Comments on: Google on Manipulating Search for ORM

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:51:53 +0000

Those complaint sites are a nightmare. The listings tend to really stick. I’ve got a client now who (aside from press releases), doesn’t want to create any new content created that is branded for their company which makes the ORM incredibly challenging.

Researching the competition – just like standard SEO – helps to identify which sites do tend to show up high in the search results for your specific industry and your client can develop a plan to be sure they are listed on these sites too.

Build links to any worthwhile mentions of the company. And of course, wikipedia, google places… these things all help and in my mind are more legit than ghost SM accounts.

While this and other creative ideas are being implemented, a good PR team can be putting out press releases which definitely helps improve the search results. But in my experience the results are temporary, so the effort needs to be consistent.

Companies need to be pro-active and in it for the long haul. Stellar customer support in the first place definitely goes a long way… Many attacks can be alleviated if companies just listen and respond.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:58:06 +0000

Your article talks about the first option to do. Next, you must put that new sites (profiles) on top10. Not always is easy. That’s a SEO job.

By: Rockfish Search

Rockfish Search — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:08:20 +0000

Rhea…
it takes about a week to change something in Google’s Lexicon of Misspelled Words. Fyi… phase 1 and 2 of the project is complete.
Now redesigning the experiment, to remove the misspelling question, now that the assumption has been removed.

p.s. ORM is usually done on a retainer for $5k a month.. at least that is what we charged my previous clients.

By: Rhea Drysdale

Rhea Drysdale — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:02:17 +0000

I suppose it depends on the purpose of the profiles. It’s important to protect your brand, especially if it’s trademarked and likely to get squatted on. What you do with the profiles is a different story. I will say we’ve become more selective about the profiles we beef up. If a community doesn’t make sense for the brand or individual to be on then it isn’t worth the effort of setting up a profile that will likely be removed.

By: Jill Whalen

Jill Whalen — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:52:21 +0000

Thanks for the great article, Rhea!

I have a client who has a slight online reputation problem. ORM is not my thing, nor something I really want to delve into as I see it as something peripheral to SEO and not actually SEO itself.

They’ve asked me for some advice on how to handle it and I basically told them much of what you’ve said here. Be sure to have impeccable customer service so that even the most disgruntled of customers will at least know you care and are listening and to ask your happy customers to provide a variety of positive reviews in different venues.

I also recommended that they hire a PR company that can ideally help them get lots of good press over time, which it sounds like you’re recommending in the putting good news in front of bad news.

Unfortunately, you know clients. They want a quick fix! Is it even worth it to set up all those social media profile pages? To me that just seems like spam.

By: George

George — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:30:35 +0000

@Rockfish, it's not _that_ new. It's just really difficult to do well, and requires a lot of resources. "The price for this type of service usually starts at $100k per year and goes up from there (for the people that can actually deliver what they promise). I know a few of the best in the Industry that do this and let me put it this way: it’s worth it for companies that do billions in sales to spend a few million a year on Search Engine Reputation Management over and above what they spend on PPC, links and rankings." from SEOBlackHat

By: Rockfish Search

Rockfish Search — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:21:28 +0000

Good Explanation:
“In my opinion, what is spam, is building a network of sites with the same information presented on each, but simply restructured.”

Can i quote this for Black Hat Panel @ PubCon?

By: Rockfish Search

Rockfish Search — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:19:46 +0000

“Let’s ignore the fact that “ORM” is new and play by the same old “SEO” rules.”

…provide uniquely relevant content for the user.

If search result has the wrong thing, correct it to be what the user asks for.

example.. type in “Dawn Maire” – its my bosses name… see #3 which we pushed up. We are currently testing what it will take to change Google’s Lexicon of Misspelled Words. We are doing this by optimizing search results to give people searching for her name the most uniquely relevant content for their query.

Good Article Rhea
=)

By: Rhea Drysdale

Rhea Drysdale — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:22:24 +0000

By: George

George — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:08:34 +0000

All you had to say was “spam is relative”.