The Developing Field of Search Engine Reputation Management by:James Peggie

Estimates show that around 90% of consumers use search engines to find websites

. When they undertake a search for your company name or brand, your hope is that your own website is high up on the list. However, you do not have control over what people write about your company or brand on other websites and in forums, blogs, and articles. The search engine results page is the digital front page for your company. Be aware that the good and the bad search engine listings are visible to your potential clients and affect reputation and buying decisions. This has a powerful influence on your company and brand reputation.

What can you do if negative information relating to your company appears in the search results? You may want to consider Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM).

SERM combines reputation management with search engine optimization. Think of it as a mix of PR with technical skills. High rankings of the good publicity is the goal, which will in turn push bad publicity down the list and out of consumers' view. Consumers rarely view more than two pages of search engine results for any search.

Companies produce a large amount of compelling written content such as press releases, articles, testimonials, case studies, white papers, etc. Often, this information is not published on a company's website nor optimized in a search friendly way. Therefore it is not indexed or listed by the search engines.

The goal of SERM is high rankings and indexing in the search engines for all corporate communications and press releases. The result is an increase in your overall web presence which will knock negative listings from the top spots of the search engine rankings.

You work hard to build a reputation for yourself and for your clients. SERM enables you to protect and manage these reputations by being actively involved in the results of search engines.

Copyright James Peggie

About the author

James Peggie is the Director of Marketing for Elixir Systems - a search engine marketing agency located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Their website is located at http://www.elixirsystems.com and their blog is http://searchblog.elixirsystems

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