Google gives users control over their searchable life

21.04.2009
Come on. Admit it. You've searched for your own name on Google. Likely, you've done it way more than once or twice.

And chances are that something popped up - whether a picture from a particularly bad hair day or a drunken party, or maybe that unfortunate incident in the crime blotter - that you didn't like very much. Google Inc. now is trying to give you a way to control your life -- well, at least your life on Google.

Brian Stoler, a Google software engineer, wrote in a blog post Tuesday afternoon that the starting to offer at the bottom of U.S. name-query search pages. They offer up shortened versions of and a link to the full profiles.

"When searching for yourself to see what others would find, results can be varied and aren't always what you want people to see," said Stoler. We want to make that better and give you more of a voice."

Don't have a Google profile? Stoler says that can be easily rectified.

"Just search for [me] and follow the instructions at the top of the page to create one," he added. "In just a few minutes, you can create a public profile that represents you and that appears when people search for your name on Google."