It is a well-known fact that before a person does business with a company, they will have done a Google search of your name. That means if you are a start-up business, the first few reviews can make or break your company. Depending on how long you have been in business will determine if you are highly ranked on Google’s search engine results page (SERP). You must be landing on the first page—preferably the first or second link. As time progresses, fewer people are going beyond the first page of Google. Some studies show that if you are not on the visible screen, they are looking at, you may wind up not being seen. There is a term in print media called “above the fold.” That means that people generally start from the top and work their way down. Over time, we have been conditioned to know that anything at the top of the page is the information that the newspaper wants you to see. The same can be said for the internet. Depending on the screen someone is looking at, only the first few results may appear for them. They will likely not even bother scrolling to the bottom of the first page anymore.

Below, I will walk you through the ways you can become highly ranked on Google’s search engine results page, the way that, in turn, impacts your online reputation, and how you can produce better content for your subscribers and followers.

Why Online Reputation Is Important

Your online reputation is essential because people want to know who they are doing business with. Several websites dedicate themselves to providing end users the information they so richly desire. The importance of your online reputation is based on the following factors.

• User-Generated Content – There is only one thing that people trust more than word of mouth referrals from a friend – user-generated content. All recent studies show that as many as 95% of all customers will consult a review page before utilizing your business. That means they will go above and beyond to find out as much about you before making a purchase. Remember, even one negative review can impact your bottom line. It is not good enough to have a great product; you must have a great business as well.
• Online Reputation Affects Offline Business – There are some things you cannot purchase online. The number of items you can’t buy on the internet is limited, but it still can happen. In these cases, and when people want to see the product with their own eyes, the customer will want to come to your physical store. If they don’t like what they have been reading online, they will likely not come to your store.
• New Talent May Go Elsewhere – While I have been focusing on the sales aspect of negative online reputation, it is important to remember it can impact your acquisition of new employees. No one wants to work for a company that has a bad reputation. Take, for instance, if you are in the gaming community. Companies like Epic Games, ArenaNet, Activision Blizzard, and Riot Games put out unique products. On the flip side, you have companies like EA Games, UbiSoft, and SEGA that have difficulties gaining new developers due to a few missteps in product releases. That is not to say they have bad games; they have a negative name in the gaming industry.

How To Augment Your Online Reputation With SEO

As I have said multiple times, people are influenced by what they read about you on the internet. That is why you must make sure that they have only good things to read about you. This can be done by making a lot of great content for them to read. The better your content, the more likely you will have of them sharing your content with others. The created content will start to rank higher than the negative posts and eventually overtake it. I have taken the liberty to share with you a couple of ways to produce this quality content.

• Guides or Tutorials – If you are playing the long game, this is by far your best bet. Guides and tutorials rank very well with search engines. The only problem with them is that it may take a while for them to rank. The reason is, someone has to discover your guide or tutorial and start sharing it within their community. The more people they have click on it, the higher the content will rank. Try and think of a few ways to put a guide or tutorial together to engage with your customer base.
• Video Reviews – This is something that you will have to rely on a third party to complete. Essentially, you will be providing your service or product to a customer for free in exchange for an honest review. Remember, you should never pay someone for positive reviews. It is a bad business practice and could wind up backfiring on you in terms of de-ranked links. The goal is to have reviews organically appear when your product or service is searched for on the internet.

Goals for Achieving Higher Rankings

Again, the purpose of any online reputation management campaign should be creating more content. When you are creating content, you need to ensure that it is engaging. If your work does not inspire someone to share it on their page, then you need to modify the content you are producing. I am not saying the content is terrible; it just needs to be in a form that entices your followers to share your fantastic work.

Conclusion

SEO and online reputation management go hand in hand. The only way to improve your SEO rankings is by making excellent content. Likewise, if you do not appear at the top of Google’s search engine results page, there is always a chance that your content will not be seen. A careful balance must be achieved to have the best results possible.