What used to be called “ego surfing” is now manifest in the verb, “ego-ogle”. This means to look for yourself on Google to see how popular or famous you are. Obviously, this works on other search engines, but lacks the ego-ogle/Google wordplay.
Ego-ogling is something I’m guilty of. About once or twice a month I will see how I fair in the ego-ogle stakes by searching for my name, and some random term with which I have a connection. The terms might be "Steven Goodwin" Linux (with the quotes) to see where I’m known in the Linux community, or Steev Amiga to see if there’s a resurgence of interest in my old shareware (there isn’t, by the way.)
As well as the ego stroking value, this can help in more constructive ways. For one, some people will reference you or your work, without linking to your site. This is consequently likely to be a page you’re interested in also, but without a link Google won’t make the connection.
Secondly, it can provide feedback on your previous work when the critic didn’t contact you directly. Depending on how you take criticism this can be a good or bad thing, but this method enable me to find a positive review of my old C programming tutorial.