogging on and off since 2000. I have had several blogs discussing everything from Christianity to self-care to homeschooling to marketing.

Wishing I would have stayed steady with at least one of those topics. Sigh.

Today I focus on self-publishing and book promotion. It’s a brave new world.

Needless to say, I’ve left comments on almost every platform.

Remember Myspace? Yeah me either.

If you are like me, what you wrote or said online 10 years ago might not be who you are today. Thankfully, I’ve not found anything that detrimental, but just in case, there are a few tools and tricks you can try to “clean it up”.

#1 — Search for Yourself on Google

Run a quick search and investigate what comes up when you search for yourself online.

Even if you have nothing to worry about, you should consider that someone with a similar name as you might have a criminal record, which could be mistaken for you. This is important to know if you are job searching, online dating, or pursuing high-level opportunities.

How to Research Your Online Presence

Use incognito mode so you can preview publicly available results (not results based on your location and search history).

1. To do a search, pull up your browser in incognito mode.
2. Type in your name with quotes like this: “Michelle Buck”.
3. Go to Google Images and also search there.
4. View the first few pages of results.

I searched on both Bing and Google and the first 2 page results were about Joe Buck’s wife and the lady who runs the Hershey Company. I showed up on page 3 with my Amazon author page and Medium profile.

You should repeat this process on other sites. Try doing steps 1–4 with these websites:

• Flickr
• Facebook
• Twitter / X
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Wherever else you think you have been!

You can run a search on Google like this: “Michelle Buck” site:youtube.com. Replace with your name and the site you want to search.

The point isn’t that you don’t want to show up at all, but that you want to show up in the best way possible.

Do you see something you don’t like?

You can request to remove it or update it. For instance, if it’s your YouTube page that has something odd on it, update it or remove it. It won’t remove it right away from the search, but Google will update it.

Sometimes you can have Google crawl the page or hide the page too.

#2 — Push the Poor Results Down in the Google Feed

What if you come across something that can’t be removed or is taking too long to refresh? Or what if someone doing shady stuff shows up on page 1 of Google and has the same name as you?

In that case, you will want to make the good content rise to the top and push those results down.

If you have accounts on LinkedIn, Reddit, or YouTube, start there. These show up first because Google owns them. You can also update any Google pages you own, for instance, Google My Business.

If you are on page 3 or 4, you are less likely to be seen on those pages. Rarely do people look past page 2.

Facebook is another place to update as it shows up near the top of Google as well.

Photo Credit: Ivory Mix*

#3 — Improve Your Online Presence

Personal Branding doesn’t just include your business or website. It can extend to other areas, such as comment sections, social sites, and more. You want to make sure whatever is “out there” for others to see is what you want them to see.

Here are some tips for improving your online image:

1. Delete old social media accounts if they are questionable or you’ve used them to post off-brand content.
2. Set up Google Alerts to find any information being said online about you.
3. Use a social listening tool to preview how others might talk about you or your brand. You can also search your name or brand on social sites to preview the results.
4. Create brand new accounts, if you haven’t already, for your new business or brand.
5. Create photo accounts on Flickr and Instagram. Tag your name in any photos you post so your content is pushed up in the results.
6. Use your full name on your website and include the bio on all blog posts you write.

Another thing you need to do is to review your brand image quarterly. Make time to research your name and brand so you know what is shown to your audience.

Being aware of how you appear online and on other platforms is important if you want to have some control over your image.

The point is to focus on having the good stuff — articles, LinkedIn, branded videos, etc. — show up first and hide anything that doesn’t fit who you are today.

It all depends on what you want to show to others. Use these steps to clean up your image and start strategizing how you want to brand yourself online.

Go to the next post: Simple Ways to Define Your Personal Brand for Epic Results

*This link leads to free content, however, if you make a purchase from this website, I’ll make a small amount which doesn’t cost you extra.

This was originally published on Medium with slight edits.