SERM and ORM are terms that many people confuse and consider synonymous. This is not entirely true. Let’s figure it out:
- ORM – “Online Reputation Management” or “Online Reputation Management”. This is working with the company’s image on the network as a whole. This includes processing reviews and ratings on industry portals, specialized review sites, social networks, forums, etc.
- SERM – “Search Engine Reputation Management” or “Search Engine Reputation Management.” This includes working only with search results. SERM marketers monitor sites from the TOP 20 of Google and Yandex and displace those pages that contain harmful content.
ORM is a broader industry that involves working on reputation throughout the Internet. SERM – aimed only at working with search engines. As practice shows, it is to them that users turn first of all to clarify information about the company.
What Problems Does SERM Solve?
Most users study reviews about a company before starting to work with it. Here are some numbers:
- More than 53% of users check reviews from other customers before placing an order;
- In 97% of cases, considerations influence the user’s purchasing decision;
- Users trust reviews 12 times more than reviews and articles published themselves;
- 82% of users deliberately look for negative reviews about a seller, product, or service;
- 92% of users will doubt the need to purchase a product or order a service if they do not find any reviews.
Therefore, the first and foremost task that SERM solves is increasing sales. A company’s profit directly depends on its image on the Internet. Consequently, it is necessary to work on it constantly.
You can also use SERM to:
- Create a generally positive image of a specific company, individual specialist, or product;
- Generate demand for a new product that is just entering the market;
- Increase demand for goods and services already available in the line;
- Attract new clients.
Another task that SERM does well is neutralizing black PR. This is especially true for large corporations with relevant competitors and small companies just entering a highly competitive market. In both cases, you can encounter black PR. Online image management allows you to eliminate negative reviews about a brand as naturally as possible, returning it to a positive image.
The result of using SERM is one thing – an increase in business profits. It is essential to understand that most potential customers study information about a company before purchasing its product or ordering a service. At the same time, users only go up to the first (very rarely the second) page of the search engine. Therefore, what information is indicated about the company on the first two pages of search engine results directly affects its sales.
How Is Work On SERM Going?
High-quality reputation management is always complex work. It is performed in 3 main stages:
- Analysis. Before you start working on a brand image, it is essential to study its current reputation. It is necessary to determine the recent search results for queries mentioning the brand, evaluate information about the company (positive, negative or neutral), and determine its nature (where and by whom it is placed, how objective it is, how it affects the overall image). In parallel with reputation analysis, it is essential to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the business itself, its products, and the features of its interaction with the audience.
- Strategy Development. Based on the collected data, a list of essential topics to cover in new content is compiled. Next, queries are selected that are necessary to display pages in the TOP search engine results, and a list of sites is compiled where the optimized content will be published.
- We are posting positive content. Content can be understood as detailed reviews, short reviews, expert articles, reviews, etc. Regardless of the type, search queries must be written in the text. Then, it is published on previously selected sites.
The first results of improving your online reputation are noticeable 2-4 months after the start of work (provided that the content is optimized correctly and the appropriate strategy is chosen). After this time, experts study how search results and the company’s image have changed. Based on the data obtained, changes can be made to the strategy to improve outcomes.
The work with reputation continues after the display of positive information about the company in the TOP results of search engines. Next, you must constantly monitor search engine results and eliminate negative reviews or lower their rating.
Also Read: SERM – Search Engine Reputation Marketing
