5 simple steps to improve your online reputation

A quick way to clean up the first few pages of Google results without having to pay an “expert.”

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Ragan Insider Content

When people hear about you for the first time, they might Google you to see who you are. If they don’t like what they see, they may not interview you for that dream job, or give you the chance to pitch your business idea.

Luckily, fixing your online reputation is much simpler than most imagine. The average person is not going to read pages and pages of Google results. In my experience, most people are content to look only at the first page of results, and they will only click on a link if they see a problem.

To fix this first page of results, follow these five simple steps.

1. Google yourself regularly

Google yourself and see what comes up. You need to check the results every month or so, partly because new information appears online all the time, and partly because Google frequently changes its algorithm to stop search engine manipulators from gaming the system.

Normally you only need to worry about the first page of results, but I suggest you go a few pages deeper the first time you do this. Make sure there is no content so negative that you can’t afford to have it even on page 20.

2. Remove or hide negative content you control

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