Reputation Preservation and Management

Reputation Management, also known as Directory Management, is the process of tracking an entity's actions and other entities' opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop.

Search Engine Reputation Management
Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) tactics are often employed by companies and increasingly by individuals who seek to proactively shield their brands or reputations from damaging content brought to light through search engine queries. Some use these same tactics reactively, in attempts to minimize damage inflicted by inflammatory, websites, weblogs, social networks launched by consumers and, as some believe, competitors.

Given the increasing popularity and development of search engines, these tactics have become more important than ever. Consumer generated media (like blogs) has amplified the public's voice, making points of view - good or bad - easily expressed.

Search Engine Reputation Management strategies include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Content Management.

Because engines are dynamic and in constant states of change and revision, it is essential that results are constantly monitored.

Online Reputation Management
Online reputation management (or monitoring) is the practice or act of monitoring addressing or mitigating the SERPs (search engine result pages) or mentions in online media and Web sphere content, the Internet reputation of a person, brand or business, with the goal of suppressing negative mentions entirely, or pushing them lower on search engine results pages to decrease their visibility.

Online Reputation Management Techniques
ORM is related to search engine optimization (SEO) and uses many of the same techniques. However, their goals differ greatly. [10] Common ORM techniques include online promotional activity through new content creation, involvement in the social web sphere (through forums, blogs, social networking), promotion of existing positive content and building social profiles. Traditional websites and consumer reviews are also monitored. The material monitored can include both professional journalism and user-created content such as blogs and blog comments. More difficult, but nonetheless relevant techniques can include formal "take-down" requests to try to convince site managers to remove negative content, and finally, litigation.
Proactive reputation-building techniques can include responding immediately to public criticism stemming from unannounced changes to a product's capabilities and features; offering free products to prominent reviewers; and writing positive comments and reviews in the guise of customers posting to online forums or review sites. However, most sites attempt to screen out such covert plugs, and rate their contributors based on how highly others value their contributions.

Identify and Monitor:
Google Alerts: Scraping Search Results thru Google
Blogs: conversations from blogs / Weblogs
Articles
Social Networks (Tweeter & Facebook)
Link Monitoring: Track Back Links to your Web Site
Discussion Boards

Reputation Manangement Tools

Blog Monitoring
BackType
We're building an analytics platform that helps companies understand their social impact

Twitter Monitoring
Monitter
A real-time Twitter monitor for up to three keywords at a time.

Link Monitoring
BackTweets
This is a service by BackType that provides an engine to search for specific links mentioned on Twitter.

WhoLinksToMe
A link search tool that tracks backlinks and makes them easily sortable by anchor text, origination, and by the target URL with enhanced reporting capability. You can also import links from Google Webmaster Tools for enhanced analysis.

Other Reputation Management Tools
Google Alerts
Your keyword search results (Your Company Name) are sent via e-mail for keyword mentions in news, web, blogs, video and groups categories.

Related to Reverse Search Engine Optimization