Have you ever typed your name into Google? When you do, are you really the one who arises?

It’s fast becoming a well-known fact that HR staff and hiring managers at many companies will type the names of job applicants into Google before deciding who to interview. What comes up when your name is forwarded to Google could determine whether or not you will get a job.

But even if you have your own business or are currently employed, online branding is a free way to make yourself more marketable. For an entrepreneur, it makes it easier for people looking for his good or service to find him. For someone currently employed, it can help you establish yourself as an expert at what you do, which can help you get a raise, or perhaps even find another, higher-paying job.

You can improve your Google ability in three easy steps. That is how:

1. Join social networking sites. If you are already in them, great; if not, join. And not just sites like Facebook and Twitter, which, although they will appear on Google, are not really designed to present the user in a professional way. You must also join LinkedIn and post your resume. Sites like Meetup.com can showcase your interests, even smaller niche social media sites like brazencareerist.com will help. Find sites with message boards where you can create a user profile and post content. The key is, when you do that, you use your real name as the username. That way, those posts or at least that site will show up when someone types your name into Google.

2. How we are the most important blogs. Find a blog on the New York Times website and comment on topics that seem relevant to your career: the media, if you are interested in publishing; small business if you are an entrepreneur; finance if you want to be a broker. Include your name in your posts (sign them or, if you can create a “username”, use your real name).

3. Search yourself on Google and, when you do, check the results. Click the results you want to appear higher in the results list (that is, the results that are actually you). One way that Google determines the ranking of search results (the order in which the results are found) is by links that have been clicked in the past when someone has searched for that term. Therefore, on a regular basis (monthly or even weekly) type your name into Google and click on the results that are really you and that you want to appear first.

Congratulations, you now know how to improve your Google ability.