Google, the most important search engine on the entire internet, and authors want to be on it. They want to be the first search item listed when their name is searched. The number one link should be an author’s website or blog. But sometimes, names aren’t exclusive to the author. They’re not always unique. Sometimes they’re surprising.
Question 81 – Have you ever Googled your name? What did you find that surprised you?
There are a lot of people named Jean Davis, and many of them have obituaries. At least I show up on page one as my author self. Yay for Google.
Going by my real name, I can’t find myself at all — there are too many of me. Going by my pen name (which is just an adaptation of my real name), I only find my works and the blogs I’ve posted on, because it’s unique enough to not show up elsewhere.
A while back I Googled my name and was quite surprised to see that pretty much the entire first page of results were of various pages on my blog. Today I Googled it again, out of curiosity, and I was pretty surprised to see that the ENTIRE first page of results is all me (assuming that you use my full name – Tracey Lynn Tobin). The top results were the blog and my Goodreads Author account, followed by a few pictures of me (and one of the kid and hubby), followed by the Nowhere to Hide Amazon page, my Facebook Author page, my bio on Self Publishers Showcase, a review of Nowhere to Hide on that same site, spotlights I did on two fellow bloggers’ sites, and finally my YouTube channel. Pretty amusing!
Sidenote: very recently one of my coworkers was Googling the camp where we stay when we’re at work to show his wife what it looks like, and as he was scrolling down on Google Images a picture of me came up. It was my blog’s user image, and it got linked there because of a post I’d done on the camp a few years back. It gave me a good chuckle! XD
I have! Mostly, to make sure my “platform” was solid enough. The most surprising thing I found were random men named Sr Carrillo somewhere overseas. Not really all that shocking, but, for the most part, searches of me lead back to me. ^_^
I have. I didn’t find anything that surprised me. Lots of links to the various books I’ve written, fiction and non-fiction. Shrug. Was I supposed to be surprised?
I searched for my name when trying to decide whether or not to write under a pseudonym.
My real last name is mispronounced or misspelled often enough that I’ve always assumed it was rare, so I was surprised that there was anyone else with the same full name as me at all.
Funny question. Yes. I have. It used to be that a lot of pictures of young women would come up (“Tiffany Allen”). Some of the young ladies were wearing only their birthday suits. More recently, my blog has been showing up at the top of the page as my page rank has been creeping up.
I did. It turns out I’m a 6’3″, 310 pound right offensive guard for the Buffalo Bills. And all this time I thought I was only 5’6″, 145 pounds and a teacher.
I found some others with my name, but thankfully none of them are exceptionally famous. Unfortunately some of them are also writers and have books listed on Goodreads, and thanks to listing errors they get lumped on to my profile sometimes. Makes me look more prolific than I really am.
Yes, I Google my name to check on reviews and copyright stuff at least once/month. Not much to see there. What surprises me most is how many pirated copies of my book are online at various sites, and then also how many overpriced paperbacks are available from one source or another. One site had it going for 5 times it’s listed value, for no discernible reason.
The first time I googled my name I discovered a lawyer, an author (that wasn’t me) and a porn star. That was before I had my blog. Now when I google myself, mostly I come up with my blog. I have to wonder if google gives me that result first since I spend so much time on it. If anyone out reading this (who doesn’t spend a lot of time on my blog) would google me and let me know in the comments what you find, that would be awesome. 😀 I’ll be glad to reciprocate!
These days, the entire first page of my Google search is me! First is my official website, then my Twitter profile. Then it’s YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a few random things. Funny thing is the Google image search. There’s someone there that isn’t me! Some research led to something interesting. There is a guy out there with the same name as me from the US that has been convicted several times. Wonderful.
How about you?
When you do a Google search on your name, what does it come up with? Is it you? Anything surprising? Let us know in the comments below.
I Read Encyclopedias for Fun 
Apparently, I’m completely unique. I’m not the only Thomas Weaver, nor even the only Thomas W. Spence, but I am the only Thomas Weaver Spence in the world. This is a good thing; I’d hate for someone else to get in trouble because he’d been mistaken for me.
They’d get in trouble?
Well, I wouldn’t want someone else to be blamed for something I did (or something someone thought I did, or whatever), or to be blamed for something THEY did, just because we happened to have the same name.
Just like me. There’s a guy with the same name as me who’s been convicted several times. I don’t want to be associated with him.
Reblogged this on North of Andover.
Reblogged this on Linda G. Hill and commented:
When was the last time you Googled yourself? Check out what a handful of authors (myself included) said on Jay Dee’s weekly interview post.
Note: Comments here turned off. Please comment on the original post.
Well, Linda, if I’m commenting at the right spot. Page one — all you, page 2 — mostly your name as shows up on other blogs, and a lawyer and doctor.
Thanks so much! This confirms that what I’ve thought for a long time is actually false – that I’m the only one seeing it. It makes a big difference when you take my middle initial out though. 😛
Cheers, my dear. 🙂
You’re much more present on the google search as “tale weavering” than Phylor. I had no idea “Phylor” was not unusual.
Reblogged this on On the Edge of Enlightenment and commented:
I guess I haven’t done a good enough job of raising my visibility so far, and apparently I’m a motorcycle or something?
Well, I guess my name is a stand alone for now. Not too many people run around bearing Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha so google was happy to show me all about me.
Nice that you have a pretty unique name.