Why is this old item appearing in a Google search of my legal name?

February 7, 2018 12:27 PM

Not understanding how trackbacks and SEO work, I am curious why an old case I worked on now appears on the first page of search results associated with my name.

I am an attorney who has handled hundreds of cases, some very controversial, others less so. I decided to run for local office under my legal name, which did not have much internet history, because I go by a nickname. (I do not normally self-google unless I'm applying for a job.) Not long after filing as a candidate, the usual, expected things popped up such as my state bar membership and my campaign information. But, yesterday, I noticed that a case that I worked on more than 10 years ago appeared on the first page of search results. The link is to an opinion is in a case that was personally very sad due to facts that did not make their way into the opinion, but it is not controversial or groundbreaking. It is probably not interesting to a casual reader or voter.

How does something so random pop up as a top search result for my name? Any idea how I might figure it out?

posted by *s to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

It likely means that a website (or multiple websites) that Google trusts are linking to that page. You can use a tool like https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/ to find them- but there is not much you can do other than trying to increase the SEO of other pages that mention your name and try and push down the result you don't like.
posted by ejfox at 12:40 PM on February 7, 2018

It's also possible that filing as a candidate changed the search algorithms for your name, so "lawsuits related to" got bumped up in returned results. Many people want to know when candidates have had court appearances - of course, they're mostly interested in the roles of defendant or plaintiff, but that's a little hazy for the algorithm to sort out.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:50 PM on February 7, 2018 [1 favorite]