What is Reputation Score & How to Improve It

Last Updated on June 28, 2024

You might have a vague idea that you need to improve your brand reputation, but how do you know where you stand? Good news, there is actually a way to measure your reputation and identify areas for improvement. In this blog, you’ll learn everything you need to know about reputation score, including how to improve yours.

What is an Online Reputation Score?

A reputation score is a numerical value given to a person or brand that reflects their overall reputation. It represents how others perceive you across online platforms.

Think of it as similar to a credit score, but for your online presence instead of your finances. A high reputation score reflects a positive image. However, a low score means you might be close to a PR crisis. 

The good news is: you can easily check your score, and it can change over time.

Where Can I Check My Reputation Score?

Knowing your score is a great way to check your online reputation overall. 

Here is some advice for both brands and individuals:

Brands: Find your reputation score by using social listening tools to monitor reviews, feedback, social media mentions, and more. These tools compile all this data to give you insights into how your audience perceives you.

Individuals: Several websites offer reputation scores, report cards, etc for individuals. These websites often compile your personal information, including social media posts, job history, background, and even credit score. 

We recommend that you proceed with caution and research these websites thoroughly before using them.

MyLife Reputation Score

MyLife is a data broker company that offers reputation scores for individuals. Their profiles can bring up court cases, property records, work history, and even your phone number. 

Essentially, they compile everything they can find about you from people search sites and other sources. They analyze that data and give you a My Life Reputation Score based on a 5-point system.

However, we recommend approaching this website with extreme caution, if at all. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against MyLife for alleged deceptive billing and marketing practices. 

The lawsuit mentions that the company deceived users with “teaser background reports”, making false claims about criminal records. The court awarded $34 million in reparations.

Between 2018 and 2020, the Better Business Bureau received 14,000 complaints about MyLife. The company has no accreditation and a C- rating with the BBB. People claim it is difficult to opt out and remove your personal information from the site. 

For these reasons we do not recommend getting a reputation score on MyLife.

What Is A Good Reputation Score?

Depending on where you get your score from, a “good” score may look a little different. Different sites use different scales, with most using either a 5, 100, or 1,000 point system. 

For example, a 1,000-point scale could look like this:

• 0-399: Poor reputation score with significant issues
• 400-599: Moderate reputation, right in the middle
• 600-799: Good reputation with some areas for improvement
• 800-1000: Excellent reputation with little to no issues

No matter where it comes from, the higher the number, the better your reputation. A good score means you have a clean, consistent presence on Google’s first page. Positive SERP rankings help highlight your best qualities whenever a friend, boss or coworker searches your name online.

Conversely, a bad reputation score is detrimental to your online presence. It can hinder you from future opportunities professionally and potentially stifle lifetime milestones.

How Is My Reputation Score Calculated?

Different sites may use different factors when determining your reputation score. However, you can generally expect them to take the following into consideration:

• Search rankings for your name or brand in search engine results pages (SERPs). High-ranking positive content can boost your score, while negative results can lower it. The number of impressions, or times your content appears in search results, also has an effect.
• Your own content, including your website, blog posts, and any images or videos that you post. You want to ensure that your content is high-quality and reflects a sense of professionalism.
• Your digital footprint in general. Any information or interactions associated with you online reflects in your score. This includes your social media presence, publicly available personal information, and online behavior.
• Customer reviews and ratings indicate the value of your business and how customers perceive it. Negative reviews, or a lack of reviews, can harm your score and reflect poor customer service.
• Press coverage such as articles, interviews, or features can sway public opinion either in your favor or not.
• Online business listings help customers find your local business. If searchers can’t find your business listings, or the information is outdated/inaccurate, this reflects poorly on your score.

Essentially, your score is a result of the overall impression people have when they search for you. If that impression is good, your score will rise. However, if that impression is negative, your score will go down.

How To Improve Your Reputation Score

No matter where you get your score from, use these tips to improve your online reputation score:

Monitor your digital footprint

Before you can boost your score, you have to know where you currently stand. You never know how much bad content could be out there about you unless you search for it.

Use these tips:

• Use Google Alerts to get notifications whenever someone mentions your name, brand, or related keywords on the internet.
• Search yourself regularly in Google Incognito Mode and take notes of both positive and negative results. Pay particular attention to the first page of Google, as these results get the most visibility.
• Use social listening tools like Hootsuite, Mention, or others to track your name or brand online across social media platforms. This helps you respond proactively to any issues.
• Take the time to clean up your online profiles. Make sure all your posts, comments, and bios reflect a professional image of yourself. If you find anything outdated or inappropriate, delete it.
• Continue to be mindful about what you post online in the future. You never know what will gain popularity or be taken out of context.

Encourage reviews

Reputation scores rely so heavily on customer reviews because potential customers rely on them to make purchase decisions. Online reviews reflect customer sentiment, and signal to other consumers whether they should trust you or not.  

This is not just about having a lack of negative reviews; you need to have a lot of positive reviews.

Any business with a healthy number of reviews will still have some negative feedback, but the good should outweigh the bad.

To encourage reviews, you can try a few things:

• Respond to all reviews you get, whether good or bad. Customers want to feel like you value their input. Address any issues promptly and thank customers for their feedback, no matter what it is.
• Simply asking customers to leave reviews can often convince them to do so. Ask them to leave feedback on relevant review sites, particularly after a positive interaction.
• Provide excellent customer service, as reviews are a reflection of your service quality. Train your staff, respond quickly to complaints, follow up with customers, and remember to incorporate their feedback.

SEO your website

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps to ensure that people can easily find your positive content.

If you don’t have a website already, you should definitely create one. This serves as your “online hub” and primary source of information about you or your brand.

Use these tips:

• Keep your website updated with fresh content. Make sure it has good design, and is mobile and user friendly with fast loading times and easy navigation.
• Start blogging regularly on your website. This ensures you always have new, fresh content full of your valuable insights. Blogging builds your personal brand image, establishes you as an authority, and improves your search rankings.
• Don’t just post anything on your blog; make sure you write high-quality, valuable posts optimized for strategic keywords. Targeting specific keywords help you rank highly in search results because you’re answering specific user queries.
• Generate backlinks to your website by building relationships with other reputable websites. This both drives traffic and enhances your website’s authority.
• If you already have negative content about you that ranks well, use these strategies to suppress negative search results.

Leverage social proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people copy others actions to decide how to behave in a situation.

From a marketing perspective, this means you can leverage positive endorsements to influence the public’s opinions.

Here’s how to do that:

• Build a social media presence by posting regularly and engaging with your audience. You can share updates, success stories, and promote or repurpose your website’s content.
• Encourage your audience to share user-generated content about your brand on social media. This provides authentic social proof and engages your audience.
• Display testimonials and positive reviews on your website and in marketing materials.
• Develop a loyal community around your brand by creating a two-way conversation between you and your audience. Respond to comments, create content your audience wants to see, answer common questions, etc.

Maintain your business listings

Maintaining your business listings helps potential customers find you and trust your business. Your listings should reflect the quality of your brand so customers can trust you.

Use these tips:

• Ensure you claim your business listings on popular review platforms and other industry-specific directories.
• Optimize your Google My Business profile to rank higher in local online searches.
• Regularly update your information so it is accurate and consistent across all platforms. You don’t want to leave customers feeling confused about your information. Include your phone number, operation hours, address, etc.
• Engage with your listings by posting offers, responding to customer feedback, and generally staying active on your profile.

Garner positive press coverage

Positive media coverage can help sway public opinion in your favor, which will reflect in your score.

Here’s some tips to garner positive press:

• Share compelling stories about your business, like your journey, successes, and impact. People value authenticity in marketing, so sharing real stories will attract positive attention.
• Send out regular press releases about any significant achievements, launches, or company news.
• Create a media outreach plan to build relationships with industry journalists and influencers. Offer your knowledge for articles, interviews, features, etc.
• Participate in industry events like webinars, conferences, or other public speaking engagements. Even if the engagements themselves are offline, this will increase your visibility and authority.

In Closing: Understanding Your Reputation Score

Your brand may be closer to a reputation crisis than you may think. Knowing your score can help you identify potential risk factors and address them promptly. Remember, your score will only improve or stay high with continuous management.

Schedule a free consultation with Reputation911 to learn more about your Reputation Score and how to improve it. We provide online reputation management (ORM) services for both individuals and businesses. 

About The Author

William DiAntonio

William DiAntonio is the Founder & CEO of Reputation911, a reputation management firm he founded in 2010 that has earned the trust of its clients for over a decade by helping individuals, businesses and brands control their online search results.