5 Best Free Reputation Management Tools
How often do you Google your name or the name of your business or company?
If you’re not regularly Googling your name and searching through the results that appear, there could be negative, wrong or harmful information about you online that you don’t even know of.
According to a recent survey conducted by Domain.me, 24 percent of adults and 43 percent of Millennials reported having been negatively affected by information posted about them online. Of those, 20 percent found inaccurate or wrong information; 33 percent found personal content that had been shared without permission; and 12 percent reported being unpleasantly surprised by some of the results they found when they searched for themselves or their business.
If you find unfavorable results after Googling yourself or your business, you are not without options. Hiring a public relations firm or a reputation management company is one way to remove or move down, also known as suppress, negative online content.
However, know that there are also online tools that anyone can use that can help monitor your Google search results. As most reputation management experts will advise, regularly monitoring search results – and being able to do it in an accurate way – is a critical step to protecting an online reputation.
With that in mind, below is a list of some of the best reputation management tools that are convenient, user friendly and free to use.
photo/ googleplex via wikiwand
Reputation.ca’s Free Reputation Management Software
Reputation.ca is a leading online reputation management firm. The company has been providing comprehensive online reputation management services to individuals and businesses for several years now. In September, the company came out with free online reputation management software that lets anyone monitor their Google search results and monitor how their search results change over time. Better yet, Reputation.ca built their software to navigate around Google’s algorithms that personalize search results. This means that anyone who goes to the company’s website and searches their name can see how they truly appear on Google and how their friends, family and co-workers see them on Google.
Rankur
Rankur is a social media monitoring tool that helps users see what is being said about them or their brand across a range of social media platforms. Offering digital media monitoring and social media management, Rankur helps users capture opinions, prevent and assess reputation risks, while also discovering potential growth opportunities.
Rankur offers a variety of pricing tiers. The first tier or free package lets users track 2 social media profiles.
WhoLinksToMe
WhoLinksToMe offers a free and pro-version of their search tool. WhoLinksToMe provides a report (more detailed for pro-version) of all the sites that are linking to any or all of your sites or webpages. WhoLinksToMe’s unique backlink analysis tool provides a more comprehensive digital overview of social media engagement, as well as your online reputation.
Like any search bar, simply type in the search terms and the tool does the rest.
Domain.me
Domain.me is an online platform that lets users search for any websites that may be using their name or brand. Users can then opt to purchase the .me domain name preventing another person or business from claiming it.
In addition to the search functions Domain.me features, they also offer various website building tools to help users create an impactful and engaging website. The company website also hosts a number of informative blogs and tips to help aid in website creation and reputation monitoring.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts lets you take searching for your name or business one step further. Google Alerts serves as a proactive tool alerting you to new mentions or references to any terms you flag. Because Google is the primary search engine for the internet establishing a Google alert will notify you any time any new content is published, whether it’s an article, blog post or even a Twitter rant Google will find it.
In terms of value and overall impact, users should look for an online reputation management tool that provides comprehensive protection and proactive reputation management, much like the software offered by Reputation.ca. Using a tool that offers multiple ways to safeguard your online presence will make it easier to stay on top of any situation that may arise.
Author: John Case
