What does Google say about you?

[Justin B.]

So I read another post about whether or not your boss (at your day job) knew what you did on the side.  Someone pointed out how Google makes it hard to keep anything a secret so just by posting in this thread he/she might find out.  It got me thinking that I hadn't Googled my own name in a while so I did so.  I wasn't able to find anything about myself.  I was just wondering if Google had caused anyone any problems or potentially how people keep their private life private when they want to.

Fortunately for me, my first and last name independently are pretty common names.  So when I Google myself, no results or pictures of me come up in the first few pages.  There is a lot celebrities with the same first name or the same last name that pop up.  Also, my name even combined is decently common so there is a person with my same name who committed murder, one who is a pretty famous author/writer in his field, another who is a professor, etc.  So there are plenty of people with my name who have a reason to be found easier than me.  On top of that I also do the following things:

-- My Facebook only has just enough information public for people that know me to go yea, I'm pretty sure that's him so they can send a friend request.

-- I try not to use my full name on public sites (like Bigger Pockets).  I don't try and hide it on a personal level (like in messages, etc) so if you've ever interacted with me, you probably know my full name.

-- I use an e-mail address that doesn't have my name in it for public sites that I check just as regularly as the one my family and friends have.

-- I don't use my full name on my blog.

So I do lots of things to try and protect myself, but nothing is foolproof of course.  At some point, when I'm doing real estate full time, I'll probably put my name out there and have a more public presence for business reasons, but until then I'm pretty happy that I don't pop up on the first few pages or in the images when just my name is Googled.