Why SEO is the First Step to Effective Online Reputation Management

Before anybody does business with you today, they’ll likely have Googled your name. According to researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, it takes less than two-tenths (.2) of a second for an online visitor to form an initial impression of your brand once they’ve looked you up.

A searcher's first experience with your brand happens on Google's SERPs — not your website. So what happens when they search for your company name and the first thing they see is something like this?

It doesn’t look good, does it? Negative content that appears on page one has a massive overall impact on your business: it makes it difficult to nurture positive sentiment, maintain trust, and ultimately drive business performance, with data showing that 28% of people will stop using a brand after hearing something negative in the news.

While there is much we can control about a business, online reputation issues are sometimes beyond our control. Focusing on what we can control is how we are empowered to handle reputation management challenges. So what practical actions can you take to influence it, and where should you start?  This post will dive into some of the fundamental areas to explore, and why your online reputation really matters, particularly in our current climate.

Online Reputation Management in the Time of COVID-19

Reputation has always mattered to any business, but in the era of COVID-19, it not only matters – it’s essential. Data shows that 42% of people surveyed say they will base future purchasing decisions on companies that took care of employees during the crisis. At the same time, 71% agree that if they perceive that a brand is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that brand forever.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the shift to interactions moving online, requiring brands to think strategically about how to build trust and meaningful engagement online, and avoiding the pitfalls of bad press. We've seen several major UK brands putting shareholders in front of employees in this period, and while it’s still too early to quantify the long-term damage to the reputation of these brands, early indicators show a dramatic impact.

Sports Direct

This UK sports store tried to keep its stores open despite the Government’s COVID-19 lockdown, arguing that exercise equipment counts as an essential service with gyms closed and Brits stuck indoors. But the public disagreed. According to YouGov, 95 percent of Brits said that sports equipment stores are not key services -- and 3 percent said that they are. But Sports Direct took a beating in public opinion for other reasons, as well, including increasing the prices of certain products, and for making staff go to work during a public health crisis. Sports Direct came across as greedy. And YouGov data showed that the store paid a heavy reputational price:

Recommendation      Buzz     Reputation

Had Sports Direct used a more sensitive approach or had better control over their messages’ impact, public opinion might have not taken a nosedive.

Wetherspoon

Pub company Wetherspoon took a beating in the public perception department after chairman Tim Martin posted a video telling staff they would not be paid while they worked out the details of the furlough scheme. He even advised staff to seek employment elsewhere. Not surprisingly, the action triggered a firestorm of protest on social media, and even offline. People were so angry that a Wetherspoon location was vandalized – hardly a sign of public approval. All of these events received extensive media coverage.

Wetherspoon failed an essential test of taking care of their people, and their online presence suffered the price. Ian Hodson, the president of the Bakers and Allied Food Workers Union, said, “This country will not forget the way in which employers have treated their staff during this crisis. Now is the time for all workers to come together and oppose greedy inaction by millionaire bosses.”

3 Steps to Build Your Online Reputation Foundation

Truth is, you don’t need to be a household name or have mis-stepped during COVID-19 to struggle with your online reputation: whether it's an irate employee or customer sharing a negative review, an activist investor posting a disruptive article, or even an explicit rap album that shares the same name as your brand and comes up every time someone Googles your company (we’ve seen that one before!), it’s always a good idea to think about ways to strengthen your brand presence online.

Search engines are vital to your digital reputation: not only are they one of the main touchpoints to any brand, they're also incredibly effective aggregators of information, deciding on the most relevant, engaging content available for any brand. Data show that on average over 50% of website traffic comes from organic search, and 64% of global respondents trust online search engines the most when conducting research on a business.

With a sound SEO strategy, you can start identifying and displacing harmful content with brand-controlled positive content. This will allow you to generate higher brand value and customer value, while helping you put out a proactive response when you identify an existing problem. A solid SEO strategy will address all three of Google’s top ranking factors:

1. On-page signals, or the semantic relevancy of your content.
2. Off-page signals, or the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your website.
3. User signals, or the technical factors that make your website easy for users (and search engines) to find and understand.

Addressing these three areas over time will help your site content perform well in organic search and make it easier to outrank (or at least recover from) negative content more quickly. You may still need to employ other PR or amplification tactics at times of crisis, but even those efforts will be supported by a strong, authoritative site. And when there isn’t an ongoing crisis, you’ll be able to own more of your story and reputation online.

To learn more about how to use SEO to help you strengthen your online reputation, watch our on-demand webinar now, and contact us for further discussion!