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Or you could do what I've done (and I'm guessing many other HN users) and engineer the results that come up. Search for my name and you get what I want you to s

Or you could do what I've done (and I'm guessing many other HN users) and engineer the results that come up. Search for my name and you get what I want you to see, at least for the first few SERPs. Obviously this isn't possible for everyone (very common names, celebrities with too much coverage) but for those who can it doesn't take a lot of effort. My opinion is that it's far better to get the information out there you want people to see than have nothing at all.

TillE 13y ago
Do people actually Google names expecting good information? My name is not extremely common, but it is shared by a few people more prolific or well-known than me, such that the results are useless. I know virtually nobody with a unique name. But search for my email address and you'll get much more interesting stuff.
- incision 13y ago
  >"Do people actually Google names expecting good information?" Anecdotally, no. In my experience, the people who are quick to Google the new hire/candidate are salivating for a way to pre-emptively discredit "the new guy". I've encountered several people who are pretty obsessive about this and not only Google everyone they meet but have alerts set up for their own names. I have a relatively unique name yet you won't find anything about me in the first pages of Google results. If you dig, you'll eventually hit a LinkedIn or G+ pages which I've been very careful about sharing anything on.