The definitive guide to online reputation management

The first step in assessing your online reputation is to search for your name. However, you have to do this the right way.

If you simply open your browser and start typing, you’ll probably see results that are different from what other people see. That’s because your search results are influenced by past searches and other factors related to your browsing history.

You can never predict exactly what someone else will see, but you can start from a blank slate, which will give you a sense of what people who don’t know you very well are likely to find. Here’s how to do that:

1. Open a browser you don’t usually use. For example, if you normally use Chrome, try Firefox or Safari or Internet Explorer.
2. Check that you’re signed out. Visit google.com and look at the top right of the browser window. You will either see a “sign in” button or a circular image or icon. You want the “sign in” button. If you don’t see it, click on the circular image and select “sign out”.
3. Clear your browser cache. Signing out helps to reduce the impact of personalized information, but tracking cookies and other data stored in your browser can still influence your search results. To get rid of those, you need to clear your browser cache. Instructions vary depending on your browser, but there’s an up-to-date list of instructions for all major browsers at RefreshYourCache.com. Follow those instructions before continuing to the next step.
4. Search for your name on Google. You’ll want to start with the most commonly used version of your name. For instance, if your name is Jonathan but you go by Johnnie, then search for Johnnie. Take a look at all of the links on the first two pages, but avoid clicking on them. Be especially careful not to click on any links that look potentially negative or spammy.
5. Tally the results. Write down how many sites you control, how many are quality sources of information, and what you think the sentiment of each site is. For example:
   1. Facebook profile: full control, quality information, reflects positively on me
   2. White pages listing: limited control, limited useful information, neutral sentiment
   3. Critical news article: no control, misleading information, reflects negatively on me

That initial search will give you a pretty good idea of what’s connected to your name. Still, some people might search for you in different ways.

You should also conduct a few secondary searches, tallying up the results for each as you did above.

• Bing and Yahoo Search. You’ll have to decide whether these search engines are important to you. Statistically, they get less than one third as many searches as Google. That said, maybe the people searching for you use Bing more than Google, so it’s worth at least taking a look to see if there’s anything new or significantly different there.
• Name variations. Search for different versions of your name, including misspellings. Also search for your name along with your profession or some other pertinent detail about your life that other people are likely to know or care about; e.g. “John Doe downhill skiing.”
• Find related keywords. In the searches you’ve done so far, are there words or ideas that come up regularly? For instance, let’s say you gave a presentation at a conference or trade show, and references to that event show up frequently in your results. This is a sign that people associate your name with that event. Search for “your name + event” to see what other materials appear.
• Look at other types of sites. If you run a business, you should check out professional forums, review sites, and other non-search resources that people might access directly. For example, a restaurant owner would do well to check OpenTable for reviews, and a dentist might log into a forum like Dentaltown.

By this point, you have compiled two lists:

1. Terms that people use to find information about you
2. The most common results that people find, as well as how positive or negative they are

You now need to find out how many people are searching for you. This gives you a sense of how difficult it will be to influence your search results.

To estimate search volume, use a keyword research tool. There are many of them out there, mostly designed for online advertising. Among the easiest to use is Google’s free tool, part of its Ads program. Of course, we’re not planning on running any ads, but we can still use the tool for our purposes. Here’s how:

1. Sign up at ads.google.com. Google will ask you to fill out some information that is not particularly applicable to your situation, since Google Ads is designed for online advertising. Simply select the defaults and click next. There’s no need to enter a credit card number or other payment information.
2. Go to Keyword Planner. This is under the “Tools” menu. Google will give you a few options to choose from. Select “Get search volume data and trends.”
3. Enter your search terms. Input all of the name variations you uncovered above, one per line, then click “Get search volume.” Google will churn out a spreadsheet of results. The column that matters the most is “average monthly searches.” The numbers shown here give you an idea of how much interest there is in your name. Record these numbers.
4. Assess the search competitiveness. Unfortunately, the column called “Competition” is not particularly useful for our purposes, because it measures how many people are bidding for ads on the search term. Unless you are a celebrity or your name is a brand, there’s probably nobody advertising on your name. The better measure of competitiveness for online reputation purposes is average monthly searches, which we recorded in the last step. Here’s how to interpret your results:
   1. Under 50. Either there is too little data for Google to measure, or you have a relatively non-competitive name. It should be easy to introduce changes.
   2. 50-200 searches. This is a moderately competitive search term that attracts regular attention but should be receptive to interventions.
   3. Over 200 searches. For anyone other than a public figure, this is a high search volume that will be difficult to influence.

The search volume numbers you’re likely to see as an individual are very low compared to search volumes for more generic terms, companies, or products. That works in your favor when it comes to influencing online reputation, but it also means you need to follow strategies specific to reputation management, not just generic SEO advice.

You now have enough information to analyze the state of your online reputation. The next step is to take that information and use it to answer the following “big picture” questions:

1. How many of the top sites in my search results do I control?
2. What types of sites appear in my results?
3. Are a lot of people looking for me online?
4. Do most people find me through search engines or other third-party sites?
5. Is the general tone of my online reputation positive or negative?
6. What areas am I strongest and weakest in?

From the research you completed above, you should have a sense of which search terms people use to find you most often. You should also have a sense of which search terms bring up the strongest or weakest reputation.

Balance these two factors to pick your first reputation management target. For example, let’s say you’re a doctor named John Doe, with the following results:

You can see that most people search for “John Doe Doctor” and that there are some problems with those search results. However, the overall picture is fairly strong, and because of the high search volume, those results will be harder to change.

Fewer people search for “John Doe MD”, but the results are quite negative. Almost nobody searches for “John Q. Doe”.

In this scenario, it probably makes the most sense to focus on “John Doe MD” first. The lower search volume means you’ll have a better chance of influencing the results, and any improvements will make a substantial difference to your online reputation, since the results are not very good to begin with.

Let’s say our “John Doe MD” search brings up four negative items on the first page, with two in the top five and two in the bottom five. A realistic reputation goal might be to introduce one new positive site onto the first page within two months, with a bonus goal of displacing one of the lower ranking negative results.

Why not try to knock out the top threats? Well, you’ll get there eventually, but online reputation progress is incremental.

You need to build up a base of success before you can tackle entrenched threats. By taking care of easier links first, you’ll increase the number of people who are clicking on positive materials, simply because more people are seeing those positive materials.

In turn, this sends a signal to search engines that your positive materials are more relevant than the negative ones. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle, but it starts by building up momentum with “small wins.”

Your approach needs to be specific to your situation and your goals. If you’re creating a reputation for an empty online presence, then you can do any number of small things and see a big impact. If you’ve got serious threats, however, you’ll need to invest a lot more time and resources, and you’ll have to focus on specific approaches.

That said, when you’re starting it’s vital that you choose activities that you have an affinity for, that you can realistically keep up long term. If you’re not big on writing, then maintaining a blog probably isn’t the right solution for you, at least at first. You might be better off focusing on Twitter, or making YouTube videos, or opening a Pinterest account. Whatever you do, it needs to be something you will actually be able to stick to.

Below are the main categories of content to consider. Some are applicable across the board, some will only apply to certain people. For now, choose two or three that are a good fit for your interests and abilities. These will form the basis of your first online reputation campaign.

Okay, so you’ve decided what kind of materials you’re going to post online, now you need to actually make them! This is the hard part, there’s no way around it. That said, it’s much easier if you follow a few key principles.

Planning and organization are key to making sure you get content published and that you do it on time. Your schedule should center around two factors: how much you can realistically produce on a consistent basis, and what you hope to achieve with it.

1. Use milestones to build your schedule

It’s useful to work backwards: figure out what you want to see, then calculate how much work you have to do to get there. Next, see if that’s a reasonable amount of work to get done, and revise your milestones if it isn’t.

Some suggestions for good initial milestones include:

• Get at least 50 visitors per day to your personal blog
• Embed one of your photos or videos in the first page of search results
• Displace one search item with something you created
• Push your Twitter feed onto the first page of search results

The amount of work required to meet each of those milestones will vary depending on the competitiveness of your search profile, and you won’t really know what the baseline is until you start publishing. So in this first phase of reputation management, you’ll be aiming to do regular work and then measuring the results.

2. Create a content calendar to keep you on track

In its simplest form, a content calendar is a grid with time on the vertical axis and content categories along the top. For our purposes, one-week intervals are probably best for your calendar. Use the grid to plan when you will create and publish different types of materials from week to week.

The value of the calendar approach is that you can see at a glance how much effort you need to put into each category of material. For example, if you’re focusing on publishing YouTube videos but also want to publish a blog from time to time, the content calendar will remind you to plan your blog articles and schedule them in regularly.

3. Take screenshots

Before you start publishing, take baseline screenshots of your search results. Do this for all of the key terms you are concerned with, not just the initial target. That way you can measure your progress. Continue taking screenshots regularly to build an ongoing record.