Every business owner expects to Google their company’s name and find them listed as the #1 search result. What they don’t expect is to find that right below their listing is a result for a customer complaint or a piece of negative press.
Most small business owners immediately start thinking “how do I get this taken down”. Unfortunately, getting something off of the Internet is like getting pee out of a pool – ask any celebrity that has had their cell phone “hacked”.
The best thing to do is simply do more search optimization to get better results to appear and bury the damaging result. But you ask, “I’m already ranking #1 for my company name, what else can I do?”
My answer: help other sites rank better for your company name.
I know this doesn’t initially make sense, but take a look at what else appears on the search engine result page. In one case that I looked at, there were results for the company’s LinkedIn profile, a Better Business Bureau review of the company, a few blog posts that positively mention the company, and then some other random results.
In the case of the BBB review, the company in question had an A+ rating – the highest possible. Personally, I would take this endorsement over a few anonymous complaints posted 3 years ago. But, the BBB result was buried below the fold.
My strategy would be to write a press release about the A+ rating and post it on the company’s website. Then do a blog post about picking the right company and explain how to look-up a BBB review. Contact local press outlets that with a soundbite about the great review. Include a link to the review in all the company’s job postings.
Suddenly this unheralded BBB review is getting a ton of inbound link. And inbound links mean better rankings. In this case it is for another site, but that site will hopefully start to push down the negative reviews.
Now, don’t do anything to screw up that A+ ranking.
If your online reputation issues are much greater than a few negative results, I HIGHLY suggest you contact the folks at Outspoken Media – they’re some of the best.
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