Improve Google's top ten

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The time when only journalists had the power to investigate and question companies and politicians is long gone. Social media opens up for anyone to raise their voice, express opinions and be heard. At a conference about social media strategy Judith Wolst spoke about what this shift mean for companies when seen from a Google perspective.

Social media creates great opportunities for direct communication without any intermediaries. But it also creates new rules that companies must be prepared to adapt to. A study made byJudith Wolst shows that five per cent of Sweden's listed companies have problems with their brands when it comes to search engine results. Among Google's top ten (Google’s first result page) there are negative opinions about brands coming from articles, blogs and forum posts.

The existence and influence of blogs, forums and other social media platforms calls for the need to improve the communication in regards to brands on the web. Companies need to get involved in social networks, participate in discussions and create own blogs and forums.

This will not only create a better dialog with costumers and stakeholders, it will also give companies improved results in Google's search engine. It’s namely so that Google likes social media because they are frequently updated and often linked to. If they also contain known brand names in title and content you have a jackpot in Google's search engine.

So, what companies need to do is to increase activity in social media networks. Start by taking control by creating your own channels, updated frequently and ensure that the channels are linked to the corporate website. By doing that the company will take one step further towards positive results in Google's top ten.