How to Google Yourself to Find Negative Search Results

Search engines can turn up hundreds of pages of results for a person or business. Web-based tools can locate negative business reviews, decades-old news articles, adult content, and other unwanted material you may have not known was even posted to the internet

That routine traffic stop that happened during college could be showing up on a police blotter website. Your physical address may be displayed on a data broker site. There is so much information available via search engines that it is enough to give the average person an anxiety attack.

At Minc Law, we have extensive experience removing damaging and defamatory internet content, and know exactly what you should Google to effectively find negative this unwanted content:

Google your full name;

Use titles and suffixes;

Search your location;

Think like a defamer;

Use different search engines;

Use search modifiers;

Find related websites;

Utilize search result time restraints;

Conduct a reverse image search;

Use incognito search;

Utilize Google’s built-in filters;

Google your phone number.

Below, we will walk you through 12 tips to finding negative search results and how to locate all information about you that is floating around the internet.

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12 Tips to Google Yourself to Find Negative Search Results

Minc Law Can Help Remove Negative Internet Content

12 Tips to Google Yourself to Find Negative Search Results

Googling yourself is not only acceptable behavior but something that is absolutely required for having and maintaining a career or a personal life in the digital age. It is not your vanity that is at stake. It is your online reputation and your personal brand.

Studies have shown that roughly 40% of people research a potential suitor before moving forward with a date. Furthermore, approximately 80% of employers conduct online investigations into candidates for a job before scheduling an interview. If your future partner or potential employer are going to know about it, then you have no choice but to learn yourself.

Of course, most people Google themselves, even if they don’t admit it. A little over half of millennials and just under half of Generation Xers have Googled themselves, according to one survey. And among members of Generation A, one in 10 members Google themselves every day.

The results though are what matters, and reinforce why you should Google yourself. One in five people find outdated or inaccurate online information. One in three find information that was influenced by someone with the same name.

You may have tried Googling your name and found pretty standard personal information like your social media profiles and posts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. But chance are you may not have searched thoroughly enough. The internet is a vast information flea market where facts, innuendo and outright slander exist side by side. Its important to search thoroughly and deep.

Tip 1: Google Your Full Name

Googling your full name, including nicknames, maiden names, previous names, or your business’s registered name, is a great first step toward locating defamatory negative content such as false online reports, fake Google reviews, and malicious comments. Do not limit the search to your first and last names.

Think of all possible names by which you or your business may be known. Make sure to include your middle name, shortened business names, any common misspellings or personal monikers. If you are a married woman, past friends and acquaintances might only know you by your maiden name.

Make sure to Google the previous, current and hyphenated versions of your surname or surnames. This type of Google search will serve as the foundation for a thorough investigation of your online presence.

Online Reputation Management & Monitoring Tip: We recommend creating a free Google Alerts account to monitor your online reputation and the internet for specific keywords. Simply enter your name and the target keywords you want to monitor, how often you want to receive notifications, and create a Google Alert. You will then receive a Google Alert anytime your inputted keywords are mentioned anywhere online.

Tip 2: Use Titles & Suffixes

Including professional titles in your search query is especially important for professions such as doctors, lawyers, and professors. This helps to unearth potentially business-ruining anonymous reviews on platforms like Vitals, Rate My Professors, Yelp, and Avvo.

For example, if you are a lawyer who has recently married and you took your spouse’s last name, try searching: “full name + ESQ (professional title for attorneys),” or “maiden name + ESQ.” You may have nasty comments written about you on a competitor’s review page and you would not even know it.

If you are a man and were named after your ancestors, adding a suffix could be beneficial, particularly if you are known that way in your professional life. Searching for “Robert Griffin III” might yield more specific results than just “Robert Griffin”, especially if you live in a highly populated area.

Tip 3: Search For Your Location

Speaking of highly-populated areas, including your location can be one of the most valuable tools in assisting in your hunt. Many different consumer reviews, national news publications, mug shot, gossip blog, and cheater shaming websites typically sort posts and reports by categories, location being one of the most popular.

But these sites generally do not follow one uniform pattern for how they write cities and states, so remember to include both short and longhand versions of your location. Also, avoid using acronyms such as L.A. for Los Angeles, N.Y.C. for New York City, and M.I.A. for Miami, etc.

For example, if your name is John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt and you are from Los Angeles, California, consider searching “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt + Los Angeles California,” “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt + Los Angeles,” or “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt + California.”

Tip 4: Think Like a Defamer

Although it may be a hard thing to do, putting yourself in the shoes of a defamer or someone else who wants to do you harm is essential if you want to find all of the dirt online. Entering specific keywords will help you discover defamation and hidden content previously not turned up in a basic search.

If you suspect you have been posted about by a vengeful former lover, former spouse, or even a disgruntled ex-employee, consider searching with some popular expressions and phrases that an online critic would use.

Listed below are several commonly used derogatory terms found in defamatory posts. These words can be used in conjunction with search modifiers.

Cheater

Scam

Liar

Fraud

Slut

Whore

Homewrecker

Deadbeat

POS

Complaint

Hobo

Predator

Expose

Report

Rip off

Loser

internet-defamation-lawyer-checklist

Tip 5: Use Different Search Engines

Sometimes false and defamatory posts and web-pages may show up in one search engine’s results and not in another’s. To give yourself the best chance of locating ALL unwanted content on the internet, conduct searches across as many internet search engines as possible.

While Google facilitates nearly 75% of all search engine queries across the globe (roughly 3.5 billion per day), it is not the only search engine you should concern yourself with. There are several other popular search engines which have captured anywhere from 1-10% of the global search engine market. Several alternative popular search engines to Google include:

Bing (9%)

YouTube

Yahoo! (1.6%)

Baidu

YANDEX RU

DuckDuckGo (.18%)

What is more, several of these search engines enjoy sizable market shares in certain geographical regions. For example, Bing claims just over a 33% market share in the United States, a stark contrast to its 9% global market share.

To read the rest of our tips on searching yourself for negative results and how to conduct a reverse image search, visit the Minc Law Defamation Blog at -----> https://www.minclaw.com/how-google-yourself-find-negative-search-results/.