Increasingly more people and businesses are coming up against difficulties and unwanted negative attention as a consequence of a negative digital footprint.
More and more businesses are approaching us asking “What can I do about the negative search results that show when prospects search for my business?”. Whether it’s a previous business insolvency, court convictions or negative reviews and so forth, negative publicity can not only affect businesses but possibly the associated individuals.
The effects of this kind of publicity can be very damaging:
- Impaired reputation
- Judgments based on previous conducts
- Loss of consumer trust
- Loss of business
Thankfully there is however a number of things that can be done to help reduce the impact of such unfavourable search results. The idea being that you push the negative comments down and replace them with positive reviews and publicity.
- SEO (search engine optimisation) to optimise your website to increase the chances of appearing in good search positions
- PR to manage your online profile and create positive feelings and write ups which will hopefully come in the form of links
- Create social profiles and actively use them to help you occupy more spots in search
- Blogging. Buy a domain that matches the brand name or your name and write decent, compelling content that people want to read and link to
- Utilise YouTube. Offer tutorials and product information. Videos often rank well in search
- Policing reviews and responding positively and politely
It is worth noting that Google search results can change at any time based on recent news, social media algorithm changes and a number of other factors. But any business should still be doing everything they can in order to protect their online reputation.