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!”
Why does it take six months for a website to rank? We get asked this quite a bit. For the most part, it's because there is a lag time of between 10 and 20 weeks before listings start to improve in search results. The exception to the rule is viral content—if users signal content is of superior value, and they do so quickly, search listings can improve in hours. Unfortunately, not every piece of content is going to go viral.
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 "how much does ORM cost" of course.) 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.
Search engines, bloggers and video sites remove thousands of posts every day. Why? Knowing what can be removed, and why, can help clean up and improve how a brand is seen very quickly.
Why did your 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.
Online reputation statistics change regularly. This guide was last updated April 2018.
Need to fix a brand or persons online reputation but don't have a lot of time? Here is a quick n' dirty ORM plan most brands can use (OK, not so dirty). It's a massively abbreviated version of the one we use at Reputation X.
Websites that are "authoritative" in their space rank much better. Google pays more attention to authoritative sites and pages. But how does a website become "authoritative"? Leverage different kinds of media to accomplish your goals.
Which search phrases are killing your business?
Imagine your customer gets your business’s address from a friend, comes to your storefront, and every single negative review from the last ten years is taped to the windows. At the same time, someone on the sidewalk yells through a megaphone, “don’t shop here even if it’s the last store on earth!” while a video showcases old footage of an employee stealing from a customer. Ouch.
Branded content is clearly about you or your company. Non-branded content is not necessarily about you or your company at all, but it contains references to either. Both types of content include your search phrase and assist in your online reputation strategy, but are structured differently. Both types of content require freshness updates.