Go Google Yourself!

No that’s not meant as an offensive statement, but actual advice. Whether you are selling a product, service or just building a presence for your organization, knowing what information is readily available to the public is important to be aware of. A research study has shown that 71% of consumers will research online reviews before they purchase a product. By knowing what already exists online about you, you can then start to think about how you would like to see the conversation shift.

Company Name

This is probably the first thing that a consumer will search for. It might be just to find your website, but it could also be to find reviews of your product and service. Make sure you know where you rank in search results and if there’s any information posted that you need to address.

Personal Name

If you run your own small business or if you serve as the face of an organization like a director on a board, make sure that you search for yourself as well. Online boundaries are blurry, so while the results for your company may be favourable, there might be information posted about you personally that you wouldn’t want connected to your company. Make sure that whatever network you join, you are comfortable with their privacy settings. Remember though, whatever you post online could be made public, so if you don’t want others to ever see it, don’t post it.

Product and Service Terms for Your Area

Once you know about exists about what can be considered your brand, make sure that you are also searching for terms related to your product and services. For example, if you sell stoves in Halifax and that’s your main target audience, you will want to search for “Stoves Halifax” or “Buy Stoves Halifax”. This will give you an idea of what your potential customers see when they search for your products and if your name is in the results.

Tips

• Remember to clear your browsing history or use a private/incognito browser when searching so your own previous search results and location do not impact what you are seeing.
• Once you’ve identified this information about yourself, you can start to think about ways to impact it like improving your search results, updating your personal privacy settings or even using different words in your marketing.