One of the most frustrating aspects of running a company is experiencing negative reviews and comments. The reason this is so frustrating is because the negativity that can ultimately lead to a broken reputation won’t always be your fault. There are times when a bad rep can indeed be blamed on the company itself, but not always.

 

Once you start seeing negativity about your company, you might assume that nothing can be done to repair your internet reputation. This is not the case, not at all in fact. It won’t be easy, but repairing an online reputation is entirely possible when you take the necessary steps.

 

Step 1: Determine the Cause

 

Before anything else can happen determining the cause of the bad rep is the first step. You should be able to get a solid understanding of the root cause by reading customer reviews. Customers aren’t afraid to tell you what they think, sometimes in a way that is way too harsh. Utilize these reviews to figure out what the real problem is, rather than just assuming the problem is the reviews themselves.

 

By reading reviews, and even social media comments, you’ll be able to tell whether the customers aren’t happy with the service provided, or if it has to do with the functionality of the actual product. Before taking the next steps, figuring out the root cause of this negativity is a must.

 

Step 2: Go to the Source of the Negativity

 

So you’ve just figured out what is causing this negativity, now it is time to go to the source. This is actually the most difficult aspect of this step-by-step guide, partly because fixing the problem could mean starting from scratch. This would be the case if the customers seem to hate the product altogether, so you might need to go back to the product development phase.

 

Step 3: Submit Requests to Google

 

Google is not trying to make your life more difficult than it needs to be. As long as you play by Google’s rules, Google can be the ultimate tool for building a reputation. Actually, don’t even count on creating a reputation without Google on your side.

 

That being said, the team at Google will help you to remove any negative comments about your company that don’t deserve to be there. You’ll have to submit an official request and it can take a while, but it is also entirely worth it to eradicate the negativity altogether.

 

Step 4: Push Positivity

 

Now that we’ve covered how to determine the source of the negativity and how to get rid of it, it’s time to move to the more positive side of things. It is more than possible to strengthen a reputation with an influx of positive, original content.

 

This will serve as something of a firewall to protect your rep. Try not to just post a bunch of positive articles on your blog at one time and then call it quits. The best way to maintain this positivity is by publishing valuable content regularly.