Every year take time to take stock of your online reputation and make adjustments to your reputation management campaign. Three-quarters of the way through the year, we've wrapped up these top tips. 

It’s been a year of ups and downs in the world of reputation management, with a President who uses Twitter to communicate directly with the country, sexual harassment in Hollywood powerhouses and the fallout that followed, and professional athletes protesting during the National Anthem, this year has been a busy year for PR folks. Here is our list of the top 10 shared articles on the web that focused on reputation management. Have any additional ones to share? Let us know in the comments and we’ll update our list!

Welcome to Reputation Experiment #142

Sometimes you have to get the SEO ball rolling in order to improve search rankings. To get things started, consider a basic link and social media structure. Done correctly, it will attract organic links and shares on it's own without the need to buy links or engage in nefarious activities. While there are many, a classic link building pattern to prime content includes:

From choosing the best hotels and restaurants in town to consulting the right doctors, most people rely on online reviews. In fact, we rely on online reviews so much that a single bad review can completely tarnish the online reputation of a company. A 2018 study suggests that 91% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations—as long as the reviews are authentic. But about 20% of reviews are fake. So can you really trust online reviews?

Have you ever bought anything online without looking for customer reviews first? If you’re like most adults in the U.S, your answer should be a straight “No!”. Studies suggest that 72% of online consumers read between two and 10 customer reviews and testimonials before actually making a purchase.Having no online reviews about your company is not a choice either. Because, according to research, even if you get one negative review from a dissatisfied client (or a shrewd competitor who hires fake reviewers to defame you), you’ll need about 12 positive reviews to counter its effects.

One of the first questions we get from most of our reputation management clients is “How long will reputation management take?”. (The next question is of course "how much does ORM cost".) Their anxiety is understandable considering that more than 80% of consumers now search Google before doing business with a company. What Google’s first page says about your business practically determines how potential clients and partners see you. And this is why determining just how long it will take to conquer that first page and secure your brands online reputation is not as simple as you might think.

Bad search results can kill a brand. Unfortunately, it can't all be removed, but some of it can. For content in search results that can be removed, this guide will let you know every way there is to make it go away. 

Here are a few of the ways online content can be removed - either from the site itself, or from search results - both are avenues to the same outcome - lower, or no, visibility of the negative content online. 

Crisis communications is the act of managing perception of an event. It isn't management of the even itself. It is communicating in a way to minimize damage. Crisis communications is viewed differently by various stakeholders. Attorneys will have the view of saying little to avoid or minimize future litigation. The CEO may have a personal view, trying to save face or retain some semblance of authority. The Board of Directors may be primarily concerned with stock price. One thing they all have in common is a desire to minimize damage.

Why did the organic for your branded search traffic just drop off? Was it a search algorithm change or was it the content of your results that changed? It's a nightmare situation when suddenly you find that you're ranking for negative search phrases appended to your brand name, like "fraud" or "scam." Prospects are fleeing.

Create these five types of content at the same time, and in a specific order to give your inbound / SEO campaign consistency and make it easier to execute.