One of the most important things your readers and followers on the web demand from you is authenticity. They want to know you really are who you say you are.
I was reading a blog post by Joe Pulizzi at Junta42 in which he wrote about the “Gold Rush” to verify your personal name in your Google Profile before someone else does, so I went hunting.
Turns out that if your address and phone number are within the U.S., you can use Google Knol to verify your identity in your Google profile. The process is simple:
- Sign in on the Knol homepage.
- Select Preferences from the My profile drop-down menu in the top right corner of the page. If you don’t see this menu, click the write a knol link at the top of the page. After you write a knol or click Cancel, the My profile drop-down menu appears.
- Click Name Verification.
- Select how you want Google to verify your name—you can do it via your phone or your credit card.
If all goes well, you’ll see a “Verified Name” badge in your Google Profile after a little while.
Google says Name Verification is still an experimental feature, and has about a 50% success rate. I had no problems doing it myself, but your mileage may vary.
For more information:
Knol Help – what knols are and how they work
Name Verification FAQ – How are names verified in Knol?
