Heidi Sturrock shares how a costly mistake became a competitive advantage
Heidi Sturrock shares how a broad match mistake got sales speaking with a competitor's angry customers leading to an unexpected acquisition strategy.
Topic: Crisis management
The URL mistake that killed Black Friday ft Nick Handley
One early-career PPC mistake nearly took campaigns offline on Black Friday, but it became a defining lesson in staying calm, & owning errors.
Dale Olorenshaw speaks about a £15,000 landing page error
A costly landing-page mistake taught PPC expert Dale Olorenshaw the power of honesty, process, and calm leadership when things go wrong.
Ayisha Yousef talks turning Black Friday fails into lessons
Ayisha Yousef shares how a Black Friday blunder became a masterclass in leadership, accountability, and smarter campaign management.
‘Mistakes make you stronger’: PPC lessons from Inderpaul Rai
Inderpaul Rai reveals how blowing a client’s yearly budget in a week shaped his views on leadership, team dynamics, and PPC automation.
The AI-driven reputation repair toolkit: What’s working in 2025
AI is driving smarter, faster, and more ethical reputation repair. Discover the tools helping brands protect and rebuild their image online.
AI and online reputation: How to stay in control
Bad reviews? Negative press? AI is rewriting the rules of reputation management. Make sure your brand is keeping up.
How to deal with SEO emergencies
From rankings drops to site issues, learn which SEO problems require urgent action and how to prioritize your efforts effectively.
How Google ending continuous scroll could impact ORM
Here's how individuals and brands can adjust online reputation management (ORM) strategies to adapt to a post-continuous scroll world.
How to address the top reputation issues impacting brands today
Learn why traditional SEO tactics fail in modern reputation management and how to address brand perception and crisis communication issues.
SearchBot: Executive/C-suite
I’ve been “pre-prompted” as a senior exec (CEO/CFO/COO/CMO, etc.) expert with decades of experience launching, growing, and managing companies of all sizes. I advise founders, CEOs, and teams on how to engage with C-suite and leadership roles and can provide guidance, mentorship, and feedback from that perspective. If you want to see my full context […]
How to use PPC to act on (or respond to) unplanned publicity
A well-placed PPC ad gives you the opportunity to respond directly to good and bad publicity. Here’s what you need to know.
A 3-phased approach to proactive online reputation management
It's better to take steps to build a better online reputation now instead of waiting for a crisis to blow up your business. Here’s how.
An old-fashioned retailer’s modern marketing approach
The Vermont Country Store revamped its business and kept employees safe with these three initiatives.
Halting campaigns shouldn’t be your only brand safety precaution
After the storming of the Capitol, some brands are going dark with their social media ads, but a rapid response workflow and diversifying channels can help them continue to drive business.
It’s time for Plan C: Adjusting your marketing budgets in crisis times
The best disaster plan is one you make before disaster strikes, says Acoustic’s Michael Trapani.
Search marketers are volunteering services, support to help small businesses get through COVID-19
Consulting, web hosting, budget coaching — marketers are extending help to ease the strain on businesses.
SEOs talk pivoting and planning for a future after COVID-19
Hear what these veteran SEOs are doing to help clients adapt to business during and after the pandemic.
Google adds new SOS Alerts to search and Maps as part of its crisis response features
For search, the alerts will display at the top of results related to the incident or crisis location. In maps, there will be a tappable card with relevant details.
Apple CEO On Maps To Customers: “Extremely Sorry” & Try Google, Bing, MapQuest Or Others
Apple CEO Tim Cook has issued a letter apologizing for the current mediocrity of Apple Maps. The letter is striking in a couple of ways. First, it’s noteworthy for its direct admission that Apple Maps “fell short” and, second, for its recommendation that people try other, competing map apps or services such as Google, Bing, […]
Google Earth Shows Before & After Images Of Japan Earthquake And Tsunami
Google has captured a bunch of new satellite imagery that shows the devastation of the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. You can see those images in Picasa or on Google Earth with a KML file (Japan Earthquake and Tsunami). Separately Google has set up a “people finder” for those still missing in Japan. It […]
Bing Apologizes For Japan Quake Tweet
Bing has just apologized on Twitter for a tweet earlier today that many viewed as a way to gain exposure in the name of raising money for victim’s of Friday’s earthquake in Japan. The apology reads as follows: We apologize the tweet was negatively perceived. Intent was to provide an easy way for people to […]
Reputation Crisis: Where To Turn?
Here’s a rough paraphrase of a classic business cliche: “In business, at the end of the day, your reputation is all you’ve got.” Let’s say that after years of working hard to build a solid reputation, one day, a result surfaces in Google for a search for “your name” and one of the top results […]
Reputation Conversations Start With Search Results
This is the first article in which I will coin the phrase “Reputation Conversations”. Expect to hear me use this term further in this column, in future columns for Search Engine Land, and in other intellectual property that I generate. How’s that as an opening statement? It’s a great way for me to “practice what […]
Yahoo, You Flubbed News About The Future Of Delicious, Not The Press
Yesterday, like many news outlets, we saw a leaked slide that suggested that Yahoo might be closing Delicious. We didn’t publish until we had a statement from Yahoo. That statement clarified nothing. So it’s galling to have Yahoo today acting like the press got it all wrong. Yahoo “Disappointed” Over “Little Context” On the Delicious […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Search, PR & Reputation Management
Search, PR & Reputation Management Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 With the advent of social media and real-time search, it’s entirely possible for an individual or organization to wake up to horrifying negative search results that have completely changed from the previous day. Traditional SEO techniques used to help with reputation management issues, but […]
And Now, Google Itself Runs Oil Spill Ads
We’ve covered earlier how both BP and legal firms are advertising on Google. Now Google itself is targeting oil spill related terms to drive people to its “Crisis Response” page. A search for [gulf oil spill] returns an ad from Google that reads “Latest Oil Spill Update: Watch live video of the oil spill cleanup […]
What Toyota’s Crisis Can Teach Us About Managing PPC Campaigns
It is absolutely stunning that Toyota is embroiled in such a serious quality crisis. Toyota’s well-earned reputation for quality is legendary and is the envy of carmakers worldwide. Their quality control principles and methods are taught in leading business and engineering schools everywhere. In spite of all that, Toyota’s quality problems are now the subject […]
Highlighting An Old Strategy: AdWords As PR Spin Tool
Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab reminds people of an old PR strategy: buying AdWords to combat negative reporting in the press. The article highlights how a trade organization (the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council) combatted a negative story in the NY Times about over fishing. When people searched on selected keywords associated with the story, trade group’s AdWords campaign […]
Some Parallels Between Obama And Yahoo’s Carol Bartz
Both Barack Obama and incoming Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz are taking charge of their respective administrations at times of crisis: the US is in financial turmoil, must establish clear and coherent priorities, restore its credibility, and build new momentum diplomatically around the world. Yahoo, on a much smaller scale, is in a conceptually similar situation: […]