Employ These 10 SEO Tactics to Improve Brand Reputation
What is Reputation Management?
A term well-known in the public relations field, reputation management is the process of managing, protecting, and improving a brand's reputation. Gartner defines reputation management as follows:
“Reputation management is the practice of influencing stakeholder perceptions and public conversations about an organization and its brands. It includes monitoring perceptions and conversations, responding to reputation threats, and proactively seizing opportunities to boost reputation.”
Traditional reputation management, which typically involves most organizational functions within a company, has evolved into a continuous process of online reputation management (ORM) for the marketing function. Digital marketing departments (or agencies on behalf of their clients) manage brand reputations by monitoring their online presence and impact (social engagement).
ORM is achieved through social media engagement, content marketing, and other search engine optimization (SEO) techniques highlighted below. These activities help proactively build and maintain a positive brand reputation and prevent a crisis communications management situation from arising.
Implement These 10 SEO Tips to Improve Your Brand Reputation
1. Start with Detailed Keyword Research
Keywords are the most important part of any SEO strategy. They are responsible for high-quality content searchability and improved search engine rankings. At the start of any SEO engagement, it is important to identify the keywords a brand should focus on.
Any process begins with a detailed keyword research plan. It can help identify the most important keywords in your overall SEO strategy. This is a reliable way to find the best keywords for your niche.
Using tools to help you get the most out of your SEO in a competitive market is important. You can use Google Trends to find your domain's highest-trending keywords.
The below screenshot is an example of keyword trends related to brand management from the free keyword research tool ubersuggest:
2. Optimize for Local Searches
Localized SEO, such as creating geography-specific public listings with Google My Business or Yelp, helps companies more easily reach people in their area. A well-planned keyword research strategy that includes locally focused keywords helps businesses rank higher in region-specific searches.
It also generates awareness, increases conversion rates, and improves brand reputation by capturing public reviews. Many brands ignore local SEO opportunities, but it is absolutely critical to build a location-specific presence to improve online reputation management.
Local searches can provide much greater strength to a brand's SEO profile. This can also be handy when a brand is trying to rank well nationally. To summarize, the higher a local keyword's rank, the better the company's reputation.
3. Focus on High-Quality Content
Content quality has never been more critical. Today, search engine updates are geared to give readers a better experience. And this improvement in experience only comes with high-quality content.
With the prevalence of social media, people are now looking at brands as something with which they can connect and whose content they can share. This means that you need to create emotionally driven content. It should resonate with your target audience, and not just provide them with the necessary information.
This is where high-quality content comes in. You need writers who know how to create engaging content. It will help you build your brand's reputation and rank better in search engine results pages (SERPs). Another way high-quality content can help is by creating interest in your brand.
4. Add Only Authoritative Backlinks
To learn more about tools like Moz that you can use to evaluate a site’s domain authority, read our article, Developing Domain Authority & Google Search Relevancy.
Backlinks, a form of link building, are an SEO tactic that has remained a consistent ranking factor over time. For reputation management, authoritative links, rather than so-called ‘spammy’ links, are what a company should seek from partner brands.
The more trusted backlinks you have, the better your chances of ranking higher. It is also an essential part of a company's reputation profile. There are many ways to build backlinks for websites.
“Creating high-quality content and working with other brands can help build a solid backlink profile,” says Keon Hoffman of Haitna.
You should ensure that only quality backlinks are added to your website. Low-quality or spammy backlinks can erode your reputation and undermine user trust.
5. Don't Over-Optimize Keywords
While SEO is about optimizing keywords, there is a risk of over-optimization. This is something that you need to avoid at all costs. Over-optimization of keywords can negatively affect ranking. And lower rankings mean a worse reputation for a company.
Any content you create on your website should have a natural feel. Intentionally adding keywords can make it seem over-engineered. This can lower the perceived quality of your website.
Keyword stuffing can lead to negative rankings and loss of reputation, as Google treats it as a form of content spam. Google defines keyword stuffing as follows:
“Keyword stuffing [is] the practice of filling a web page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings in Google Search results. Often these keywords appear in a list or group, unnaturally, or out of context.”
The solution would be to opt for broad search keywords and a more natural writing style. It's not just about keywords but the value you can deliver to readers.
6. Ensure Short Page Load Times
People generally have a lower opinion of companies with "slow-loading pages." Studies show they are more likely to leave the site when load times are too slow. This will damage the company's reputation and lead to a decrease in metrics.
Pages that load quickly and seamlessly are essential for good SEO rankings. They also increase the likelihood that visitors will stay on-site and return to your page(s).
Focused on e-commerce sites, a study by Portent demonstrated that “the difference in conversion rate between blazing fast sites and modestly quick sites is astonishing. A site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds.” (On desktops, pages should ideally load within 1-2 seconds.)
A 2017 study by SOASTA revealed that “for every second delay in mobile page load, conversions can fall by up to 20%.” Average load times for mobile devices with a 4G connection in 2018 were slower than those on desktops at 15.3 seconds.
Marketers must ensure their site pages load as quickly as possible to increase customer satisfaction (experience), page views (content exploration), and conversion rates for specific call-to-actions (e.g., shopping, newsletter sign-up). Also, they need to ensure there is no delay in loading any content on the page.
7. Remember to Ask for Reviews
Reviews, or customer testimonials, are a crucial part of SEO and online reputation management today. It doesn't just enhance a business's credibility; it also increases engagement. People feel more connected to the brand, which leads to positive outcomes in the future.
To get reviews of your business, ask your customers for them. This is easily done by adding a place where people can submit feedback. You can add this feature to your website as a separate page. Or, send them a feedback form via email or social platforms like Google My Business, Facebook, and X.
Getting feedback does not always yield positive reviews. You may also encounter negative reviews online, no matter how good your brand is.
The key here is to handle them with the same degree of professionalism as you would for good reviews. Remember to respond and offer them solutions to their problem rather than defending your brand.
Take a look at the reviews on our Google My Business, for example.
8. Engage with Your Customers
The customer today is more informed and demanding than ever before. They have high expectations, and brands must ensure they keep their end of the bargain.
Every SEO campaign that exists today is centered on customer engagement. Brands are looking to build long-term relationships with their customers. And this is especially important from a reputation management standpoint.
As a business, you should use any options to engage with your customers. This includes social media, email newsletters, website comments, or other methods available to you. Engaging your customers provides a platform for them to interact with you.
Consider the following example of REI replying to each of the comments on a recent Instagram post promoting new apparel:
9. Use Social Media Platforms
Social media has become an integral part of the modern world. For people and businesses, it has completely changed how we live. As a whole, social media platforms can be seen as powerful marketing tools. And many businesses use them to promote their brands and engage with customers.
Social media profiles have a significant impact on search engine rankings, and they should be viewed as a tool of brand reputation management for companies (products and services) and individuals. Reputation management involves the optimal use of social platforms.
Social platforms have significant potential to elevate brand reputation. This is also why many brands have their own social media response team. They can engage and service customers more easily on social media.
10. Constantly Monitor SEO Performance
With constant updates to search algorithms, SEO is a dynamic niche. There are significant changes to rankings or keyword positions in a short time. This is why it's so essential to track SEO performance over time.
Regularly update your content marketing strategy and other areas to improve continuously. Keeping tabs on your SEO campaign is mandatory, not optional.
It can be a bit overwhelming to have to do this manually. SEO monitoring tools for reputation management can deliver valuable insights and help you make content strategy changes more easily.
Some AI-assisted tools can even make changes on their own without any intervention. These might be expensive, but certain crisis management use-case scenarios could justify the investment.
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