Firms Promise To Put You in Google’s Good Graces
February 28, 2007
All HGTV wanted to do was promote its TV show. But it kept running up against Cialis users.
To publicize its reality show Living with Ed about actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., and his wife, HGTV was hoping to get some blog buzz going before the Jan. 1 premiere.
But in December, if you Googled the term “living with Ed,” you mostly got sites that dealt with living with E.D., as in “erectile dysfunction.”
HGTV relied on New York search marketing agency 360i to fix the problem. “What was interesting to me personally was the metrics,” said Mike Boyd, svp-marketing at HGTV, Knoxville, Tenn. “To go from page 5 in mid-December to 10 of the top 12 search results a month later was terrific. We pushed Cialis down to page 2.”
What HGTV tasked 360i to do is a new discipline that is a mix between search engine optimization and public relations. So far, it lacks a catchy name. Some call it “brand protection” while others dub it “reputation management.” Several firms, including 360i, USWeb and iCrossing claim they can improve a brand’s image on Google searches, whether it be to dispel confusion or to push critical mentions down further in searches.
Bryan Weiner, president of 360i, said most marketers aren’t aware of the need for the service. But he urges them to think of Google search results as shelf space. “Google is a brand vehicle.” Wiener added that the agency is able to increase such rankings by search-engine-optimizing Web sites related to the brand and by engaging bloggers, whose positive mentions of a brand can crowd out brand-bashing sites. Others recommend sub-domains (like “music.walmart.com”) to achieve the same goal.
Not everyone agrees such services can deliver what they advertise. “Getting an anti-Wal-Mart site off the top 200 listings is not something that anyone can do anything about,” said Gene Lewis, director of Web and technical development at Digital Pulp, a New York interactive firm. “Protecting your message on the Web just isn’t possible.”
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But iCrossing, a New York SEO firm, argues that the risk of doing nothing is too great to ignore for marketers in any category. While many are aware that autos and consumer electronics are highly searched items, iCrossing released a study in conjunction with Harris Interactive last December showing 39% of respondents performed an online search for packaged goods. Two-thirds of respondents said they would also buy that searched-for product later, either on- or offline.
ICrossing used that argument to get work with Coca-Cola, though an agency rep declined comment on what that work entails.
The agency also has engaged bloggers and consumers on behalf of Palm’s Treo Smartphone. Lewis said the latter is the right way to tweak search rankings. The wrong way, he said, is to create fake blogs (or “flogs”) to create the illusion of positive sentiment.
That was the approach Wal-Mart took with Edelman Public Relations last year. Edelman set up blogs like Wal-Marting Across America and blogs on Working Families for Wal-Mart, an “astroturf” advocacy group set up by the retailer. An Edelman rep declined comment on the issue. Sony was also caught setting up flogs for its PSP product.
Because the Web is a transparent medium, reputation management firms recommend resisting the urge to create such sites. John Tawadros, COO of iProspect, a Boston search engine optimization firm that works with a “fairly large consumer packaged goods firm” on its reputation management, says there’s a simple reason for that: “The moment you start to fabricate, you’re bound to get caught.”
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