Google Alert is a very simple and useful SEO tool by Google. Google alert is an email update based on the specific search term defined by you. The alerts can be delivered to your specified email address or as a feed to your feed reader.

For example, if you are interested in Soccer news and events, you can set up a Google alert with search terms like World Soccer, Soccer events, Soccer championship etc. You can opt whether you would like to receive upto 10, 20 or 50 related articles, news or blog posts. Google will send an email with all the related content to your search term to your email address.

You can also define the type of content you would like blog, news, videos or discussions. If you want all the types, you can opt for everything.

Setting up of Google alerts

To set up a Google alert, simply go to http://www.google.com/alerts. You can sign in using your Google account. After login, you can create a Google alert by filling up the simple form. While setting up Google alerts, it is very important to ‘quote’ the search terms. This narrows the search operation, as it specifies the topic. So, undesired stories are not emailed to an account.

You can create multiple alerts for different search terms of interest. You can also click on Manage Alerts and make changes to the alerts. While setting up Google alerts, it is very important to ‘quote’ the search terms. This narrows the search operation, as it specifies the topic. So, undesired stories are not emailed to an account.

Google alerts can be used in many ways helpful to your SEO and Internet Marketing efforts.

Tags: google alerts, seo tool
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Are you struggling with bad press that has surfaced on the search engines about you or your company, damaging your commercial reputation, then Reverse SEO is what you need. It is the quickest and most effective solution for Online Reputation Management (ORM). In its simplest terms, it is a way of knocking negative publicity off the first page in search engines and preventing it from getting there ever again thus, limiting its exposure and stifling its impact.

Social networking sites act like comfortable platforms where unsatisfied customers, resentful employees, lazy journalists, and malicious competitors can voice their grievance/opinion, which may tarnish your image. The genuineness of such grievance/opinion is always questionable, but tracking it down is not possible as it is often anonymous. The ripple effect of such a post is much quicker. So, is it wise to let yourself or your company, become a target of bad press?  The answer is obvious and therefore, it is time to launch Reverse SEO.

The next question is how negative publicity gains traction within the search engines, and how it can lead to a public relations nightmare.

It is a simple phenomenon. Google, Yahoo, and Bing rank pages based on a large number of criteria. If a website and its individual pages satisfy the most important of those criteria, those pages will rank well.

A lot of the bad press that targets companies (possibly even yours) is placed on websites that meet key ranking parameters in the search algorithms. That means the negative publicity can climb into the top positions and gain exposure. When people search for you or your company, they’ll see the bad press. That damages your reputation.

How does Reverse SEO work?

Like search engine marketing, reverse SEO uses a methodical, multi-pronged approach to protect your online reputation.

1. First step - Identify the sites and pages that contain negative publicity about your company and the keywords that rank high in SERPs. Those keywords might include your name, your company’s or key employees.
2. Second step – Analyze those sites and pages for their respective ranking authority. That will help you determine the effort and tools required in order to move them from the first page of listings within search engines. A negative PR blitz that is spreading across social networking sites is more difficult to overcome than a single blog post that is on a non-authoritative domain.
3. Third step – Gather necessary tools and execute the reverse SEO campaign. Such tools might include keyword rich optimized press releases, a fresh network of sites and blogs, social media profiles, and a social bookmarking program that are self propelling, compete effectively against existing bad press and help suppress it. Regularly posting such content on the web will ensure that negative rankings do not emerge on the top. Reverse SEO may also include heavy content syndication to build high-quality links. Search engine marketing specialists have these tools at their disposal.

Pro-activeness is the keyword here – Reverse SEO Begins Before Negative Press Emerges

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” By: Benjamin Franklin

Walmart, PayPal, Home Depot, Bank of America… represent a small sample of companies that have been the target of negative press in the search engines. While large companies can simply shrug it off their shoulders, beginners cannot afford to risk their future growth.

It is better to launch a reverse SEO campaign before bad publicity appears in the search engines. Negative press can spread rapidly as people attach the press to their own blogs, sites, forums, and social media accounts. That creates a growing portfolio of links pointing towards the damaging press, cementing its position in the top listings. The problem then becomes more difficult to address. By launching a reverse SEO campaign upfront, you can prevent the negative publicity from gaining exposure in the first place.

Contact Us for a free consultation on monitoring your online reputation.

Tags: reputation management, reputation monitoring, reverse seo
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