Every few months I Google myself to see what comes up. I think that this is something that all authors should do and particularly something that web writers / bloggers should do. It’s important to know who is writing about you, who is linking to your writing and who is stealing your content (which happens unfortunately all too often).
Plus it’s really good to know what other people are going to find when they Google you since it’s a common practice for clients who may be interested in getting writing work done to check what kind of stuff you’ve already had noticed by the big search engines. You don’t want to be caught unawares when someone informs you that there are some sketchy things published about you online.
Usually when I Google myself, most of what I find is familiar since most of it is stuff that I’ve written for the web and put my name on. My website and blogs come up, the articles I’ve written for online magazines come up and there are a few articles that are floating around about me that I have known for awhile were coming up in Google searches. There are also a lot of links to my books from various online bookstores and resellers.
This time, however, there was a bunch of new stuff that came up that I hadn’t seen the last time that I did this semi-annual Google search. Some of the things that I discovered about my writing when searching through Google this time included:
- I was twice-named a female blogger to watch in 2008. Virtual Woman’s Day listed me as a blogger to watch in the summer and WE Magazine for Women listed me in their 101 women bloggers to watch in the Fall. Thanks to those two awesome sites; sorry I didn’t notice that sooner!
- A post from this Real Words blog was included in a great roundup of blog posts on saying no to work that isn’t right for you as a freelancer. I definitely stand by those words so I’m glad to see that they’re getting shared.
- I was also super glad to see that a ranking system for jobs that I use as a freelancer was picked up and altered by someone else in a way that suited her. Yay for sharing information!
- Sky Dating has quoted me more than once in their articles, referencing me as a dating expert and author which is true since I have worked in several positions as a dating advice blogger.
- I was also quoted by Developing Creativity for my thoughts on being creative.
- Several sites stole entire articles from me, referencing my name but reprinting my pieces without permission or without links back to me. I won’t link to those here because it just gives those places web traffic they don’t deserve but I will say that it annoys me when they do that. Write your own stuff - you really do have your own voice! Or at least give me the chance to write a fresh guest post for you instead of stealing my content and not paying me for it.
In addition, I didn’t see this on my Google search but I do know that some of my posts are being written about on a great young blog called College in a Suitcase. The awesome writer there is taking a blog post that I did on mantras for writers and turning it into a series of her own thoughts on these as a writer. I think this idea of hers is totally inspiring and I’m loving what she’s had to say!
What do you find when you Google yourself?
January 14th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Thanks so much! I’m really glad you like what I’m doing.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:04 am
The ranking system is great. It gives me immediate feedback - especially when deciding whether or not to accept a new job! Thanks again.
January 17th, 2009 at 2:12 am
Kathryn,
You can also use Google Analytics. It’s a free service, that offers you a lot of information on how readers find your pages, how they use them, where they come from, which articles are the most popular and so on.
Another option is Technorati. You can submit your blog to Technorati, and see how the relationship of your blog evolves with other blogs. It also helps a lot to have higher ranking by search engines.
Enough nerdy stuff
btw: Thanks a lot for your compliment on my post
@ Burak … Thanks for the additional information. I do use analytics and technorati but hadn’t checked them out in awhile. It’s always good to find many different ways to check up on your work so that you really know what kind of impact it’s having out there!