There's no doubt about it - getting the top spot in search results can be great for business. But if searches for a company's name also turn up complaints and negative reviews, whatever time and money was spent on SEO might be wasted, and so managing your reputation in search engines is critical.
(Coverage of theInstead, Key suggested creating a cross-discipline team, and coming to understand how your company and brands are searched. Establish a SERP visibility benchmark, fully optimize your content across domains, and then join the conversation.
Websites, blogs, affiliates, and the social media ecosystem can all be used to respond to critics. In regards to that last group, Twitter and Wikipedia are popular, although it's not wise to edit the online encyclopedia's entries about your own company.
Finally, Key emphasized that even after a problem has been resolved, it's important to continue listening to consumer-generated media, and you should always respect the rules of a venue.
Odden's favorite reputation management tools include Trackur, Yahoo Site Explorer, Rank Checker, Search Rascal, Google Alerts, and TweetBeep. "Search Reputation Management is absolutely something that has to be proactive," he stated, and "the bottom line is create and promote content."
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