There seems to be a rash of activity in the brand/reputation management lately, and it seems as if it may be one of the hot SEO buzzwords of 2007. This is great news for those of us who feel that brand is one of the most important parts of SEO.
Part of the problem I see though, is that much of the discussion seems to be centered on fighting off bad reputation in a firefight mode. It is this reactionary approach to puts so many companies in a bad light with the public. John Q Public is frequently of the opinion that company X should have known there were going to be bad consequences to a move the company made, or a bad customer experience. And, they are right.

My pet peeve of today’s US companies is that they spend months coming up with a plan for implementing anything financial related, but do not appear to spend more than 15 minutes thinking of how to respond to a routine failure within their business. Yes, airline companies have well thought out plans of how to respond to an air disaster. But do they really think about how to respond to just a run of crappy service. Given the recent Jet Blue debacle they may have something in mind now, but it took a massive pile of bad press in the face of a competitor for them to step up to the plate.

Listen corporate leaders, whether you have a significant web presence or not, you need to step up and prepare your web reputation for a slap in the face. Don’t call the superstar SEO after the fact and try to find a way to get your own website ranking ahead of bad press websites. Prepare up front and keep your SERPS and/or your view of the world on the top. Own the top positions for your brands, your products, and your key employees where reasonable before the bad press.