What is online reputation management in SEO? SEO reputation management, or online reputation management (ORM), is a proactive marketing tactic where you strategically manage the online information that your target audience comes across when searching for your brand.
Ask yourself this: when people search your business name on a popular search engine like Google, what do they see on that first page of results? You know you want it to be full of exciting, positive news and reviews about your business, and that’s exactly where the SEO and reputation management paths cross.
We have several traditional SEO reputation management tips to share with you that are commonly used by SEO specialists. And we will follow these with some alternative tactics that PR professionals can bring to the table (and spoiler alert: are probably already bringing to the table).
In this article, let’s consider 3 things about SEO reputation management:
- Why SEO reputation management matters
- Traditional SEO and reputation management tactics
- Alternative SEO reputation management tools and tactics (where PR comes in)
Why Online Reputation Management Matters
Reputation SEO cannot be overlooked in today’s digital-first environment. People start most of their research about a brand by searching online through their favorite search engine. They’re looking for much more than a quick link to your website. They’re also looking for third-party articles and reviews about your business that support your value proposition and make your brand look credible and trustworthy.
This initial online search really sets the stage. What they find in that online search is what creates their perceived brand value of your company. And that brand value calculation is very important. It can positively or negatively affect real business measurements like company revenue, stock prices, and potential future business partnerships. Incorporating these strategies into a broader corporate reputation management plan can further safeguard and enhance your brand's overall standing in the marketplace.
These are some major effects on your brand and business that cannot be ignored!
Learn more tips for effective online reputation management →
For this reason, online reputation management SEO has become a critical function in digital marketing. Many look to SEO specialists and agencies to get better SEO reputation management in place for their brands. Let’s take a look at what a specialist or agency can do to enhance your brand’s SEO reputation.
By the way: with a little research and a brief learning curve, you and your team can probably implement many of these SEO reputation management tactics yourself.
Traditional SEO Reputation Management Tactics
#1. A traditional SEO specialist will first focus on improving online reputation search results by making relevant keyword research, using target keywords in the website copy that will land your homepage and a secondary page (usually a brand’s About page) at the top of the first page of Google search results.
#2. They’ll also research and apply SEO-friendly practices to all associated website pages. A prime example is adding keyword-rich page titles and meta descriptions.
#3. To help manage the visuals that will appear most prominently in organic search results, they will then audit and ensure that only high-quality images appear on your website. They’ll add alt, title, and caption text to each image, often including target keywords for your brand.
#4. They will also put work into claiming and optimizing your brand’s Google Business listing. On the Google search engine results, this appears on the first page of search results for your business and is prominently displayed. Claiming this listing will allow you to keep your company’s information, like website and business hours, current and will give you the ability to respond positively to any negative reviews that are left in your listing. This is a major advantage.
#5. The SEO reputation management specialist will encourage the marketing team to claim and regularly utilize popular social media platforms by uploading and sharing varied content like images and videos. These platforms tend to rank very high in search engines, and they will give your brand even more positive mentions on the first page of search results.
These strategic tactics set the foundation for negative search engine reputation management, leaving a trail of considerable positive information that may eventually counter any negative articles and reviews that emerge outside of your control.
Alternative SEO and Reputation Management Tools and Tactics (Where PR Comes In)
While SEO specialists most definitely have their place in executing brand reputation management SEO strategies, PR professionals can add another layer to the efforts of building a business's online reputation. In fact, we think that PR work and SEO online reputation management are closely woven together.
Here’s why. Take a look at typical PR best practices below and judge for yourself. They all look a lot like tactics for improving SEO for reputation management, right? Let’s look more closely.
Public Relations Best Practices:
- #1. Media monitoring to catch negative press and reviews on the web and social media immediately, allowing for the brand to quickly respond and release a press statement when needed.
- #2. Continually creating new content to keep the website fresh, like announcements of the latest awards and press mentions, or engaging with community news. (PR pros already know that great content can outrank negative reviews and press mentions, so it’s proactively added to the website).
- #3. Regular distribution of press releases on newswires. These can show up not only on newswire websites but multiple media outlet sites, resulting in search page results around the company’s latest news and building a brand's positive image.
- #4. Writing industry-specific blog posts with SEO-friendly keywords that demonstrate thought leadership and sector expertise for the brand and its executive team.
- #5. Listing the company on major review sites that are pertinent for your company’s industry. For example, adding a software company profile to an online review site like G2.
- #6. Partnering with influencers, especially through video, so that content for your brand appears on more websites and social media platforms. If the influencers have a big enough following, these brand mentions could even make the first page of search results.
- #7. Working on a link building profile of the company, asking editors to link their positive mentions of your brand back to your company homepage, and offering to link to their article on your website in return.
- #8. Responding to customer positive or negative reviews and comments in a prompt and courteous way, delivered with a helpful and friendly voice.
Of course, sometimes a negative article will outrank your efforts. That’s OK, and it’s usually out of your hands.
Focus instead on positive reviews and continually releasing positive news about your company around customer satisfaction, employee-focused initiatives, and charitable programs. This will build a foundation of positive content that can help your company weather any future brand reputation management storms.
How Prowly Can Help with SEO Reputation Management
While we can easily answer what reputation management is in SEO, we can show you even more of these tactics through our automated PR software.
Our PR software helps you tackle many of the best practices mentioned above, as well as help you and your team automate and manage your daily PR workflow around recurring tasks like media contact list creation, press release building, online newsroom creation, media pitching with real-time analytics, media monitoring, and report building.
All of this in addition to handling the tasks related to SEO reputation management!
Give our free trial a test drive to learn exactly what we mean. We’re convinced you and your team will be impressed with the improvements and positive results you’ll see in daily, weekly, and monthly PR processes and SEO efforts. The best part is that the improved efficiencies will lead to better results for your brand image and clients.
