Staying on top of your search engine optimization or SEO reputation management strategy can positively impact your customer acquisition and customer retention strategies. To get results from your SEO reputation management efforts, you have to be able to optimize your content for search engines while also building a brand reputation that consumers will trust.
Brands that excel in this strategy not only show up at the top of search results; they also have a near-perfect rating thanks to hundreds or even thousands of great online reviews. To help you get started, we outlined 3 proven tips and tactics that today’s top marketers use:
- Claim top-performing listings
- Capture and respond to reviews
- Monitor and optimize local search presence
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SEO Reputation Management Tip 1: Claim Top-Performing Listings
Your brand’s online presence does not begin and end with having a website. To rank better in search results and improve brand visibility, you must be able to create and claim your local listings on the top directories and business review sites. These include your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), Facebook, Tripadvisor, Apple Maps, and Yelp.
Taking the time to claim and manage your listings on these popular, high-traffic directories can spell the difference between a reputable brand that shows up in search results and an untrustworthy one that’s barely visible online.
- Customer reviews data shows that 63% will look at Google reviews before they even consider visiting a business. (Google has become the de-facto first step when researching a brand, so it’s important to meet those consumer expectations.)
It takes a lot of work to create effective online listings that accurately reflect your brand as well as drive customers to your business locations. As you perform SEO reputation management and local listing management for your organization, you want to make sure that your business information — such as your business Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP), along with store hours, menu, payment methods, etc. — is correct, consistent, and complete across all the sites and directories that matter to your business.
SEO Reputation Management Tip 2: Gather and Respond to Reviews
In today’s multichannel world, consumers actively seek information from all types of sources to guide their purchase decisions. Organizations that are highly visible in search results and on social media enjoy a natural advantage. But just because a business ranks number one on Google or has 1,000 more Facebook likes and Twitter followers than a competitor does not necessarily mean it has gained the trust of consumers.
One of the key factors in an organization’s ability to develop meaningful, trust-based relationships with customers is online reviews on third-party review websites.
To build even more trust with customers and communicate to search engines the important local signals that will determine your brand’s search performance, you need to capture, manage, and respond to your customers’ online reviews.
Reviews, both positive and negative, are valuable because they provide the social proof essential to fostering consumer trust. Your marketing content can only go so far in propelling your SEO reputation management strategy and attracting new audiences. By leveraging reviews as part of your marketing infrastructure, you can inspire trust, drive search engine performance, and improve your audience engagement levels.
Reviews can even work in perfect harmony with your SEO efforts. They create unique opportunities for inspiring trust in consumers who navigate multiple channels to discover and evaluate new products and services. As part of your online review management strategy, follow these best practices:
- Learn how to respond to negative reviews
- Follow positive review response examples to demonstrate that your organization listens to and cares about customer feedback
- Incorporate reviews into your marketing materials — whether it’s on your website, Facebook business Page, or search ads (you can use a website review widget to embed or display online reviews from your review profiles to your own website)
- Find effective ways of proactively asking for reviews from customers
- Avoid incentivized reviews, and don’t buy reviews
SEO Reputation Management Tip 3: Set Up Monitoring
An important part of having a successful SEO reputation management strategy is monitoring the Web and keeping an eye out for when your brand is being mentioned, talked about, and reviewed online.
Put measures or systems in place to ensure that your team can proactively monitor what’s happening. These measures may involve using free social listening tools, deploying online reputation management software, or using a local search rank checker that will provide you with contextual insights to improve your brand’s local search rank.
Start Your SEO Reputation Management Plan Today
Effective SEO reputation management will influence your brand’s digital success in the weeks, months, and even years to come. Consumer shopping habits continue to lean towards digital platforms and search engines, so it’s better late than never to start work on an SEO reputation management plan that attracts and retains more customers.
