Be found via Google Profiles

If you have a common name or share it with a famous person you can be sure that being found on Google's first page is going to be tough.

Earlier, you had to invest a lot of time in social media and networks to build your personal brand for search engines like Google. Blogging. A linkedin profile. A facebook profile. A twitter account. All these help your ability to be found by the search engine bots. Because, let's admit it - in today's world for a lot of people if you aren't found you're simply not relevant. It's like the old location dilemma for stores. Unless one was on main street one lost out on a lot of customers.

Now there's an additional way, by opening a Google Profile. Here's what google profiles are about . And here's where you can find mine .

So when today I searched for my name on Google here's what I found:

The interesting part is that the search engine is now asking you to also search on social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Classmates and Linkedin. So now you have a better chance of being found even if you have not much of a web presence.

See also Time article on Why Google Wants You to Google Yourself (hat tip Anindita Sengupta )