Search engine optimization vs. online reputation management

This post has been modified to reflect new information since its original publication.

Today you’re going to learn the difference between search engine optimization (SEO) vs. online reputation management (ORM).

The two concepts are related in some ways and use similar techniques, but they have completely different objectives that likewise require different approaches.

SEO is about getting your website to rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs), but ORM is about controlling the online conversation.

Using SEO strategies for an ORM problem is counterproductive—and vice versa. Here are some ways SEO and ORM differ.

Ranking

SEO leverages search engine ranking to help people find a specific website the client controls, while ORM uses ranking to make sure people find one or more websites from a broad range of sites, many of which the client does not control. ORM is focused on online presence—not on ranking to get more traffic.

SEO

SEO is about getting a specific website noticed. As such, the goal is to make your site (usually the mobile version, as over half of all searches now occur on mobile) the first result people see in the SERPs when they search for keywords related to your business.

If you are focused on SEO, you don’t care what other results are on the page, just as long as you are in the number-one spot in organic search results (or even position 0, which is the featured snippet that precedes the organic results).

In fact, having a list of competitors ranking below you is a good indication that your business is the most popular. Throw in a couple of customer reviews singing your praise, and you are golden.

ORM

ORM isn’t about getting a particular website noticed; it’s about promoting an idea or concept in search rankings by carefully curating which websites appear in your search results.

These efforts have one goal; to have all the results on the first page convey a consistent (positive) message about you or your brand.

These results can be blog posts written about your business, positive reviews from people, or even social profiles that have user-generated content about you (positive of course).

SERP movement

SEO’s goal is to own position #1 in the search results. ORM’s goal is to own page 1 of the search results.

SEO

SEO is something you do one website at a time. You focus on a particular target audience at times as well.

SEO requires content creation to increase ranking.

This can include posting blog articles, creating web pages, and optimizing existing content. Content is created based on keyword research that tells you what people are searching for in relation to your industry or business.

Most work centers around improving the on-page and off-page factors that search engines use to rank websites, with the goal of Google viewing your site as the best (or most trustworthy) answer to a searcher’s question.

ORM

ORM targets all the results on your SERPs, displacing negative mentions or misleading items and replacing them with positive content. This is because search results that contain competing messages can weaken the online image you are trying to project.

You want to shift unwanted results to the lowest possible spot—and ideally, off the page entirely, where they are effectively invisible to most searchers.

The goal is to populate the search results with quality content that helps you make the best possible first impression online.

Going viral

Here are some more key differences.

SEO puts a high value on content going viral—especially on social media. ORM tries to avoid having certain types of content go viral and works on building a strong online presence instead.

SEO

Because viral content exposes thousands of potential customers to your business, having an article or social media post go viral will result in more clicks and links to your site.

These factors tell Google that your site addresses the search intent behind the keywords people are using. More engagement also adds to your site’s authoritativeness and expertise on the topic, and these things make Google rank your site higher.

Viral content also tells social media platforms to push your content out to increasing numbers of people, resulting in you getting more and more followers.

ORM

Unlike SEO, viral content isn’t always a benefit for ORM.

For example, negative content from review sites rapidly spreading across the internet can make controlling the first page of your search results—which is already a challenging job—even more difficult. Consequently, it may take longer to see results from your ORM strategy.

This is because Google’s algorithms rank content by what’s popular, not by what’s true and most relevant for a particular query. So, visibility in search results is highly determined by the things people click on the most—usually the most gossipy and salacious items. These kinds of results are hard to displace.

However, positive viral content will quickly rise to the top of the SERPs. This helps move negative results onto subsequent pages, making it easier for you to promote the right image.

Number of search terms

SEO is focused on broad-match terms and relevant keywords—the more the better—which are usually generic nouns or categories. ORM focuses on one or two specific terms, which are usually a proper name or a brand name.

SEO

The goal of SEO and online content is to draw as many customers as possible to your website. Because Google generates results based on what a searcher means by the queries he or she types into the search bar, it tries to serve up the right piece of information or relevant content (using a technique called natural language processing, or NLP).

In addition to results for specific keywords, SEO practitioners need to optimize their content marketing strategy to rank for a wide range of keywords.

For example, if you sell quilted handbags on your site, then you would target your main search term, quilted handbags, as well as long tail keywords (words or phrases related to your product), such as women’s handbags, fabric purses, and quilted accessories.

ORM

If you are trying to manage your online reputation, then you want to dominate search results for your name or your business name. This way, you can change what others see when they research you.

Here’s a real-life example of reputation management: If you’re a lawyer named John Smith in Denver, you’re not as concerned with what people find when they search for “Denver lawyer.” You care about what they see when they’re looking specifically for you.

As such, online reputation management search terms for individuals usually take the form of firstname + lastname or firstname + lastname + occupation/location.

For example, John Smith, John Smith Denver, or John Smith lawyer. Similarly, if you run a business, your search terms would be companyname or companyname + location: e.g., Jane’s Donuts or Jane’s Donuts Seattle.

The results that Google brings up for your search terms can give you a positive reputation or a negative one.

To find out your online reputation (or how others see you online)? That’s easy. You just have to grab your free reputation report card.

You won’t believe how much information you’ll receive about how your online reputation looks like to others right now. Your reputation grade is instantly displayed and will let you know how bad or good things are.

It’s a no-brainer if you want to know what the internet is publicly displaying about you.

To keep abreast of changes to your reputation, you’ll also need to know whenever someone uses your business or personal name online. An easy way to do this is to set up Google alerts. It’s free and will keep you in the informed about what people are saying about your brand.

Want more information?

Now that you’ve learned the basic differences between SEO and ORM, you might want to learn how to use these techniques to manage your online reputation. For detailed instructions on how to deal with specific reputation problems, see the following articles:

• How to remove an article from the Internet
• What to do when ex-employees damage your reputation
• How to deal with online defamation
• Online review management: The complete guide