Burying the negative: How to deal with unwanted Internet search results
NPR's All Things Considered had a report today about how companies are paying search engine experts to help them "bury" negative sites on the Web deep in search results.
At the heart of the issue, I think, is how much control a company -- or an individual -- has and should have over defending their online reputation. On the one hand, you want legitimate criticisms and observations to be found in search results. On the other hand, however, everyone knows that the Internet can be a haven for trolls and unfair negative comments.
The story is in the context of companies and politicians managing their online reputations, but as more of us lead increasingly "open" lives online, don't be surprised if you one day have to figure out a way to manage some negative feedback that keeps popping up on Google.
How do you deal with that?
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Comments
Gus,
Fair points about control. While it might take more time, I think it's a more worthwhile endeavor for companies to fix what might be wrong in their organization, connect directly with dissatisfied customers to work with them to resolve their issues and, lastly, to spend time building a community of supporters that will produce positive reviews, content, etc. to push down negative search results.
Of course, these actions don't protect them from getting "Google bombed," but can still go a long way to secure a positive online reputation.
Posted by: Daniel Waldman | October 19, 2010 10:32 AM