Brand Shadow – Online Surveillance and Reporting Reputation Monitoring and Management Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2006

Brand Shadow – Online Surveillance and Reporting

Reputation Monitoring and

Management

Search Engine StrategiesSan Jose2006

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Overview

• About iCrossing• What digital brand managers need to know

- The Good- The Bad - The Ugly

• The bounty on brand terms • How to get started and be proactive

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Founded 1998 by Jeffrey Herzog, CEO

Origin in SEO (natural search optimization) market before Google popularized it• Deep and proven experience in the fastest growing area of search: natural search• Proprietary tools and technologies that have been continually honed since inception

Largest Independent search marketing firm• 225 employees, 6 offices (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Scottsdale)

Industry leadership with leading brand client base• 25 of Fortune 500 are clients

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About iCrossing

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We represent a world-class search client base

16

Clients

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Brand Shadow – Online Surveillance and Reporting Tool

The iCrossing Approach:○ Technology: Crawler-based data aggregation○ Strategy: Human insight to interpret data and identify actionable tasks

Brand Shadow


What digital brand managers

need to know

Reputation Monitoring andManagement

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What digital brand managers need to know

Your Brand = Your Reputation

What is your reputation in the following channels?

Forums Blogs Websites Paid search Natural search Usenet Domains Etc.

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T H E G O O D

Positive online brand perceptions can be powerful tools.They can provide insight into:

○ What people don’t like and actually like about your products, brands, and services

○ What people want to see from new versions of your products and services○ How people are responding online to specific events or campaigns


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T H E B A D

Malicious attacks take on many forms:

○ Copyright and trademark infringement○ Negative or slanderous campaigns against the company, its brands, and its

products or services○ Unintentional negative publicity due to misperception or miscommunication○ Accidental or intentional leaking of secret or sensitive company information

and materials○ Unlawful use or distribution of products through unauthorized distribution

channels

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T H E U G L Y

People place trust in search engines

What an engine says about your brand has editorial credibility, like a newspaper

(Even though the “opinions” of major engines are automated)

Whether the info is true – or not


The bounty on brand terms and

domains

Reputation Monitoring andManagement

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The bounty on brand terms

There is a bounty on brand terms○ Search engines and affiliate programs provide incentive for third parties to capture

brand traffic○ Correct spellings○ Typos

○ 99% of brand marketers are unaware or indifferent, and have not properly protected their brand

○ So 99% of this valuable brand traffic is in the hands of third parties

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• Brand typojacking• Site scraping• Typo cranking• Content theft

Content scraped from search engine

Theme: “matrix capital bank”


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C A S E S T U D Y

Federal trademark case • Competitor’s site ranked highly for the client’s trademarked name in natural results

• Competitor abused trademarks (via engine scraping, framed cloaking, user agent cloaking, and domains)

• Client received major judgment, possession of all domains and websites


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Brand and typo domains are at risk• Domain-based search represents an

estimated 10-15% of the entire search market

Aggregators partner with search engines○ Search engines run text ads on domain networks (Adwords, Y! SMS)○ SE’s and domain owners split ad revenue


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“It’s a lot of money.”

- Dr. Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, on how much Google is earning from brand typo domains. Revenue Magazine, Jul/Aug 2006


How to get started in online

reputation monitoring

How to make sense of it all and respond proactively

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How to get startedT H E B A S I C S

1. Start by asking the right questions2. Brand terms are a great start3. Become aware of everything that’s out there4. Proactively manage the things you can control

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1. Start by asking the right questions

What are the most common typos of my

brand?

How is my brand appearing in the

SERP’s?

Are my typo domains registered? If so, who has

them?

Are my competitors appearing on my brand

term list?

Are there any negative results under my brand name in the SERP’s?

How big is my brand keyword

space?

Which sites rank for my brand terms and why?

Which tools should I use?

Which blogs, sites, and forums should I be monitoring?

Is there any buzz on my company at all – is it positive or

negative?

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2. Brand terms are a great start

“Brand typos now exceed correct brand spellings, and the marketers who understand this value the most are affiliates [and traffic aggregators]”.

Leann Prescott, Hitwise

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3. Become aware of everything that’s out there

Knowing what is being said is a major step in effectively protecting and managing your brand online.

- Forums- Blogs- Web sites- Paid search- Natural search- Usenet- Domains- Etc.

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4. Actively manage the things you can control

Things you can manage (although may not completely control):

• Know who is appearing on your brand terms and why• Have an SEO crack open a few competitor sites

• Maximize your visibility on the SERP for specifically targeted terms• Maximize in both paid and natural results

• Host valuable brand content on multiple domains- Don’t throw away campaign URL’s- Start now, avoid the sandbox

• Identify other internal business units that can assist with content and linking

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How to get startedT H E B A S I C S - D O M A I N S

4. Actively manage the things you can control

• Research all variations of your brand terms○ Wordtracker, Inventory Suggestion Tool, log files

• Compare terms against .com domains in whois• Acquire domains

○ Register all available (it’s only $8 a year!)○ Buy from the registrant or on the secondary market○ UDRP challenge


Rob Garner l Senior Strategic PlannerSenior Strategic PlanneriCrossing, Dallas, [email protected]

Thank you.

Documents

Brand Shadow – Online Surveillance and Reporting Reputation Monitoring and Management Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2006