When you search on Google for your company or brand name, do you like what you see?

The Internet presents companies with boundless opportunities for marketing their products and services. From banner ads and blogs, to social media marketing and SEO, it’s easier than ever for your company to get its brand message to people around the world. Yet, this easy spread of information is a double-edged sword. It is also easier for customer complaints, inaccurate and outdated news stories, and criticisms from disgruntled employees to reach huge numbers of people.

Controlling your company’s online reputation is a complicated matter. While it may be possible to limit what your own employees are permitted to say online, there’s no way to keep a total lock-down on external posts about your company. Inaccurate or negative information published in blogs, web forums or articles may appear in the search engine results when people use your brand or company name as the keyword.

Be it true or false, the very appearance of this information in the search results can leave an unfavorable impression with potential customers, stakeholders and would-be job applicants. It’s not a happy scenario for any marketing or PR team. Unless strategic action is taken, this information can linger in the search results for months or years, causing ongoing public relations headaches and negatively impacting your business.

This is where Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) comes in. SERM combines search marketing tactics and public relations savvy to help companies protect their image on the search engines.

Using a mix of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, social media outreach and pay-per-click ad blocking, it’s possible to dominate the top search results for your company name, trademarks or other brand terms. While no one can erase all the objectionable information from the Web, you can effectively “bury” this content by populating the Web with positive (or neutral) online content that finds its way to the top of the search results.

In the past, companies took a reactive approach to online reputation management, implementing SERM strategies only after negative information appeared in the search engine results. This meant the negative listings stayed visible until the positive SERM content took its place, a process that can sometimes take months to complete.

Instead of waiting until damage is already done, DBE encourages companies to approach SERM proactively. We advise our clients to fortify the search results before there’s a crisis, effectively blocking damaging information from taking over. By blocking negative content from gaining top search rankings, monitoring what’s said online about your brand, and establishing a response plan for handling both Internet libel and legitimate complaints, you can provide preventative maintenance for your company’s online reputation.