Jul 1, 2008 12:42 pm US/Pacific
Website Helps Keep Track Of Who's Googling You
Reporting
Sue Kwon
(CBS 5)
Whether it's through Yahoo, MSN or Google someone searches a common name through a search engine 50 to 60 million times a day.
Michael Montoya found out the hard way that these searches aren't always accurate.
"I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a call saying Michael Montoya got murdered was that you? Well, obviously not. I'm answering the phone. And, recently another politician in New Mexico was just convicted of embezzlement and he was a Treasurer named Michael Montoya," said Montoya.
Michael is a Silicon Valley investor with Maps Capital Management. It's an industry where image and credibility are everything. So he turned to
Ziggs to help him control his online identity. It's a social networking tool
like Myspace or Facebook without the compromising photos. Ziggs offers a more sedate page template geared toward professionals with a place to feature a headshot and photos, resume, and contacts.
Ziggs CEO Tim DeMello says the free service is programmed to be noticed by search engines trolling for your name and information most relevant to you.
"It searches for key words you put in your profile," said DeMello. "When you have a profile that has your name mentioned it moves your page rank up and that's how you get to the top of the search engines."
A search of my name, "Sue Kwon" pulls up the website of a New York photographer named Sue Kwon, then my CBS 5 Bio. There's also an author with my name and finally, a South Korean gymnast with video on YouTube.
After opening a Ziggs account, my CBS 5 Bio popped up as the top Google and Yahoo! search results. This can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on each search engine. For faster, guaranteed results, Ziggs charges $5 a month. It will give instant visibility on search engines within 24 hours.
The paid service also posts your profile on Google's sponsored search results where other ads are listed.
Now every time someone searches my name, I'm sent an email alert with the terms used for each search. Michael Montoya receives several alerts a day, some from potential business partners. Ziggs does not reveal names, but he can see where searches originated, because they are displayed on a map within his profile page.
Actor Mycah Hogan likes to be recognized for his work, but says he has resisted setting up a social networking website for fear of overexposure. As for tracking who is searching your name?
"It's weird when you get that kind of privacy stuff," said Hogan.
He Googled his name and got a social networking profile for a young Asian woman named Mycah.
"Uh, it says 'hottie 0011 Mycah 99.' That's definitely not me," said Hogan.
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