George S. SEO Expert

What is a SERM and why does a business need it

Even one negative review without a response in the search results can discourage a customer from buying. Therefore, search engine reputation management, or SERM, is a must for any business. We explain what such management implies and how it works.

Search engine reputation management (SERM) is responsible for the reputation of a business in search engines. Most users do not go beyond the first page of the search results: according to international research, 59% of all visitors are limited to the top 10 and only 6% explore four or more pages. Therefore, SERM focuses on the top 20 search results for targeted queries. The essence of SERM is to fill it with resources with positive information, displacing those containing negative or difficult to manage those where possible negative is more difficult to work out.

SERM is one of the areas of online reputation management (ORM) global management of a company's reputation on the Internet using various marketing tools. ORM works not only with search engines, but also with social networks, thematic forums and portals, blogs and media, as well as with the company's website and its representative offices on other sites.

If a business does not attach importance to ORM, it may need AORM anticrisis online reputation management. This is a set of emergency measures online and offline. As part of AORM, they usually release counter-content, delete or rewrite negative content if possible, force out what cannot be deleted from the search results, translate the dialogue with the authors of the negative in a neutral or positive direction, and also develop scripts for the sales department and speeches for the management, make improvements to the site to increase confidence and so on.

In marketing, as in other areas of life, it is easier to prevent the emergence or development of problems than to solve neglected ones later. Even a business with the most perfect product and streamlined processes can be negatively reviewed. SERM works to ensure that this negative does not catch the eye of potential customers and does not prevent them from making a purchase decision.

Why is it needed

Reputation management in search engines solves and helps prevent problems with the company's image, and also affects the level of sales. SERM is capable of:

- create and maintain a positive brand reputation;

- promote the desired image of the company and adjust the perceptions that the audience already has;

- neutralize the negative that the target user can find in the search engine, or make it less noticeable;

- increase sales by increasing user loyalty;

- counteract dishonest or paid by competitors reviews;

- collect feedback and improve the quality of products, services, communication with customers;

- increase the investment attractiveness of the brand and its status in the eyes of partners.

It is important that SERM activities work at the lower levels of the marketing funnel with those who are already interested in you and your product. If everything is fine on the first pages of search engines, your chances of getting a client are higher.

Who needs it

SERM is especially important for brands with unformed and unstable loyalty. For example, if a company:

- enters the market or launches a new product;

- rebranding;

- is experiencing a decline in demand;

- is in a state of information war with competitors.

But everyone needs it! In a competitive environment and the open Internet, you can't let your reputation drift. And not only because if you do not work on your image yourself, your competitors can work on it.

The main thing is that SERM is much more than creating a beautiful storefront. This is consistent work that gives you valuable knowledge and understanding of cause and effect in order to debug and strengthen customer relationships.

Businesses often treat reputation management as an emergency tool and resort to it only when problems begin: for example, it becomes urgent to oust a site with a negative review from the search results. But if your processes for monitoring the issuance and working out feedback are set up, the negative that appears on the network will cause much less damage to your reputation, and it will be easier to neutralize it.

SERM methods and techniques

SERM involves working with indexed sites and requires a careful approach, especially when it comes to ordering reviews.

To create a positive brand reputation in social networks, you can and should:

1. Register company accounts on aggregator sites, directories, geoservices, and so on, monitor user activity and quickly respond to reviews, both bad and good.

2. Initiate and encourage the writing of real reviews that are more likely to be positive - for example, give a discount for a review.

3. Place custom reviews on significant sites: the most natural neutral and positive ones, as well as sellers who present the product with the most profitable prices.

4. Set up search ads that will take their place on the first page of search results.

5. Maintain expert blogs and columns on specialized portals and in the media.

6. Publish press releases, informational materials that sell articles optimized for target key phrases on third-party sites.

7. Track mentions of the brand and work off negative ones: respond, if possible, solve problems and reimburse the damage to the customers who published them, consider the possibility of removal.

8. Promote your own sites according to target requests: official website, expert blog, profiles and groups in social networks.

The three laws of SERM

SERM is effective only in combination with ORM. Elaboration of the top of the issue will not give anything without work in social networks and forums, interaction with bloggers and the media. Moreover, if social networks are full of negative reviews, and the search results are quiet and smooth, this exacerbates the mistrust of users.

SERM never ends. Top 20 is mobile. If today the output is perfect, this is not a guarantee that something unpleasant will not seep into it tomorrow. That is, reputation management in search engines is a continuous methodical process that requires constant analysis.

SERM is about problem solving support, not a solution. If the reasons for the appearance of negativity are not eliminated, it will again and again return to where it was removed with such difficulty. Therefore, working with reputation does not make sense without increasing the competence of employees, improving the quality of service, optimizing the product line, introducing loyalty programs, and so on.

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