Going back a few years, the internet was altogether very different from what it is today. With a negligible impact, its presence hardly mattered to the reputation of any individual or business and its revenue. However, the scenario has radically changed in the current times. The internet today has become so powerful, that it can make or break the reputation of any individual or business within minutes.
The negative links on the web are fatal and could kill the reputation of a brand/individual, therefore, affecting the popularity. One wrong move and Google search for a name could show some unfavorable content, requiring one to wonder how to quickly remove or push down these negative links from search results before it turns out to be a disaster.
We have been managing online reputation for brands as well as individuals for years and have delivered more than 3000 successful Online Reputation Management (ORM) projects. With the experience of working on a number of Reputation Management projects, we have compiled the process of effectively suppressing/removing the negative links from search results.
This post discusses the potential tactics that our team implements for brands and individuals who have derogatory and unwanted content in the search results on the internet.
Table of content:
The first step is to analyze all the negative links appearing in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). We conduct an extensive link analysis and check the domain authority and strength of these links as they are an important part of the search engine algorithm. Relevancy of the pages for the links also impacts the quality of the link and is an important factor in search rankings. We also check the TrustRank to separate the useful links out of all links and improve their ranking in SERPs.
Determining the actual online reputation helps to check if the digital presence matches the reputation in the offline network and identify the strengths & weaknesses of the reputation. Assessing the complete online reputation will eventually help to create an integrated strategy for new profiles and existing profile updates.
This is also an important step as it estimates the damage caused due to the negative results. The time estimation of pushing down the negative link depends on factors like:
Having said that, we see fruitful results in the initial days and most of our projects of removing/pushing the negative links are successfully completed within a few months.
We have covered all time estimation factors in another blog post, how much time it takes to remove negative links from top search pages?.
Also, remember this is an ongoing process that requires continued monitoring and creating positive content that can replace negative search results.
Reputation management of an individual and a brand might require different approaches to work efficiently.
This approach is followed for the reputation management of brands as well as individuals. It involves building a reputation using the facts and content posted is based on the real identity of the brand/individual. This approach might be time and money consuming, however, is very helpful if one wants to be proactive for ORM.
This approach is recommended & applied only for individuals who have negative links showing up for searches which include their name. We create random and multiple profiles of the individual with the same name and frequently post content citing his name. For individual ORM, this approach is cost-effective, gives instant results, and has long-term benefits.
It is recommended to consistently create high-quality content that is search friendly. This builds a network of relevant & accurate content across the web which will start ranking higher in Google & other search engines when people search for your brand.
This process not only pushes down negative Google results but also protects from any negative search results appearing in the future. This is actually a quite straightforward process and all that is required is patience and consistency.
Creating positive content includes various activities like:
Being a reputation management company, understanding the client’s business and their requirements is critical to ensure success. We take time to understand the full depth and breadth of our client’s requirements and build a comprehensive strategy to address the negative links. Leveraging years of experience and expertise, we develop a strategy that not only focuses to push negative links down but also on promoting the positive image of the brand. This is done by building digital assets that are achieved through business listings and social profiles.
We focus to create and launch an asset-building campaign that will displace the damaging stories, comments, and articles. Asset building campaign can be executed in two ways:
We select business listing websites to create your business profile on the basis of your location and nature of business.
Another approach is to completely remove the link from the internet which permanently dissociates it with your name, and makes sure the potential customers never see the link again.
The process is quite effective, however, requires expertise in this domain. Since the owner of these links is someone else, which makes the process a bit more tricky. These links are in the control of someone else and are not as easy to remove as your own links.
Below discussed are some ways that can prove beneficial in removing negative search links:
Monitoring the online reputation regularly provides insights required into what the customers and stakeholders are saying about you. It does not refrain people from writing negatively about you or your brand, but certainly minimizes the effect of unfavorable content.
Below listed are some tools that can help you proactively monitor your online presence:
What else you can do to manage your online reputation go through most recommended online reputation management tips for small business and white-collar professionals.
We hope this post gave a clear idea of how the negative links on Google are damaging the online reputation of brands and individuals. These techniques of reputation management can help remove/push down the damaging content and improve your online presence. The longer you wait to act upon the negative links, the more harmful it becomes for your brand. Not only these techniques help to remove negative content from the web, but also adds a layer of security against any potential damage in the future.
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Vaishali works as a Senior Content Writer with FATbit Technologies. Passionate about the eCommerce industry, she is always pushing startups on the fast track to finding the right way to grow and helping them solve their problems. Her write-ups have helped startups to understand the eCommerce strategy according to the latest market trends. In her leisure time, you can find her reading fiction books.
