Browsing the Internet, you leave a digital trail of words and photos that are collected and indexed by Google robots and then offered to anyone's view. By the time your name hits Google, there's virtually nothing left to do, even if you're a US presidential candidate. Google has stated that it does not remove search result content unless it is illegal or violates company guidelines. However, there are several steps you can take to remove your data and reduce your exposure in the future.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Limiting the Damage
Step 1. Find out what data is about you
It is a great idea to check with what is called egogoogling, which is to do a search on yourself. It is definitely necessary when thinking about starting a new career or when starting a new relationship.
- Search for your full name; also any nicknames and aliases you may have and any variation of your name that comes to mind.
- For example, if you regularly post on a political blog with the name "Sempreadestra", search for this username on Google, putting it in quotes. Therefore, always add your name and surname in quotation marks. This syntax will force the search engine to return a very specific result containing both sets of words, in order to see if the two data can be linked.
Step 2. Contact the offending site
Maybe a particular website, blog, or even a friend on Facebook posted an unflattering picture of you or an embarrassing quote from you. Google has dutifully immortalized all this on its pages. While you can't do anything with Google, you can always act with the person who leaked your information.
- If it's a friend, just contact them informally and ask them to remove the offensive content. Maybe he didn't even realize how embarrassing it is for you.
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If it's not a friend, send a formally and professionally written email. Be courteous, fair, formal and direct. You can say something like this:
- "Dear [Name], I am glad you are following me on Twitter, but could you kindly remove the post I posted the other night about the government? I was not in the best of conditions and what I said did not reflect my true intentions. Thank you. for consideration. Sincerely, …"
- This won't remove the results from Google, but anyone interested in your views on the government will only see a "404-Not Found" page, as long as the webmaster honors your request.
- Don't threaten legal action, unless the content is genuinely slanderous and not just offensive. If you feel you fall into this case, contact your lawyer for a first appeal: a letter from him will have much more weight than yours. Keep in mind that they may post your threats online.
- If the person you're requesting reacts badly, don't send an email - it could be selectively copied, pasted and posted to cause you further embarrassment. Instead, send the letters via the regular postal service.
Step 3. Make changes to existing content
For things you have control over, like posts on Facebook or Twitter, make changes to the page included in Google's results.
Log in to your account, follow the link in the search results and decide whether to delete the post or photo or simply modify it with something less problematic
Step 4. Ask for the information to be removed from Google
Google will rarely remove requested information, unless there is a violation of their policies. Examples of what they might remove are: your social security number that someone may have posted, adult advertisements, and so on.
- For this kind of requests, you can fill in this form] provided directly by Google.
- Remember that if the offensive information is present on a website other than Google, it will only be removed from the search engine and not necessarily from the originating site.
Step 5. Delete obsolete accounts
While they may not contain embarrassing information, it is always a good idea to remove data that is no longer current.
- If you have an old MySpace account that you haven't accessed in years, it's best to delete it. You have certainly changed your style and interests since then. If someone does research on you, they don't need to see that part of you!
- Consider deleting any online accounts containing potentially embarrassing information. Google's results are based on relevance, and if the source (your old account) no longer exists, the relevance also disappears. Even if you have a particularly rare name, the result will be pushed to the bottom of the list. Only the most assiduous and tenacious researcher will push themselves to read beyond the top of the page.
- Change all personal information from sites like Facebook or, at least, set privacy options so that your data is not visible to anyone but you.
- Change your name. While the links may still be active on Google, changing your name on the account page could at least make the investigator perplexed.
Part 2 of 2: Protect yourself
Step 1. Be proactive
Google can't crawl what it can't see, and you can't be identified for what you choose not to share. You have to be very selective about people, when and where to share any of your personal information.
- This is especially true in online forums and games, where you don't really know the other people involved. Always use an impersonal username and never share your data and photos with anyone you don't like.
- For professional or commercial use accounts, always keep a shortened username. Instead of calling yourself "firstname.surname", use "initial name. Surname" or, if your last name is very unique, "initial surname.name".
- When it comes to email accounts, follow the same general guidelines, but also create a couple of addresses to use to protect yourself from spam and to use for any occasion. For example, instead of using "[email protected]" as your Facebook email address, create a specific email account for that use, "[email protected]". This way, in case of problems, you can simply delete the compromised account and keep the "real" address safe.
- Use these techniques whenever you are asked to enter your name in a public place that can be found by Google bots and indexed. You can't stop Google bots from finding you, but you can always prevent them referring to your real data.
Step 2. If you want to continue posting information about your name without the content appearing in search engines, use this HTML meta tag:
- You can only use this method if you own a website and have access to the source html file, as it causes almost all search engines to stop indexing (cataloging) your page or following links posted on it.
- The tag must be placed in the html document section to work. If you want, you can omit the "nofollow" command to allow search engines to follow links to your page without indexing it. To stop just google from indexing your site, replace the term "robots" with "googlebot".
Step 3. Hide the content you don't want to be found
Use the same mechanism that caused the problem to fix it! Post on different sites under the name that generated the unwanted content: the offensive content will be moved down, even on the second or third page of the search engines.
Most users don't keep checking for results after the top 10, so sign up for a mailing list that appears in the top results on Google or other sites that will index your name
Advice
- Use a pseudonym. Change it often.
- There are free and paid services that can help you check the search results on your name.
- If you are concerned that your namesake could ruin your reputation, consider signing up using your middle name or your full name.
- Use Google's removal request tool to request that search results or cached copies be removed.
- Learn to look at the results of a search on your name with the eyes of an employer. Employers often check candidate information using Google. (according to an ExecuNet study).
- Make a donation to non-profit organizations to be listed on the list of supporters. Not only will it make you look like a generous person, positive results have immense value, but you will also be helping a charity.
- Some companies include the names of their employees and their photos on the official website. Ask whoever manages the site to use only part of your name or a nickname. If you leave the company, ask for information about you to be removed quickly.
- If you are trying to hide results by posting new content, you can create a blog about your profession and use real contact information. Use it to post photographs of your company's successes, business meetings, your charity activity, and anything else that can put your business in a good light. Make tasteful and professional updates. Don't make it look like an online resume though.
- To get a result similar to the previous method, leave comments on sites related to your profession with your authentic contact information. Write them carefully and avoid talking about politics or expressing uncompromising opinions. Try to get photographed next to important people in your industry. Creating good search results on your name is even more beneficial than deleting unwanted ones.
- Subscribe to alumni pages and social / professional networks. Hopefully, these professional references push down that information about you that puts you in a bad light.
Warnings
- Once content reaches the network, in some cases it may be impossible to remove it. The best way to solve this problem is to avoid it at the root. Make sure that everything you post on the Internet won't embarrass you after a few years.
- Meta tags don't always work. Try not to rely on them too much. The reason this happens is that modern search engines use methods to prevent web page authors from influencing search results.
- Be careful. Asking your former employer to remove your information can make it appear that you have never worked for that company, contrary to what you say on your resume.
