Search engine optimization, or SEO in short, is the term describing the conscious designing of web pages. These pages are geared for a better placement in the search results with major search engines. The substantial majority of SEO experts use Google as a relevant guidance tool. Depending on these search results, consumer decisions are made in favor or against a company and its products.
Surfers make use of search engines to get information about a particular company or product. This information is forming public opinion. It will influence the decision making process of users for a long time. And it will have a negative influence on users if only a few entries about a company can be found. It show that the company is unknown, or not large or relevant enough to be trusted. On the other hand, a user will trust a well-known company or brand with a track record of satisfied customers. Under these circumstances, a user will forgo an in-depth search for further information. For a well-known company, results with a low information content are sufficient to induce trust while for an unknown company they are not.
When doing SEO, attention is directed at achieving the highest ranking in search engine results. The first pages of the search result lists are visited most frequently. Users don’t waste precious time to check out results contained on back pages. Information to be found in the backwaters isn't included in any decision making process. It is therefore of paramount importance that the most positive and salient information should be displayed on the first page of search results. Positive information contained in these fronting results will reinforce users to decide in favor of a particular company. Any negative information will result in a decision against the company.
Negative information contained in the front results has important consequences for a company. The negative information shown festers; customers avoid the brand and deals are forthwith not concluded. The company as a consequence is missing a constant customer base. Its employees, too, frequently defect to other employers, investors are unwilling to put in money, and customers switch to competitors permanently. At the end, they stay away completely. When Zayn Malik left One Direction, whole armies of fixers were occupied with damage control on both sides of that divorce.
Reputation management by SEO is a valuable weapon against negative information popping up in unwanted prime positions on search result lists. To this end, dozens to hundreds of articles are published by companies with carefully authored content. The content is designed to get high rankings and to occupy the important top rankings of search engine results. The writers of these articles manages this feat by combining relevant keywords with relevant content and by building back-links throughout.
More and more of these positive articles add to an overall positive ranking of all or most of them. The negative results are displaced further and further to the back of the result lists until they become irrelevant. It's the information generated by the SEO writers that grabs the first attention and generates an increasingly positive awareness of the brand. The positive company reputation established by these spin doctors has a favorable effect on consumer confidence. The company name and logo becomes familiar, it is associated with positive news, and its products are bought. Long term the operation will achieve an increase in sales and an increase in the value of the brand.
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