Online reputation, do you have negative results in Google?

What is online reputation?

Within the concept of online or digital reputation We can include both that content created by a company or brand, as well as that generated by third parties about it that is available to any internet user.

That is, it includes our own content (publications, post, etc.), plus that content that talks about us (as a company, brand or product), but over which we have no control.

If the content mentions us, it belongs to our digital environment.

✅Where is online reputation generated?

Digital reputation is generated in social networks, blogs, newspapers and any type of online support.

No matter the size of the company or the notoriety of the person, anyone can suffer a online reputation crisis. Although we are used to reputation crises on social networks, Google results may also contain content that negatively affects brand reputation.

Within the Google ecosystem, we can find from negative opinions on Google My Business, through comments in forums, opinion pages or news from large media.

✅ Negative opinions on Google.

The reputation crisis in social networks are as harmful as ephemeral. As a general rule, they are not usually kept for a long time. However, the negative information that lasts the most over time are the results that appear on Google, especially when we do brand searches.

When talking about brand searches, we include searches that include the name of the company, website, person or service.

There are cases in which a negative news or opinion remains well positioned for brand searches for several years. It can also happen that when we search for information about a person, information appears without verifying or updating.

For all these reasons, it is important to always be up to date on what appears about us on Google.

A negative opinion or news item on the first page of Google results you can make others stand out when someone searches for information about our company or services.

You can generate negative headlines or reviews in just a few seconds without the need to click on another result.

✅Examples of negative opinions on the first page.

Searching for reviews of a well-known company, the following result appears on the first page. As you can see, it doesn’t inspire a lot of trust and it’s not a good incentive for someone looking for opinions + company.

In the following example, we have in the third result a negative feedback from several years ago for another company. Being a service company, it is not very strategic to have a negative opinion for 6 years in the first results.

One very important factor must be taken into account. Negative news or opinions have a greater power of attraction. If there is a negative headline, the user is more likely to click on a negative review than a positive one.

In this case, if we search for the name of a famous soccer player, the following results are obtained in second and third position.

With a good online reputation improvement plan, part of these results could be displaced to positions further away from the search results.

✅Can a news item or opinion be removed or removed from Google?

Only the owner of the website can decide to remove the content, there is no method to delete content or opinions that damage our reputation (In Google My Business they can be reported, but the final decision belongs to the platform itself).

Google offers to remove content that meets its removal policies, but generally a bad review or unfavorable news doesn’t qualify.

Despite this, you can work to displace a negative information in Google.

✅I have an internet reputation problem. What can I do?

A reputation problem on Google is a complex issue that depends on many factors. Although each case is unique, a simple analysis can be carried out to know what type of result we are facing.

➡️Identify and limit the origin from the source that damages our online reputation.

If it is news, what medium publishes it? where did you get the information? is it true? Do you have any hidden interest?

If it is a comment or a post in a forum, is it a client? Can we help you solve your problem? Has customer service failed? is it a troll?

➡️Analyze the type of results that Google shows for those queries.

Depending on the sector and type of company, there may be different results like news, Google Maps results. Videos etc…

Once we understand where that information comes from, and in what format it is displayed, we can consider the next step.

For example, in the case of companies, news or videos are not always displayed within the search results. Here we can see an example of the results for the coca cola search.

As you can see, ads, organic results and latest news appear. Depending on the type of company, competitors may appear bidding on the brand, RRSS profiles, carousel of latest tweets, etc.

In the case of a lesser-known company, it is observed that the type of results that Google shows us changes, since it considers that the user is more interested in another type of content when performing that search. The domain with sitelinks and a carousel with videos appears first.

You have to understand that search results can change several times in the same day, alternating positions and results. If the same searches are made as in the example, it is unlikely that a very similar result will come up.

➡️Understand why Google considers it relevant.

If it is in the top 10 results, it means that it receives clicks and visits, and that Google considers that it is useful for the user who performs that search.

You have to understand why it is relevant to the user and analyze if it is something punctual or is going to be maintained over time.

In extreme and unethical cases, there may even be a manipulation carried out by third parties to give greater visibility to a negative news from a competitor.

➡️Creating a plan to clean the online reputation of a company or person.

Taking into account the above, and with the aim of displacing negative results in the search results, different alternatives must be proposed to introduce new news, opinions and even videos that displace them.

Ultimately, it is about try to control the maximum number of results within the first page of Google. We can achieve this by:

✔ Creation of positive content and news that are as relevant as the previous ones, and that generate an even better experience for the user than the negative one.

✔ Realization of link building campaigns to reinforce those results that we want to overcome the negative results. This includes actions on our own content and on third party content.

✔ Also includes enhance certain social profiles and third-party pages. Sometimes, it can be useful to reactivate a social channel so that your profile is considered as a good result for brand searches.

✔ Carry a scontinuous monitoring of the evolution of keyword positions objectives and monitor the evolution of all the results after making changes.

Do you have any questions about how to protect your online reputation? Would you like to get more visits to your website? You can check the

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