The fine line of Privacy vs Search rankings

Over the last few years I have been slowly building up a collection of sites that sum me up on the internet. Between them they build a picture of me. It is this picture that people who don't know me, clients, employers etc etc all see when they search for me on the internet.

By some careful management and forward thinking I have managed to keep the impression of me as accurate as I can, while also hopefully being in a good light. Sometimes I have used my real name, others I have used some pseudonyms (Designer023 on twitter and carlosthedesigner on Flickr etc). As part of "me" on the internet I had taken the decision to keep Facebook as a friend and family thing, just like I keep LinkedIn as a business thing, compared to Flickr, Twitter etc, which I feel are more open for general use. The problem arises when there happens to be someone with the same name that lives only a relatively small distance away in a town with a similar name, and the other me was turning up in the searches for the real "me", so could easily be confused for actually being me.

Since I discovered this I have re-assessed the use of Facebook and allowed it to be searchable, but perhaps it is to late to demote the other Carl and promote myself to be higher up and in the same group of results. It is for precisely this reason that I am writing this post, in the hope that google may figure it out and realise that I am 'me' and the other result is not. Hopefully the results will soon reflect the right  Carl Topham on Facebook with the right set of other sites.

I imagine I am not the only person out there who has a similar issue.

Category: Other