1. Google yourself.
This is not a joke. Sure, it may seem a little narcissistic to creep on yourself, but the first step to making sure the whole wide interweb is displaying a favorable portrait of you is to see what pops up. Have a common name? Is it similar to a Canadian pop singer-songwriter? Include "Elon" and the floodgates will open. If nothing shows up, or only compromising pictures appear, you're in a social media pickle (and not a good kind, like Vlasic), so keep reading to figure out how to grow your Web presence.
2. Get your name in a publication.
Don't stop reading, hear me out. One of the best ways to make a search engine acknowledge you exist is to force your way onto a website that will be in the top hits. How? Unless you are actively making news happen and get mentioned in a story, this suggestion will require some hard effort: writing. Pen a story for The Pendulum or apply for an internship with a website you enjoy and get a shiny byline. This not only will get your name out but also showcase your talents—what could be more efficient?
3. Keep your Twitter public.
Simmer down and listen. While it's perfectly acceptable to keep your Facebook private (but watch out for those picture tags and make sure that profile picture is appropriate), Twitter is a different beast. Facebook is primarily a dumping ground for the day-to-day and being "friends" with your parents so they feel cool and tech savvy, whereas Twitter is a non-stop informational feed to the world. The point is to gather news, be it from The New York Times or David Lynch, and spread it while growing your followers, and thus your sphere of influence. Keep in mind that if your name is attached to your Twitter account and a potential employer sees your feed is private, it's an immediate red flag. "What is this person tweeting about that needs to be protected?" If those 140 characters are really that dangerous, stick to texting or mouth-to-mouth communication.
4. Buy a domain.
Not satisfied with needing to type in your school name to appear on the first page of Google results? Cave in and buy yourself a website. It's simple: find yourself a nice Wordpress theme and register with www.GoDaddy.com and before you know it, your website will be the very first hit. But it's important to ignore the urge to buy some ridiculous name (nothing along the lines of www.cuteboyswithcats.net) and stick to your name, or something very close if that option is unavailable.
5. Use social media efficiently and effectively.
We've all heard about Google+ and LinkedIn, but do you use them? How often? Exactly. It's hard to keep up with every new social media tool that comes out of left field, and it's important to realize that you don't need to use them—just understand how they can be used. Time will be better used by carefully cultivating a few tools and keeping them up to date, instead of signing up for everything, then forgetting those accounts exist. Another smart, and free, Web solution is to keep all social media links in one place. You have a Twitter, Wordpress, YouTube, Spotify, Flickr and more? If it's something that showcases your talent or brands you, put it all in one place that potential employers can find, such as flavors.me.
6. Don't stop a bloggin'.
Think the Wordpress you made for a class was a waste of time? Search engines don't think so. What else is a necessary evil? Leaving comments. Yes, lots of time after reading an interesting article, one will scroll to the bottom of the page and read terrifying things that unintelligent and evil folks say, but that doesn't mean everyone else should forgo saying something substantial. If you use your name while writing something worth saying, not only will that show up on Google, but you'll seem smarter by comparison, and if the website is credible, they will assume you are an active media participant.