Using SEO To Manage Your Online Reputation

It’s a safe bet that if anyone from a potential employer to coworkers, to that girl down the street you asked out on a date will type your name into a search engine. As we become more connected with the internet and social media every day, this has become a common theme. A 2009 study by Microsoft revealed that around 80% of hiring managers in the United States searched for a candidate online and around 70% of that group didn’t hire the person they searched because of what they found online.

Fast forward to the recent riot here in Vancouver and you can see why your online reputation holds so much weight. Rioters and those who decide it would be a smart idea to get their picture beside a burning police car are now finding themselves being fired from their jobs, while the pictures they posted on Facebook have been circulated to the police. It’s an extreme example of how your online reputation can be damaged, but it drives home the importance a good online reputation.

So how do you remove or at least reduce the damage to your online reputation? Here’s how.

1. Watch what you post

Just because you can post it doesn’t mean you should. Sure that drunken night with the guys at the strip bar was a blast but what will your wife think when she sees a video on YouTube of you getting a lap dance from a stripper named Cherry. Or again going back to the recent Vancouver hockey riot several employers received messages from people who viewed certain individuals Facebook pages and say comments about how they wanted the city to burn.

People tend to forget that just because you’re behind a computer screen doesn’t mean you can run amok. You’re just as accountable for what you do online as you do out in the world. So if your worried about having a good online reputation take a second and think about what your going to post and if you should post it.

2. How do you rate?

Before you can maintain a good online reputation you need to know what you’re dealing with first. Type your name into the search engines; use Google Alerts to set up search alerts using your name to see what comes up so you know what you need to remove.

Things that you posted such as videos, pictures or articles can simply be deleted. Google also has a removal tool you can use to get rid of unwanted content. You don’t need to use the removal tool and can just delete it, it will eventually disappear in search results, it’ll just take longer.

If you didn’t post it you have some options as well. For things such as social security numbers, ban account numbers, your hand written signature, or credit car information Google will take steps to remove that content and ask the hosting site to take that content down.

3. Shower the negative in positive and drown the bastard

If you can’t get that content removed you can opt to push it down the search rankings so it losses it’s potency. To do this you need to create positive content that outranks the negative. To do this you need to create an identity hub that links to all your content. Some of the ways you can create your identity hub are;

a. Claim your domain name which includes the search term in the URL of your web page. The search term being your name.

b. Mention yourself by using your name a lot. A good way you can do that is to use your name in tabs and headers.

c. Get links to your content from the best sources as possible. Google considers each link to your site a sort of vote. The more votes the better that page or site does so when getting links get the best possible links you can.

If you want to improve your online reputation there are companies such as Visibility and Brand-Yourself that can help improve and maintain your online reputation.