Corporations too are now held to higher standards. Brands are expected to make investments in environmental protection and the ethical treatment of employees. These issues can influence consumer purchasing decisions. If potential customers find a negative headline regarding workers’ rights, this could undermine years of efforts to promote corporate social responsibility.

In addition, intolerance is reaching a new high in terms of sensitivity. Inappropriate social media posts or advertising that is tone-deaf could cause public outrage, and damage your company’s reputation for years to come. Negative brand reputation can stop dandy portal potential customers from entering your company, or damage strategic partnerships, investment, and growth.

Google your name to get a full picture of the problem. Do not just look at the top two search results. Look at all the results. We often analyze hundreds, or even thousands, of search results on behalf of our clients. Keep track of any patterns or trends you notice. Is the cause of all unwanted outcomes one event? Poor customer reviews is it?

When mapping your search landscape, it’s very easy to only focus on the negative results. To accurately assess the health of your reputation online, you need to consider both your strengths as well as your weaknesses. What are your friends? Are there any critics? What are the biggest gaps in your content? What are your controllable assets?

It is good to start with a web site, but many domains will allow you to expand your online footprint and control the content. It prevents other people from purchasing domains that are very similar to yours to launch reputation-attacks against you. Owning several web assets will make it harder for others to take over your story.

Start by completing a reputational assessment. This will help you identify your baseline brand sentiment and any issues that may arise before they are widely publicized. You should know what your customers think of you and your business. Also, how your brand compares to your competitors.

You must create a digital barrier to stop negative content from reaching the top of Google’s first page. You’ll want to have at least 10 different assets on the first page, but you can go much further.

Google gives preference to properties that you control or own when it comes to brand searches. Your digital fortress must include your branded website, blog, and social media profile — so long as these are active and relevant. Search engines will also feature third-party material like Wikipedia, review sites online, videos, pictures, articles, etc. depending on your query.

Think beyond the top page of Google after you have secured your digital assets. Create a plan to get interviews in prominent publications. Pitch journalists and create your own thought leadership articles. Talk about your social responsibility, philanthropy or industry advances.

It is important to be on every website for the correct reasons. As a thought-leader, you can gain the trust of customers and own more search space. If you have optimized your social media profiles, then you can amplify brand mentions even more.