Reviews are the currency of pest control marketing — earn them, respond to them, and turn your reputation into rankings and revenue.
Reputation management is something that people will call “ranking on your name on Google”. Some call it just SEO. Some people call it brand SERPs, but either way, it's when you go into Google and search for somebody's name, ideally your name, and you dominate those search results.
Ranking on a name refers to optimizing online content to appear prominently and consistently in search engine results when someone searches for a specific name. This name could be yours, someone else's, or even a brand name.
What drives what shows up on Google?
Why is a post on X displayed in a Google Search?
Why is Instagram showing up ahead of Facebook?
What is it that drives what shows up?
Google's whole search infrastructure is based on a knowledge graph, an extensive database of all these objects. When you Google things, it's algorithmically driven by the information it finds on the internet.
When you achieve a high ranking on a name, your content is displayed near the top of the search results page, ideally in the first few positions. This visibility is crucial because people often turn to search engines like Google to gather information about individuals or brands. By ranking prominently on a name, you can control the narrative surrounding that person or brand and shape the first impression of search engine users when they encounter the search results.
Ranking on a name involves improving your content's relevance, authority, and visibility. This can include creating online profiles, optimizing content with relevant keywords, generating backlinks from authoritative sources, and employing various strategies to enhance your online presence and reputation.
Successfully doing so would enhance your personal brand and protect your reputation, as well as attract clients or partners. Ranking on a name is so powerful that it can even be used to expose ill-meaning competitors or other people who have wronged you.
In this chapter, we will walk you through the essential steps to help you rank on your own or someone else’s name, arming you with the tools to effectively manage and control your online presence.
Safeguarding Your Brand@@IMG94@@
Brand protection is often the primary motivation behind achieving higher search rankings. When searching for your own name, such as "Dennis Yu," it becomes essential to have control over the content that appears.
Effective Networking and Leveraging Social Media for SEO
Effective networking and leveraging social media for SEO are crucial strategies in today's digital landscape. Networking involves building meaningful connections with individuals and businesses within your industry. You can tap into a vast pool of opportunities by establishing relationships with key influencers, professionals, and potential clients, including link-building collaborations and guest blogging.
Additionally, leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn allows you to expand your online presence, engage with your target audience, and drive traffic to your website. So when you create content on social, it naturally will rank high because they're massive networks with high domain ranking (DR). For example, LinkedIn has a DR of 98, and Facebook has a 100.
Consider that people consume content in diverse ways. Some prefer videos, others gravitate towards succinct tweets, and a segment values personal interactions. With this in mind, shouldn't we agree that repurposing our expertise across various platforms is essential? It's not about favoring one channel over another but adapting your content to reach wider audiences.
Sharing valuable content, utilizing relevant keywords and hashtags, and actively participating in discussions and communities can significantly enhance your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
By combining effective networking with social media strategies, you can strengthen your online visibility, increase brand authority, and ultimately boost your website's ranking in search engine results pages.
Maximizing Client Acquisition: Showcasing Successful Training and Delivery Content
If I aim to acquire a potential client, I employ a similar strategy to what I previously explained. However, this time, I would focus on showcasing training and delivering content that demonstrates our successful outcomes.
Let's say, for example, I've established a connection with Mari Smith and received excellent feedback on a course we collaborated on.
I would extract snippets from the video to leverage this opportunity, turning them into social media content. Additionally, I could use tools like Descript to transcribe the video and create articles or blog posts.
Another approach would be to incorporate Mari's insights into our best-selling book on Amazon, specifically addressing Facebook advertisers transitioning to TikTok.
By recording a 15-minute discussion with her on this topic, we can further promote her involvement and subsequently share it with our clients and her followers.
This symbiotic relationship between SEO and social media allows us to tap into Mari's existing audience and attract them to our offerings.
This strategy combines social media, SEO, and PR to create a powerful marketing approach.
Each component is a signal or "edge" that strengthens our connection with social networks and search engines.
Therefore, exploring similar partnerships and connections with other industry influencers, such as Ryan Dice or Grant Cardone, is crucial to expand our reach and establish valuable collaborations.
So that's how you build people into clients and partners. You co-create enough content with them, showing the results and the feedback from people who have taken the course.
Safeguarding Online Reputation: Understanding the Impact of Negative SEO
Negative SEO represents the darker side of online reputation management. Sometimes, addressing wrongdoing, such as a betrayal by a trusted business partner, is necessary.
For instance, I previously built a successful seven-figure agency catering to chiropractors, with a partner, Tristan Parmley, who later betrayed me. To document the truth, I wrote a detailed account of his actions, labeling him as a ‘thief’ marketing officer. This content now ranks highly in search results under his name, making it difficult for him to erase unless he rectifies the situation.
To optimize the visibility of this content, I carefully constructed the title, placing the most impactful keywords at the beginning. Additionally, I emphasized the importance of crafting a catchy title that entices click-through rates, just as one would write compelling email subject lines. In this case, the title "Thief Marketing Officer" captures attention and raises curiosity about the role of a thief marketing officer and what it entails.
This page has garnered significant attention, with 17 backlinks pointing to it. These backlinks come from various sources, including related articles and negative reviews. Each link serves as a conduit for passing authority and visibility, amplifying the impact of the content.
While negative SEO is controversial, it underscores the potential consequences of unethical actions. It is crucial to exercise caution and ethical judgment when dealing with such strategies, as they can have far-reaching implications for both parties.
Curating Search Results@@IMG95@@
Despite the existence of others sharing the same name, the majority of search results for "Dennis Yu", for example, the images to the right, are associated with me, even though there are 38 million search results. Anything over a million search results indicates that the name is highly competitive.
Protecting your name by dominating the first page of search results makes it challenging for negative reviews or unfavorable content to gain visibility – because they have to get past all the good results you have.
Proactive measures are vital even in the absence of attacks, as a strong defense is the best offense.
Exploring Secondary Searches and Maximizing Opportunities
Understanding related searches and secondary keywords can significantly improve your search rankings. Analyzing the “Related searches” people search for when looking up your name and "People Also Ask”, such as net worth, Blitzmetrics, or office hours, provides insights into optimizing your content.
These related searches and secondary keywords complement each other, paving the way for higher visibility and ranking in major searches.
Depersonalized Web Search: PWS=0
Have you ever wondered why adding "&pws=0" to the URL of your search query might be beneficial? (Figure 6)
For instance, consider Howard Globus, who has approximately 4 million search results associated with his name. Upon conducting a standard search, we observe the usual LinkedIn profile, website, Amazon listings, and X account—typical outcomes for a public figure.
However, by introducing an additional parameter—PWS equals zero—the search results page undergoes a remarkable transformation. Suddenly, there are 1400 new results.
But what does PWS=0 signify? It simply indicates that personalized web search is turned off. When logged into Google, search results are tailored to your browsing history, preferences, and behavior.
Each user receives a unique set of results based on their profile. This personalized approach aims to provide a more relevant and customized search experience.
However, this personalization can lead to biased results, especially for professionals engaged in search engine optimization (SEO) or digital marketing.
If you frequently visit specific websites or access certain URLs, you may unknowingly deceive yourself into believing that your website ranks higher than it actually does. Consequently, it becomes essential to obtain unbiased and authentic search results.
By appending "&pws=0" to the URL of the Google page of your search query, you disable personalized web search, enabling you to witness the actual and unaltered search results.
This is particularly useful when conducting SEO analyses or evaluating your clients' rankings. It eliminates the influence of personalization and provides a more objective perspective.
It’s important to stay on top of the ever-evolving world of SEO and to recognize biases from personalized searches. Using the "PWS=0" technique allows you to see unfiltered search results and make decisions based on unbiased information.
Understanding Competition with Phrase Match and Title Searches
Conducting a search with quotes around your name, using phrase match, allows for a more targeted examination of search results. This technique narrows down the number of websites that mention your name in the page title, revealing the level of competition. So, when I did that for my name, “Dennis Yu,” the search results were reduced from 38 million to only 3,000.
By comparing the results with and without quotes, you can gauge your visibility and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Long-Tail Keywords for Personal Branding
If your name needs to be ranked as desired, it's time to explore the potential of long-tail keywords. Consider terms like "Dennis and Jeremy Duchenny" or "Dennis Yu and LinkedIn strategy." Long tail keywords combine a person's name with a specific topic, making them an effective way to boost your search ranking. The key is creating co-created content and collaborating with others to amplify your online presence.
Once you've identified your long tail keyword strategy, it's crucial to implement it through various content channels. You may launch a podcast, secure speaking engagements, conduct interviews, or engage actively on platforms like X and LinkedIn.
By diversifying your content approach, you can maximize your reach and establish a strong online presence.
Site Links and Domain Authority
A strong online presence often results in multiple site links displayed on search engine result pages (SERPs). While Google determines the number of site links, having more trust and higher domain authority increases the likelihood of having additional site links. This allows users to navigate directly to specific sections of your website, enhancing the user experience.
Exploring Second-Page Results and Competitive Insights
A closer look at the second page of search results reveals interesting information. Advertisements by software companies like WordStream, and by Fiverr targeting your name indicate that you have established a notable presence. Monitoring these ads can provide valuable insights into competitors' strategies and industry dynamics (Figure 8).
Strategic Placement and Registering Profiles
Strategic placement of profiles on various platforms outside the primary search results is beneficial. Platforms like Muck Rack and other people's blogs offer opportunities to register profiles and contribute relevant content.
It's worth noting that using a subfolder instead of a subdomain yields better search visibility and ranking results. For instance, "fiverr.com/learn" is more advantageous than "learn.fiverr.com" for better search rankings.
Also, you can solidify your online reputation by claiming your profiles and registering on various social networks like Crunchbase, Morning DOH, and X.
Outreach!
Jeff Wiener, the CEO of LinkedIn, said that part of his goal was to consistently rank on people's names because that's key for business search engines.
Building connections and networking is essential for reputation building and career growth. When approaching someone you want to connect with, it's important to follow a professional and thoughtful approach.
Instead of immediately reaching out for a chat, start by engaging with their content, liking posts, and gradually leaving thoughtful comments about the topic.
Stalking, in this context, means engaging with the person's online presence across different channels. Following this systematic approach, we can gradually build rapport and establish a meaningful connection over time. Building relationships should be done step by step, like courting someone you want to marry. Rushing the process may come across as overeager or intrusive.
To enhance networking efforts, consider utilizing social media platforms and SEO strategies. You can effectively target their audience by strategically boosting content related to your connections, such as podcast episodes or collaborative posts. This technique involves running ads for a dollar a day, specifically targeting the desired audience and optimizing the ad copy to generate interest.
Additionally, identifying and leveraging mutual connections can be a powerful way to establish connections. By analyzing the connections of the person you want to reach and finding individuals with overlapping networks, you can make meaningful connections through mutual connections.
So under 'People also viewed', on the right side of the screen, let’s say you know Michael Stelzner and have made some content with him, and he has made some content with Mari Smith.
When I identify that Michael Stelzner is a mutual connection for Mari Smith and me, and he has made content with both of us, I will tweet commenting on the content that Michael and I made together and boost the post for a dollar a day, targeting Mari Smith’s audience.
So, in addition to sharing valuable content, I am building influence on her huge derived audience through the mutual connection; Michael Stelzner is the gatekeeper in this case.
It's worth noting that social media activities, such as tweeting and engaging with content, can also impact your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. In fact, SEO is the result of using social media to rank on Google.
Recently, I excitedly shared a tweet announcing my upcoming speaking engagement at a conference in Pakistan, where I'll be addressing an audience of 50,000 people. This opportunity presents an excellent opportunity to discuss an interesting aspect demonstrating the interconnectedness of social media and search engine optimization (SEO).
Although the tweet itself serves as a social media update, it holds the potential to generate SEO benefits. Firstly, the tweet may appear in search engine results, especially in carousel formats, increasing its visibility to a broader audience. However, the real SEO power lies in the engagement and subsequent content generated by interested parties.
When valuable content is shared, people often link to it or even write blog posts about it, contributing to its wider reach and authority. These links serve as endorsements and further establish the content's credibility. For example, an article I published received numerous backlinks, some from reputable sources.
It's important to note that not all backlinks hold the same weight. Some auto-generated websites may scrape content without contributing substantial value. However, authentic engagement and quality links from reputable sources contribute significantly to SEO rankings. Creating exceptional content that resonates with readers increases the likelihood of acquiring meaningful backlinks.
Additionally, leveraging social media platforms like Facebook can provide PR power and networking opportunities. By sharing engaging content related to industry topics, you can attract attention from industry influencers and thought leaders. This engagement can lead to meaningful connections, collaboration opportunities, and increased visibility within your field.
Let’s say that I tweet announcing my upcoming speaking engagement at a conference in a particular location, where I'll be addressing an audience of 50,000 people.
Although the tweet itself serves as a social media update, it holds the potential to generate SEO benefits. Firstly, the tweet may appear in search engine results, especially in carousel formats, increasing its visibility to a broader audience. However, the real SEO power lies in the engagement and subsequent content generated by interested parties.
When valuable content is shared, people often link to it or even write blog posts about it, contributing to its wider reach and authority. These links serve as endorsements and further establish the content's credibility. For example, an article I published received numerous backlinks, some from reputable sources.
It's important to note that not all backlinks hold the same weight. Some auto-generated websites may scrape content without contributing substantial value. However, authentic engagement and quality links from reputable sources contribute significantly to SEO rankings. Creating exceptional content that resonates with readers increases the likelihood of acquiring meaningful backlinks.
Additionally, leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook can provide PR power and networking opportunities. By sharing engaging content related to industry topics, you can attract attention from industry influencers and thought leaders. This engagement can lead to meaningful connections, collaboration opportunities, and increased visibility within your field.
Optimize
Optimization is looking at where you have the most power stored inside your personal brand manager (an inventory of all your content) and amplifying those. Note the steps highlighted below for optimization. So the personal brand manager is your inventory of where you will put all these assets and just re-amplify and get way more power.
There are different ways of amplification. It's not only ads but also SEO is a kind of amplification.
In digital marketing, there is no penalty for taking many shots on goal. We learn quickly and iterate constantly. We expect failure 90% of the time.
“I tried it, and it didn’t work” is one of the most bone-headed things we hear from clients and wannabe marketers — one shot, and they’re done.
Make another ad, try another subject line, choose another set of keywords, adjust your budget, tweak the landing page, and so forth. Via many cycles of experimentation, we’ll certainly find some winners.
Efficiently go through this testing cycle via a framework called #MAA (Metrics > Analysis > Action)
In Optimization, you’re using data (Metrics) to answer these questions (Analysis) and take the required Action:
- How are my different marketing channels performing relative to one another, and where am I bleeding?
- What is the right amount of effort and spend to place on pay-per-click, email marketing, Search Engine Optimization, offline campaigns, and social media?
- How much provable profit, Return on Investment, and margin are being generated by each of my marketing campaigns?
- Based on the data, what are the top 10 specific things that my organization can do to improve the metrics?
Optimization cannot happen without the right data. To find the right data, first, you need to know your business marketing goals.
This means the (1) desired action and (2) its value to the businesses.
These two pieces of information combined will enable you to align optimization efforts with your business's goals.
Deciphering Google's Search Signals
Research shows that consumers believe that whoever’s at the top of the search result, even if it’s an ad, is also whoever is the best in the area or the best in the industry. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s just what consumers assume.
So how do you reach the top?
To rank up on Google, you need to match the signals that Google is looking for. So what are the signals that Google’s looking for?
1. Reviews:
It's not only the quantity of reviews that counts; what truly matters most is your review velocity. This means that Google gives higher priority to newer reviews from the past weeks and months, rather than older ones from years ago.
2. Keywords and Your Google My Business Profile:
Keywords play a vital role in your Google My Business profile's visibility and ranking. The specific keywords used in your business description, reviews, and posts can signal to Google the relevance of your business to user queries.
By strategically incorporating relevant keywords, you can enhance your profile's chances of appearing prominently in search results and attracting potential customers.
The best way to find out how we can rank is to look at who the other folks are in your industry. Because if Google’s already ranking them, then we can reverse engineer what’s working for them.
3. Configured Local Service Ads (LSA):
We just have to upload our licenses and some other necessary documents, such as insurance, to verify the legitimacy of our business. This ensures that when customers search for pest control services, our business will appear with the Google screened or Google guaranteed badge.
Your ads will appear as Google-screened sponsored, but people don’t know those are ads. Naturally, it’s going to pull most of the clicks just because they’re at the top, and its pictures are probably going to get 50 to 70% of all the clicks. So it’s a pay-to-play game, easy to set up.
And so this is the game where your SEO, reviews, your social, and links are coming in.
What happens when you have bad SEO, how will that affect your ads?
Ads are a great way to get traffic immediately as SEO takes time. It’s like buying your vegetables at Whole Foods versus planting them in the garden. And there are pros and cons to both of them. Think of pain for the media as like renting a car.
You can rent the car, try the car, and see whether you like it. And then if you like it, buy it. So if you have a number of keywords that you want to go after, they may or may not be good keywords and you might decide that you want to do SEO for them when they’re not even valuable keywords.
You can rent the keywords by paying Google for them. Once you decide it’s good, then start creating the content, and start building the links. Then you know that it's going to work because you’re able to sample the keywords. So maybe it’d be a lot of effort to get to the first page, but you’re able to buy it temporarily.
And then maybe you continue to buy it but think of it as buying versus owning. Does that make sense? You could rent the house, but eventually, you want to buy the house.
Once you know which keyword is good, then you own that keyword. So rent a bunch like a Ford, Chevy, or Toyota, and rent each of the cars for three or four days. See which ones you like and then buy the one you like, don’t just buy it before you get to try it first.
4. Content:
When you're viewing the regular search results, which typically include the page title and description, consider adding additional elements specific to your business. For instance, if you're in the pest control industry, you could include ads like 'Get Started with Pest Solutions' or 'Protect Your Home Today.'
You can also add location, snippets, and review snippets.
For businesses like restaurant owners, there’s an option to display their menus and provide various categorized information related to their offerings.
This is how search has evolved over the past few years: it's no longer just about web pages; it's about incorporating all these additional elements to better serve your audience.
5. Have People Link to Your Site:
Anytime someone links to your website, that’s passing some juice. Now you can be linking from a site that has no power or link from a site that has a lot of power. Anything above 60 is really powerful.
So the more links you have, generally, the more SEO juice you’re flowing to yourself.
6. Articles:
So what do we consider a great article?
- It should have a great title.
- It should not result from plagiarism or fake content generated by AI.
- It should tell an interesting story that makes people want to read.
- It should be useful and not just jammed with keywords.
- It should include a picture or two, and possibly a video, to add more flavor, as Google prefers a mix of results.
So typically they want to show news, videos, and maps and they’re showing a whole range of different sorts of results.
- Choose Categories and Tags because that will help us rank.
- Don’t just repurpose stuff.
- Do not make ridiculous promises.
Google will review these articles to see if they are generating traffic and enhancing the user experience.
What happens if people click back to the search results?
If people return to the search results after clicking on an article, this signals to Google that the article may not be providing a good user experience.
7. Content Repurposing:
Turn your videos into a different form of content such as articles, snippets and show notes.
8. Boost Post via Dollar a Day Strategy:
What is the thing that is working best for you now? What is already driving leads and sales? Get more of that.
Build out all the properties and start dollar-a-day ads in your one-minute videos.
9. Strong Branding and Frequent Branded Searches:
Strong branding and frequent branded searches are essential Google signals that can significantly impact your online presence. A well-established and recognizable brand not only builds trust with users but also signals to Google that your business is reputable and relevant.
Moreover, a high volume of branded searches for your business name indicates user engagement and interest, further boosting your search visibility and authority in Google's eyes.
It's a fact that brand presence holds significant sway in local rankings and Local Service Ads (LSAs).
What makes it even more intriguing is the distinct consequences faced by large and small businesses in the realm of algorithmic penalties. The repercussions of missed calls and negative reviews vary noticeably.
Take, for instance, the resilience of a major brand, which tends to endure better through a 61-day demerit period for missed calls. Similarly, a negative review can cast a 91-day shadow within the algorithm, yet its impact diverges based on the size of the review base. This dynamic underscores the pivotal role of brand strength in influencing outcomes.
Brady Sticker’s Situation
If you search for Brady Sticker on Google, you will get stickers for Tom Brady and the Brady company that makes the labels. It’s not until you scroll further down the search results that you find a link to his site. Even though he owns bradysticker.com, he doesn’t rank on his name, and it’s easy to see what is happening.
Brady’s site has no links to it or votes for Google to see. Check out the zeros in the screenshot below.
Brady has tons of YouTube videos, social media videos, and a book, but he’s not repurposing any of his content to be seen by Google. He also has no traffic going to his personal brand site. The good news is that we can easily fix these things by running Dollar-a-Day ads from multiple places.
At least 40 people are searching for “Brady Sticker” every month. It has a Keyword Difficulty of 1 out of 100, which means a keyword with low competition. By getting his entities in order through Digital Plumbing, repurposing his content to many places, linking it all together (from high authority and relevant sites), and running Dollar-a-Day campaigns, we expect Brady will dominate on his name after a few weeks. And hopefully, after a few months, Brady can trigger his knowledge panel on Google.
Put this chapter to work
Want to know exactly where your pest control company stands? Get your free marketing audit — we score what’s already public about you and show you the gaps before you spend a dollar.
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