Online reputation refers to what appears online when someone searches for your name, company, or key products and services. It is informed by what others say about you, and what you may reveal about yourself through your posts, images, videos and more.

We like to look at page one of Google as real estate. There are somewhere between seven or ten houses on the block and your goal, just like in the game of Monopoly, is to own as many of those properties as possible or to make sure that those properties that are near you or next to you are not competitive or damaging. If you cannot own it, you at least want to have “nice-looking” neighbors. When we are talking about page one for a keyword, like the products or services for your business, the competition is fierce. If we are talking about page one for your first name and the last name, depending on how common or uncommon that first name / last name combination is, it could be highly competitive if you happen to share a name with Justin Bieber or Brittany Spears, or it can be very unique and you could be the only one on page one. So the question is if you have a unique name or unique brand, how do you make sure that the content that appears when people are searching for that unique name or brand is positive or at least neutral.

It is getting much harder every day because Google is getting much more complex. Many of the tools and tactics that defined the online reputation management industry just a few short years ago are obsolete and ineffective now. It used to be that if you owned the dot com, dot net, dot org for your first name / last name or for your business name, all three of those sites would rank on page one. That is no longer the case.

It used to be that publishing a press release would appear and stay on page one for months, if not years. Now we are finding that a newly published press release, even from premium press release distribution sites, has a shelf life of around two or three days at best and then, without additional effort or link building, often disappear into page three or page four.

If your goal is page one and managing positive content and maintaining positive content on page one, we have seen that become much more difficult to manage over the past couple of years, which is why more and more clients are looking to experienced, top-rated reputation management companies to help manage their online reputation.

According to Chatmeter, 76% of consumers who search for a business online, and find it, visit that business within the next 24 hours. For this reason and others, it’s crucial that your business listing is created, updated, and maintained. For many consumers, if a business does not have a business listing, it essentially does not exist. 

They will search no further. And for those same people, if a business listing is incorrect (address, phone number, etc.), they will search for another alternative or never find you in the first place, since business listings have a direct impact on local SEO.

Local SEO is the operation of optimizing your online pages for local searches. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps your online pages to be ranked higher in search engine results. Your local business might not appear on the first page of Google; however, it should appear at the top (or near the top) when a local search is conducted. This is especially important when your primary competitors, and your potential customers, are local to you.

Your business listing, when updated and correct, will contain your business name, address, and phone number. This will boost your search engine ranking when someone from your city conducts a search for something you provide, especially if you have positive business reviews. This is essential because 46% of all searches on Google are for local businesses. When you claim your business listing on websites that have the most impact on local SEO, like Google My Business, Yelp, Foursquare, BBB, Superpages, and dozens more, you’re more likely to be found.

Business listings should be claimed on the four main data aggregators, Factual, Infogroup, Foursquare, and Localeze/Factual. You also need to claim your business listing on local business listing sites, like Yelp, Google My Business, TripAdvisor, and dozens more. This is no small undertaking. In fact, many businesses turn to a business listing management company like Reputation Rhino to conduct an audit of their online presence, update existing business listings, remove duplicates, create listings on the most important websites, and improve their local SEO.