Reputation Management and Google

[pageoneresults]

< this thread was split from
the Title Tag discussion [webmasterworld.com] >

These days having a strong presence for your company name is imperative. There is a cottage industry that has evolved out of assisting companies in removing "unwanted" content about their company from the top 100 results. Part of that process involves establishing a strong presence for "company name" searches.

[edited by: tedster at 3:21 am (utc) on July 4, 2007]

[theBear]

No you are not getting places Jhet, just because a site might rank for your company name doesn't mean that their position is improper or that they are trying to eat your lunch. Your company name gives you no right to push anyone out of the serps. So if in going after negative information true or not you impact others listed in the serps you have crossed the line.

Further you can expect problems from the search engines and possibly the folks you pushed out.

See, it can snowball.

[Jhet]

Of course my company name does not give me the 'right' to a place in the serps. But neither does the other companies desire for a profit give it the 'right' to be in the serps. Does that mean you will give up a top 10 slot so that your competition can have it just because you don't have the right to push them to #11? As an seo that is what your job is...to climb up and push others down. And as long as the results for your keyword have more than one listing that is what you will be doing. Pushing others down.

Whitenight, quite honestly you are not comparing apples to apples. You are comparing the keywords "buy widgets" to "company name" and a forum to a brick a mortar business. You're comparing seo to reputation management. And you're comparing opinions (your 3 examples on your forum) to false information stated as facts with false proof. You may not intend to be but you are coming off with a "holier than thou" attitude about a topic that you have not explored from angles other than your own perception. You obviously have your opinion on the matter and I would not dream of trying to change your mind.

A good example of reputation management is the case of the fast food restaurant that was accused of having a human finger in their food. The way they handled the situation was reputation management. They didn't ignore the situation while the media had a field day. They didn't make a joke out of it and laugh it away. They didn't file a lawsuit the minute the story hit the news. And they didn't worry about what their competition was thinking of them. What they did do was address the situation, determine the facts and exposed the truth.

Since this topic is in an area that I have some experience in I decided to share some of what I have learned. In my second post I gave some solid information on how to deal with a reputation management issue online. I hope it helps those who are interested. Honestly though this topic has too much of a "my opinion is right and you’re going to listen to me" direction going, so I’m going to, respectfully, step out of it.

[theBear]

Actually in that fast food restaurant case they let the criminal justice system do the take down did they not?

Now as for everyone here doing "SEO" you just might find out that isn't always the case.

Some folks just roll code, some just write content, some just do other things.

I write code and sometimes hunt down content boosters.

[nonni]

I just used a search engine to look up my doctor's phone number to make an appointment. The name of his practice is somewhat similar to many other practices, and I didn't type a long enough search term. The first result wasn't about my doctor's practice. The #2 result was, but it was very negative post at a website that is only about complaints. The doc did not cut off the wrong leg, but his staff apparently bungled a person's request to have some form filled out that documented a medical condition. The patient could have lost their job as result. They didn't, but it was unpleasant.

Does that office have a reputation management problem? I would say yes. And based on my experience with record management there, I think it is deserved. I'll still go because I respect the doctor and have established a professional relationship. But a prospective patient might pick another M.D.

The website I refer to has some procedures in place to reduce the opportunities for malicious posts, though nothing is foolproof. That is one area where reputation management can be a good thing.

Then there are websites where students evaluate their professors. Some students are fair, but I have seen quite a few immature kids that post lies as payback for a low grade (that maybe they deserved) or just because they don't like the instructor and they haven't outgrown that type of antics. Easy when you have anonymity.

In the end, it's All about Trust.

[Hobbs]

And what about lobbying and pressure groups manipulating the serps, RM is not only a business defence tool, it's a political weapon of mass instruction.

[whitenight]

I was thinking about this area earlier.

In the political arena, all gloves are off I suppose, yes?

[Hobbs]

exactly, manipulation of people and serps at its best.
And not only local politics but at country levels too, when Googling a country name returns all US results in the top 50, something stinks.

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory - John Galbraith