Search Engine Reputation Management

How to protect you from negative publicity online

It is said that bad news sells faster than good news. This old adage is very true in the internet media world aided by the relative ease with which one can publish information on the net. If you are in business, then you should be aware that the information posted on web pages, however small space they may occupy, can damage your reputation irreversibly. This is the basis for the growth of a search engine reputation management industry to help companies monitor, analyse influence the information on their own or other people's websites.

The most important to watch are customers and the not so happy employees. These are people who would often be communicating using platforms that are shared by people who have similar interests. As a result, their negative publicity can derail your business. There are many examples of companies that have fallen on this sword such as ‘Dell hell' and ‘Walmarting' scandals.

A search engine reputation management is an active and proactive system that not only deals with the problem through search engine optimization and hiding away the negative articles or blogs. Instead, it should be a proactive public relation scheme to prevent, identify and react appropriately to damaging information on your website.

The problem of damaged reputation is not an exclusive problem of the search engine alone. Even the big names have not been left behind. A good case is that of Robert Scoble who inflicted great damage to Microsoft's reputation. This is why a proactive search engine reputation management must have a system of preventing or responding to disgruntled staff or customers.

Now, this does not mean that you must make every attempt to deny the truth about your company of organization. On the contrary, being honest and accepting honest criticism helps in limiting damage from negative online information. All you need to do is to assure your clients that the tradition of the excellence will not be damaged by the one off incidence.

The three stages that every company that is wary of online reputation management must consider includes the monitoring aspect, instituting proactive rather than reactive measures and being able to have an appropriate response of influence.

Monitoring will require that you have a manual or automated regular search for the website postings on the products, company brands and the key staff from your organization. You can use the service so specialized websites or RSS feeds such as the Feedsters or blogpulse. Be careful about what is discussed in blogs and discussion forums because these tend to influence opinion a greater extent than official communication. You can join some of these informal discussions and influence it from within. You can also monitor by subscribing to yahoo alerts, or Google alerts or the social media such as keotag.

You need to get a proactive system rather than a reactive one through web optimization. This can be done through a key word or SEO that automatically detects and relegates to the hidden pages any negative publications or postings.

Lastly, you need to influence the minds of your clients or customers through having a counter mechanism. This will include authenticating the information posted, responding honestly. Even your own postings can create negative online reputation. This is why you may consider engaging a professional team for the search engine reputation management.