google and posts

[greenoak]

question.....i see some of my posts on here are picked up by google and on our places page.... i know nothing on here is really private but i dont really want it on my places page either..... can i change a setting on here to stop the connections?
i dont really see much need of having my web on here....im not trying to sell to you all...
should i , can i , just take my website off my sig?
i assume i cant erase anything? right?
thanks
ann

[Steve B]

That's why I removed my website from my signature a long time ago.

[Spider]

OTOH, I think it helps the conversations here if we all know who the other people are and what they do. That basic information gives a foundation to everything you say and puts your opinions and ideas into proper context. Would it work to keep your business name and description in your signature and remove the link?

[greenoak]

spider, i like to see the links too,,,,but youve all seen mine if interested.... i wonder if my facebook would be a better choice for a sig?
steve!!! why didnt you tell us? ha ha...i never thought about it..
thanks , i took it off...not a very used link anyway....
i agree with spider.but not if it shows me me griping about every little thing on my nice review page..i have 4 really good reviews on there, totally un asked for...i didnt even know they were out there....

[Spider]

spider, i like to see the links too,,,,but youve all seen mine if interested.... i wonder if my facebook would be a better choice for a sig?
steve!!! why didnt you tell us? ha ha...i never thought about it..
thanks , i took it off...not a very used link anyway....
i agree with spider.but not if it shows me me griping about every little thing on my nice review page..i have 4 really good reviews on there, totally un asked for...i didnt even know they were out there....

Ann, I think you missed my point. I am suggesting leaving the signature as it was but simply remove the link (the 'http' part.) As you have it now, your comments and ideas will lose effectiveness as we slowly begin to forget that you are a successful antique and home furnishings person. We have so many Steves on this board that without a point of reference in the signature, we don't always know which one is 'talking.'

For example, if we don't remember, your comments and advice about antiques will hold as much or as little weight as Steve B's, and his comments and advice about dog containment will appear to be no better than yours.

I would like to encourage everyone to put their name, business name, business description and location in their signature, to be more easily and more readily understood. Whether they make it a hot-link or not is a different decision.

[Steve B]

Google will find the name of your company - even it it's not listed as a link.

I wouldn't want my potential customers reading some of my posts.

If you ever forget what kind of business I have - just ask.

[vangogh]

Honestly if you don't want your customers reading something here then it's something you shouldn't be saying here. Instead of worrying about what people might think of something you say, you can take advantage of the fact that this forum does well in search engines and use it as another marketing tool. Not to directly pitch your products or site, but by simply representing your brand. That's really how marketing on the web works.

If you place it online your customers can potentially find it, regardless of whether or not you use a link in your signature or where it is. The reality is you can't hide anything you place in a public space online. Obviously you can remove your signature line if you want. There's never going to be a rule that you need to have one. However I'd suggest you end up losing more than you gain. The better thing to do would simply be not saying things in public you don't want other people to read.

The only way to prevent what you say here from being found by search engines or others would be if I make parts of the forum private.

[Business Attorney]

Honestly if you don't want your customers reading something here then it's something you shouldn't be saying here.

Steve, I don't think this is the right answer for everyone. That is the philosophy I use, but it means that I don't talk about some of my marketing and business issues the way, say, huggytree does. We know who Dave is but his posts are not likely to turn up on his Google Places page or even on the first several pages of search engine results. It's not that they are big secrets, just not something you necessarily want a client or customer to be reading. You want your client or customer to be reading things that help your branding and marketing, not ones that discuss your strategy.

I participate on some forums and websites where I don't use my real name and I don't link to my website. Those sites are generally not related to business or the law. I see no need for someone searching my name to find posts I have written about hobbies or travel or politics. The posts aren't private or particularly problematic; I just want to be free to make them as myself and not be worried about how they would look if they were appearing right under the search results for my website.

[vangogh]

Actually your posts here will turn up. Perhaps not always in Google Places, but threads and posts on this forum do show up in results. In fact analytics proves it since the forum often gets traffic for queries on the names of both members and their business here. That's simply reality. As this forum grows and I put more effort into marketing it posts and threads are going to show up more in the results. Again that's just reality.

No one here has to link back to their sites and like you do with other forums people can sign up with anonymous usernames and hide their identities a little more. However even then you're probably not as invisible as you think. Search engines do track a lot of things and it's really not that hard for them to connect the dots.

Again everyone is free to remove any details of their business, but why pass up on the opportunity. Your signature link is going to contribute to how well your site ranks. By no means is a link from a forum the greatest link you'll ever get, but it does contribute and it doesn't take any effort to get. Real people also click those links. Is your business going to succeed or fail based on a link in this forum? Of course not. Those links will contribute though.

The best way not to have this forum outrank your site is to practice seo. If your seo is good your site should always outrank this forum for any query related to you. That would include links from this forum back to your site.

[greenoak]

...i dont have any big secrets on here either, but i dont share all this shop talk with my customers either...i hardly ever get anyone linking from here to my site ....im not trying t market from here, so there probably wont be a downside for me....
anyway i dont want them to see all this...altho i know its possible if they really want to track me...
maybe i will take spiders advice and put it back on without the http....i wouldnt want you to forget me in case you met someone who needed my stuff....