Making the right impression in search is crucial

When did you last Google your brand name? Searching for your company in Google is not just a curiosity exercise, to see what may or may not appear. It’s a crucial step in managing your brand’s reputation online.

We urge all businesses to regularly search for their brand name to consider how the results could be impacting how others perceive their brand online.

Start by seeing whether your website appears first when your brand name is searched for in Google. If you’re not coming up, who is beating you to it?

Being number one, particularly for your brand name, is crucial for building credibility. It is our instinct to assume number one is best, so you want to make sure you’re reaching that first place spot.

Check what is appearing in your Google Knowledge Panel too. The Google Knowledge Panel appears to the right of the search engine results page and displays key business information such as location, opening times and contact details.

Check that all the information appearing in your Google Knowledge Panel is accurate and correct. Search engine users will rely on this information to call your business, get directions to your location, or check when you are open.

You can manage much of what appears in this area of the Google results page via Google My Business, which is quick and easy to set up.

Double-check the photos that appear in your Knowledge Panel. Google can use photos either from Google Maps or ones that have been uploaded by search engine users. Upload your own photos that favourably represent your business instead.

Look to see what reviews are appearing on the search engine results page too. Google reviews will appear in the Knowledge Panel and further reviews could appear in the main search engine results. It’s not only reviews from your customers that could be coming up – look at whether employee reviews on platforms like Glassdoor are appearing in search. Consider how you could encourage appropriate stakeholders to leave positive reviews to balance out any negatives. Never incentivise someone to leave a false review, this is very much frowned upon by Google.

In the same vein, check for negative news stories. If there are stories you would rather didn’t appear put in place a proactive PR plan, which will balance the search engine results with positive stories on authoritative websites.

Finally, check for advertisements on the search engine results page for your brand. We have seen examples of brands paying to have their advert appear when someone searches for a competitor. If that is the case you may want to consider introducing a paid-for campaign to maintain the integrity of your brand when users search for you.