How to manage your online image

Finding information about yourself online can be very distressing.

Washington: If you’ve Googled yourself and don’t like what comes up, here are some tips to manage your online image.

Appearing on CBS`s "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," CNET Senior Editor Dan Ackerman offered some easy tips. Q. If you Google yourself and see information that is either negative or personal, how do you get it removed? Finding information about yourself online, whether it was uploaded by you or someone else, can be very distressing. There are steps you can take to minimize the impact, especially if you think potential employers, landlords, or the like will be Googling you in the near future. But let’s not sugarcoat this - there’s really no way to completely erase something once it’s online. Google provides a set of tools for removing URLs from its index, but these are mainly for the owners of those sites who want to replace outdated pages or information. If you’re trying to get rid of some photos or blog posts that are on someone else’s site, it’s generally their call, and you’d have to contact the site owner and ask them to remove whatever it is (but I wouldn’t get too optimistic about that happening). If you do manage to remove any pictures or Web pages you’d prefer to have hidden, Google will note these changes when it next searches that particular site - meaning the information will eventually vanish from the search results on Google. But it would take weeks or months. Q. What happens if the other party doesn’t remove it? Keep Online Info Current and Positive Chances are you’re not going to be able to get those ill-advised party photos or blog post comments removed from someone else’s site. Instead, you should focus on making sure there’s new, updated, positive information about yourself out there that will, hopefully, come up on a Google search higher up than any older links you’d prefer people not see. There are companies that can help you with this - such as Brand Yourself or Reputation Defender - they can perform a more detailed search of Google results related to you, see how you rank when people search for various keywords (like, "best electrician in Denver..."), and even build a personalized Web site for you - but these are all things you could do yourself for free, or close to it, if you take the time. Your goal is to create and keep current your own list of Web pages that pertain to you and, hopefully, these sites will become the top search results that come back when someone Googles you. Q. How do you create the online presence you want? Build Your Online Identity with a Google Profile, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Start by filling out a Google profile page. You can include a photo, job history, contact info if you want, and link to other profile pages you may have - these Google profile pages are useful, because they rank highly in search engine results. You can also start, or update if you already have, other Web sites. Start a Twitter account - it’s a good way to maintain an ongoing stream of content relating to you and your interests. LinkedIn is a social network for business - people mainly use it to post their job history online and connect to people in the same field, or friends at other companies. Think of it as a permanent online resume. Facebook can be used the same way - we’ve heard a lot about Facebook privacy issues lately, and while you do have a lot of control over who can see what on Facebook, I still wouldn``t post any photos or links I wouldn’t want associated with me in polite company. Someone else on your friends list can always copy pictures or posts and repost them elsewhere - so once it’s on Facebook, consider it open season for anyone Googling you. ANI