Ever wonder who might be Googling you?
A new feature offered by BrandYourself, a site that helps its users manage their online reputations by controlling the links that show up as top search results on Google, can help you find out where, when and how others are searching for you.
According to Mashable, the new tool, launched on May 1, works with the help of a database of companies' public IP addresses compiled by the site. BrandYourself uses the database to match the IP address of a profile's visitor with the company that owns the address. In this way, BrandYourself users are able to figure out where (based on where the IP address-owner is located), when and how others have searched for them on search engines like Google or through other sites, as shown in the photo below, provided by BrandYourself.
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“They are being Googled,” BrandYourself co-founder Patrick Ambron told Mashable. “It gives them an idea of who is looking them up, and it motivates them to update their profile and make sure they’re putting their best foot forward.”
To create your own BrandYourself profile, which you'll need to use this feature, simply visit the site, enter an email address and password you would like to use to log in and then plug in the name you would like to control in search engines. The steps that follow will guide you on how to use the site's main service, which allows you to submit links you would like to show up as main results on search engines and then offers suggestions on how to boost these links to the top of the results list. After signing up and creating a profile, you can view who has searched for you on the site's homepage.
TechCrunch reports that BrandYourself now has 25,000 registered users taking advantage of this new feature and the site's other free tools. In addition, nearly 1,000 of them pay $9.99 per month to use the site's premium service, which, among other things, allows users to view more information about their profile's visitors and submit an unlimited number of links to track and boost.
For more tips on how you can manage your online reputation with BrandYourself, read on for one user's experience on the site.
What do you think about BrandYourself's new feature? Have you put this online reputation managing service to the test yet? Let us know in the comments!
For more practical privacy tips, take a look at our slideshow of 11 things you should never post on Twitter.
