This summer I wrote a blog post, "Is Google Over?" about a comparison between Google and Bing on my own name. I was surprised to see Bing returning search results way better, in my opinion, than Google's.
In my original blog post (because let's face it, most of you won't jump) I said that Google was ranking my own website way down the page, rather than pushing it to the top. Old listings of my name in jobs I no longer hold, and haven't for 8 years, were being pushed to the top of the results page. To me that information just isn’t relevant anymore (or not enough for the first page). Bing was ranking searches in the order I would have chosen.
Surprise! I recently Googled myself and my website returned in first and second place and much of that other old stuff had been pushed to the SECOND PAGE results! Matt McGee explains that now Google Endorses Reputation Management.
From Matt’s post: “I also suspect, from reading the blog post, that Google is trying to do some pre-emptive customer service here. You can imagine the amount of emails (and perhaps phone calls) Google gets from people who are upset about what they see when they Google themselves. The blog post basically says, Would you stop asking us to clean up the search results mess you don’t like?
From Google's blog: “Rather than immediately contacting Google, it’s important to first remove it from the site where it’s being published. Google doesn’t own the Internet; our search results simply reflect what’s already out there on the web.”
While I did fill out a Google profile, I did nothing to manipulate the tagging or content on my site, except to add a Twitter feed to the home page. Either Google has changed their algorithm to influence personal searches, filling out my Google profile helped or Google reads my blog. Yikes!
So what do you think: Should I use my power for good or for evil?
Bing all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (full disclosure: I never use it. But I have to toe the party line.)
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