2016-366 Day 40 – Internet Presence II

So 4 years ago today I conducted a little experiment seeing where my name ranked in various Google searches. Seems like a fun thing to revive now that it’s 208 weeks later. All results as of 2/9/16. You can find the previous results here: http://www.onlytwopeople.com/blog/2012-366-day-40-internet-presence/

Matthew Worland
Results: 117,000 (2012: 1,440,000)
Highest Rank: 1.5 (2012: 1)
Percent of top 5: 60%
So apparently Google has changed how it finds and/or counts results, as I doubt 1.3 million matches disappeared in 4 years. Not that it really matters, as no one ever goes past the top twenty or so anyway. The top spot last time was my LinkedIn profile, this time it’s a listing of the Matthew Worlands on Facebook. I’m the first one if you click on it (although you can see next to nothing if you aren’t my friend), so it kind of counts? The second is my RateMyProfessor page, which has surprisingly jumped up in the last 4 years despite not having a ton of activity (I always tell my students there are only two kinds of people who post on that site, those who really hated the class and those who really loved it, so you have to be aware of the bias). The third link is for the Matthew Worlands on LinkedIn, and where my profile was on top in 2012 it’s fallen to fourth this year (The fact that there is a Matthew Worland whose job title is Disciple Superintendent made my night). The fourth entry is my office hours which was second before, and a different Matthew Worland’s twitter account rounds out the top 5. Actually, the only other reference to me in the top ten is my YouTube channel at number 9. Looks like I have more work before I become internet famous with my full name.

Matt Worland
Results: 95,700 (2012: 690,000)
Highest Rank: 3.5 (2012: 3)
Percent of top 5: 40% (2012: 40%)
The CAD drafter who was in first place got knocked to second as the other Matt Worland twitter account takes the top spot. The same LinkedIn and Facebook aggregators are in the top 5, as well as my RateMyProfessor page, which has some updated ratings since I posted this in 2012, but not many. My LinkedIn Profile picture also comes in 4th in the “images for Matt Worland” box.

disciplev1
Results: 1,340 (2012: 3,300)
Highest Rank: 1 (2012: 1)
Percent of top 5: 60% (2012: 100%)
My alternate internet persona takes a hit, as apparently several items that are the first version of something called Disciple have creeped in (you can read the origin of my screen name in the 2012 blog post). If I put quotes around it to filter out the Disciple V1 entries I still dominate the results, however.

New for 2016:
Doctor Worland
Searching for this mostly returns doctors in the Worland, Wyoming area.
“Doctor Worland”
This returns mostly the same, though there’s apparently a Doctor Worland in Medford, Oregon.
Dr Worland
Richard Worland in Virginia, Ronald Worland, the one in Oregon, Rick Worland teaches at SMU, and Nancy Worland is a vet in Oklahoma City.
Dr Matthew Worland
My RateMyProfessor and CSUN Office hour pages are the first two results for this search. Guess I should get back to making these assumptions fact.