15 Tips for SEO Reputation Management

SEO reputation management is a must, as companies only have one image. Once it’s tarnished, building it back to rights can be difficult. You don’t want the specter of bad decisions harming your SEO and brand, so how do you use SEO to manage your online reputation?

You can improve SEO reputation management by auditing your website and improving it based on the results, inviting more user-generated content, showcasing behind-the-scenes views of your brand, publishing high-value content, and creating a crisis management protocol. Covering your bases ensures your profitability, brand equity, and search traffic don’t take a hit.

This introduction to online reputation management SEO will provide strategies and best practices for safeguarding a blemish-free image and restoring a tarnished reputation.

What is online reputation management?

Essentially, online reputation management, or ORM for short, is the digital marketing strategy of managing the public’s perception of a company on SERPs. With as much as 90 percent of consumers checking online reviews before making a purchase, you certainly don’t want potential clients finding negative stories on the first page of results when they look for your business. 

Protect your brand’s image online with SEO reputation management by addressing negative feedback and giving positive content more weight with optimized strategies. If your content is properly SEO-focused, it will carry more weight with search engines like Google. 

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) combines digital marketing strategies intended to boost your website’s rank on internet search engines. Using keywords related to your industry, business niche, and geographical region, optimize your content to help Google understand what your site does and build a digital reputation as an authority in your industry. The stronger your SEO efforts, the higher your website will rank on SERPs.

SEO includes content from social media posts and blogs to press releases and your website using targeted keywords, technical optimization, and building a network of trusted backlinks. 

Benefits of ORM for your business

You may ask why ORM offers your business benefits, questioning whether it is truly worth the effort. According to Forbes, 97 percent of business owners said ORM was vital to their digital marketing strategies. 

How Reputation Management Affects SEO

Gossip and negative news tend to spread far faster than any positive message ever will. If something less than flattering about your brand goes viral, reputation management will help mitigate the damage, preventing further sales and search traffic loss. A bad online reputation can decimate your brand’s value and profitability if left unchecked.

A negative online reputation can impact:

• Organic search traffic

If the first thing customers see when they search for your company is a negative story, they are far less likely to click through and give you their business. Less search traffic means fewer sales.

• Paid search traffic

Negative articles and reviews will make paid digital advertisements for your brand give a lower return on investment. If you don’t want to keep increasing your advertising budget without results, look toward SEO reputation management for solutions.

• Brand Equity

Negative press can directly impact your brand equity, resulting in greater difficulties in drawing in customers and establishing working relationships with other businesses. 

• Profitability

When your business suffers from a negative reputation, profitability is one of the impacts you’ll feel most keenly. Losing too much profitability can cause you to lose stockholders or force you to let employees go to stay in business. 

Get better SEO reputation management with these tips

1. Start with an intense evaluation of your online reputation

Discover what potential customers find when they do a Google search for your business. You know where to start if they find anything other than a clean, updated list of blog posts and SEO content leading back to your website. According to recent research, 93 percent of internet experiences begin with a search. Once you’ve identified your problem areas, use SEO reputation management to move closer to your business goals. 

2. Respond to all online reviews and showcase your brand’s customer service

ReviewTrackers reported that 88 percent of all online reviews are published on just four websites — Google, Yelp, Facebook, and TripAdvisor. The same report said 94 percent of consumers said they were convinced to avoid a business due to a bad review and 53 percent of consumers expect a company’s response to negative reviews within a week. However, the faster the response, the more favorable an impact it has. 

Set up Google alerts for your brand, so you don’t miss any reviews, good or bad. Make it quick and straightforward for customers to leave reviews for your company by using a consistent approach across platforms so the reviewing process is fast, easy, and accessible. Minimize the number of clicks someone must make to leave a review, and keep your questions short. 

Don’t forget about employee-facing review platforms, either. If you plan to grow your business, you will eventually need to recruit talented workers. Ensure you provide an excellent experience for both customers and employees and encourage both to leave reviews telling others how you treated them.

3. Publish useful, engaging content customers find valuable

One of the most essential SEO reputation management tactics is regularly publishing useful, engaging content that customers will find valuable. Google constantly strives to deliver practical, relevant results for internet searches. Content is ranked by its usefulness and relevancy to the user’s search, so yours needs to offer some benefit to the reader to have SEO value. 

Suppose a potential client is torn between you and a competitor and browses both websites to determine which company is the best fit. You are more likely to win the client’s business with a robust library of helpful content to educate consumers about your industry. According to Forbes, self-focused content marketing isn’t the most effective way to catch your audience’s attention; they want value.

Build trust with your target audience and improve brand development by offering informative content that comprehensively answers their questions and concerns. Imagine every conceivable question potential customers could ask about your business, then make sure those answers are easily accessible on your website. 

Don’t be afraid to branch out across platforms for your SEO reputation management. Video marketing is an incredibly popular medium accessible to everyone with a smartphone. Lean into your multimedia options, sharing different aspects of your company to maximize efforts while sharing a consistent brand message. 

4. Use social media to your advantage

When used properly, social media offers your brand unprecedented potential for customer exposure. Control the message the public receives about your brand while growing your audience by providing instant access to the information newcomers want most. Social media should function as a window offering a peek at your company.

Your social media profiles are opportunities to show the platform’s users who you are and what you do at a glimpse. Your social media strategies can’t be an afterthought if you want effective ORM. If social media is a window to your company, let it be open and attractive rather than shuttered and inactive. Social media is one of the first places potential customers will search for you; be there for them to find. A positive reputation and active social media will make lead nurturing easier and more effective. 

5. Highlight the people behind the brand

From the CEO to the custodian, people increasingly want to know about the people behind the brand. According to Washington State University, 44 percent of a company’s market value is intricately entwined with the CEO’s reputation. Your potential clients, employees, and investors are all people who are likely to care about the people supporting your brand. Cultivate a clean, positive image for your company’s CEO and keep it steady with SEO reputation management.

6. Accept that there will be discomfort and commit to working past it

Progress rarely comes without difficulty. If you accept there will be troubles from the start, you’re far more likely to commit to working past the complex parts to achieve your goals. Negative reviews may be unfair or outright lies — you still need to deal with them. With so much beyond your control, SEO reputation management is more critical than ever. 

7. Put your energy into boosting positive search rankings

Use SEO techniques to help positive content dilute the power of anything negative someone may publish online. Ask satisfied customers to leave reviews, which builds a steady stream of positive messages about your brand and services. As a bonus, frequent favorable customer experiences will drown out the effect of negative reviews you may receive and build trust among your target audience.

8. Ensure your “About Us” page is engaging 

Take the time to ensure your website’s “About Us” page is engaging and shares valuable information about your company. This landing page is vital for sharing your company’s values, mission, and methods. Let current and potential customers know who you are, what you stand for, and how you plan to accomplish your goals. 

9. Feature testimonials from satisfied customers

Featuring testimonials from satisfied customers on your website will have more effect than most other reputation management strategies. Customers trust online reviews and often use them to influence their purchasing decisions. Client testimonials tell prospective customers what to expect when they work with your business and go a long way toward building your online reputation. 

10. Maintain SEO efforts for content and on the technical side

Google Business Profile (GBP) is a vital tool. Establish your profile, and ensure it is constantly updated with your contact information, hours, location, and other critical data. Your company’s reviews connect to your GBP profile.

Technical SEO is your website’s speed and efficiency. Ensure your site works correctly, is optimized for mobile use across various devices, has updated Schema markup, and remember to monitor your Core Web Values. 

11. Regularly Audit and Update Your Website

Build website audits into your business routine to help you identify issues with your website, improve conversion rates, and benefit your website’s performance. You can also raise your SEO rank.

While you can perform many types of audits–including lead conversion optimization, data privacy, and social media audits, we recommend only two for your purposes.

The first is an SEO website audit, which can identify issues hurting your rank, such as unoptimized videos and images, slow loading speed, keyword stuffing, and messy navigation.

Next, schedule an SEO link audit. This type of audit reviews the integrity and caliber of your backlinks or third-party links associated with your website. An SEO link audit reviews the anchor text, domain, and URL source to determine if it’s boosting your website’s SERP ranking or hurting it.

12. Encourage User-Generated Content

User-generated content, or UGC, is another SEO reputation management strategy. This third-party content comes from enthusiastic users of your product or service. They make the UGC of their own accord, including videos, photos, reviews, social media posts, or blog content.

UGC continues to dominate consumer decision-making, with animation and design resource Linearity stating that YouTube videos with UGC get 10x the views of those from brands.

You can’t force UGC, so how do you encourage your audience to begin creating it? By introducing a user-generated content campaign.

Here are some components your campaign needs:

• Start an ambassador program, working with your most passionate user base to spread the word about your products and services.
• Partner with an influencer and spread your brand to new audience.
• Review social media for mentions of your brand, reviewing the perception and improving accordingly.
• Start a social media contest or giveaway with an exceptional prize.
• Introduce a brand-specific hashtag to increase brand attention.

13. Foster Positive Online Communities

Social media isn’t the only way to connect online. Forums and online communities provide a space to share expertise and discourse about everyday topics. If your industry or niche doesn’t already have an existing online community, your company should start one.

Consider opening a brand-specific forum to promote positive user engagement. This platform for your staunchest and most steadfast supporters to gather can mitigate positivity, as any unfavorable posters would be outnumbered.

On-the-fence customers who review the forum or online community might feel compelled to join. As they see the passionate fan base you’ve accumulated, their positivity can rub off, building a more loyal audience.

14. Create Crisis Management Protocols

Although SEO reputation management should preclude reputational crises, you can never say never. You should have a crisis management protocol in place so you can handle negative circumstances should they arise.

Time is of the essence during a crisis. The longer you go without making a statement or taking reparative action, the shadier it can look to your audience. Having crisis management protocols ensures you’re ready to act swiftly when and if needed.

Here are some pointers for creating a crisis management plan:

• Hire a crisis management team or assemble one based on your current staff members.
• Dole out responsibilities to each member.
• Determine what internal communications are necessary for a crisis, including the verbiage, timeline, and any necessary follow-up.
• Do the same for external communications, going so far as to prepare statements or press release copy you can use if necessary.
• Build an action plan detailing all the steps needed for a crisis management plan and when they’d be deployed.

15. Implement an Online Reputation Monitoring Tool

Tracking brand mentions is a critical part of online reputation management SEO but is time-consuming. Using reputation-monitoring tools saves you time, so you don’t miss any pertinent mentions and reviews.

Deciding which tools to incorporate into your marketing workflow takes time and consideration. Continue reading for our recommended tools designed to simplify your online reputation management.

Local SEO reputation management 

Local SEO reputation management focuses on your company’s immediate area, seeking feedback and endorsements from locals in your industry, both customers and associates. Focus on keywords related to your specific business niche and geographical location.

SEO Reputation Management Tools

Rank higher in Google search results and assuage a brand image with these tools.

Google Alerts

The free Google Alerts tool allows you to select which keywords or topics to prioritize in Google Search, such as name mentions, products, or news. You’ll receive an email from Google Alerts whenever your selected topic(s) gets an update.

You can fine-tune the results by selecting which account receives alerts, how many results you want Google Alerts to send, the preferred language, which parts of the world the alerts come from, and the types of websites.

ReviewPush

A paid service for improving the guest experience, ReviewPush uses the power of automation to collect data. This tool will track ratings and keyword trends and monitor negative and positive signals. You can also count on ReviewPush to reveal blind spots.

Social Mentions

Curate data from more than one billion sources using Social Mentions to track relevant brand mentions. Real-time updates presented in feed format allow you to review negative and positive sentiments. Social Mentions also produces social media data from major platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

SEMrush

SEMrush offers a suite of tools for SEO reputation management. You can track your rank, review your competitors’ SEO proficiency, and use the Social Media Tracker to compare your content against the competition.

SentiOne

Take SEO for reputation management further with SentiOne. This tool can track over five million sources (including social media) and produce automated reports and alerts. The AI-powered notifications feature includes anomaly detection so you can expect accurate results every time.

Reputology

Incorporate a tool like Reputology into your SEO strategy. This review management and monitoring program uses a semantic analysis engine called Text Analytics to divulge insights based on your customer’s words. You can also issue surveys and monitor reviews within this software.

BuzzSumo

Improve your SEO for reputation management with BuzzSumo. Track your brand, related topics, products, or competitors to stay abreast of related mentions. You can also use BuzzSumo for alerts when you receive backlinks, with recommended strategies to strengthen your backlinks profile. You can even count on the platform to find influencers to build up your UGC.

Meltwater

Find the data you need using Meltwater. Its social listening features and crisis management tools will help you understand your audience and plan for if your social reputation goes awry. Receive detailed, automated reports from Meltwater, setting the frequency (with daily, weekly, or monthly options available).

Hootsuite

Who’s saying what about you? You won’t have to guess when using Hootsuite for online reputation management. Besides social listening, Hootsuite lets you create a Stream to naturally jump into conversations and potentially convert a larger audience.

ChatMeter

Designed to increase your positive reviews, ChatMeter is a solid SEO reputation management tool to consider. You can review your overall reputation and social media reputation. ChatMeter even has a listing optimization feature.

Hire a professional reputation management agency

The process of SEO reputation management can be daunting if you’re not well-versed in digital marketing, but don’t worry because help is available. When you don’t have the appropriate skill set to optimize your ORM on your own, hire a professional reputation management agency to handle it all for you. 

Find a digital marketing agency with the right skills to accomplish your goals and let them take care of everything. At the same time, you enjoy the rewards of a strong, positive reputation with the public and your target audience. ORM is a crucial SEO strategy that sets your business up for success by ensuring the public finds positive information when searching for your brand.

Conclusion

SEO reputation management can have a massive impact on a company’s authority and trust with the public. The prevalence and importance of online reviews aren’t likely to fade anytime soon, but with a team of experts supporting your brand, your reputation is in good hands. Contact us at Mediaboom to learn about how our team of experts can help you manage your company’s online reputation.