Google is taking over more of what used to be an SEO Job – Reputation Management, according to a new post at the Google Webmaster blog titled Managing your reputation through search results:

” … Think twice before putting your personal information online. Remember that although something might be appropriate for the context in which you’re publishing it, search engines can make it very easy to find that information later, out of context, including by people who don’t normally visit the site where you originally posted it. Translation: don’t assume that just because your mom doesn’t read your blog, she’ll never see that post about the new tattoo you’re hiding from her.”

“… Create a Google profile. When people search for your name, Google can display a link to your Google profile in our search results and people can click through to see whatever information you choose to publish in your profile.

• If a customer writes a negative review of your business, you could ask some of your other customers who are happy with your company to give a fuller picture of your business.
• If a blogger is publishing unflattering photos of you, take some pictures you prefer and publish them in a blog post or two.
• If a newspaper wrote an article about a court case that put you in a negative light, but which was subsequently ruled in your favor, you can ask them to update the article or publish a follow-up article about your exoneration. (This last one may seem far-fetched, but believe it or not, we’ve gotten multiple requests from people in this situation.)

The last example isn’t as far fetched as the Google blog post makes it out to be; it’s been known large newspapers like the New York Times, in an attempt to bolster their organic search traffic, search optimized much of their archived news stories, and in some cases, it had a noticeably bad effect on the reputation and finances of individuals who had old stories written about them (court cases that were later resolved in their favor) that were harmful to their reputation – getting that stuff taken down is a real headache, and often not easy to get at or accomplish.

Google’s advice falls in line with what we already do for many areas of our lives, such as our medical health, it asks us to be proactive and take responsibility for managing our own reputations by thinking about everything we write down on the web, first, anywhere.

The concept that elements of a webpage can be taken out of context by the search engine, I find, intriguing - though it’s quite evident that it’s true, not only for Search Engines, but for Social Media, as well.

In two cases this year, both on Facebook, I commented on what someone else wrote in a Facebook post,  and due to the way the original content was written (in the first person, yet without the author penning their name in the content) when I shared that story, it appeared that I authored the content.   It was quite amusing to me that Jeff Pulver created Soccom in NYC – as I shared it – people started to contact me and ask if I would include them in my conference……. which got me thinking that someday … maybe I ought to have a conference … if it’s as easy as that (except I’d have no way of paying for the setup, so I stay away from creating my own conferences, for now).

But what Google is saying about Reputation Management for Search AND Social Media also applies to the rest of life – because people create meaning in their own minds by taking elements of information surrounding them.  With the atomization of content and Twitter’s 140 character snippets of information – we are all now predisposed to collect snippets of information, just as Search Engines do (after all, it’s people who create Search Engines to emulate the way people process information, much as God created Man/her/its  in his own image   – and if we step back and realize what that means – and then turn it back, inside out – it looks like we can take whatever we see in life, and make it any color or meaning we want – which echos modern psychology, actually.

Information is out there – we put out information about us, others write about themselves and us too, and search engines, made in the image of it’s creators, us, assembles the information in ways that are programmed (by us) but in a much less sophisticated manor than we can – therefore, it’s easy for us to take what search engines present to use, out of context – because we’re now creating our own context and meaning.

My main thought about all of this – if everyone is telling us – be responsible for your own health, reputation, income, social life, etc – how come more and more people feel they can’t cope?  Especially with their Reputation – they can’t cope ……. why?  Easy ………. in every other area of life, you can talk to someone about your problem (i.e.: go to a doctor to talk about health – go to a financial advisor to talk about your finances, go to a lawyer to talk about a case for or against you) but when it’s your Reputation, delivered by Search Engines – who can you talk to at the Search Engines?  A web form?  A SEO person – probably, but they aren’t in control of Search Engines – the computer scientists who run Search Engines, they are the responsible ones, and they don’t want to talk to you or me, in most cases.

So, Google’s post on Managing your reputation through search results is good advice – but it also means it’s one more thing we have to do, manage our online profiles and crawl the web to figure out what stuff people are saying about us, so we can correct it.      Just as we do in other situations, we have to constantly generate good information about ourselves so the Search Engines and Social Networks pick that up -and augment our Reputation, proactively, wherever and whenever we can.

Welcome to the 21st century.   I’m almost tempted to think of that Social Media Guru movie I posted last week - at the end of it, the Social Media Guru says to the potential client …. you have to do everything yourself -since it’s Social Media – ha,ha.

Maybe, the same thing can be said for Search Engines – they want you (us) to do most of the work – they don’t want to manage your reputation for you – but in a way, they are – because, unless your proactive, what ever information people get on one another, is delivered, for the most part, by Search Engines and Social Media, and both may present snippets of information, leaving it up to each individual to make meaning of it.