Using Norton for Online Reputation Management

Norton sent shockwaves through the online reputation management industry on Tuesday when it announced a new product that allows customers to take control of the first result when someone searches their name on Google. While it is admirable to see a large company like Norton building awareness of the need for online reputation management, the tool that they have created is flawed. How do we know?

Here is how the Norton online reputation management product works:

• Individuals type in their name (up to 25 characters)
• Individuals add a headline (up to 25 characters)
• Individuals submit one link that they want to have appear as the top search result for their name
• Individuals add a description (up to 35 characters)
• Individuals log in to Facebook to verify their identity
• Norton reviews the link after several days and if it is approved, they create a free AdWords campaign for the individual’s link
• Once the link has been clicked 5 times, the AdWords campaign ends and the link will no longer be the top search result

Norton’s Online Reputation Management Results

 As you can see, the results are not permanent, which leaves users to ask “once the link goes away, now what?” It is possible that after 5 clicks, Norton will try to market online reputation management services to these individuals, or simply try to talk them into funding the cost of the AdWords campaign. Even if it does not try to upsell these individuals, Norton is still providing a short-term fix for problems that demand long-term effects.  Here are some of the other issues with Norton’s online reputation management tool:

• One positive result at the top of the page does little good if the rest of the first page is populated with negative content
• Only individuals can use it because of the Facebook authentication, so businesses that want to boost their online reputation are out of luck
• Since Norton only places one link for each name, those with common names will be unable to use the tool if another individual with the same name uses it first

Better Manage Your Online Reputation

The truth is that an online reputation can’t be fixed by spending two minutes filling out a form. It is an ongoing process that entails monitoring processes that tells you when new content appears for your name, the removal and suppression of negative links, and the creation of positive content that indexes well enough to keep unwanted content off of the first page of Google.

Reputation911 provides individuals with online reputation management solutions that deliver long-term results. Our engineering team develops strategies to remove or suppress negative content, while our content creation team helps you to regain control of your whole first page of Google search results (not just the first result) with strong content that will stay on the first page. This means that if others try to add negative content about you, that content will not be strong enough to surpass the content Reputation911 has created for you, and that negative content will be relegated to one of the rarely visited pages of your search results.

You can find out how Reputation911 will help you regain or secure your online reputation, by filling out the form on the right for a free consultation, or by calling 1-866-MY-REP-911.