Reputation management should be a part of every smart business’ search engine optimisation plan. Not only does reputation management keep your business on top of things, it can keep you on top of the SERPs as well. A well-constructed brand management strategy can see you keeping control of the top ten for your brand keywords, and more than a couple for your main keywords as well.
Something that is talked about whenever reputation management comes up is negative reviews. Out of all the bad press possible on the net, a negative review is the one most businesses are likely to come up against at some point. Like a lot of bad press, a negative review doesn’t have to be all negative for your SEO. In fact, advises Stuart Wallock of computer giant Dell, negative reviews are part of what made that company a superstar. Here are just a few reasons why:
Feedback. A negative review can help you see when you’re going wrong. The value of this kind of feedback for SEO can’t be underestimated. All the research your SEO consultant performs is worthless if it goes against what your site’s users are actually saying.
- SEO tactics. Not only does any review boost your off-page SEO, they also provide you with further insight into the terms and places you should target with your campaign. If you find a negative review on a site you’ve never heard of, it’s a clue that there’s a target user group for your site out there that you haven’t planned for.
- Trust. Strangely, having one or two negative reviews alongside positive ones can be good for business. Users are aware that site owners post their own reviews. A site that has balanced reviews, with some users complaining of faults, seems more credible. When a site has nothing but five-star reviews, a user begins to wonder about their veracity.
- Opportunities. Every review, positive or negative, is a chance to further your off-page SEO. If you can reply to a review, do so. It is your chance not only to address user concerns and reward user feedback, but also to anchor a link and seed your keywords throughout the net. It’s not often you have an opportunity to write your own inbound link material, and reviews is one of the few areas you can.
Negative reviews are also an opportunity to engage your site users and generate positive word of mouth. Your replies to negative reviews can turn user opinions around completely. A balanced and thoughtful reply may result in users telling friends how you handled the situation.
Bad press isn’t something you want to encourage, but there are ways of turning it around. Of course, you want to keep bad reviews off the first page of search engine results for your brand keywords if you can. This is where the rest of your reputation management strategies come into play. You can talk about reputation management as part of your SEO plan with our experts at SEO Consult.
Related posts:
- Turn Negative Reviews into Positive Outcomes for SEO in Just 5 Steps
- Big Business Advises Publishing Negatives and Positives
- Making use of local search
- SEO Strategies For Local Reviews
- Your SEO Reputation Management Cannot Wait
Tags: online reviews, reputation, reviews, user reviews
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