In the dynamic world of the internet, where every click and comment can either elevate or diminish your standing, a fierce battle is underway – the Game of Brands.
The way you’re perceived online can be a game-changer. Luckily, SEO can play a pivotal role in shaping it.
Gert Mellak, the SEO expert, and James Schramko explore the strategies for enhancing and preserving your reputation online.
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The Power of SEO for Reputation Management
At the age of 23, James found himself prominently featured in the IMDb for his role in the film “Muriel’s Wedding.” While this was a noteworthy achievement, he realized the need to control his online reputation.
To gain control over his online presence, James took a significant step – he purchased his first domain, jamesschramko.com. His goal was to outrank the first featured page in Google search results. This experience shed light on a common challenge faced by many individuals and businesses: the need to shape how they appear on Google.
Gert Mellak, an expert in this field, recognizes that this challenge is prevalent. This is especially true for businesses that have evolved or shifted focus over time. While people often grasp the significance of SEO for non-branded searches, they tend to overlook its impact on the overall brand image.
Interestingly, even businesses with positive reputations must carefully manage their online presence. The battle of reputation management demands strategic SEO efforts to secure a favorable position in the game of brands.
Types of Brand Management Categories
Brand management is where you create, maintain, and protect a brand’s reputation. It can be divided into three categories:
- Polishing your brand: This involves making sure that your online information is presented in a way that is positive and informative for potential customers.
- Protecting your brand from competitors: This involves monitoring your brand’s online presence. Also, make SEO efforts to prevent competitors from taking advantage of your hard work.
- Managing negative reviews: This involves addressing negative feedback in a timely and professional manner.
Reputation management is a separate and specific area of focus in SEO work. Gert also offers reputation management services as part of their SEO services. SEOLeverage will help you remove or suppress any negative search results. Although the branded search has a different methodology from non-branded, this will still make your website a great impression!
Why Google Yourself
The act of Googling yourself may initially seem like an exercise in self-indulgence. But it holds profound significance in today’s digital age.
Awareness is the key to getting an online presence. Gert suggested that everyone with an online presence should Google themselves using an incognito window. This is to see what potential clients would find when searching for their name, brand, or product.
He emphasizes that when people search for your brand, they might not be exclusively interested in you. But they may just be exploring alternatives or seeking more information.
Gert suggests that adding modifiers like ‘reviews’ to searches can be valuable. James also adds that these searches contain trust-oriented or curiosity-driven keywords.
SEO Tactics to Implement
Gert’s client, a high-ticket coaching program, faced reputation challenges online. Competitors and affiliates were co-opting the company’s brand and product names in search engine results pages (SERPs).
To fix the matter, Gert’s team implemented an SEO strategy:
- Creating content on the client’s website
- Building links
- Optimizing the website with structured data
- Creating pages to answer search queries about the program
On a side note, Gert and his team work to improve the online reputation of clients who have negative reviews. But there are limits. ORM must be handled on a case-by-case basis. And sometimes, the best course of action is to start fresh.
The Impact of Affiliates on Your Brand Reputation
Affiliates can damage a brand’s reputation by using the brand name in a misleading manner. This can lead to legal complications and confuse customers.
Businesses should have a strong base before launching an affiliate program. Also, put measures in place to protect their brand names.
To introduce an alternative, the whole process would have to be slow and well-constructed. This is to gradually persuade the customer to consider another option.
One way to improve brand reputation is to improve the “reputation score.” This is calculated by assessing the positivity, neutrality, or negativity of what appears in search results.
Why Monitor Your Brand
Brand monitoring is vital for protecting your online reputation. It allows you to address customer complaints or concerns promptly. Also, to gain insights into conversations around your brand and your competitors.
There are a number of tools available for brand monitoring, such as Brand24 and Google Alerts. These tools can scan the internet for mentions of your brand and alert you when new mentions are found.
Brand monitoring is especially important in the age of AI. This AI system can make misperceptions about your brand based on limited data.
So, is there a connection between AI and Brand?
Today’s content creation is more complex than ever before. It’s important to create content that not only communicates effectively with human readers. It should also align with AI understanding.
Content creators should focus on providing accurate, coherent, and comprehensive data to align with AI understanding. SEO is a continuous process that can gradually improve a brand’s visibility online.
It’s important to be consistent in brand messaging to communicate a business’s core values, offerings, and identity to both human and AI readers.
Get Help from an SEO Expert
Quality and quantity of content are both important for SEO.
Google values specific answers to specific questions. So brands should create high-quality content that provides clear, machine-readable answers. Brands should also regularly review their online visibility and aim to outrank competing content.
If you require assistance with your SEO needs, SEOLeverage is a choice for both SEO and brand reputation management. Explore opportunities to grow your business alongside like-minded individuals!
