On one hand, we have search engine optimization, that powerful tool to elevate your brand higher than your competitors in search results and earn that prime spot in search engines for your expertise. On the other, we have brand reputation, that elusive, complex idea that your brand has built a certain image thanks to its values, success, and contribution. How do the two tie in together, if at all? You’d be surprised. For too long, businesses have heavily invested in these ideas separately, without ever looking at them as pieces of a much larger, more powerful whole.
When grown separately, your ranking in search engines and your reputation are very relevant pieces of the same brand puzzle. When grown in unison, they become a match made in digital heaven to help you increase both, simply because you’ve started treating them as two sides of the same coin. For brands looking to grow their reputation, turning to SEO would be a wise decision. Here are a few simple, applicable methods you can rely on when it comes to managing your online reputation through your SEO.
Content that serves a unified purpose
No SEO strategy can begin or end without producing unique, authentic, branded content on a regular basis. Tailored to the needs and preferences of your audience, your content is so much more than a way to disperse relevant keywords to rank higher in search engines. While this is vital in order to be visible in search, and thus enhance your digital reputation in the eyes of search engines when it comes to your authority on certain topics – this isn’t enough to manage your online reputation as a whole.
Go that extra mile to make your content a real reputation-builder all around:
- Monitor industry trends to cover relevant topics with a unique, knowledgeable perspective.
- Think in terms of diversity, since, for example, US adults spend around 11 hours every day consuming all kinds of media content, from radio shows, podcasts, to reading blogs. Diversity has become essential to stay relevant.
- User-generated content is in great focus now, as it’s considered to be the best way to build your reputation as well as your search value. Incentivize, inspire, and encourage reviews and all kinds of feedback to leverage for further reputation boosting efforts.
Localizing your presence
If your brand wants to be relevant in the eyes of this particular audience, you would naturally invest in producing the content you know your users will enjoy, but to get even more specific, you’d make your content relevant locally. Competing with other brands for the attention of search engines as well as your audience is an arduous task in such bustling, fast-developing regions.
Narrowing down your presence means you’ll be able to target a very specific audience that is interested in what you have to offer. What that means is that a brand such as yourself trying to rise above other prominent brands in Gold Coast, for instance, will focus on developing strategies to boost your SEO in Gold Coast that will simultaneously work in favor of your reputation as well. Local keywords paired with locally relevant content matter, talking to locally relevant individuals (influencers included), and inviting local reviews all work in favor of developing both your SEO and your reputation.
Brand dissemination across the board
Brands no longer choose their platforms based on what search engines deem worthy. This is the era of customer-centric behaviors, so your audience directly dictates your digital presence. What good is it for you to constantly invest in developing your Facebook page if your audience predominantly spends time on Twitter or Instagram? Times change, and your brand needs to change with them. You now need to be present, approved of, and reviewed on your website, your social networks, and other websites.
- Consistency across all of these platforms is vital. Everything from your basic information (address, phone, company name, and the like), all the way to your website links need to be consistent. That signals search engines that you are a reputable business, allowing you to rank higher, while it also signals your audience that you are trustworthy.
- Reputation management through responding to negative feedback is another way to enhance your authority. Search engines, as well as humans, appreciate genuine interaction, so if a single unhappy customer from Singapore is peeved due to a late delivery, your effort to make it right can inspire more people to try your brand in that region.
- Engagement across all of these platforms is another must. If there’s a question you can answer, even when you’re not directly asked on platforms such as Quora, and you’re an expert in the field, this is an opportunity to educate your audience, provide free-of-charge value, and to disseminate your brand even further into the online world.
- Guest posting, as well as link-building and link-earning, are not just SEO-relevant strategies. They also make your brand visible on other platforms and sites, and when other relevant entities and individuals recognize your expertise by sharing a link from your site or posting your blog, you get SEO points as well as increased loyalty and trust from your audience.
Managing your reputation takes perseverance and a mindset focused on the long-term, rather than the short-term goals. The same, however, applies to your SEO efforts, and both can help you maximize your brand’s potential to become a leader in your industry. Use these tips to merge the two into a unified strategy and let your brand’s reputation soar!
