By Hugh Barnes


Search optimization is often an uphill challenge. Everyone wants high page rank and high online visibility, but this is not often the case. Competing for the internet users limited attention span requires a certain tech-savvy. You not only want the website to be bright and appealing in the eyes of the user, but you should also make the site very searchable so that it appears on the first page of Google.

But lets face it, search engine results on your brand might not always churn out the most favorable results. In fact, there are even instances when search engines spit out websites that badmouth your brand. Whats worst is that most customers now do a search on Google or any other search engine before deciding to buy. Google results that give negative reviews in some or most of your top 10 results can definitely waste all your offline marketing efforts.

Its true that the competition is getting fiercer with all companies in virtually any industry vying to land the precious first result of any search engine. Just how dirty you want to play the game depends on you. You can try to push yourself up the ranks. You can also decide to push negative reviews of the products up the ranks as well. This is why it is important to do reputation management to protect your image online.

Should you find yourself in such an unfortunate situation where a website gets a high page rank for an important keyword to your business, and it badmouths your products or services online, take heart. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat. In this particular instance, however, only a few of the methods stand out to have any lasting result. Here are some things you can do separately or together.

First, you can choose to ignore the negative reviews. People will forget about it tomorrow, right? Lets just hope that all the negativity will eventually blow over. Another option is to bring the offending parties to court for slander. Get immediate relief with a court order to take down the site and seek compensatory damages. Lastly, you can consider a more creative online reputation management tactic that will push the offensive sites down 4-10 pages in the search engine results through reputation online repair services.

Clearly, the first option wont get your anywhere and will only cause more damage to your already tarnished reputation. Negative publicity about you could linger in the internet for a long time, and a potential customer could stumble upon it and take it as a fact. As a result, your business could lose revenue due to all the defamation slander floating around the web.

Going to court is often the last resort for anyone with a grievance but it can be time consuming and expensive without a guarantee that the court will resolve the case in your favor. In the meantime, if no injunctive relief takes place to remove the offending content, the damage to your reputation online goes on until the case is resolved in your favor.

Any astute businessperson will tell you that protecting the brand is most important, and the worst thing you can do is to do nothing at all. Every sale lost due to that content is lost revenue. Your online presence need not be a sinking ship. Plug the hole. Read up on brand protection and reputation management online, or get these services from a professional.




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