Frequently asked questions

What is Online Reputation Management / reputation building?

Online Reputation Management is also known as ORM and refers to the management of a company’s or individual’s reputation online.

An online reputation is easily compared to the reputation of people, products or businesses in real life. If a friend says, “NEVER use vacuum cleaners from Mr Jensen’s Vacuum Cleaners, they blow out more dust than they collect”, we would naturally avoid buying vacuum cleaners from that particular brand. The same applies online.

When we search for information about a specific product and the first three pages of the search results are full of bad publicity and negative reviews of a particular brand, we are more likely to choose another brand rather than investigate the matter further ourselves.

The difference between word of mouth in real life and online reputation is that all information found online is indexed – in other words, stored – by search engines. This means that an old case between a consumer and a business, which is no longer relevant or current, can receive an unfair amount of attention if it appears on the first page of the search results.

Reputation building is all about cleaning up bad publicity and negative reviews, and helping ensure that only the right information is visible if potential customers and business partners search for you, your company’s products or your services online.

Read more about Online Reputation Management here.

What does Online Reputation Management mean?

Online Reputation Management means maintaining and managing a company’s or individual’s reputation online. Through Online Reputation Management, it is possible to influence the first impression people get of a business or person online.

Why is Online Reputation Management necessary?

Reputation Management is necessary because no mention or review is ever truly removed or “forgotten” online. If a potential customer, employer or collaborator comes across bad publicity about you or your business, there is a significant risk that they will choose not to work with you or your company.

In fact, a study carried out by YouGov shows that 70% of people would choose not to engage with a business – if the business has a bad reputation online. Online Reputation Management may be necessary to prevent bad publicity from shaping your future or the future of your business.

Why is Online Reputation Management important?

In a world where most people start their search by typing a keyword into Google, it has never been more important to stay in control of your online reputation. Instead of landing directly on a person’s or company’s website, potential customers, employers or contacts will land on the front page of a search engine – and potentially see search results containing negative publicity. This can have a negative and, in many cases, decisive effect on their next decision.

With Online Reputation Management, you can help reduce the risk of bad publicity online affecting your future success or the future success of your business.

How does Online Reputation Management work?

Online Reputation Management can be carried out in many different ways, but the basic purpose is to deal with bad publicity and instead highlight positive publicity in the search results for a person or company.

Within Online Reputation Management, we work with two different approaches – Proactive and Reactive Online Reputation Management strategies. With Proactive Online Reputation Management, the aim is to prevent potential future bad publicity from causing damage by ensuring that the entire first pages of the search results presents a business or person in the best possible way.

If bad publicity already exists online, it is often more challenging to affect the search results and gain visibility for positive results on the first page of the search results, as strong and relevant results may already be present. If negative coverage already exists online, Reactive Online Reputation Management is used to clean up your online reputation and help ensure that accurate and relevant information about a company or individual is the only thing that appears in the search results.

How much does Online Reputation Management cost?

It is difficult to set a fixed price for reputation building because the cost depends on how much time is needed to complete the specific task, how serious the damage is and how strongly a business or person already appears in the search results. Prices can therefore range from a hundred pounds to significantly higher amounts.

The cost of Online Reputation Management will usually be considerably lower if preventative Proactive Online Reputation Management has already been carried out, because this can make the task both smaller and easier to complete.

Who works with Online Reputation Management?

Experts in reputation building, such as ATAK Nordic, mainly work within fields such as search engine optimisation (SEO), online marketing and social media, and thereby understand how search engines work.

ATAK Nordic is a marketing agency that works with all aspects of online marketing. Our core competencies include Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Online Reputation Management, Review Management, social media, content production and web design.

Can I do Online Reputation Management myself?

To carry out effective and high-quality reputation building, it is important to have a well-founded understanding of search engine optimisation. Bad publicity online can quickly escalate, so it is important to know exactly what works best, and when.

At ATAK Nordic, we tailor an Online Reputation Management strategy created specifically for you or your business, which you can then follow yourself, thereby becoming an active part of the work. You can also choose to let us handle everything for you.

It all depends on the results you want, how much time you have and your budget. The most important thing is to take action and not simply wait to see what happens, because bad publicity can cause significant damage to you and your business in a short amount of time.

Who needs Online Reputation Management?

For both businesses and individuals, the first page of Google’s search results can be described as the modern equivalent of a business card. It is where potential and existing customers or employers form their first impression, and where many decisions begin.

Both companies and individuals can use Online Reputation Management to optimise their online reputation and improve their “digital business card” – and thereby improve their future chances of success.

Why do you need Online Reputation Management?

Both businesses and individuals may need Reputation Management because bad publicity online rarely disappears. If a potential customer, employer or collaborator comes across bad publicity about you or your business, there is a strong chance that you or your company will not be chosen.

A study by YouGov shows that 78% trust online coverage and reviews of companies, whether the coverage is positive or negative.

Online Reputation Management may therefore be necessary to protect your online reputation if you or your business have bad publicity online and do not want it to shape the future.

What is Proactive Online Reputation Management?

With Proactive Online Reputation Management, you work to prevent bad publicity from having a negative impact – by acting before it becomes a problem. This is done by ensuring that at least the first page of the search results presents a company or individual in the best possible light.

Proactive reputation building makes it more difficult for bad publicity to take up space in the search results.

What is Reactive Online Reputation Management?

Reactive reputation building is about limiting the damage after bad publicity or negative reviews have already become visible online. If bad publicity, negative reviews or similar content has appeared online, reactive work aims to push this content further down in the search results.

This can reduce the visibility of bad publicity and instead create space for positive publicity and accurate information.

What should I do if I find unwanted content about myself or my business online?

There are several things you can do if you suddenly find unwanted content or bad publicity about yourself or your business online. In short, a good starting point is to create an overview of the situation, avoid panic and avoid making drastic decisions too quickly.

You should assess whether you can resolve the bad publicity by contacting the people responsible for the content, whether the case involves sensitive personal information, or whether you need a consultant to help solve the problem.

If you do not have the time, energy or opportunity to deal with unwanted content yourself, ATAK Nordic is ready to do the work for you.

Can I remove unwanted or false content about myself or my business online?

As a general rule, you cannot remove unwanted or false content about yourself or your business from the internet – unless you have uploaded it yourself. If the content or information needs to be corrected or removed, it is usually the website administrator who is able to or should do this.

You can try contacting the administrator, but you should be patient and keep a cool head when asking them to remove the content from their site. It is also a good idea to call rather than send an email, as this can appear more serious.

What should I do if I find sensitive personal information about myself online?

If you find sensitive personal information about yourself online, you may be able to contact the relevant data protection authority, which can help you have the information removed.

If there are specific Google search results about you that you want removed, European data protection rules may allow you to ask Google to remove these URLs.

Remember that Google alone evaluates these requests, and that it does not remove URLs containing information considered to be in the “public interest”, such as information about fraud, criminal convictions or professional misconduct.

Can all bad publicity online be removed with Online Reputation Management?

You cannot usually remove bad publicity online yourself, but you can make it less visible. This is done by pushing bad publicity away from the first pages of the search results. Thereby, the unwanted content is not encountered when someone searches for a person’s name or a company name.

In principle, most bad publicity can be removed from the first pages of the search results through Online Reputation Management.

How long does it take to deal with unwanted publicity online?

It is difficult to set a fixed timeframe for how long it takes to deal with unwanted publicity online through Online Reputation Management, because it depends on both the scope and strength of the unwanted publicity.

Some cases of unwanted publicity are more difficult to remove from view than others, which means it can take a larger effort and more time to push it down in the search results.

A reputation building process can take anything from a few weeks to between six months and a year.

Can I protect myself against future bad publicity online?

You can protect yourself against bad publicity online by investing in preventative Proactive Online Reputation Management. With Proactive reputation building, you can help prevent future bad publicity from gaining visibility on the first pages of Google’s search results.

This helps ensure that people who search for you or your business on Google do not get the wrong first impression.