The Limitations

As the name implies, SERM is limited to search results. To be more precise, it’s usually limited to page one of search engine results. I’ve consulted for a company, for example, whose primary business model is to sell stakes in various investment opportunities. This company has had negative search result appear on page one every time anyone searches for the CEO’s name in Google, Yahoo, Ask, or Bing. Now, it’s not my job to prove his innocence, though I strongly believe he was an innocent party involved in what the negative result claims. But he came to me to see what I could do about pushing that negative result back to page two by any means necessary.

The Purpose

The idea here is that when selling investments or any high dollar item, people are more likely to do some background research on their own before making the plunge. And if, in the course of a simple Google search, a person were to find a highly suspicious accusation or complaint against a leader or leaders of the company, consumer confidence drops to zero. Hence, bad search results lead to tarnished reputations and lost profits.

By promoting other positive pages and mentions until they rank higher than the negative mention(s), one could “push” the negative results back to page two or even page three, depending on the scope of the engagement.

The Assumption

The assumption here is that people only look at page one of search results (statistically proven). But if you think that sweeping the problem under the rug solves the problem, think again. There are dozens of ways people find information, and hiding negative results leaves the backdoor wide open.

What if the negative comment was made on a blog? Readers can find that post or comment through RSS feeds, internal links, external links, blog directories, social media promotion, etc.

On a forum? People looking for topic specific forums will encounter negative comments on a regular basis before ever encountering a negative search engine result. Forum members may be well versed on your company’s or employee’s soiled reputation and may share what they know both online and off.

In other searches? If I’m looking for research on a type of machine and it leads me to results that also mention something negative about a brand, person, or product, I will be influenced by what I’ve read. It won’t matter that I was looking for x. I also got y and z. My first impression of Brand Y or Employee Z was negative. It’s passive search influence, but it’s very real.

The Answer

As with all incomplete marketing and PR initiatives, the problem begins with a lack of vision, which is the result of a lack of understanding the situation and its consequences. SERM by itself solves nothing. It’s serves as a PR band aid on a gaping wound. Most people might not see the wound, but those who do will see the festering mess that continues to go unaddressed over time.

The answer is to develop a more robust internet reputation management strategy. When I say “more robust strategy”, I’m not tossing out SERM as a bad idea. Not at all. But if you’re dying of poison and only take some Advil, it’s no fault of the Advil that you still die. Advil is a painkiller. Not a detoxifier. Cringe at the dollar signs if you must, but do what it takes to monitor, manage, and build your reputation as though your business depends on it because, well, it does.

SERM is a superficial face-saving strategy, but not a solution. It is SEO for pages other than your primary site in the hopes of promoting 10 positive results to encompass page one of search results for products, people’s names, and other trademarked items. Combine SERM with other best practice ORM strategies and you’ll find that instead of just whitewashing your brand, you can actually strenghten brand perception and customer loyalty. Like everything in business, you get out of it what you put in.

What does that mean?

SEO is the popular acronym used for web marketing strategies employed to draw more visits to a particular website. I’ll break it down very simply and in plain English, and then provide additional resources for you to read further on the subject.

Back in the 90′s designing websites in FLASH became all the rage, because of the cool little tricks you could make your website do. The problem was that search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask (back then Lycos, AlltheWeb, and others) couldn’t read the text contained within the FLASH files in order to index / archive them. All the search engine could see was a FLASH file, and so it moved on, not able to share any information from that website with readers who might be interested in that topic.

Not all sites were built in FLASH, but those that did had the biggest challenge ahead of them. Webmasters faced the reality that an attractive looking website did not guarantee anyone could find it on the Web to benefit from it. The question then became HOW to help people find websites offering information that was relevant to their questions, wants, and needs. Search engines were doing what they could to help Internet users find information, but website owners had to take matters into their own hands in order to compete with other websites who might show up in search results ahead of them.

Through much speculation, testing, analysis, and discuss, SEO professionals emerged with an understanding of how to help any website earn better rankings from search engines. These professionals networked like crazy and began offering their services to business owners looking to get ahead of the curve.

If you have realized that your website isn’t getting enough visitors and ultimately sales/conversions, SEO is an ideal place to start. You already have a website in this hypothetical, so you need a professional consultant to review your site, your web analytics (data about where your visitors come from and their behavior on your site), and your competition, who will then make a list of initial recommendations for you to discuss and implement on your website to begin optimizing your site.

To compete in most industries, you will need monthly search engine optimization consulting and implementation. There is no one-time fix. There are dozens of strategies for increasing your bottom line via your website, and you owe it to your business to take this process seriously.

Redesigning and redeveloping your website may very well be necessary to reach your site’s potential. Your budget will obviously play a major role in the execution of this possibility, but PLEASE know that investing in a well-built and well-designed website is essential to online success. There is no way around that. You are competing with many other companies and individuals. The only way to win is to provide killer content in an attractive and easy-to-use format that people enjoy. If customers enjoy using your website, they will likely revisit again later.

As always, my virtual door is open to answer your questions or to help steer you in the right direction. I DO offer SEO services personally, but my schedule is very limited and I do not often accept new engagements. I CAN, however, recommend very reliable experts to you should you need SEO and I do not have the time available to handle it myself.

For more background reading on SEO, visit these two pages:

Why You Need to Know SEO Basics, Even if You Outsource, by Jessica Bowman

Beginner’s Guide to SEO, by SEOMoz

I will likely offer more SEO tips and explanations for beginners in the future. For now, your primary objectives are to educate yourself and hire a competent professional. All sites listed in the column to the right are excellent information resources as well.

Best to you and yours.