hOw tO Deal with negative seO

Our online world is a fantastic place to promote books, blogs, brands, and so on. But bad things also happen online, as we all know, and the really important one I want to talk to you about is based around SEO.

A Quick Breakdown

SEO, search engine optimization, is how we improve the quality and quantity of traffic to our book pages, websites, blogs, or anywhere else we have an online presence.

Negative SEO is a malicious approach to sabotage that online presence. Google rankings are stolen by using techniques such as bad reviews, scam reports, and hijacking your reputation, all for the benefit of another website’s search engine ranking. The complexity and sophistication of negative SEO has grown exponentially over time, representing real danger for those who do not take the necessary precautions against it.

We’ve all heard the term “troll” and the people carrying out these attacks typically fall into this category, using fake profiles and names to remain anonymous. And sometimes you’ve got competition trying to outrank you or hurt your rankings.

Even if there is some past truth to a negative post about you, it’s helpful if you know how to look for it and how to overcome it.

Start with A Search

A quick Google search of your name, business name, book title or podcast name will show you what is ranking highest on Google because those will be your first search results.

Action: If you see anything negative or notice that your content is not at the top of the search results, Google is letting you know you need to put more content out. Content is ranked by most recently published items showing first. And we already know that nobody is clicking down to page three or four of search results. If you aren’t on page one, people most likely aren’t going to find you.

You can flood the channels where you publish content with extra content, whether it’s blog posts, podcast episodes, YouTube videos - it doesn’t matter - but you need more content. This plan of action also works if you find negative links about your business or brand showing up. The more new content you publish, the more those current ranked items will drop down the page.

Check for Plagiarism

There are free services, like Copyscape, that will check for plagiarism and let you know if someone else is using your content.

Action: You can request plagiarized items be taken down. It might take a little while but it will be worth the time, so your content is yours and protected.

There are two ways you can go about doing this. The first one is to contact the host where your content is sitting and amicably request that they take it down. If this plan of attack doesn’t work, you can present an inquiry to Google to evaluate and remove the page from its search results.

As an author, just like I tell my podcast clients at Podetize, your content is your most valuable feature. Good content is worth its weight in gold and must be protected, just like your image, just like your online rankings. It’s important to take time to ensure your people can find you and when they do, what they see is good quality.

To wrap this up, I would like to remind you that while pushing out more content is a very effective strategy, great SEO cannot be faked or rushed. Meta tags, backlinks, keywords, strong titles and a variety of content types are all things you should already be leaning into for all content and platforms. If you are unsure of where to begin with this, let’s have a simple conversation about where you can begin.

Tracy Hazzard is a seasoned media expert with over 2600 interviews from articles in Authority Magazine, BuzzFeed, and her Inc. Magazine column; and from her multiple top-ranked videocasts and podcasts like The Binge Factor and Feed Your Brand – one of CIO’s Top 26 Entrepreneur Podcasts. Tracy brings diverse views from what works and what doesn’t work in marketing, branding and media from thought leaders and industry icons redefining success around the globe. Tracy’s unique gift to the podcasting, marketing, and branding world is being able to identify that unique binge-able factor – the thing that makes people come back again and again, listen actively, share as raving fans, and buy everything you have to sell.