Lay My Hat

Does anyone else do this - Google the visitors to your own house?

Yes I admit it, my office is right by the front door to my house, and when someone comes round who I don't know well - colleague of my wife, tradesman, neighbour - I smile at them from behind my screen, but what I am really doing is popping their name in Google to see what they have been up to in life.

Do you do this or is it just me? My wife thinks there is something wrong with me. I just like to know who is in my house, you never can be too careful...

I suppose a more useful reason for googling someone is if you want to check a potential renter. Put their name, or email, or the part after '@' in their email address, or phone number in Google, and you will often get something back - what sort of job they have (accountant=good, stripper= bad), what weird associations or cults they are members of, etc.

I've sometimes found an email enquiry sets off alarm bells, but then found the sender is in a respectable, staid job like a finance director or headmaster, and I've taken the booking - it hasn't backfired yet.

I´ve tried googling you but you´re nowhere to be found.....!

BTW, I hear strippers make good money.....

You have to filter out all my Italian namesakes by adding 'uk'.

You should also put the name in double quotation marks, then the search engine looks for the whole name instead of parts of the name.

If I do this for you, you fill the top 5 spots on Google - now that's an achievement!

You get nearly 100,000 results if you Google 'aaron the aardvark'.

Aaron

Aaron,

I only got 46,000 for that search, but that's enough. 'Aardvark' on its own gets 719,000, and that's too much even for the most aardent aardvark fancier.

Strange... I'm getting 92,700 matches. I guess it depends on which datacenter you're querying.

Aaron

I didn't put it in quote marks, that's the difference. Does that mean you have made about 90,000 posts on forums?

Don't like this idea at all! I tried Googling myself and came up with a cemetery plan showing the grave of Maggie Mortimer!
Maggie

paolo wrote:I didn't put it in quote marks, that's the difference. Does that mean you have made about 90,000 posts on forums?

It's possible, though I'd be surprised. (I don't actually usually sign off on the forums as 'Aaron the Aardvark', normally just 'Aaron')

On our forums, I have a total of around 7,500 posts right now. I think part of the reason for the Google figure being as high as it is, is that on the bottom of most pages on our sites there is a link that reads "Contact Aaron the Aardvark". Since Aardvark Travel has over 100,000 Google-spidered pages, that probably accounts for a good %.

Aaron

Hmm. There are 35 hits for me, only 5 of which are actually me. Three for the property, one quoting me as a school parent-governor (would I pass the Paolo Muster?!) and one from my profile on a Neighbours forum. Yes, the TV show. </is sad Neighbours fanatic>

One's better half however, has 870 hits and I think they're all him. Jammy beggar.....

Wow-497 for me, including how to get tickets for my next tour...only prob-don't think any of them are actually moi! I'll google more now tho

If you think my name is unusual - it isn't! It gets 17,700 returns on Google. I just had a look at it now and I am impressed, I'm moving up in the world. Previously I was nowhere to be found, now I am up to number 3.

That must mean I am the third most famous 'Paolo De Paolis' in the whole history of the world! My mother will be so proud.