In today’s technology-dependent world, Google has become more than just a simple search engine, it has become a reputation machine that can make or break businesses. People use search engines to look for information about products, services, ideas, and offers. When they see negative reviews or bad feedback, this will influence their buying decisions. Things can also become personal on the search engines. Personal reputations can be attacked when someone gets upset enough. That’s why it is now more important than ever to manage negative search results. If you are interested to know more about Online Reputation Management (ORM), read on.
What to Manage in ORM ?
Whether it is a complaint about defective products, employee grievances, or being investigated by the local papers, there’s a common goal in Online Reputation Management (ORM): the removal of destructive content from the first pages of the search engine results page (SERP). There are certain aspects of your business that needs to be monitored closely.
These include
(1) Brands
(2) Products
(3) Company
(4) Executives.
There are different kinds of negative content that can be removed from the search engines by displacing it with higher-ranking pages that contain positive information. But completely erasing bad information from all sources is nearly impossible. If negative content about your company becomes listed in a high-profile website, it is difficult to mitigate its impact but it can be done.
Where to Monitor
It is important to monitor key places in the World Wide Web especially popular search sites. Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the most influential ones and should be noted accordingly. In addition, RSS fees such as Feedster, Google News, Yahoo News, and Technorati should likewise be closely watched. The information found on social media sites should also be watched. For example, popular blogs and forums are usually the source of content for majority of the blogosphere. Setting up alerts that will let you know when and what is being said about your company is a proactive measure that has long-term benefits. But while monitoring is important, it is crucial to remember that optimising as “prevention” is always better than reacting defensively. Online reputation management is not just about displacing negative search results; it is also about letting you enjoy a position of control.
ORM as the Future SEO
As you can see, online reputation management has become the focus of both major corporations and small business. The information that people find about them on the web will have a direct impact on their bottom line. That’s the reason why ORM is seen as the future SEO. The strategies of tomorrow will revolve around making brands and companies look and sound better online.