What is the Difference Between SEO And Reputation Management?

SEO and reputation management are different concepts that work together to help improve your online presence and attract more buyers through the online customer journey.

The difference between SEO and reputation management is often blurry. The reason for that is because they are complementary marketing strategies.

But even at that, the two strategies approach marketing in different ways. Confusing, eh? Well, it doesn’t have to be so!

In this article, we have simplified the difference between the two terms. So, if you’re looking to learn more about SEO or reputation management (and how they contribute to digital marketing), read on to find out.

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The Top 3 Differences Between SEO And Reputation Management

Approach To Marketing

SEO’s primary tactic to marketing is to drive traffic towards your business. And how it does that is through search engines, searchers’ intents, and optimized content.

Ordinarily, tons of people would be selling similar products as yours. But when you invest in SEO, your chances of appearing in the top pages of search engine results will rapidly improve. And when that happens, rest assured of seamless traffic.

In summary, SEO is all about improving sales by creating awareness and turning such into direct traffic to your business.

On the other hand, reputation management’s approach to marketing goes beyond just search engines. It focuses on your branding across search engines, social media, review sites, and public directories.

For reputation management, traffic is not all that matters. Indeed it also uses the principle of SEO, but it is more interested in improving your brand image. 

In summary, reputation management takes a holistic and sustainable approach to marketing. Here, if you would make sales, then your business standing should be rock solid.

Position On Buying Process

Ultimately, all your marketing copies and strategies are to get consumers to buy from you. Now, how SEO goes about it is commendable – but not all-encompassing. How so?

The only function SEO does is pushing traffic to your business. Yes, your articles would rank, and prospects might click on them to see your website. But that doesn’t mean that they would buy from you!

You see, the decision to buy takes longer than just ranking on Google. According to Bright Local Statistics, consumers averagely spend 13 minutes 45 seconds just reading reviews before they commit.

Unfortunately, SEO generally doesn’t concern itself with reviews. It has little say on the buying decision tree as its primary purpose is to create awareness.

In summary, SEO treats the buying process only in terms of traffic and awareness. Here, more traffic translates to more sales. However, that is not always true!

SEO and reputation management also differ in where and how they impact the online buying process. Unlike SEO, reputation management is the last phase of the buying process. It is the one that whispers into your prospects’ ears to buy from you. Perhaps that sounds abstract, here is an example of what we are saying:

Say Company A ranks no 1 for website design in Atlanta on Google (of course, after the sponsored ads). Now, a prospect who needs such a service would click on the site’s link. Then, he would check through the services – traffic. But before buying any of the services, the buyer would love to see what previous buyers are saying. If the reviews are positive, he’ll buy – decision.

In summary, reputation management is the deciding factor of the buying process. By itself, it converts your traffic and leads into sales.

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Reputation Management Is Positive SEO

The ultimate difference between SEO and reputation management is that the former is the all-encompassing marketing strategy. By the way, do you know that reputation management contains SEO? Well, it does – and not just any kind of SEO!

Reputation management only targets authority websites with optimized content in a bid to improve your business branding. In the process, your business will rank for desirable keywords – and most importantly, have a positive image.

Note: reputation management is only effective when done right. If you’re a rookie and would love to start doing positive SEO for your business today, check this out!

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