The leading mission of online reputation management campaigns is to shove down negative commentary and replace it with positive content. Approximately 95 percent of online users don’t search past the first page of Google results. That first page then is critical for a business’ online reputation.
An April 2012 study by research firm BIA/Kelsey discovered that mid-sized and small businesses will spend approximately $700 million to monitor consumer online interactions over the next 12 months – more than double the spending from the previous 12 months. Given the increasing visibility of social-networking sites, consumers have a tall podium from which to share reviews and comments about products and services they’ve used.
Black-Hat Online Reputation Management Firms Draw Harsh Rebuke
Online reputation management firms try to counteract clients’ negative postings and create more appealing content by developing profiles on social-networking sites and publishing online news releases. Small-business owners, physicians, lawyers, restaurant managers and more can benefit from having a clean digital image.
Sometimes, online reputation management firms can draw harsh rebukes from critics. In 2012, New York mortgage investment firm Park Avenue Funding filed a lawsuit against Online Defenders claimed that the company was threatening to damage their online reputation by leveraging confidential information. Officials at Google are aware of these tactics too, and they don’t approve. Google’s mission is to assist people in finding relevant information. They don’t condone the implementation of strategists that hide this information. If Google discovers link-building schemes or similar violations, they may take action.
Google Paves the Way to the Future of Online Marketing
For smaller businesses with limited budgets, Google can create "Google Alerts" that e-mail you whenever your name, business, products or services mentioned online. Write positive information about yourself on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social-media blogs, and create a blog where you can publish regular posts. Think carefully about what you’ve been posting online and where you’re sharing it. Your words will follow you for years to come.
Google’s algorithm is a hidden formula used to rank websites, and it’s regularly updated to offer users the best search results. In 2013, Google implemented the most significant changes to its algorithm in quite some time. Google uses programs referred to as “web crawlers” in order to discover websites. They continually navigate the Internet searching for new sites and collecting data that determines how relevant they are for researchers compared with other previously noted sites. Google then collects all these new pages into an index. Most every piece of content is indexed – the least important sites are excluded.
Google’s algorithm uses more than 200 unique clues that help assess the quality and content of a site. These signals include the region of origination, freshness of content, terms and condition and PageRank. Google has become increasingly adept at identifying and eliminating low-quality sites from the top rungs of search results. Google factors out keyword stuffing, fraudulent links invisible text and other occurrences of underhanded tactics. These strategies are known as black-hat SEO, which are an assemblage of tactics designed to push down better sites. Google has put an emphasis on establishing high-quality content as the most important ranking factor.
Establishing Google Authorship, Business Pages Serve as the Next Step
Google Authorship is a crucial step in identifying the best content. You can create a Google Authorship account that will allow Google to verify everything you publish online. Your content will rank higher in searches when a user seeks out a relevant topic. Google Authorship presents your content in “rich snippets,” a short description accompanied by your profile photograph. Google Authorship protects your content from being copies and published by other users. Google Authorship is directly tied to Google Plus, a chief online reputation management tool and the fastest-growing social platform online.
Given the nature of social media and search engine optimization, online reputation management changes on a daily basis. It’s critical that your business stay on top of the trends. Google gradually pushed Google Plus content into regular search results. Google Plus Business Pages also rank remarkably well when used to full effect. Online reputation management involves removing negative reviews and promoting more positive mentions. It’s been a standard practice in online reputation management to use blogs, websites, directories, domains and other profiles that rank well in Google. As Google Plus becomes further ingrained in the overall Google experience, posting relevant and informational content to Google Plus will have significant implications to your online reputation. Google will continue to place an emphasis on Google Plus Business Pages and their posts in search results.