Google Profile

Facebook has a nifty feature that allows users to give their profile a link like facebook.com/9to5Google, instead of facebook.com/19238288asd8a8. This feature allows for easier sharing of profiles, and sadly the new social network Google+ doesn’t offer anything of the sort. We’ve stumbled upon a new website, called Gplus.to, that allows Google+ users simply create a shortened URL for their Google+ profile. The shortened URL will be something along the lines of gplus.to/9to5google.

The shortened URL is pretty easy to setup, with the help of a little guide on the website. Gplus.to is currently boasting 32,000 users, and it seems to be growing at a fast pace. If you have a profile on Google+ why not give this a try? Let us know how it goes.
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Search Engine Land is reporting that Google is testing a new black navigation bar. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s on its way out anytime soon, but it’s worth a look. You’ll notice that it does bring more attention to the top. But for now, this could just be measly a test.
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If you’re concerned about data people see when they google your name, you should check out a new section in your Dashboard, aptly named ‘Me on the Web’. It’s a one-stop shop for your online identity needs, Google says, stressing the section helps you “understand and manage what people see when they search for you on Google”. ‘Me on the Web’ features a useful at-a-glance overview of all the outbound links published on your Google profile, the stuff like your social profiles, YouTube and Flickr accounts and so on. There are also links to Google help files explaining how to manage your online identity and how to remove unwanted content.

More importantly, you can create custom search alerts for your own name to receive email notifications when your personal data is posted publicly. You can also set up additional alerts for your specific personal data, such as telephone number and address. In the example below, I’ve set up an alert for my author byline, allowing me to track in near-real-time when my posts go up or other people mention my name in references to my articles. You could have created those alerts before in Google Alerts, but now everything is in one place, which should appeal to non-techies.