There's quite a few Tracy Needhams and i don't think people reading a finance article will immediately make that kind of connection.

You can read up on online reputation management, which sometimes can involve lawyers and crisis negotiators, but your's is like the majority of cases in which you can't directly influence the negative content, rather you have to displace it at least from the first page of google results with higher ranking new material, blogs, business site articles, etc. Be sure to make your photo findable too with your name in the file name and alt text everywhere it appears, these images will show up in google image search.

Hi Tracy. That would be awkward...to say the least.

I think the solution would be similar to reputation repair. There are people who can do this for you but it's expensive. Essentially what they do is they make a heap of pages at high ranking sites (Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn...etc) and try to "push" all the bad stuff down off page one. It's the best you can do and the last time I checked it was in the thousands of dollars but we have the skills to do this ourselves (don;t we warriors?). If you do a search for reputation repair you might get some ideas. The good news is that it's the same skill you're going to need to rank high anyway so you get to hit two birds with one stone.

Not sure if that helps...

Edit: Wow! You guys type FAST! I'm repeating basically what was said above but it was all entered before I could finish my reply.

I dont see anything.

Then again, I have safe search on.

Tracy,

I understand that you're worried about your image and reputation but in my opinion it will have no negative consequences for your business.

I live out in LA at the moment where a lot of budding entrepreneurs do adult work as a side income, men and women. Consequently, some of their pictures surface online and it is NO BIG DEAL!

And this isn't really you!

So yea...if somebody asks, just explain everything and laugh it off, if not just focus on making your clients/affiliates/whatever happy and everything will be peachy!

Best Wishes,
Vic

Use a pen name for your Business Purposes..Thats the only solution I can think of.. But if you've have been in business for a long time, then changing name will have more negative effects then..

Are they nude pics that come up in regular search or just image search? Well of course images sometimes come up in regular search.

Honestly, I'm not sure it would be a huge problem other than you just worrying about it, unless someone has mentioned something.

But I would think, what you can do is, optimize several of your photos so they come up highest in google search.

Add a bunch of photos to your site perhaps, and make sure you name all the files "Tracy Needham" or even "TracyNeedham" with on space. I think both would work. Then try to backlink the H out of the images with your name as anchor text. That might do something...

I share a name with a popular British actor. No big deal. Nobody is ever gonna confuse us. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Thomas

I really can't see your problem.

I wouldn't spend any more time worrying about this if I were you.

The only search that brought up nude photos was when I searched for either "tracy" or "tracy" Needham followed by the word "nude." Obviously that will bring up some nude photos but otherwise, there were none, and I had safesearch turned off for this.

So what searches are you doing that bring up nude photos? I found absolutely none. This isn't an issue at all, other than in your mind, in my opinion.

Also, most people aren't absolute prudes and I think they will be able to distinguish your photo from an actress's photo. Either that, or they'll think, "Hey this writer is also an actress on JAG, cool!"

edit: And I did the nude search just to see what your complaint was about. All that turned up that looked like that actress was one topless photo, tastefully done.

If she spells her name Trace then that would be the same pronunciation as, say, Trace Adkins and I doubt anyone would consider it similar.

If she spells it Tracie, again I don't see the similarity.

I say, push on and develop your brand, and if your brand is going to always essentially be Copywriter, then always sign it that way, which helps to brand you anyway.

like Tracy Needham - Copywriter

I see no search results that turn up "tracy needham nude photos" in the first 3 pages of google or bing. I scanned the results. The only sites that had anything to do with photos just showed the actresse's head shots or stills from JAG and/or other roles. No nude photos and no sites even using the word "nude."

Results do change all the time, though, so you could have been seeing it before.

Anyway, that's what I found.

Also, you got me pretty disappointed, thought I was gonna see a lot more nude photos! ha ha

I doubt people will make such connection. Don't they know already that Tracey Needham is an actress?

The JAG actress is Tracey Needham, I see you have already noticed the spelling difference.

I don't think it will be a big deal as you can quickly explain that spelling difference and that the pics are not you.

(Yes, I am a fan of JAG and noticed that your name is similar to hers a very long time ago.)

I'd be asking people why they're searching for nude pics of me!

tag your images with "Tracy Needham - Copywriter".

I am kind of a publicity whore, so I would play your situation different I think.

I would play on people's dirty minds and use it to my advantage.

And do a two-column page with the left column showing Tracy Needham - Copywriter, and the right column showing Tracey Needham, actress and porn star.

LOL

Let those who are looking find the pics they want, then you can show people beyond a doubt that you are not that person.

But you will need to make sure that your nudes don't come out for that to work.

Tracy,
I discovered awhile back that someone writes erotica using the pen name "Rose Anderson". Well....dang. What name can I use when I write erotica???? Hardly seems fair.
Rose

There's really nothing whether if SafeSearch is on or off :/

Hi Tracy,

I was once acquainted with a guy who had the misfortune of sharing the name of a convicted child molester and you can bet he went all out to suppress the other guy's online presence.

First thing he did was start a series of blogs using his name. That included both stand-alone and sub-domain (wordpress, blogspot) and making the effort to write two posts for each as well as posting photos with the requisite meta data.

It's really just a question of rolling it out...

Wasn't she in Star Trek too?

I loved JAG... wish they would bring that series back!

well i would say if they were searching xhamster or something and you came up, that's one thing, but to just do a google search and see an actress come up, obviously that's not you and if someone can't differentiate that, would you want them to be your client???

You have to search the misspelling of Tracy's name: Tracey Needham, then click on more results.

You will see our Tracy Needham about 8-10 times in the results. You will also see pr shots and nudes of the TV actress Tracey Needham. Then you will find about a dozen shots of hardcore porn related to Tracy Needham's name and Tracey Needham's name.

That's awesome, Tracy!

Why?

Because you are so well known in your field that this other "Needham" has felt the need to disrobe to get attention. Sheesh! Some people will do anything.

All the best,
Michael

I wonder how long it will be before Tracy/Tracey Needham skyrockets to the top of Google Trends?

~M~

Hi

You need to get your picture on enough high page rank sites so that you push her off the listings.

Search for your name and her name in a keyword tool. This is to find out what keyword phrases are being searched for.

The easiest way would be to produce articles with your photo embedded in the articles using one of the keyword phrases in the Alt text.

Contact owners of high page rank blogs that accept guest posts.

Most blog owners are extremely friendly people. If you give them an explanation of why you are doing it, they will most likely help you.

Especially if you offer to write articles on subjects they select.

You want to hijack any searches for your name or variations of your name and send them to your website. Surnames as well as first names. If the searcher was not looking for you they will keep searching.

I don't think you have to worry about. I share a name similar to a popular paint store, people sing the jingle every time I introduce myself. It's a great icebreaker and people never forget me. You have to turn lemons into lemon-aid and laugh it off.

Subliminal Man: Hi, is this Tracy (hot)?

Tracy: Yes, it is. What can I do for you?

Subliminal Man: (Schwing!) I just found you on google and wanted to talk to you about your (boobs) copywriting services...

Tracy: You bet. What kind of copy were you looking for?

Subliminal Man: (naked) Can you show me some of your stuff?

Tracy: Sure, want to jump on Skype so I can show you in real time

Subliminal Man: (....................................) Uh huh huh huh huh...

I just Googled both "Tracy Needham" and "Tracey Needham" but unfortunately found no nude photos. It seems your worries are unwarranted.

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*Googles TracEy Needham immediately*

Subscribe to this thread for all of the sexy details....

I dont see anything either but i to have safe search on.

Put up a picture of her dressed - say NOT me. Then put your photo beside it. Then move on.

Clearly hard to outrank a person in that niche with all those millions of dudes looking for her. Or thousands or hundreds. I've never heard of her... or you. Sorry.

If you think this is causing you problems I would suggest you sue a pen name. Keep in mind that if the client has 'parental controls' activated they might not see those photos. Also, I think many people understand that there are common names.

I also feel that you could market around it - by calling attention to it - something like this: "I might not look as good as the nude Tracy Needham you might see when you Google my name...but hey....I write much better...so, try my service."

(BTW I am not saying you look BAD...not at all !) (LOL)

Not much to add that hasn't been said, Tracy, except with 75 comments and 1,184 views, you sure know how to start a popular thread.

Googled you, didn't see anything objectionable.

The best you can do is set-up 40-50 high authority sites, and rank them massively for your name thus outranking the pics. But seriously, this thread is funny.

I share the same name with a guy who's a huge pot head and supports the legalization of weed.

Every once in a while I get an email asking if I'm the same guy.

No I tell them.

But ... now he has driven me to smoke pot.

Moral of the story ... let us know when your first photo shoot is Tracy ;-)

Tim

I don't know if there is anyway to bury pics, since I don't entirely know how to work with Google Images, but if you are that worried you can always put a disclaimer on your website, or place it in the FAQs.

Something like:
Q: "I just Googled an image of you, were you a porn star?"
A: "No, we share the same name."

Just better.

I recommend what others do. Get the images pushed off the first page, and the Google results. And I know this has been solved a dozen times over, but I realized that after I typed this all out.

Also, don't overestimate Flickr and other photography websites, you could make yourself a simple photo gallery with your name (and possibly your name spelled like the naked actress) in the descriptions. That will pull up those photos, instead of naked butts. Keep them simple, basic photos of the local park, busy street, etc, so no one takes offense.

In addition to publicly accessible Facebook. Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn, try for reputable article directories. eZine and Street Articles wouldn't be bad.

Backlink everything. SocialMonkee is great for free links that will help you rank.

And now you've convinced me to look for my own name. I'm apparently a cinematographer, artist, realtor, communications officer, and in prison.

I've been busy.

Not much that can be done am afraid, just one of those things

With billions of people all over the world, there's bound to be a name twin for a lot of people. Luckily my name twin is smart and successful

thanks for such informative post

just create 10 web properties and then spend $10 on each of these web properties for link building. As the time will pass, you will see your properties ranking higher than anything else.

It really doesn't help that when I search for Tracy Needham, Google happily says "Did you mean Tracey Needham?" and most of the results are in fact for tracey, not tracy..

There are some good suggestions in this thread, but sadly I don't think I have any suggestions that someone else here hasn't already given you. (I didn't see this thread until now)

I could not find anything as far as those pics goes but im sure they can be removed somehow. I have never tried to cover up something like that.

Use it to your advantage (in a non sleazy way of course).
What you have done here is unwittingly done is genius marketing!!! Not many discussions go three pages in a short space of time! It's amazing a young attractive female (judging by your avatar) and the word nude pics in the title has raised quite a reaction on here! I wonder how many male warriors have searched your name since posting this???

What I'm saying is when advertising mention to all that if they search your name and get these images that they are categorically not you! Just by putting that men will be men no matter how conservative the niche! They will look for pics but at the same time find your business pages and you don't even have to show an ounce of flesh or have embarrassment as you've already stated they're not your pics! So its a win win! Don't see this as a problem see it as a lucky coincidence which could work lovely in your favour and with your good content it will only be an advantage over the competition!

Just my thoughts

I am extremely disappointed that you aren't that actress now.

wow.. never thought that will happen.

but i dont think people will make the link.

If i happen to see someone online in a wierd picture usually i dont buy into it immediately, i will investigate further.

So not to worry. I dont think people will have 1 look and go " oh she is a pros" then click close.

=)

Tracy,
After seeing the popularity of this thread; I'm pretty sure you could convert it into a money-making WSO. Just saying...

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