Egosurfing (also vanity searching, egosearching, egogoogling, autogoogling, self-googling) is the practice of searching for one's own name, or pseudonym on a popular search engine in order to review the results. Similarly, an egosurfer is one who surfs the Internet for their own name to see what information appears.
When someone is searching your name online, the following could damage their opinion of you: SEC filings. Criminal records. Statements that revoke your professional licensing.
I'm talking, of course, about Googling yourself(Opens in a new window). Seeing yourself as others see you online can be the first step in protecting yourself from identity theft, ensuring that potential employers don't find damaging untruths about you, and limiting the chances of becoming a target of real-world crime.
Searching from incognito/private mode starts you off with a blank slate and gives you results likely based on what someone else will see. Googling your full name is one thing, but it's worth considering is variations so your name and location, or usernames for certain accounts are worth checking.
Searching alone will do no harm, but extra clicks on negative results may indicate to Google that the world is more interested in those results than everything else that is positive and truthful about you," Matta said.
You can sign up for a privacy scan to see what's out there. There are many online monitoring services that will tell you when you've been mentioned on the internet. The most popular site is Google Alerts, but there are others like Mention.com that you can use if you prefer.
It's important to remember that the rankings you see are NOT the rankings seen by everyone else. Your search results are tailored to you. As a result, googling yourself doesn't give you the big picture. It just gives you an (often misleading) indicator of your performance based on narrow criteria.
Googling often comes from a place of fear.
If you're like me, then most of the time, you search for something when you have a problem or concern. In turn, your results will probably make your worry more, validating every terrifying thought in the back of your head.
Maria Wimber of the University of Birmingham's School of Psychology, in a statement. “Passively repeating information (e.g. by repeatedly looking it up on the Internet) does not create a solid, lasting memory trace.”
You're really supposed to use your real name (for legal reasons, mainly) but you can use an alibi if you prefer.
Google guesses users' age, gender, marital status, income bracket, and personal interests. Using the tool shows that many of Google's predictions can be off-base, but the majority of them are scarily accurate. It's also possible to stop Google from tracking your information or predicting your profile going forward.
In 1998, when Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin were looking to name the company, they decided on word Googol. They were engineers and were definitely familiar with the word. However, instead of taking the word as it is, they decided to modify it a little.
Create your profile at no cost, and you can manage your business from Google Search and Maps to start reaching more customers.
The simple answer is yes: Google collects data about how you use its devices, apps, and services. This ranges from your browsing behavior, Gmail and YouTube activity, location history, Google searches, online purchases, and more.
If there is negative or unfavorable content online about you, it can be difficult to have it removed. It can however be pushed down with the addition of new, positive content. This is why it's important periodically to Google your name to see what the search results include.
Google” Can Fuel Anxiety. 'Dr. Google' does not actually have a medical degree which can increase your chances of misdiagnosis or mistaking something major for something minor. Your attempts to self-diagnose to calm you down can have the opposite effect and can cause you to panic and overthink everything.
One of the biggest reasons you as a patient should never google your symptoms is that diseases are incredibly complex. Some symptoms can overlap many different diagnoses, all of which can range in severity.
Use a distraction. Another technique to keep you from self-diagnosing is distraction. When you feel like doing some Googling distract yourself by doing something else — going for a run, calling up a friend, watching some funny videos, whatever will get you out of your head.
Preoccupation with a serious illness for at least 6 months. Inability to control fears and worries. Misinterpreting normal body sensations as symptoms of a disease. Constant fear of illness despite reassurance of health status by health care providers.
Health anxiety is an anxiety condition that is often housed within the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) spectrum of disorders. Those affected by health anxiety have an obsessional preoccupation with the idea that they are currently (or will be) experiencing a physical illness.
While it's not possible to reveal who they are, you can at least use the same tools they're using. So, while you can't see who has Googled you, you can set up alerts whenever your name appears on a website, in a forum, or on social networks.
You're in control of what information you share with Google when you search. To browse the web privately, you can use private browsing, sign out of your account, change your custom results settings, or delete past activity.