There are many areas of the Internet that can be used to promote or besmirch the reputation of individuals and companies. Social networking and bookmarking sites, review sites, and blogs are some of the most popular places for such reviews. Many of these sites are crawled by Google and other search engines and as results pick up steam through threaded posting the pages can rank highly in the results pages.

In order to counteract occurrences of negative press that might hit the top spots in Google, Yahoo, and other search engines it’s possible to use SEO as a valuable tool. SEO is an ethical way to ensure that your own pages appear as high as possible in search results. This not only includes pages on your main website but also on blogs, forums, and other pages that you own.

SEO usually targets keywords and search phrases that potential clients use when shopping for specific products or services. However, it is possible to optimise a page for any chosen term or word. This includes the names of brands, products, and names that you want to protect.

Social networking and other social sites have gained a lot more popularity with users and subsequently search engines have begun to stand up and take notice too. Facebook profiles, Tweets, and social profiles have gained greater exposure in search results.

Using a combination of your own online real estate as well as other related pages it is possible to move negative results down the search results and replace them with more informative and positive results; a beneficial way to use SEO to manage your online reputation.