How to Use SEO for Reputation Management
In the past, your reputation was something that you really only heard about face to face. If you had a “bad rep” people would treat you differently right to your face. In the internet age, everything is online. It’s both less personal and more personal. SEO reputation management is the answer.
It’s less personal because there are reviews and information that you’ve probably never seen. It’s more personal because if your reputation is sullied, it can feel like it’s forever.
The key to keeping control of your reputation online, whether it’s personal or online, is to put out your own narrative.
Below is a list of some things you need to do to keep control of your reputation.
Social Media
Many reputation management companies will put up social media profiles everywhere. This might seem logical. They're hoping that one of those sites will overtake the bad information.
In truth, there are only a few social media sites that search engines really care about.
This is the order that you need to build your social media profiles on:
- YouTube
- Flickr
Here are some of the rules that you need to follow for these sites in order for them to be effective:
● Fill out your profile completely. Make sure you add everything you need to in order for it to show as a real and personal profile.
● Add your bio, images, videos, etc. It must be clear that this is your profile and no one else’s. It should also be clear that you're a real person and that you’re creating a real profile.
● Post regularly. Put out some information on a regular basis. It doesn't have to be every day, but it should be frequently. Don’t forget to participate on those sites as well. Look for things to like, make friends, etc.
● Find your current friends. Use your address book to find friends on these platforms. This will kick off your online life.
● Make new friends - You’ll find new friends by looking up your interests, profession, and more. Take the time to find new people to be social.
● Be relevant - Don’t just dump information online. Take the time to do it right and well. Be human. Be interesting. That will get you more interaction online.
Your Bio
Create a single bio that has links to social media sites, your website, and anything else that makes sense. This might include current and former employers, your work online, and more.
Linking to good sites will help to thrust your bio forward. Since you’re going to use this same bio everywhere, it’ll be seen by the search engines as important and verified information.
You’ll also be able to use your bio for everything you do, including the aforementioned social media sites, the bottom of your website’s home page, and press releases.
Forget Wikipedia
Wikipedia is powerful. It’s at the top of most searches you do for information. The problem is that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone.
Wikipedia has taken some steps to protect certain pages so that they can only be edited by experienced editors or staff, but those pages are rare and usually for very famous people.
For the rest of us, any page we put up subject to vandalism and inaccuracies. The goal is to “control the narrative.” You can’t control the narrative on crowd sourced sites.
Stay away from them. If someone creates a page for you, probably not out of malice, ask that it be taken down.
Be Active for getting Your Brand Out
● Speak - Every speaking engagement will show up on a website someplace. This adds to your online profile.
● Donate - Donate your time or money. The thank you that you’ll see online will go along way to keeping your reputation high. If someone searches your name and sees that you’re a big sponsor of the local animal shelter or library, your reputation will rise in the reader’s mind.
● Hiring - Putting your name in the ads for hiring someone will put your name out and working all the time. The ads themselves are often temporary, but search engine sites will keep that information online forever.
● Crowdfunding - Investing in a crowdfunding project and getting a mention of their thank you page will help you to keep your name and reputation in your control.
You should have a blog on your website under your own name, but you need to also create a blog around an interest of yours. For example, if you love cooking, start a cooking blog. Put it on its own site, like janesmithlovescooking.com. This will put a lot of content out into the world and shows that you’re more than just a single dimension.
Taking Control
Your reputation and the SEO that will bring people to it is entirely in your control. You don’t need to be an SEO expert to do any of the things listed here.
It takes time to make sure that your chosen listings appear at the top of Google or Bing, but it’s worth it. Whether you’re in the job you’ll have forever or you’re going to change jobs soon, if you’re a salesperson or an artist, you can control the narrative and make sure that your SEO reputation management is working for you.
If your professional reputation has been damaged, you’ll want help putting it right. Getting your business’s reputation back to good is time-consuming. Unless you have a lot of time, it will be less expensive and faster to simply have New Reputation to take care of it. Our team of pros knows how to get bad information removed, how to push down negative information, and how to create tons of positive, new postings.
About NewReputation
At NewReputation, we’re passionate about businesses, people and brands being represented fairly online. Every day we see the high-level damage that bad press, negative reviews, social media chatter, etc. do to brands, businesses and people all over the globe. We devote time and resources into developing the best strategy for our customers to improve their online reputation.
If you have negative search results or are vulnerable to a reputation attack, we can help! Contact us today for a free consultation.
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