With the huge rise in user-generated content and freedom of the web, internet users have much more control and power than ever before. This means that ail the hard work that goes into search engine optimisation, PR and marketing activities can be undone with a single negative forum thread or blog post. With ontine reputation management, there are several easy ways that businesses and individuals can ensure Google and the other search engines display positive content.
- Make the most of social networking
Creating a profile on sites such as Linkedln and Facebook can help reach a wider audience. Niche social networking sites are often overlooked. Find ones that are relevant to your industry.
- Boost positive pages through SEO
By optimising positive reviews, posting media coverage on a website and having a welloptimised blog, you can help ensure Google displays the content you want people to see. These practices should be adhered to regularly, not just as a reactive measure to negative online content.
- Monitor forums and review sites
Google Alerts will flag up any instances of specified keywords (such as your company name), ensuring that anything negative can be counteracted and positive stories or postings can be optimised.
- Embrace social media
Social bookmarking is a way to store and share web pages, so links to these sites are saved on the public internet. Use sites like del.ici.ous, StumbleUpon and Digg.
- Update your blog
Blogs that are regularly updated with interesting and relevant content wilt be placed higher in the rankings. Search engine spiders place more importance on btogs with fresh content, which helps to manage online reputation by ensuring that a btog is ranked highly over any other potentially negative content. Blogging also provides the opportunity to increase incoming links and build relationships.
Darren Jamieson
Senior Creative Developer
source: issue #187 .Net Magazine
