If you have a CEO whose name is generating negative search results, those search results can lead to negative press about not only your CEO, but about your company as a whole. Luckily, there are many things that you can do to ensure that the CEO name gets linked with better search engine results:

1. Talk to your CEO frankly and develop a way to create a better online reputation for your CEO. You will need your CEO’s approval and cooperation to ensure that your CEO’s name gets better search engine results and more positive comments online.
2. Have your CEO develop a personal web page, a MySpace page, and a blog. If your CEO is very well-known, though, and easily associated with your company, make sure that blogs, MySpace pages, and Facebook pages are positive and professional, especially if they mention your company name. Monitor your CEO’s name yourself to ensure that all pages that mention your CEO name reflect your company and your CEO in a positive light.
3. Have your CEO develop professional business profiles on social networks such as LinkedIn, Flickr, Digg, YouTube, and others.
4. Have your CEO set up simple one-page web sites on domains with their names. For example, your CEO should buy out all domains that use their name. This prevents other people from grabbing the domains and making use of them for negative purposes. It also ensures that your CEO name gets very positive search engine results. If your CEO’s name is John Smith, for example, he should have simple and professional sites on johnsmith.com, johnsmith.net, and johnsmith.org. If the actual name is already registered, have your CEO take the closest domain available – john-smith.com, for example.
5. Find positive comments, sites, and blog articles about your CEO and link to them through the company web page, or through your CEO’s blog or web sites in order to get more links to that content and therefore to push that content higher in search engine results. Try adding social bookmarks to anything that presents your CEO positively and accurately.
6. If your CEO has been involved in a criminal case or a serious problem that is resulting in terrible search engine results, seek professional help. A reputation management service can put you in touch with professionals who know exactly how to analyze an online reputation and fix it as quickly as possible. If your CEO’s reputation is costing your business money, you need to act quickly. Professional reputation management services can stem the tide of negative press before it gets out of hand.

Keep in mind that whatever gets put online tends to say around forever, thanks to archives and sites that reproduce content. Therefore, if your CEO’s name is getting negative results on search engine results now, those negative comments that associate your CEO with your company will remain around forever. Taking proactive steps will ultimately benefit you and your company, no matter where your CEO eventually ends up.

Your company name is a key branding tool. In fact, your company name is much more than just a name. It impacts how customers see you and hopefully allows potential customers and current clients recognize your business. In fact, company names are so crucial that they are closely protected by trademark and intellectual property laws. When Internet users write negative comments about your company or company name, your business may suffer in many ways. When search engine results for your company name generate many less-than-positive results, your company may have several things to fear:

1. Lost profits. If potential customers go online to research your company and find a lot of complaints from former customers or employees or many negative reviews, they are unlikely to do business with your company. This means that these customers will be taking their money to competitors and you will be losing profits.
2. Lost branding opportunities. You likely spend considerable time, effort, and money on a branding strategy. Even if your business does not have an official strategy, you likely spend effort and time trying to provide great service or great products to customers. You likely also try to develop a good presence online through a website and a blog, at least. When someone takes your company name and attaches it to accusations or negative comments, all your branding and marketing efforts are compromised, because customers suddenly have a negative view of your business in direct contrast with your claims.
3. Name mix-ups and a new brand identity. Some online critics take a company name and make a funny pun with it. If your company name is “Jane Doe Books,” for example, and a disgruntled customer is writing about your business, he or she may describe a bad customer service experience and then refer to your business as “Jane Doe Blockheads.” Anyone reading that who finds it funny will inevitably remember that name. At that point, all your careful marketing and advertising will be for naught, because the customer will remember your “new” name – and of course, that customer is not likely to want to do business with “blockheads.”
4. Lost authority and trustworthiness. In order to do business, customers must trust you and see you as an authority in your business. It is hard to seem credible when your business is linked to “blockheads” and difficult to seem credible when customers describe your business as a scam. If negative comments online depict your business and not credible and not authoritative, you will have a hard time reclaiming customer trust. You will lose some customers and potential customers forever, because they will never be able to view your business the same way again.

All of these result can affect not only your bottom line but even the ability of your business to stay open. Your company name is a valuable asset – if it is being tarnished online, take action right away. If you need help, contact a reputation management professional for help.