If you didn't know already - we are living in a reputation economy. And Google has become the new background check. Everyone is googling, all the time - to find information, opinions, background info, but also checking out people. Did you know that 80% of people will google you before they decide to meet you? Asking themselves: Who is the person I'm meeting? What makes him or her tick? What does he or she do outside their job? Where are they heading for in life?

Questions that Google can easily answer by showing what's being posted online. On all social media channels, just recently or maybe some time back. If nothing fresh is being posted, this keeps popping up and you might not like it. Basically, you are who Google says you are. My question to you: is your online reputation in line with you are?

The index (10 hits each page) is based on available online content and is taken from websites and blogs, but also articles, news and social media posts. And this picture drawn on Google page 1 will determine whether people choose to do business with you, or go elsewhere. You might never know why you missed the much needed investment, got skipped for the new job or that board position you pitched for. It's just inevitable: Google has become the first stage of the background check and the first elimination point.

My advice would be to start producing new, or re-purposing older, content. This will help to get your 'online-me' in sync with your 'offline-me'. Uploading good content (including photos and videos) improves your chances of being found online. And remember that in order to rank on search engines, you need to have fresh content that is relevant to your audience. Google not only indexes your page based on keywords, but also the relevancy of a page’s semantic relevance and back links to credible websites.

Key to all this: a strong online reputation will help generate more business opportunities. And who doesn't want that?

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 Rodric Leerling Rodric Leerling
Sales Manager Sportief Westfriesland • Nederland Sportland