Why ORM should be a key part of your SEO

Google has just revealed its own lite version of online reputation management (ORM) for everyday web users, called 'Me on the Web'. From the horse's mouth: "We've released a new tool to help make it easier to monitor your identity on the web and to provide easy access to resources describing ways to control what information is on the web."

While for individual web users such software might be used as a means of identifying and suppressing unflattering pictures of them from last week's work outing to the pub, for businesses it can be much more important.

Online reputation management revolves around first identifying negative mentions of a brand, product, company or individual, then dealing with them accordingly to limit reputation damage and promote a more positive view.

Marketing agencies and big corporations have been using ORM for some time now, and there are a variety of software packages out there which are used for the express purpose of tracking and managing online mentions of people, companies and products.

Don't let negative publicity harm your SEO efforts

Regardless of the size of your company, if you have something to lose from negative, misleading, malicious or fraudulent information posted about your product or services on the Internet, then it's worth adding ORM into your SEO strategy.

SEO is all about increasing your website's visibility and bringing traffic (i.e. customers) to your site. But all this may be for nought if your company falls foul of an unscrupulous campaign against it by a rival, or even a disgruntled customer with a chip on their shoulder and an axe to grind. Even if your own website is high up in the rankings on the SERPs, if would-be customers spot an equally high ranking piece of negative information about your business, this may well influence them to steer clear of you. Despite what the PR gurus and spin doctors might tell you, not all publicity is good publicity.

Keeping a close eye on Internet chatter about your business and its services enables you to 'nip the problem in the bud', by creating your own high ranking SEO content to push the offending webpage down the rankings and out of sight where it can do no damage.

Does your SEO expert prioritise your online reputation? Or is online chatter driving customers away? Talk to your SEO team to find out how to protect your business's reputation on the web.

Article Source: Articles Base