Executive Reputation Management Case Study

Improving Executive Online Reputations

We provided reputation management services to help search engines realize the best information about those executives deserved to be on the first pages of search results.  The issue wasn't one of internet reputation repair, but of internet reputation sculpting. The project was to improve the online perception of already excellent reputations by moving positive press to the forefront of search results.

Finding Good Results

The industry we worked within for this assignment had been hit hard by the financial crisis. It wasn't looking good for many of our heroes (all of our clients are our heroes BTW). Our first step was to ascertain the relevant key phrases often entered into Yahoo, Google, or Bing. We found the primary key phrase and variations of that keyphrase. We found geo-specific variations of the key phrase as well as company specific variations. This list was then measured against actual search results, rarely used search phrases were discarded. Ultimately, we'd compiled an approved list to move forward with.

The next step involved identification of positive web content already being returned in search results. The executives search result resume was already significant, but positive search results were overwhelmed by neutral ones on the first page of search results. We targeted twenty positive results that met certain technical and content criteria. With the key phrase list and content list in hand, we moved to the next phase of internet reputation services.

Engineered Web Content

We created a few key 'hub' web destinations with highly relevant domain names including online profiles in places like Facebook and linkedin as well as standalone web sites created to aid people and search engines find relevant information about our clients. We used these hub pages to create content, as well as a 'relevancy network' - a network of links that tied relevant web content in diverse locations together. This inter-linking program was then augmented by search engine optimization intended to significantly boost the perceived relevance of each of the web destinations we had created.

Search Engine Optimization to Cement Results

The search engine optimization program was expanded to include positive search results already in existence. These included papers written by the executive, articles co-authored, press releases, quotes, and other favorable content. The particular mix of reputation management services we used often included leveraging existing content, as well as creating new web reputation content. Since the industry was highly regulated, online content had to be closely controlled. 

Great Results

The program began to bear fruit within 30 days and continued to improve over a period of fourteen months. The first pages of Google, Yahoo, and Bing have been completely re-engineered to reflect the most positive content related to the executives. Now, when a journalist, investor, or other interested party performs due diligence or other research on the company or executive, the content first seen is controlled.

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