SERM – Search Engine Reputation Marketing

Comprehensive Management Of The Reputation Of Brands and individuals on the Internet

What is SERM – a complete analysis of the term

SERM stands for “Search Engine Reputation Management,” which translates into Russian as: “Search Engine Reputation Management.” This is the definition: SERM is business reputation management in search engines.

Let’s look at a small example. The user wants to buy a plane ticket. Before making a purchase, he decides to check how reliable the company he has chosen is and enters the query “Aviasales reviews” in the search bar. The average rating of the company in the TOP 10 search results is 4.5 stars. There are negative comments, but there are very few, and all of them have been processed (a company representative gave feedback, and the issue was resolved). The verdict for the user is that you can trust the company. The judgment for us is that Aviasales manages its online image well.

SERM marketing is aimed at maximally “whitening” all those business references the search engine produces when potential clients search for a company.

About Business Reputation

The reputation of a business is the totality of the assessments that clients, employees, and partners leave about it. In simple terms, these are all reviews, comments, and mentions. The reputation of a business can be formed by:

1. Naturally, users (clients, buyers, partners, etc.) independently write reviews and comments about the company. The main advantage of this method is the real benefit for business: you can objectively evaluate all the pros and cons of the company’s work. The downside is that satisfied consumers rarely share their positive experiences online. The same cannot be said about those dissatisfied with the purchase or order. As a result, there is more negativity in search engines, the business’s reputation decreases, and sales fall.
2. Artificially (SERM) – comments and reviews are published by SERM specialists. They replace negative thoughts with positive ones, which improves the company’s image and increases sales.

It’s great if the audience of your business leaves only positive reviews about it and the average company rating on most services exceeds 4.8 stars. But in reality, this rarely happens. There are always those who are at least dissatisfied with something:

• Delivery was delayed
• The price is higher than competitors.
• The packaging of the product is dented.

And it is their words that have a crucial influence on users who are just deciding to make a purchase/order from a particular company. Therefore, it is always recommended to accompany the natural formation of business reputation with SERM.

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How Does A Business’s Reputation Improve?

SERM is more than just mindlessly publishing positive reviews. Reputation management is based on more comprehensive work, which necessarily includes:

• Continuous monitoring. It is essential to monitor what its real customers write about the brand constantly.
• They are publishing positive reviews. They should be realistic, based on the experience of the company’s clients. Reviews are posted on external resources (review sites, forums, third-party sites).
• Search engine reputation optimization. This implies the removal from the TOP of those sites and resources where negative information about the brand predominates.
• Communication with clients. When working on your reputation, you need to give feedback. This is especially true for negative messages.

As part of SERM, the reputation of a business is improved by a whole team of specialists, from copywriters to analysts. At the same time, it is imperative to involve representatives of the company itself in such work. Firstly, managers should give feedback to users, advise them, and answer frequently asked questions. Secondly, the company’s services must be improved following the complaints and demands made by customers. For example, if reviews often mention problems with delivery, then it needs to be optimized. SERM will only be able to provide a quick positive effect if genuine reviews about poor delivery continue to appear online. Therefore, any negative is necessary:

1. Study;
2. Cover with positivity;
3. Use to improve business

Only in this case will the company be able to not only “whiten” its reputation on the Internet but also improve the quality of services, which will have a positive impact on its development and profits.

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