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Dear ESB,
This is question is of a slightly different subject-matter than most, but throughout my engagement you were my true and trusted source of wisdom/snark/fashion and I thought you might be able to help.
Here it is: I have been married just under a year and I am in the beginning phases of looking for a new job. However, when I google myself (I have a unique name, so I am the only person who shows up) the first three results after my LinkedIn are my wedding registries. I don't want the first thing potential employers to know about me is that I was recently married. I have since made these registries "private" (outright deleting wasn't an obvious option at some stores' websites) but the caches remain.
Any advice on how to get these things out of my search results?
*****
OMIGOD H GETS TO WRITE A GUEST POST
I think it's his first one, isn't it????
Okay, I may have just pumped it up too much.
Um. Here's what he had to say:
The best defense is a good offense. Put up stuff you want the search engines to show and make it easy for them to find. Link them to each other for relevance bonus (and thus higher position in the results list). If your name is very unique, registering that, e.g. uniquefirstnameuniquelastname.com, and putting something up will get an extra relevance bonus from Google and most other search engines.
Spaces in the search term are ignored when it comes to the extra relevance bonus because you can’t register domains with spaces, and it doesn’t matter whether it is .com, .net, or .org, or whatever.
Derek Powazek offers some good advice on search engine optimization (SEO) in this piece, aptly titled "Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists."
I had the same issue -- deleting them outright is difficult but generally can be done with some persistence.
ReplyDelete1) If they haven't already expired, call the store and ask that they delete the registry (this make take a few tries to make it actually happen)
2) Report the link to Google using their "website removal request tool".
I was going to suggest this too. Even if you put better things at the top, these registries will probably still be on page 1 of the Google hits, thus seen by employers. Once they are defunct they will go away eventually, but you can speed the process along with the "website removal request". It worked for me for registries, and helped me get rid of some raunchy song lyrics my former roommate posted about me circa 2002, which had recently resurfaced.
DeleteThe google broken link/website removal tool totally works! I did this when I accidentally created a registry on the Knot (seriously, how do they not tell you that if you create an account to look at their stupid venue options, they automatically give you a registry? ugh) and it worked like a charm.
DeleteCould H translate into layman's English?
ReplyDeleteHa, agreed. I read that and was like, well hey, now I need to google those words...
DeleteI LOVE H.
ReplyDeletexo,
Naurns
me too. (are we website siblings, since he worked on both of our blogs?)
DeleteWe are.
DeleteI would recommend registering the site through Google. It gets you all set up with a custom email address, too (so you can look all fancy and professional).
ReplyDeleteInsider tip: If possible, I would delete any info that was in the registry itself. Uhhh lets just say the job can get very boring and we in the business of data collection have spent many a minute making fun of (judging) people's registries. The job market is tough enough that yes, even the shit you register can be used against you. Man I am gonna get hated now but now you know. Be careful out there in the internets. You never know.
ReplyDeleteyes, I have totally looked at pinterests, wedding registries, etc of people I work with/am thinking of hiring. I doubt I would outright NOT HIRE someone based on this stuff, but it skews your perception of a person in a way that is best to avoid. (though on the other hand, it was way endearing when someone I found really intimidating turned out to have a really steady pinterest of extremely basic recipes)
Deletemy standout registry that it took a while to delete was the knot, which automatically scans major sites or something. I think I had to join and THEN delete everything, which ... ugh.
Wedding registries and pinterest boards give me far less fodder for judgement than people's old myspace accounts. Oh boy.
Deleteyes. public info people put out there on the internet= fair game for employers to look at and judge. been there done it with people we were looking to hire and let me tell you, that stuff can either really help you or really hurt you. a pinterest full of cat pictures and a board called "design" full of ugly, out-dated designs? probably not going to get hired for that designer job.
DeleteI have NEVER thought of this. jesus.
DeleteAnother reason not to register
ReplyDeletedunno, i still want to offer a job to the guy who created an amazon registry for his imaginary marriage to j.lo.
Deleteon the flipside my partner was hired a few months ago even after the company googled and saw the wedsite he created for us, with cheesy video and all!
ReplyDeleteWait, is 'wedsite' a typo, or is that what we're calling wedding websites now?
Delete***if you don't know the difference between web hosting and party hosting and all of the above scares you, I'd say use Squarespace to create an elegant site and they'll deal with the techy stuff. I've told tech-shy clients many times and it's the best easy/quick solution.
ReplyDeleteIf you call the individual store registry lines, they can delete your registries. The Knot will then stop showing them as soon as the stores stop "reporting" them. (I just went through this! I made the mistake of filling out an info card at a bridal show. Google started "announcing" our engagement via phantom registries before we've disclosed the news to our families & friends. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteYou guys want to know a really good site for testing your online presence (besides Googling yourself, which has its pros/cons)?? Vizify. srsly. https://www.vizify.com/ And yes. It's kind of creepy that it's so easy...
ReplyDeleteOh my god, this is prompting a renewed obsession with attempting to scrub out my google presence. WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT?? Also, when I try to search for information about this, all I get is a million results about how to make yourself MORE googeable. I'd prefer information on being invisible.
ReplyDelete