7.18.2008

i'm having a google identity crisis


I'm having a bit of an identity crisis...lol...and while I find myself mildly amused at my own egoism for stressing about this, it shows the value I suppose in your 'branded' social media spaces and impact on search + identity.

My name is Alisa Leonard. I recently married and my husband's last name is Hansen. I'm quite attached to my maiden name, but was not entirely sold on not taking his name. So I decided on Alisa Leonard Hansen. Unfortunately on my business cards for iCrossing it simply says Alisa Hansen. Its a large company and I joined right when I got married. So everyone knows the new name of Alisa Hansen.

What does this have to do with anything?

Google "Alisa Leonard" and I exist, somewhat on the internet.

Google "Alisa Leonard Hansen" and I exist, but to somewhat of a lesser degree (I went ahead and changed all my social net names to "Alisa Leonard Hansen")

But Google "Alisa Hansen" the results that come up are not me at all. I don't exist as that.

Is this the most ridiculous post ever? Probs. But Google identity is becoming (if not already) sort of THE most important reference you can have....

So, what do I do?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Q: So, what do I do?

A: Under no circumstances should you change your name to "Abraham Lincoln." It may be centuries before you show up at the top. ;)

Anonymous said...

Not a crazy post. I have a very common name, James Walker. Even my middle initial doesn't help because James S. Walker is apparently a very well known physics guy.

Since I've been blogging, I've been trying to show up somewhere decent in Google, but the physics guy has got it locked up! My wordpress ID and twitter ID are jaywalk1 or @jaywalk1. One day I checked that out and realized that it was mostly me, so I started tagging and doing other things with my blog, and it helped. Maybe you can go back and add tags with the new name or try to secure a domain with the new name and have it link to existing things? Best of luck!