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Can You Ever Remove Personal Information From Google?

I had a client call me the other day and wanted to know how to remove information about herself from Google.com. She told me she went on a date and her date knew everything about her from doing a Google search including family member names. She wanted the information removed.

Wow, most people want more information on Google not less. Here is my answer in a nutshell, once Google has it in their archive, there is no removing it. If the information resides on other websites you simply cannot remove the information. This is the same for both good and bad news about you. Once something is in the public domain it is available forever and to anyone who looks online this includes dates and employers.

Fortunately for this client all the information was good. She is a celebrity in her own right and just now getting high media exposure and is shocked at how much about her life is available on the Internet to those who know how to search. She even mentioned that information that was in a family obituary popped up identifying her place with family members which was a personal concern to her.

If you are an expert in your field, a celebrity, or high profile person, you will never be able to control the message and reviews or comments that other people post or say about you online. Welcome to the world that Brittany Spears lives in! Even if the information is awful you cannot remove it once it is on the search engines. If the information is bad, you may be able to push it down the search results page with reputation remediation, but remove it entirely – not a chance.

It is important that you be careful of where you allow your name to be used. Who would have thought that an obituary posted online by a newspaper would end up in Google’s index. All of this is an excellent lesson for young people. In this time, where kids post pictures and comments online, not once do they think that this information will be searchable and may pop up under their name in 10 years when they go to apply for a job and the HR staff does a Google search and finds them in a compromising situation.

For this particular client I told her – welcome to the world of celebrity and now’s the time to get a pair of dark sunglasses and Google your own date before you first meet next time.

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A Good Idea Gone Bad – Way Bad

I get newsletters from a small software firm and their last one was a good idea gone bad – way bad. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, they sent out a newsletter with the headline “Save the Boobies” and then went on to talk about breast cancer and their support for cancer research.

Wow, how do you recover from a huge faux pas such as that? Who ever dreamed up and approved the title showed an incredible lack of sensitivity as well as an overt sexist attitude. That small flippant comment that made it to the headline of their newsletter will clearly be a black eye that will have their PR staff wringing their hands.

So really, how can you recover from a big boo-boo like that? Well first, I would send out an apology to all readers and then donate a nice chunk of change to the local breast cancer foundation or sponsor a runner in a big way in the next breast cancer walk. I would make sure to have a photo op at each event and feature that prominently in the very next newsletter – making the walk match the talk. Second, I would immediately institute a review of any future publications for appropriate professional wording.

What sounds funny in the office or tossed around in jest can have huge public relation ramifications when it sounds too flippant or simply sets the wrong tone in your print or online message to customers and prospects. Even for small businesses crossing the line from professional to questionable must be carefully watched. Remember your reputation is forever even for a small business!

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My Google AdWords Content Strategy

This is an interesting trend that I have seen across many accounts on Google AdWords: conversions to sales from the content network.

So, if you have an AdWords program what is the best practice for trying out content without it sapping your entire click budget? Well, this is what I do. First, I do not move into content until the account is mature and is generating conversions. Typically I start an account out slowly. We start with Google.com only, then expand to search partners. Once we have health and a nice conversion history, I set up a separately funded content campaign and use a small very general keyword list for content. I typically spend around $.10 to $.75 per click depending on the product and typically keep the budget at $5 to $20 per day depending on the overall advertising budget.

I roll the content program for two to four weeks and evaluate if content looks like a bet for the customer in regards to generating conversions. I have had good success with this strategy and have really been able to stimulate additional conversions for certain accounts. I have however found that not all products and services are a good match for the content network. From my point of view the key is the budget delimiter and general but on target keyword list.

Try this out on your AdWords account and let me know how this works for you. You may find out that using the content network smartly you can increase your account conversions with a realistic return on investment.

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Does Twitter Impact Your SEO Placement?

I had a colleague tell me that they have stopped blogging and now spend most of their efforts on Twitter. I was mystified as to why and found out that this person thought that Twitter would help with their organic search placement. “Yikes! Don’t stop blogging!” I said, “Twitter does nothing for SEO and blogging does.”

Twitter is great for social networking and driving traffic to your website, but for now, search engines do not index tweets so you get no SEO juice from Twitter. Blogging is still one of the very best and easiest ways to help improve your web authority and potentially your organic placement. Each one of your blog posts, unlike tweets, is indexed by search engines and builds content in your search authority profile that search engines routinely review with their spider bots.

If your blog is housed on your website server under your domain, you geet the SEO juice from your blog post. If your blog is under a different domain or at www.Blogger.com you get the links and traffic but not the SEO juice and web authority.

So, the bottom-line is even if you do Twitter, don’t stop blogging. Blogging actually works harder for you to bring you long term benefits at this point than do tweets when it comes to SEO.