PORTLAND, Ore. - Have you Googled yourself lately?  Do you know what people are saying about you on the Internet?

Managing your Google reputation can help you avoid mistakes that can cost you a job.  That's because hiring managers are using the search engine more and more to scope out potential employees.

And it's not just hiring managers you have to worry about.  For example, an Oregon mayor's MySpace page, showing pictures of herself in lingerie, helped strip her of her office.

But what about web pages that aren't even controlled by you?  For example, someone mentions your name, negatively, in a forum or blog.  In Facebook, users can individually tag you in a picture with your name - instant guilt by association.

According to Kent Lewis, the founder and president of Anvil Media in Portland, there is a lot his company can do to help someone, or a company, shore up their negative Google results.

Just how Anvil does it is a secret, but Lewis did tell us it is a combination of the three Cs:

• Content - meaning the quality of the material on a Web site.
• Code - meaning the site is easily readable and accessible to Google and their search spiders.
• Credibility - what sites are linking to you and how credible those sites are.

David White works for Portland-based Flightstats and he hired Anvil - not to manage an online reputation, but to establish one.  Now, when you type in any flight number in Google, Flightstats pops up first.

"It's really important to us that we show up in those search results near the top because it draws an awful lot of traffic," said White.

Short of hiring a reputation manager, here are some some simple things you can do at home:

• Start by Googling yourself and seeing what comes up.  If you find negative results, in a forum or a blog, contact the moderator to see if they'll remove the posting about you.  It helps if there is a legal or ethical reason for the moderator to do so, such as the statements are untrue.
• Next, create positive search results about yourself through social or professional networking sites like LinkedIn or Ziggs. By providing profiles with information about yourself that you would rather have out there, there is a good chance you'll bump a negative link off that first page of Google.
• Finally, take a hard look at the damage you are doing to yourself.  Evaluate your own MySpace or Facebook page through the eyes of that potential customer, date or employer.