Google Just Gave Me the John Chow Treatment

Back in June, John Chow announced that he no longer ranked in Google for his own name. Now I am in the same situation, at least temporarily. If I search Google for my name, this site no longer comes up. And it has been #1 for around two of three years now. Yes, the posts used to go back that far until I had freak smelting accident with Wordpress. Backups, smackups.

I have always had Google suggesting that my name should be Stephen Miller. I am used to that though. Teachers did it in elementary school. Judges did it court. I still quite don't have the balls to refuse to stand up on the basis that the judge didn't call my name. Of course when I was younger, it confused me and made me feel like a freak with a weird name. Thanks Google for the constant flashback of being refused my own name. And you had to take one step further. But at least I am in good company.

But 7 of the 10 links that come up on the first page will take you to one of my sites either directly or eventually. Also 7 of the 10 links that come up on page two will get you to me also. The Gunslinger Media guy, a second rate actor, and some NASRAD scientist are stuffed in there between my links. Unique names aren't so bad now are they.

I haven't looked through the Google results for my name in a while. They are pretty interesting. It seems that my PeopleAggregator page ranked up there quickly. I just signed up last week. My Findory page has been in the same place forever. Blogcatalog ranks up there pretty high, but MyBlogLog is nowhere to be found. Maybe because I searched in Google and MyBlogLog is owned by Yahoo?

Did I "game Google", as a uppity post on Pronet Advertising suggests could be the only reason? Nope. I did more "gaming" in the years before this. So Pronet, bite me, and just keep your Google brown nosing to yourself. Nope, I just commented on a few blogs regularly and joined a few social networks. In fact, I was more focused on links before this occurred than now. I was focusing more on moving around in the social networks.

Am I worried? Nope. I still get search engine hits, just not for my name. And anyone searching has a 70% chance of finding me on the first two pages of Google.