Are you a good Google?
Don’t know? You may want to find out.
What Google tells a near-stranger about you may not make the greatest impression.
The site, as everyone knows, is the world’s most popular search engine, and self-Googling has evolved into an indispensable way to monitor your Web presence and keep tabs on what others are learning when they look up your name.
“A good Google is someone who returns just the right number of results with pieces of information that you might never otherwise find out about,” says Brett, who did not want to give his last name for fear this article would be added to his Google inventory.
The most interesting thing Brett – a 28-year-old Manhattan programmer – discovered through a personal Google search was that a college girlfriend’s father owned a soft drink company. She had never bragged about being rich.
She was, in Brett’s opinion, a good Google.
This may beg the question, “Can’t you search your own name using Yahoo or MSN?” And the answer, obviously, is “yes.” But when was the last time you considered Yahooing yourself, or MSNing yourself? (By the way, the No. 2 and No. 3 search engines combined are 12.8 percent less popular than Google, according to Nielsen’s March figures.)
Google’s system doesn’t keep tabs on the number of times people search for seemingly random names. But company representatives point to mailings from Google users who have found old friends through the search engine as evidence that it is often used to research everyday people.
Of course, whether a person is a “good Google” can be a very subjective thing.
Students at a Jewish school recently learned via Google that one of their teachers was affiliated with the Unification Church, run by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. “Students printed out the page and showed everyone,” said 16-year-old Cary Weiss, who lives in Englewood, N.J. “Everyone saw it.”
Is the teacher a good Google? You make the call.
Jayson DeZuzio, on the other hand, doesn’t care whether he’s a good Google – he just hopes people Google him, period.
The 26-year-old relies on Google searches to draw business to his Paramus, N.J., recording studio. Look him up and he’s listed as the producer and sound engineer for several bands with a strong Web presence. “I don’t really advertise,” DeZuzio said. “So Googling is great if it means I get work.”
For a long time, I dreaded being Googled.
Several years ago, among the first results to pop up for my name was a pro-anorexia ring where people with eating disorders shared tips about starvation and purging. I had written a story for a Boston newspaper about it. But unless someone actually visited the site, it appeared I was a member.
Another prominent result was the “Transylvanian Society of the Dracula,” which had linked to an article I wrote on a national recall of diving sticks that had injured several children. The article was included in a discussion on impaling with wood and iron spikes.
So … a cursory Google of my name thus left people with the impression that I was an anorexic who is obsessed with Bram Stoker and medieval forms of torture. In my opinion, I was an undeniably bad Google.
But my Google considerably improved over time. Now, of the roughly 14,200 hits on my name, about 200 are actually related to me. None have any real dirt. Most link to articles that reveal little besides my occupation.
Recently, I even discovered there is another Catherine Holahan with a Web presence. Judging from the results, she appears to be an artist. I can’t draw. But I don’t mind the assumption that I’m an exhibiting artist. It’s a lot better than appearing to have an eating disorder and a taste for blood.
My days as a good Google are probably numbered. I figure it’s only a matter of time before someone with my name commits a crime or my articles get associated with other strange, occult practices.
I’m enjoying being a good Google while it lasts.
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