Internet Brand Management - The Search Guru

Does your company need internet reputation management or internet brand management services?

Here are the steps to take to find out:

Do a Google name search for your company’s name and brands. If malicious comments and reviews appear, then your company definitely needs Internet brand management to restore your good name.

If you did a Google name search and found no negative comments, then congratulations! However, a vicious comment can be posted any day, from a disgruntled customer, a former employee or even from your competitors.

The reality is that, any company can be a target of negative news online, even those that treat their employees well and provide terrific customer service. Sound unfair? It is – but, unfortunately, it’s also true.

If possible, it’s better to proactively begin an Internet brand management or Internet reputation management campaign than to wait to deal with malicious comments.

What types of Internet reputation management steps should you take, to restore your good name or proactively protect your company’s names and brands?

1) First, do a Google name search for all of your company’s brands, including the company’s name.

Record any negative comments or reviews that you find, and then list where they appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs). When you do a Google name search, which of your brands have negative comments appear in the SERPs?

And, as important – or perhaps even more important – is where the vicious comments appear in the SERPs. Most people who search online do so very efficiently. If they type your company name into the Google search box and negative comments appear on the first page or two, odds are good that people will see those comments. If the first negative comment appears on the 10th page or beyond, only the more dedicated searchers will see them.

However, that doesn’t mean that you can rest on your laurels. If those negative comments that are further down on the SERPs begin to climb – which they can – then you’ve got a problem with your Internet brand management.

2) Set up Google alerts for all of your branded keyphrases, which includes your company name and all of your brands.

This will alert you to new content that is appearing about your company or one of your brands. Have someone in your company carefully check these alerts for any potential problems.

3) Not sure how to set up Google alerts?

No problem! First, set up a Google account if you haven’t already. Then, here are the steps:

Head to the Google alerts page.
List your first branded search term.
Choose “comprehensive” for the type.
Select between “as it happens” or “once a day.” We don’t recommend choosing “once a week” as you want to be aware of negative comments as quickly as possible.
List the email address where you want the alerts to be sent.
Click on “create alert.”

You will receive a verification email from Google. After you have responded to that email, you will begin receiving your Google alerts.

If, later on, you want to manage your alerts, just click on this text on the Google alerts page: “You can also sign in to manage your alerts.”

Repeat this process for each of your branded keyphrases.