As we continue this series on how to optimize your digital assets for AI, we will review what you can do with Google Scholar and ORCID. Optimizing these is a big part of presenting yourself in a clear and consistent way. A point made last week and worth making again is this: Being clear and consistent about who you are and what you do will help you with humans as well as AI.

AI uses information from high-trust and high-signal places to generate summaries. For researchers, strong signals come from both Google Scholar and ORCID. You want your profile on each of these to be clean and consistent and linked to your .edu web page. If you do this, you'll find that AI is more likely to describe you accurately. This is because Google Scholar and ORCID are authoritative sources that AI will read as a source of truth. These sources also provide structured metadata such as DOIs, titles, affiliations, and keywords; AI does well with this type of information. Date stamping works for you here, as keeping these profiles updated helps trust for both humans and machines. Further, when you cross link your .edu page, Google Scholar, ORCID and other websites or assets (we'll talk about these next week), you enable triangulation that supports accurate AI results.

So, what kind of improvement can you expect with these updates? I asked ChatGPT to provide an example, which is representative of my own experience using AI to search for information on people:

Before (messy signals):

Dr. Alex Chen is a nanotechnology researcher known for a 2016 graphene paper at Midwest University.” (Old topic, old affiliation, missing current focus.)

After (clean Scholar + ORCID + .edu links):

Dr. Alex Chen is an Associate Professor of Materials Science at State University. His current work focuses on perovskite photovoltaics and photonic inverse design, with recent papers in Energy & Environmental Science (2024). ORCID: 0000-0002-1234-5678.

Below I outline the steps to take to get your profiles up to date.

Full disclosure: the following guide was developed with the help of ChatGPT. I confirmed its accuracy and trimmed it down to make it as user-friendly as possible with a focus on quick wins.

Google Scholar

A. Make it public & canonical

• Ensure the profile is Public.

• Use your .edu home page as the Website field.

• Verify with your institutional email.

B. Fix the record

• Merge duplicates and remove misattributed papers

• Add missing works (manual add with DOI/title if needed).

• Set Profile updates to Email me updates for review (instead of auto-adding).

C. Be findable by topic

• Scholar doesn’t have a separate keywords field; your Areas of interest act as the “keywords.”

• Use specific terms people actually search for (e.g., “computational photonics, silicon photonics, inverse design” vs. just “photonics”).

D. Strengthen connection graph

• Add co-authors (link to their Scholar profiles) to reinforce your network.

• Use a consistent headshot (matches your .edu page).

E. Reduce ambiguity

• If your name has variants (middle initial, diacritics), put the preferred form in Scholar and mirror it across .edu + ORCID.

ORCID

A. Identity & biography

• Complete Biography (2–3 plain-language sentences).

• Add Keywords (your search terms; comma-separated).

• Fill Other names/Name variants (J. Q. Smith; Jane Q Smith; former surname).

B. Verified affiliations & roles

• Update Employment, Education, Membership/Service.

• Make these visible to Everyone (the default might be “Trusted parties”).

C. Works: clean, linked, and auto-updating

• Add works with DOIs (cleanest signal); include datasets, preprints, software when relevant.

• Connect Crossref and DataCite as Trusted Organizations to auto-push new outputs (reduces manual upkeep).

• If something lacks a DOI, add URLs or identifiers; keep titles exactly as published (string-matching matters).

D. Linkages that help AI

• Add your .edu page, Google Scholar, personal site, lab site in Websites & Social Links.

• Put your ORCID iD (the 16-digit number) on your .edu page and CV—so all roads point back.

E. Visibility settings

• Set Biography, Keywords, Employment, Works you care about to Everyone.

• Hide old/irrelevant items rather than deleting (so your history remains coherent).

If you take these steps of updating and coordinating your profiles across trusted sources, you'll maximize your chances of AI representing you accurately

Take it one step at a time: a smarter way to pursue research funding

Feeling overwhelmed by the funding process? This week’s video breaks down a mindset shift that can make a huge difference: focus on just getting to the next step. Whether it's securing a reply, sending a white paper, or scheduling a call, incremental wins keep things moving forward. Check out my video to learn how this approach can save you time, avoid dead ends, and build better relationships with funders.

When you are ready, here’s how we can help

Need to get your research funded, this year? Check out our 12-week program to get you there.

Check out our storefront where you can access our free Unlocking DOD Funding for University Researchers course and other resources, including for faculty applicants.

Ready to book a call to discuss how our program can support faculty at your institution? Let’s chat!