Posts by Rhea Drysdale

On Tuesday, Search Engine Roundtable covered the WebmasterWorld thread, Create more content to bury negatives? Fair game says Google, in which tedster and the WMW community discussed Google’s apparent stance on online reputation management. The conversation was sparked by a quote from a Google representative on NPR’s All Tech Considered: Meanwhile, Google doesn’t seem to…Read More

Setting client expectations for online reputation management can be tough. No two clients are exactly alike even if their situations appear to be very similar. Some clients can see their problem disappear in two weeks and others can be as frustratingly difficult to outrank as [pay day loans] or [mesothelioma]. This means I’m constantly on…Read More

At Outspoken Media I get a lot of online reputation management leads. Unfortunately, most of those leads deserve their bad online reputation. SEO agencies know it is difficult to try and explain to a client why they do not deserve to rank for a particular keyword. My approach is Commandment 3 of Setting Expectations in…Read More

Reputation management problems often exist because of a significant communication breakdown. A confused consumer could not get in touch with an informed (or caring) representative, a product’s limitations were hidden in the fine print, expectations were not clearly defined prior to the start of a project, etc. All of those situations stem from poor communication…Read More

After an overwhelming show of support from the community, I wanted to take a minute to thank you. When I originally discussed the SEO trademark news with Search Engine Land, it was suggested that readers may want to donate to my legal funds. I tried to brush this off and we published the articles. I…Read More

Two years ago I set out on what would become one of the biggest challenges in my life to date. It ranks up there with starting Outspoken Media, chairing a non-profit and getting married. On April 24, 2008 I filed my notice of opposition to Jason Gambert’s “SEO” trademark application. On March 11, 2010, I…Read More

In December I witnessed the beginning of an ugly reputation management situation while sitting on the couch in my PJs. I was watching Tabatha’s Salon Takeover and for sixty minutes I got to capture the making of a small business brand disaster as Nikki Mallon of Brownes & Co. was portrayed on national TV as…Read More

Matt Cutts mentioned page speed during his Pubcon keynote this year and it felt like people went a little nuts. “Page speed is going to be a ranking factor?! We need to stop everything and make our pages load in Pi on a 56k connection!” Here’s the deal, page speed is important, but it’s ALWAYS…Read More

Keyword research is a pain in the butt, but someone’s gotta do it! And, let’s be honest, if you’re a search engine marketer there really isn’t anything more important than keywords. So, you’re essentially doomed to a life of tedious research and spreadsheets. Sorry. How many of you get judged solely on the movement of…Read More

“The first step in diagnosis is to find the root cause.” – Vanessa Fox at SMX Advanced 2009 Conducting an audit We couldn’t agree more. That’s exactly how we approach SEO audits, they’re a diagnosis. You have a horrible, gaping wound and we’re here to fix it. There isn’t a fool proof system in place…Read More