Search Engine Reputation Management
What is search engine reputation management? It is the process of monitoring what is being published about you online and optimizing your content to establish yourself in top search engine results spots. Businesses have been using search engine reputation management more and more recently as the power of the internet continues to grow. Reputations that have taken years of hard work to build can be destroyed almost overnight. While it is crucial for businesses to maintain a solid and reliable reputation, it is also important for individuals.
Should you be concerned about search engine reputation management? The simple answer is, 'Yes.' If you are not in business and don't need online search engines to drive customers to you, why should you have to worry? The truth is that today, everyone is 'googleable.' Prospective employers, for instance, now routinely use online search engines to help them vet applicants. Anything from old newspaper articles to your MySpace profile can show up. A cautionary tale: a firm in Chicago was looking for an intern. The hiring manager googled a promising applicant and his Facebook profile was among the prominent results. In the profile, the applicant listed his hobbies as smoking marijuana and shooting people. It didn't matter that this was, in fact, not true. The prospective employer was dissuaded from hiring him because this profile showed incredible immaturity - not a great quality in an employee of a respectable firm.
If you have a profile at MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, or other social networking site, take the following precautions:
- Don't post any pictures or content you wouldn't want your grandmother to see. Believe it or not, a lot of people look at your profile, and you are inadvertently corrupting your reputation.
- If you really want to share inappropriate pictures (or at least ones your future boss would disapprove of), change your settings to private. This restricts who can access your page.
- If anyone can access your site, post news about your accomplishments, awards won, volunteer work done, and other complimentary items.
There is very little privacy left in the world, and virtually none online. Be cautious about what you post about yourself because it can have an impact on future employment or business opportunities.
Get started with your personal or business search engine reputation management contact us today.
