SERM
My day job recently introduced me to search engine reputation management (SERM). Let's say you're a muckity muck at a company. When you Google your company name, the first-page results include links to negative articles, blog posts, etc. So, how do you change this situation, so that people searching your company don't see the rough stuff? Why, practice deception, of course!
All you have to do is hire a firm to perform SERM for you. SERM tactics tweak the series of tubes, pushing down the negative links while drawing up more positive portrayals. In effect, SERM buries negative press. Done and done.
We at Banana Florist want people to like us. That's why we try to be likeable. We want people to volunteer their own effort and bandwidth to point us out to their friends. That's why we try to create products worth talking about. We want to have self-esteem. That's why we do estimable things.
Search engines were created to gauge perception, not manipulate it. Companies that engage in SERM will always be chasing, always finding themselves behind the 8 ball. It's incredible what people will do to maintain the status quo. They've got businesses to run; they don't have time to figure out who dislikes them; why they dislike them; and take the time to engage those people. Heaven forbid! The thing is, the more underhanded tactics you engage in to mask your detractors, the more those detractors will dislike you, the louder they will voice that dislike, and the more new detractors you'll have.
Perhaps we're naive, but we think being personable and unique represents a solid foundation, come what may on the search engines -- and come what may in life.