The article cited below brings up the not-so-old saying, “You are what Google says you are”. What this phrase means is that you do not personally have control of how people perceive you and Google, or other search engines, can be very influential in effecting how people perceive you. If search results are keeping you from being hired–you’ve run into a major problem.

Search reputation management, then, is the process of monitoring and managing one’s “reputation” across the SERPs. For branded search queries, are there one or more results that could be potentially damaging to your organization? We’re looking here for results that could preclude your organization from making the consideration short-list; perhaps even prevent you from wrapping up a deal you thought was done.

When you find such examples, it’s time to take action. Not necessarily to respond directly to the online “detractor,” but to create a message of your own that would be identified as more relevant and useful for the particular search query.

An online reputation is extremely important, and it is important to defend it against others who might want to unfairly malign you or your company.

http://searchenginewatch.com/3641105

Social networking has many different uses. It can be a highly beneficial way of staying in cotnact with your existing customers and even improving customer retention rate or it is obviously an ideal way to stay in touch with friends and colleagues, or to catch up with people that you haven’t seen in years. Facebook is the prime example of such sites but it is only one in a long line of them, albeit the largest and the one that has just announced reaching the 500 million registration mark since it was first opened just 6 years ago.

More specific networks like LinkedIn can be used as a powerful tool to help you connect professionally with individuals and organisations. It has been used successfully by job hunting candidates in order to find themselves new work or further their career. It has also been used by prospective employers as a means to find the best candidate for a job, and an increasing number of employers are using sites like both LinkedIn and even Facebook to check on potential candidates. This is why reputation management programs should incorporate some social networking.

Develop a profile with sites like those mentioned above and always ensure that you know exactly what is being posted about you on social networks, other websites, and even blogs. You may not be able to control what other people are writing about you but you can certainly control what you write and publish about yourself so use this to your advantage.

Have you been subject of nasty or defamatory comments online?

Do you actively manage your reputation (your brand, if you like)?

There are many risks when a business or person decides to put information about themselves online. Of course, the benefits often outweigh the risks, which is why people and businesses do it, but this does not mean that the risks and negatives simply disappear. Instead of ignoring the negative aspects of interacting online, we ought to pay special attention to them in an attempt to solve the problems.

A recent Microsoft survey found that many employers are concerned with online reputations and use information found in search engines to make important decisions about who they would employ. This does not mean that a bad online reputation precludes you from finding employment, but it certainly does not help.