Oh, Google: the search engine of our life. How many times have you answered our most embarrassing and inane questions — without a second of hesitation (literally)?

Google, in all of its infinite glory, can also be an invaluable tool for building your personal brand online. In the latest Mediabistro feature, we talk to some content marketing pros for their advice on optimizing personal search results:

“One of the many things that Google considers within its algorithm, everyone believes, is fresh and updated content,” says Nick Barron, founder of The Limbertwig, a full-service media marketing company that specializes in online content marketing. “So, if you publish a website and you don’t update it and a year goes by, Google’s going to view that as not so fresh content. If someone with your name or with similar spelling of your name comes behind and has a blog or has a fresher website, then they’re likely to rank more highly on Google than you would, because your content is just sort of stagnant.”

For more tips, read Google Yourself: 4 Ways to Fix Your Online Reputation.

– Sherry Yuan

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