Trust and Name-Googling
February 5th, 2009 // 3:19 pm @ Fox
Years and years ago, when search was first becoming mainstream, I remember typing my own name into Google, as I am sure everyone did at the time.
Shock…horror…..the first page results were full of headings such as “Talk sex with Lisa Fox”, “Lisa Fox Sex Romps” and worse.
What if my corporate colleagues were to search on my name? Would they think this was me? I checked it out. Nope. She didn’t look like me.
Today I searched on my name again just out of curiosity. Well, it looks like Lisa Fox’s romping days are over. I can’t see her anywhere.
There are a lot of people out there with the same name as me. We have:
- Lisa Fox, presenter of Australian art
- Lisa Fox, children’s book illustrator
- Lisa Fox, Green Party of Canada
- Lisa Fox, actor
- Pray for Lisa Fox (this must be someone talking about me)
- Lisa Fox, Episcipalian who testifies to sufferings
- Lisa Fox, attorney at Fort Lauderdale
- Lisa Fox, Miami/South Florida Real Estate and Design
It is human nature to be curious and see what is out there for our name. It is also common for customers to search on the name of a company CEO. Often this is part of researching a product or service and can be part of building trust. Potential customers like to see that the online business is somewhat tangible, and there is someone there with a face.
When analysing search terms in log files for businesses I have optimised, I have often seen the CEO’s name or the name of a senior executive. Another business I worked with sent a newsletter out to subscribers a few times a year. When we added a photograph and name of the CEO to the newsletter, we were swamped with responses from subscribers. Suddenly, the business had a face and subscribers felt a ‘warm and fuzzy’ regarding the business.
Adding a photograph and short biography of your CEO may not fit with your business, however if it is possible to add this, it can make a significant difference to the trust relationship with customers.