Reputation management is crucial for leaders.  You have to be living under a rock to be unaware of how reputations are trashed in a day, regardless of the truth of online content.  You need to protect your name, your brand, and your reputation.  This first place to start is on Google, because that is where most people start to search about you.  Below are tips for managing your Google search results.

1.  Scan the first 3 pages of Google search results – most people don’t look any deeper than that.  If someone really has an axe to grind against you, you may need to search deeper.
2. Search your name and any derivatives of your name.
3. Follow up with a Google search of your organization’s name.
4. Delete anything that is negative that you are able to delete.
5. Respond to anything that is negative with the truth if there is a place to comment.

If you find negative content that you are unable to clean up, the next step is to push the content off the first three pages with content you create.  

Want to know more about professional reputation management?  Download our complimentary Reputation Management checklist.