Anyone who’s ever heard the school-yard rhyme of ‘sticks and stones‘ has probably had a little moment of doubt. As much as you might resolve that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,’ words can, in truth, be incredibly powerful things. When it comes to online reputation management and SEO, words can hurt your business far more than any sticks and stones ever could.
Reputation management can be an overlooked part of search engine optimisation, but it’s an important thing to do. With good reputation management, you can not only improve your standing on the net but help your SEO plan along as well. The evidence of the power of reputation management can be easily seen in SEO, where the best search engine optimisation consultants are experts at managing the way they appear to others online.
One of the areas it’s important to plan for in reputation management for SEO is what approach to take when those sticks and stones do descend. What attitude will you adopt? Will you ignore it and hope it goes away, or tackle the problem head on? There are pros and cons for both. Tackling the problem means defending your reputation, but it may also mean drawing more attention to any site from which the sticks and stones are being hurled. By posting a comment, you’re helping their SEO. Ignoring the problem can mean the loss of reputation, and certainly will put off a numbers of internet users from you.
The best way to protect your reputation online is to ensure that your website, and other websites that are favourable, neutral or, better yet, controlled by you, are found when someone is looking for your brand. Discuss your reputation management plan with your SEO team before a bad situation occurs. As with anything in life, prevention is better than cure.
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