In this episode of the Private Club Radio Show, we roll up our sleeves and shine a spotlight on something most clubs think they’ve got handled—but probably don’t: what shows up when someone Googles your club.
We walk you through a no-nonsense, step-by-step guide to auditing your club’s online presence. From Google to TikTok, Yelp to AI tools, we cover the platforms your prospective members, employees, and even the media are using to check you out—before they ever set foot on property.
Here's what we get into:
- Why incognito mode (and calling in a favor from your cousin in another state) matters
- What to search for besides just your club name—and why those extra keywords matter
- How to spot outdated or questionable content floating around out there
- The magic of Google Alerts for staying ahead of the buzz
- Why human, thoughtful responses to reviews (even the spicy ones) are key
This isn’t just about damage control—it’s about owning your narrative, showing up the way you want to be seen, and maybe even spotting some hidden marketing gold along the way.
🎧 Give it a listen, then go Google your club. What you find might surprise you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement,
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I want topropose a question, maybe a
scary question, and that is whatshows up when somebody Googles
your club A prospective member,a prospective employee, a
current member, somebody of themedia.
What happens when somebodyGoogles your club?
(00:42):
And have you Googled your clubrecently?
Do you know what's out there?
Do you know what's being said?
Do you know what's being seen?
And that's what we're talkingabout today.
We are pulling out a flashlight, putting on our detective hats
(01:03):
and searching how your clubshows up on the internet.
I would not like to admit howmuch time I spend looking at
clubs, just because when I goperform at clubs, I like to.
Well, you know, I'll Googlewhere it's at and just see how
far away from either it's myhouse or the airport, hotels,
all that and I just do a lot ofsearching on Google and there's
(01:25):
just a lot of things.
I see that I'm not 100% sure ifclubs know that is out there
about them.
So this episode is a fullwalkthrough on how to audit your
online presence, from GoogleTikTok to AI tools and why this
episode and doing this, spendinga little bit of time on this
today, this week, this month,can be one of the simplest and
(01:47):
smartest things you can do thisquarter.
So, real quick, what I thinkyou should do is, just at a bare
baseline minimum, just Googleyour club, get off your Wi-Fi,
don't use your Wi-Fi, you know.
Just Google your club andGoogle, maybe even Safari.
Do both, actually.
And just Google your club nameand just type it in and see what
(02:10):
happens.
And then what you also want todo is, when you Google and you
type in your club's name and youhit the space bar, there's
going to be additional searchesthat pop up.
Hit those searches, see whatpops up when you click those.
I'm looking at a club right now.
I typed in the club name and Ityped in reviews, because that
(02:33):
was one of the things, and thereis a website that says pros and
cons of this club name?
Do you know if that's out there, about your club?
Just throwing that out there?
And what is being said?
Is it truthful?
Is it up to date?
Do you have better amenities orbetter things than what's being
said?
Are they saying good things?
Are they saying bad things?
That's what this is about isjust double checking, seeing
(02:54):
what is out there.
There's different tabs, sothere's images, news, forums,
short videos, videos, maps.
Hit all of those tabs as wellwith the same searches.
You're going to want to keepgoing through, type in your club
name and then reviews and thencost, and then just start
playing around going throughGoogle, not just the first page.
Keep on going.
Go five, six, seven, eight,nine, 10 pages.
(03:16):
It's probably going to beirrelevant, it doesn't matter.
Just go and search what isbeing seen.
Now the next step is, after youdo this, you're then going to go
into incognito mode.
You're going to go to yourGoogle Chrome Safari, whatever
You're going to type in, you'regoing to do that all again in
incognito mode to see if you getsome of the same results.
All that does is it just shutsoff your location and all of
(03:38):
your data and history and stuff,so it doesn't have any
pre-judgment, so to speak, basedon the searching, then you're
going to do that whole thingagain.
And then, if you want to takeit a step further, ask a friend
not a colleague, maybe a friend,a family member, not in the
state, and see if they cansearch some of these same things
(03:59):
on their devices and see whatpops up.
Have them send screenshots, orthey can do a screen record and
you can just watch it quick justto see what pops up in other
states and other areas.
Because, as we all know, googleis an algorithm and it will
give you results based on whatit thinks you want to see.
When you type in your club'swebsite is, or when you type in
(04:20):
your club's name, is your club'swebsite the first thing that
pops up, or is it a differentwebsite that might pop up?
I've seen it happen.
I'm looking at one right now asI'm Googling here, doing the
episode and just taking note andjust seeing if anything looks
out of place as you're goingthrough all of these searches,
especially images, especiallyvideos.
It's all about looking, seeingand if all is good, great, keep
(04:44):
it going.
And if maybe there's some stuffthat I don't know, if your
outdated old HOA lawsuit isranking higher or right up next
to your official website.
There are services that canhelp get that down or get that
lower or make sure other stuffpops up up.
(05:05):
And, as a little reminder andcall back to one of my previous
episodes, as a little pro tipalert, if you haven't already
set up a Google alert for yourclub name and your employees and
your members, I think that's abig missed opportunity.
What a Google alert is is you,as you Google, just put in
Google alert and set it up.
You can have it.
Say any specific or genericname, phrase, anything.
(05:26):
Anytime it shows up on Google,it'll send you an email with a
summary of where that name popsup.
So anytime.
So I have one for myself.
So anytime a news article orsomething pops up with my full
name in it, I get an alert.
You can do it with you, yourname, your club's name, your
members, your employees.
(05:47):
I mean you know, thinking outloud as a club professional, if
I had a Google alert to my workemail of all of the members'
names and their businesses andlet's just even say your
membership and yourcommunications, and your whole
team gets these alerts also, andyou know, wouldn't it be a cool
spot for the club to be tomaybe get a Google alert for an
(06:09):
award that maybe one of yourmembers has won or their
business has won, and maybe it'sa unique, niche-y industry
award.
Wouldn't it be cool?
How cool would it be for theclub to send them a
congratulations or invite themout for a meal on the house?
Or, hey, get a free bottle ofwine or a free glass of
champagne as a celebration.
(06:30):
Hey, here's a special offer tobring your team in to celebrate.
I don't know, my brain justgoes in really weird ways and to
me, that's where a Google alertcan be really cool and really
show value.
Now, since we're talking aboutall this Googling and searching,
google is only 5% of theinternet and I learned that from
our good friend and showpartner, paul Dank over at
(06:53):
Kennis Member Vetting.
A quick thing, a quick shoutout to Kennis Member Vetting,
membervettingcom, the authoritywhen it comes to fact-based
member vetting.
When we are looking at who iscoming into our clubs, who are
these applicants?
Are they who they say they are?
(07:13):
At Kenes Member Vetting, theymake sure the applicants are who
they say they are on theirapplication and who belong in
your club, but your club is alsoshowing up other places and
people are using social mediaplatforms as search engines also
.
I think it's important to gointo the social media platforms
TikTok, youtube, youtube Shorts,facebook, instagram.
(07:36):
Go into these platforms, typein your club name and search
just like you did in Google.
But search in these platformsand when you're searching, just
the search, also search hashtags, check location tags, see where
you're tagged, see where you'rementioned.
What's showing up Maybe is itgood stuff, bad stuff, maybe
there's great photos that peopletook at different events.
(07:58):
See what is popping up, what isshowing up when people search
your club and while you're at it, I think a cool search just to
see where you're at, just to seewhere you show up, is just in
an incognito mode browser.
Just type in private clubs nearme or country clubs near me or
country club, insert city name,private club, insert city name
(08:19):
and just see what shows up,especially in incognito mode.
Asking somebody else to do ittoo, from outside the area, also
helps just to get a real judgeon what an organic search looks
like and see where you show up.
Are you showing up first,second, third, fourth?
Are you even showing up on thefirst page.
Are you showing up as part ofthe Google review listings on
(08:40):
Google Maps?
Because that's also what popsup.
Little pro tip.
Side note I also did an episodeon Google reviews.
How are you showing up?
How is your club showing up onGoogle reviews?
Do you have a little?
Do you have a lot?
Do you have a good rating?
Do you have a bad rating?
But if you have less than 100,I think you've got to get at
(09:01):
least 100 reviews for your club.
Look at the reviews.
Engage with the reviews inresponding to every Google
review that somebody puts,whether they are mad, upset
Hopefully they're not mad, but Isee a bunch.
You can tell some people areupset, for whatever reasons or
others, but respond to everyreview in a human way, being
(09:25):
human.
I hate when I look at Googlereviews and you can just tell
it's a copy and paste and it'sokay to have a copy and paste
response.
Maybe have a couple differentresponses or humanized responses
or a couple different ones thatswitch it up.
Show humanity and respond in away and respond graciously, even
if something is maybe not said.
(09:46):
Well, you know, respond toeverybody, engage.
I was chatting with my friend,sean Blyle, about this episode
and he had a really good point,and that was using AI, chat, gtp
and other engines that peopleuse or are popular, or whenever
you're listening to this, butusing AI to search and research
your club for you.
(10:06):
Hey, what are people sayingabout insert club name in chat
GTP?
Hey, act as a journalistresearching club name.
What would you report?
What comes up?
I mean, that's kind of likehiring a brutally honest digital
assistant or PR person, becauseAI pulls from public patterns
and web data and you'll get thatperspective fast.
(10:28):
That was a really good nuggetfrom Sean.
That's probably the goldennugget of the episode there.
Edit and not just google rereviews.
But going into yelp, you know,where are you showing up?
How are you showing up?
What are people saying?
What are these reviews saying?
Are they true, are they not?
Is it something that you reallyhave to take serious?
Is it stump, something that youknow is maybe something that
(10:50):
you've been putting off, thatneeds to be addressed?
That's maybe being said in someof these reviews, but, uh, it's
important to see what's outthere, what's being said, and
taking action on it.
This is something I think maybeclubs should be doing twice a
year, once a year, you know,putting it on the calendar,
making it a you know to do.
Just having somebody spend anhour, an hour a year, two hours
(11:12):
a year, let's just even doubleit four hours a year to making
sure your online reputation isgood, I think is not much to ask
.
So, google your club.
What shows up.
Do you like what you see?
So, as we wrap up, this is justa quick service announcement
(11:34):
Google your club, see what popsup.
Do you like what you see?
And, if not, change it, can youdo something about it to make
it what you want it to be?
And also, if you made it thisfar, while you're at it, google
yourself, see what shows up whenyou type in your name, your
name and your profession, yourname and your city.
Uh, just, and at the same stuffwe're doing for the clubs, just
(11:56):
do do it for yourself.
It's just about knowing andseeing where and how you show up
and if it's consistent amongall the platforms.
Now listen, if you got somethingfrom this episode, if you
thought it was good, you can dome a solid, share this with
somebody.
And guess what?
Maybe it's not even the episode, maybe it's just telling them
(12:16):
to do what this episode is about?
Just hey, have you Googled yourclub recently?
I just think that that's themost important.
It's just making sure we allshow up the best way we can.
That is this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, danny Corby.
Catch you all on the FlippityFlip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement,
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I want topropose a question, maybe a
scary question, and that is whatshows up when somebody Googles
your club A prospective member,a prospective employee, a
current member, somebody of themedia.
What happens when somebodyGoogles your club?
(00:42):
And have you Googled your clubrecently?
Do you know what's out there?
Do you know what's being said?
Do you know what's being seen?
And that's what we're talkingabout today.
We are pulling out a flashlight, putting on our detective hats
(01:03):
and searching how your clubshows up on the internet.
I would not like to admit howmuch time I spend looking at
clubs, just because when I goperform at clubs, I like to.
Well, you know, I'll Googlewhere it's at and just see how
far away from either it's myhouse or the airport, hotels,
all that and I just do a lot ofsearching on Google and there's
(01:25):
just a lot of things.
I see that I'm not 100% sure ifclubs know that is out there
about them.
So this episode is a fullwalkthrough on how to audit your
online presence, from GoogleTikTok to AI tools and why this
episode and doing this, spendinga little bit of time on this
today, this week, this month,can be one of the simplest and
(01:47):
smartest things you can do thisquarter.
So, real quick, what I thinkyou should do is, just at a bare
baseline minimum, just Googleyour club, get off your Wi-Fi,
don't use your Wi-Fi, you know.
Just Google your club andGoogle, maybe even Safari.
Do both, actually.
And just Google your club nameand just type it in and see what
(02:10):
happens.
And then what you also want todo is, when you Google and you
type in your club's name and youhit the space bar, there's
going to be additional searchesthat pop up.
Hit those searches, see whatpops up when you click those.
I'm looking at a club right now.
I typed in the club name and Ityped in reviews, because that
(02:33):
was one of the things, and thereis a website that says pros and
cons of this club name?
Do you know if that's out there, about your club?
Just throwing that out there?
And what is being said?
Is it truthful?
Is it up to date?
Do you have better amenities orbetter things than what's being
said?
Are they saying good things?
Are they saying bad things?
That's what this is about isjust double checking, seeing
(02:54):
what is out there.
There's different tabs, sothere's images, news, forums,
short videos, videos, maps.
Hit all of those tabs as wellwith the same searches.
You're going to want to keepgoing through, type in your club
name and then reviews and thencost, and then just start
playing around going throughGoogle, not just the first page.
Keep on going.
Go five, six, seven, eight,nine, 10 pages.
(03:16):
It's probably going to beirrelevant, it doesn't matter.
Just go and search what isbeing seen.
Now the next step is, after youdo this, you're then going to go
into incognito mode.
You're going to go to yourGoogle Chrome Safari, whatever
You're going to type in, you'regoing to do that all again in
incognito mode to see if you getsome of the same results.
All that does is it just shutsoff your location and all of
(03:38):
your data and history and stuff,so it doesn't have any
pre-judgment, so to speak, basedon the searching, then you're
going to do that whole thingagain.
And then, if you want to takeit a step further, ask a friend
not a colleague, maybe a friend,a family member, not in the
state, and see if they cansearch some of these same things
(03:59):
on their devices and see whatpops up.
Have them send screenshots, orthey can do a screen record and
you can just watch it quick justto see what pops up in other
states and other areas.
Because, as we all know, googleis an algorithm and it will
give you results based on whatit thinks you want to see.
When you type in your club'swebsite is, or when you type in
(04:20):
your club's name, is your club'swebsite the first thing that
pops up, or is it a differentwebsite that might pop up?
I've seen it happen.
I'm looking at one right now asI'm Googling here, doing the
episode and just taking note andjust seeing if anything looks
out of place as you're goingthrough all of these searches,
especially images, especiallyvideos.
It's all about looking, seeingand if all is good, great, keep
(04:44):
it going.
And if maybe there's some stuffthat I don't know, if your
outdated old HOA lawsuit isranking higher or right up next
to your official website.
There are services that canhelp get that down or get that
lower or make sure other stuffpops up up.
(05:05):
And, as a little reminder andcall back to one of my previous
episodes, as a little pro tipalert, if you haven't already
set up a Google alert for yourclub name and your employees and
your members, I think that's abig missed opportunity.
What a Google alert is is you,as you Google, just put in
Google alert and set it up.
You can have it.
Say any specific or genericname, phrase, anything.
(05:26):
Anytime it shows up on Google,it'll send you an email with a
summary of where that name popsup.
So anytime.
So I have one for myself.
So anytime a news article orsomething pops up with my full
name in it, I get an alert.
You can do it with you, yourname, your club's name, your
members, your employees.
(05:47):
I mean you know, thinking outloud as a club professional, if
I had a Google alert to my workemail of all of the members'
names and their businesses andlet's just even say your
membership and yourcommunications, and your whole
team gets these alerts also, andyou know, wouldn't it be a cool
spot for the club to be tomaybe get a Google alert for an
(06:09):
award that maybe one of yourmembers has won or their
business has won, and maybe it'sa unique, niche-y industry
award.
Wouldn't it be cool?
How cool would it be for theclub to send them a
congratulations or invite themout for a meal on the house?
Or, hey, get a free bottle ofwine or a free glass of
champagne as a celebration.
(06:30):
Hey, here's a special offer tobring your team in to celebrate.
I don't know, my brain justgoes in really weird ways and to
me, that's where a Google alertcan be really cool and really
show value.
Now, since we're talking aboutall this Googling and searching,
google is only 5% of theinternet and I learned that from
our good friend and showpartner, paul Dank over at
(06:53):
Kennis Member Vetting.
A quick thing, a quick shoutout to Kennis Member Vetting,
membervettingcom, the authoritywhen it comes to fact-based
member vetting.
When we are looking at who iscoming into our clubs, who are
these applicants?
Are they who they say they are?
(07:13):
At Kenes Member Vetting, theymake sure the applicants are who
they say they are on theirapplication and who belong in
your club, but your club is alsoshowing up other places and
people are using social mediaplatforms as search engines also
.
I think it's important to gointo the social media platforms
TikTok, youtube, youtube Shorts,facebook, instagram.
(07:36):
Go into these platforms, typein your club name and search
just like you did in Google.
But search in these platformsand when you're searching, just
the search, also search hashtags, check location tags, see where
you're tagged, see where you'rementioned.
What's showing up Maybe is itgood stuff, bad stuff, maybe
there's great photos that peopletook at different events.
(07:58):
See what is popping up, what isshowing up when people search
your club and while you're at it, I think a cool search just to
see where you're at, just to seewhere you show up, is just in
an incognito mode browser.
Just type in private clubs nearme or country clubs near me or
country club, insert city name,private club, insert city name
(08:19):
and just see what shows up,especially in incognito mode.
Asking somebody else to do ittoo, from outside the area, also
helps just to get a real judgeon what an organic search looks
like and see where you show up.
Are you showing up first,second, third, fourth?
Are you even showing up on thefirst page.
Are you showing up as part ofthe Google review listings on
(08:40):
Google Maps?
Because that's also what popsup.
Little pro tip.
Side note I also did an episodeon Google reviews.
How are you showing up?
How is your club showing up onGoogle reviews?
Do you have a little?
Do you have a lot?
Do you have a good rating?
Do you have a bad rating?
But if you have less than 100,I think you've got to get at
(09:01):
least 100 reviews for your club.
Look at the reviews.
Engage with the reviews inresponding to every Google
review that somebody puts,whether they are mad, upset
Hopefully they're not mad, but Isee a bunch.
You can tell some people areupset, for whatever reasons or
others, but respond to everyreview in a human way, being
(09:25):
human.
I hate when I look at Googlereviews and you can just tell
it's a copy and paste and it'sokay to have a copy and paste
response.
Maybe have a couple differentresponses or humanized responses
or a couple different ones thatswitch it up.
Show humanity and respond in away and respond graciously, even
if something is maybe not said.
(09:46):
Well, you know, respond toeverybody, engage.
I was chatting with my friend,sean Blyle, about this episode
and he had a really good point,and that was using AI, chat, gtp
and other engines that peopleuse or are popular, or whenever
you're listening to this, butusing AI to search and research
your club for you.
(10:06):
Hey, what are people sayingabout insert club name in chat
GTP?
Hey, act as a journalistresearching club name.
What would you report?
What comes up?
I mean, that's kind of likehiring a brutally honest digital
assistant or PR person, becauseAI pulls from public patterns
and web data and you'll get thatperspective fast.
(10:28):
That was a really good nuggetfrom Sean.
That's probably the goldennugget of the episode there.
Edit and not just google rereviews.
But going into yelp, you know,where are you showing up?
How are you showing up?
What are people saying?
What are these reviews saying?
Are they true, are they not?
Is it something that you reallyhave to take serious?
Is it stump, something that youknow is maybe something that
(10:50):
you've been putting off, thatneeds to be addressed?
That's maybe being said in someof these reviews, but, uh, it's
important to see what's outthere, what's being said, and
taking action on it.
This is something I think maybeclubs should be doing twice a
year, once a year, you know,putting it on the calendar,
making it a you know to do.
Just having somebody spend anhour, an hour a year, two hours
(11:12):
a year, let's just even doubleit four hours a year to making
sure your online reputation isgood, I think is not much to ask
.
So, google your club.
What shows up.
Do you like what you see?
So, as we wrap up, this is justa quick service announcement
(11:34):
Google your club, see what popsup.
Do you like what you see?
And, if not, change it, can youdo something about it to make
it what you want it to be?
And also, if you made it thisfar, while you're at it, google
yourself, see what shows up whenyou type in your name, your
name and your profession, yourname and your city.
Uh, just, and at the same stuffwe're doing for the clubs, just
(11:56):
do do it for yourself.
It's just about knowing andseeing where and how you show up
and if it's consistent amongall the platforms.
Now listen, if you got somethingfrom this episode, if you
thought it was good, you can dome a solid, share this with
somebody.
And guess what?
Maybe it's not even the episode, maybe it's just telling them
(12:16):
to do what this episode is about?
Just hey, have you Googled yourclub recently?
I just think that that's themost important.
It's just making sure we allshow up the best way we can.
That is this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, danny Corby.
Catch you all on the FlippityFlip.
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