What do search engines have to say about you?

December 19, 2008
by James Lowery

I’d be worried about the fact that one of my former colleagues was a convicted murderer if he hadn’t been executed by lethal injection 5 years ago, and I’ve just realised why people are a bit nervous when they meet me for the first time: Until recently, I was a drifter who killed an elderly couple in a bungled robbery during the 1960s. Now I’m a rapper. I’m not sure which is worse.

While this is less of a problem and more of a conversation starter for me and my colleagues, unwanted and plain wrong results in Google are becoming more and more of a problem for businesses. Just imagine if a user is searching for your brand, and is faced with a list of negative reviews or a news story talking about how your secure online shopping cart was hacked and the credit card details of thousands of your customers stolen. It isn’t hard to imagine what kind of impact that is going to have on a potential customer.

The glib answer to ensuring that you don’t get a negative reputation is to not deserve one, but the truth is, that it only takes the bad experience of one customer to create the impression that you are offer the most appalling service on the planet.

Thanks to the social nature of the web, and the explosion in user generated content over the last couple of years, it is easier than ever for people to publish their thoughts online, and while many have a genuine grievance with a product and service, I see just as much content which is misleading, wrong, or clearly spiteful: It isn’t just users with a grudge who publish negative material online, competitors with a ruthless streak may also post damaging comments about your business.

Online reputation management is a time consuming job that can require as much resource as a normal SEO campaign. After all, the internet is a big place, and keeping on top of all the content that is published about your business everywhere could be nigh on impossible. Aside from traditional review sites and individual blogs, you also need to think about what kind of comments people are making in Google’s Search Wiki and on your entry in Wikipedia (you do have an entry on Wikipedia, don’t you?).

The easy part of online reputation management is keeping track of it. Google Alerts and RSS Feeds will notify you whenever you get mentioned, but what really takes effort is taking action. It’s pretty tempting to spam the various review sites with glowing endorsements and paying bloggers to give you a positive write up, but this won’t necessarily stem the flow of negative karma, and it’s pretty unsustainable in the long run - especially if the bad stuff is appearing on respectable websites that rank well for your brand.

Long term online reputation management requires engagement with the social web, the creation and promotion of positive PR, and also the ability to keep track of any negativity and keep it out of the public eye effectively. If the Internet is the new media, then SEO is fast becoming its public relations department.

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