Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Googling yourself

When I was talking with my dad on the phone last weekend, an interesting topic came up: Googling yourself and those you know.

We were talking about my grandpa, who has written several books and magazine articles as a railroad buff, so I decided to try to hunt down some references to him online. But, as his name is too common (Cecil Cook), Googling his name alone just won't get very many hits that are actually him. You have to throw in another relevant keyword, like Iowa or railroads. At least half of the hits on each of those pages are actually my grandfather.

(As a side note, a trip over to Amazon.com searching for his old books, which are out of print, was quite interesting. Someone is actually trying to sell "Grass Between The Rails," which he helped write, for more than $900! "Marquette" is much more reasonable, starting as low as $40.)

So, back to the point, if I have one. Obviously, Googling "Ryan Cook" will get you hundreds of people with my name and it will be hard to find the links that actually refer to me. (Just to clear things up, I am not the guy who was drafted by the Vikings, nor am I a digital effects artist.) To find some links that actually could be me, try adding Harding, China, Columbus or Newark, all of which bring up this blog as the first hit.

Now for the fun part. Enter just your name in Google in quotation marks and see how many pages of results you have to go through before you actually find a reference to yourself. (I'm on the 19th page for "Ryan Cook." Good luck with this one, Jim!)

Are there any interesting alter egos out there with your exact name? What is their claim to fame? Also, share any keyword combinations that bring you up as the first hit.

7 Comments:

At November 15, 2006 1:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The entire first page, except for the last entry, is all me. Mostly it's postings on programming discussion forums (I was using my real name on purpose for a while so if a potential employer googled it they'd come up with something relevant). Of course, 'Coehoorn' is a pretty distinctive keyword.

 
At November 15, 2006 2:14 PM, Blogger CE Butler said...

I have to go all the way to Page 24 with just my name in quotes. A lot of that is thanks to a volleyball coach who shares my name. This guy apparently did some naughty things with some of his (underage) female volleyball players a long time ago and it's still haunting him (us).

Using Rick Butler+Searcy gets me on the first page, though.

 
At November 15, 2006 2:27 PM, Blogger Kenny Simpson said...

Don't think I could be found on google.

 
At November 15, 2006 2:28 PM, Blogger Kenny Simpson said...

Actually I tried and...PAGE ONE BABY!!

 
At November 15, 2006 11:04 PM, Blogger James E. Miller said...

I've got you beat, Ryno: My first appearance can be found on page 10.

Interestingly, there are a lot of university professors named Jim Miller.

The Jim Miller I would love to be:

This guy.

 
At November 15, 2006 11:42 PM, Blogger Renee Lewis said...

Page 16: ACP - Contest Winners
Renee Lewis, editor Jim Miller, adviser. El Rodeo University of California, Davis Davis, Calif. Sharon DeCastro, editor Juliet Michelson, adviser. El Rodeo ...

Typing Renee Lewis and yearbook brings me up on page one. Fun game, Ryan.

 
At November 16, 2006 10:07 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

WooHoo number one Hit, yeah baby.

 

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