A CEO’s personal reputation is no longer solely dependent on their personal accomplishments, but also on what people have to say about them on the internet. Negative feedback and criticism can spread like wildfire, potentially causing significant reputational damage and impacting future opportunities.
As Wired Magazine said, “You are what Google says you are.”
Here are five proven strategies that top CEOs use to protect and maintain a positive online reputation.
- Monitor your online presence
Knowing what’s online is the first step. What are people saying about you? One highly effective and little-known method of tracking your online presence is utilizing Google alert. Setting up a Google alert for your name enables you to receive an email whenever Google finds any mention of you in its database. We recommend putting your name in “quotes” so that Google gives you the most relevant results.
- Buy your name as a domain and make a website
High-profile individuals may have multiple websites at their disposal for various business-related uses. However, some CEOs may not have a website for their own name.
Your personal website should contain a basic bio of yourself. If you aren’t sure what else to include, there are a lot of available templates online to help you give a professional look & feel. Some platforms, such as WIX or GoDaddy, allow you to have access to powerful SEO tools. Importantly, WIX has a built-in SEO Wiz feature, which directly sends your site to Google for indexing. The SEO results will appear in as little as 24 hours.
- Get a Wikipedia page
If you are a high-profile individual or have previously been featured in various news outlets, then this will be an extremely useful tool for you. Wikipedia pages are most likely to appear as the first search result on Google, and are also the source for the information panel – that box on the right side of some Google search results which shows you a few sentences answering your query.
- Optimize your company bio page
Usually, company websites have an About Us section that contains relevant information about the management team. For the page dedicated to you, make sure that your name appears in the HTML title of the page. This will help boost your page higher in search results.
- Get listed on business directories
There are numerous business directories for executives, and most of these will also appear in your Google search results. Sites such as Crunchbase, Bloomberg, and others will help you control what appears when people Google your name. This is an easy and excellent way to further raise your online visibility.
There you have it. These are five ways top CEOs manage their personal online reputation.
If you decide to try them out for yourself, let us know how it goes. For more info, visit: www.irm360.com
