Why Does My Google Profile Not Show For A Google Search?

May 11, 2009 - 8:22 am 8 by
Filed Under Google

Google Profile Business Cards from iPrint.comA few weeks ago, Google launched a way to verify your Google Profile with them and ultimately show up in the Google results. In fact, Google offered free business cards with your Google Profile information on it. You can get those business cards over here.

I received my business cards last Thursday. But to my surprise, they didn't work! By didn't work, I meant, that if you typed in barry schwartz into Google, my Google Profile did not show up. The whole purpose of the Google Profile business cards was to give people a way to look you up by Googling your name. But in this case, it didn't exactly work.

Why? Didn't my profile show up. Well, Joe Kraus of Google (founder of Excite, JotSpot, etc) commented at my personal blog to inform me that my profile may have hit the celebrity filter. Joe said:

Hey Barry. My name is Joe Kraus and I'm the PM Director for Google Profiles. We're looking into it. There's a possibility your name is getting caught in our celebrity filters but we'll know more soon. Sorry for the hassle.

Am I a celebrity? I doubt it. But I suspect that maybe the famous psychologist/professor is a quasi-celebrity.

In fact, Kaila noticed that if you search for barry swartz, a misspelling of my name, my Google Profile does show:

Google Profile Misspelling

So maybe Google should of sent me the business cards with the misspelling? I assume Google might pull the celebrity filter from my name, at least I hope so. It does make sense for names like Michael Jordan, Barack Obama, Britney Spears and so on, but I am not sure my name (even for the professor) deserves the "celebrity status."

So this has less to do with the name being common and more about the name hitting a possible filter, I think.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 18, 2024

Mar 18, 2024 - 4:00 pm
Google Updates

Google Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google

Official: Google Replaces Perspective Filter With Forums Filter

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Offers Additional Review After Appeal Is Denied

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

EU Searchers Complaining About Google Maps Features Changes Related To DMA

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Showing Fewer Sitelinks Within Search

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Yahoo Search Ads Also Testing Favicons