Rise of the Ego Surfers

According to pewinternet.org, 47% of internet users have searched for their own name online. Exactly 53% have searched online for information about personal and business contacts. In 2002, 22% of internet users had searched online for their own name so the number of ego surfers has more than doubled in the span of only 5 years.

One of the main reasons for this "self-searching" phenomenon is the explosion of blogs, YouTube, Flickr, and online profiles resulting in the increase in size of people's digital footprints.


I must admit that I have also searched for my own name online but it is mostly for fun. Like for this little SEO game that I am playing right now.

I think it is perfectly normal to ego surf especially with the growing number of people who have done it. So to those who haven’t tried it yet, go ahead and look up for your name on Google. Because who knows, someone might have left an intriguing footprint about you online.

The No.1 Auza Project

I am playing a little SEO game right now. I’m not doing this to draw more traffic to this site to gain a little advertising money. I’m doing this just for fun mixed with a little ego-tripping. I want to be No.1 in Google for the keyword “auza”.

For those who didn’t know it yet, Auza is my last name. Now who wouldn’t want to see their name at the topmost order of search results?

The Auza on "top" right now is a website of a close relative of mine. So if ever I got lucky and his site will be dethroned by mine, at least the Auza that he will be seeing at the peak is from his closest clan. :)

I’m not really into SEO and I don’t care much about optimizing my site or the “keywords” that I use on my posts in order to be search engine friendly. I just go with the flow. However, the outcome of this No. 1 Auza Project could change my view on the importance of a search engine optimized site.

You can see from the screenshot that my site is still on the No. 5 spot in Google search results when looking for "auza".

I will just make an update later if ever I’ll be successful in my quest to be the No.1 Auza in the world.