Tag Archive for 'online reputation management'

Great Online PR Starts with SEO & Keywords

Published by Josh on 27 November, 2008 in Reputation Management, SEO and public relations. 0 Comments

Let’s throw some numbers out there:

  • 91% of journalists use search engines to research stories (Pew Internet & American Life Project, March 2007)
  • 98% of analysts use search to research and find news (Forrester Research, 2006)
  • Seven out of 10 people initiate their Internet experience with a search, and 49% of people use search daily to find information online (Pew Internet, August 2008)

Search engines are part of everyday life. While most PR specialists have heard of SEO, for them it’s just a way to get media releases ranking well on search engines. But it can be so much more than that.

Harnessing the power of Search

Search engine optimisation can help you gain quick wins by increasing positive brand visibility - if you do it right. As brand reputations are increasingly shaped by search engines, communications executives must look further than just optimizing media releases. There are also blog posts, corporate websites, social media sites and other online assets. Incorporating a holistic search optimisation strategy for the aforementioned can:

  • Increase the exposure of assets
  • Connect clients to key stakeholders
  • Increase brand awareness
  • Drive more traffic to corporate websites
  • Generate sales leads.

And the best thing about SEO? All PR specialists need to do is what they do best: words.

Well, not simply words… But keywords

Keywords are what search engine crawlers look for when someone types a query into a search engine.  Optimizing PR material for words that people are searching for is paramount, and this starts with keyword research.

Keyword Research

The first step begins with the discovery phase – what are the objectives of this PR exercise? Who are you speaking to? What are their preferences? Recognizing these factors will put you in the right state of mind when you next start identifying possible phrases that consumers use when searching for particular products or services.

During this phase, think of both broad and specific words that are relevant to the brand in mind. There are a number of keyword research tools out there to help you, though none are perfect just yet. So it’s always good to use multiple tools to compare different keywords that are generated. Here are some free tools that are out there:

It’s easy to drown in hundreds, even thousands of keywords at this point. To counter this, moderate your list only include the ones that are highly relevant. You won’t be able to include every last keyword in your PR communications anyway.

Optimising your PR content for Search

Integrating keywords into your PR material is more than just sprinkling them in your content after writing a press release. SEO should be considered from the start. Here are some rules of thumb:

  • Ensure keywords are strategically placed in your headlines, sub headings, and body text
  • Avoid keyword stuffing. Search engines are good at detecting poorly optimized content, and may sometimes regard this as spam
  • Add relevant, keyword optimised tags. Tags are a great way to organise and classify your PR releases or blog posts whilst creating an extra layer of context for both search engines and consumers
  • Where possible, add keyword rich links within your articles
  • Give each article, blog post, media release its own unique page with a keyword optimised URL – just like this blog post. This is not only beneficial to SEO, but lets you track the exact amount of traffic or sales gained from each PR effort

Sound easy? Keywords are just the beginning. It gets more complicated when you’re trying to manage a crisis, which will be covered in the near future. In the meantime, I’d love for you to share any ideas relevant to this topic.

Scammers use SEO to Commit Olympic Size Fraud

Published by Tom on 5 August, 2008 in Reputation Management and SEO. 2 Comments

What happens when you take bad people with a must buy item (that they don’t actually have), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) knowledge and a thirst for money at all costs? Well if you’re the con artists behind an olympic ticketing site you stand to make millions of dollars from unsuspecting consumers prior to being found out.

When I first became aware of the scam on August 2, I noticed the website, www.bejingticketing.com was ranked 4th for the term “olympics tickets” on Google.

After all of the free PR and the buzz created from the scam becoming public and more importantly the hundred of new links from media sites published around the world, the website jumped to the #2 spot a few days later. Thankfully the site has been taken down, but not before the damage was already done.

From the first moment I saw the website it was clear very that SEO had been utilised to gain traction in search engines such as Google. The combination of highly targeted content and a professional design was a clear giveaway why it ranked so well and milked hundreds of people around the world out of their hard earned dollars.

By using and repeating keywords focused around tickets for the various sports and Olympic ceremonies throughout the content, Meta Title and navigation, it’s easy to see that SEO formed the base of their marketing strategy from the beginning. These guys knew what they were doing and utilised SEO and links from other websites to drive traffic to their website.

So who’s to blame? The scammers, the consumers for their lack of homework, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Beijing Olympics Committee (BOC) for not policing their own brands or Google for sending their customers to the site?

Of course the real culprits are the criminals who took people’s money without providing the product. But I also believe, The IOC and BOC have to take some responsibility for not policing their own brands and trademarks. In an age where tools exist to keep track of where a brand is being used online the IOC and BOC could have identified the website sooner and dealt with it accordingly.

While it’s easy to calculate the consumer loss, the damage done to the IOC’s and BOC’s brand is another story and ultimately very difficult to determine. Of course the IOC has overcome worse situations such as drug cheats, vote buying and corrupt officials so weathering this latest fiasco should be a breeze.

However, if the same situation was applied to a well know business brand, the consequences could be devastating for the business if not dealt with appropriately. Today, tools such as Adgooroo’s Trademark Insight and services such as Online Reputation Management can be used to keep a close eye on a brand or trademark and companies can learn firsthand what consumers or scammers are saying immediately rather than waiting until it gets out of control.

Blaming the consumer for not purchasing tickets from an official ticketing source is no longer the answer.