Managing your reputation effectively on the internet can sometimes be a demanding task. If you choose to hire a nimble and responsible online reputation management firm, that is a different case. Getting yourself ready emotionally, and dedicating your time to deciding the right approach without making matters worse is a lot to handle on its own.
This is why, in our blog post today, you will be getting a quick overview on tools that will help you make online reputation management an easy job. These tools are free to use and are accessible to everyone with an internet connection.
#1. Google+ (Google Authorship)
Google+, is undoubtedly among the most powerful social media networks on the web today. But aside the size of its influence on the social arena, Google+ has a great influence on Google’s (the internet’s biggest search engine) search results. You can rely on the fact that content shared on Google+ has a higher chance of ranking in Google above the one not shared on Google+. But Google may not claim this.
Another exciting benefit of using Google+ for online reputation management sake is the Google Authorship feature that Google integrated into Google+. Google claims this feature helps content creators claim ownership of their content wherever it’s published.
It displays a tumbnail image of you, the author, in search followed by your name. In another blog post, we will be going into detail on how to set up Google authorship account.
#2. Facebook/Twitter
Who isn’t on these sites, you’d ask? Well, the trick is not just being on the site, but know how to effectively take advantage of their usefulness to help your online reputation get a boost. Utilizing Facebook and Twitter in their full capacity to your advantage may not take a lot of learning. But it sure takes little practice and tweaking in other to effectively reach the goal to get you content more visibility.
#3. Frequently Updated Blog
Maintaining a frequently updated blog can help you optimize high quality content to rank for your name in search engine result pages (SERPs). Search engines, Google in particular, love fresh content and updating your blog frequently will help it rank for your name faster. The result is you successfully suppressing negative search results in top search engines.
To make your efforts in using a blog to improve your name in search, you have to take the following tips into consideration:
#1. Your blog domain name or URL should be in your name. SEOs know the importance of keywords in search engine optimization. If you’re just about to create a new blog, you can use a domain registrar to search for the availability of a domain name that will bear your name. If it’s available, then purchase the domain name and set it up.
#2. Blog as the author. You may not need to sit down and write the content yourself if you do not have the time to do so. That’s what content marketing agencies are for. But ensure that every content that goes up on the blog bears your name as the author. This will enable Google to recognize you as a voice and even make the blog and more pages from it rank for your name.
#3. Do SEO. As much as you might be tempted to create a blog, post a few blog posts and dump it, the task does not end there! This is more important if you’re a high profile person or have been featured in top online publications in a manner you do not like. Hiring an SEO firm to help you rank your blog for your name will do the trick.
#4. Google Removal Request Tool
Webmasters are very familiar with Google’s designate tool for website’s health. But the functions of GWT (as it is known to webmasters) is not limited to on-site diagnostic features alone.
Google webmaster tools also features several other tools that can help your off-site SEO efforts and one of them is the Removal Request Tool. To make use of this tool, you will need access to a Gmail account.
How to use Google Removal Request Tool:
Use Google Removal Request Tool to request for the removal of outdated content from Google’s search pages. This only works for content that are no longer live or are showing “error 404″. To remove a live content from Google’s search listings, you need to contact the webmaster in question and request that the content be deleted from the site before going ahead to use this tool. In most cases, the webmaster will not honor this request, hence your need for an Online Reputation Management Firm
