Digital online marketing services in the Philippines have progressed rapidly over the years. Many companies and brands avail online digital marketing services from time to time to help in their online business campaigns. Together with the rapid growth of online marketing grows Online Reputation Management (ORM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well. ORM and SEO are the bread and butter of online marketing.

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ORM and SEO may be different, but many companies, brands, and netizens do not know the difference between the two. Some people tend to mix these two together sometimes. Some businesses or brands have it worst when they request some digital online marketing services in the Philippines about helping them with their ORM even if they mean SEO. With this confusion, there is perhaps a need to compare and contrast ORM and SEO.

In comparing and contrasting both SEO and ORM, there are five useful points to discuss. These five points are the definition, scope, purpose, system, and benefits of both SEO and ORM.

  • The definition. The definition of the process should always be first to discuss to make the nature of SEO and ORM clearer. Online Reputation Management (ORM) refers to influencing the online reputation of a certain individual or group. The Search Engine Optimization (SEO), on the other hand, is a technique used for ORM. Now, it is evident. The ORM is the actual process while the SEO is somewhat a form of a tool to for doing that particular process.
  • The scope. SEO focuses on one individual or group. All the efforts done for SEO will solely be for the benefit of that one individual or group. ORM, on the other hand, supports many individuals or groups. It does not concern only one entity to create a reputational effect in a certain online territory. SEO will always mean one website, then many search terms. For ORM, there will always be many websites, then fewer branded search terms.
  • The purpose. The primary purpose of SEO is to make the individual or the group visible online and for these entities to be searchable by people. To do that, SEO pushes that one online website up by using many search terms. ORM does exactly the opposite. ORM’s purpose is to create a positive image of a certain individual or group. To do that, ORM tags the brand or the name of that individual or group to many websites by posting good contents there. That is why ORM, unlike SEO, strives hard to make those positive contents from multiple websites visible instead of the individual or group so that it would reflect a good image.
  • The actual system of both processes. SEO uses on-site and off-site optimization, content writing with keywords, and link-building in order to achieve that purpose stated in number 3 above. ORM uses SEO as one of its tools. Other than that, ORM strives hard to establish trust, loyalty, and authority over various networks to push negative entries down under the surface. ORM also perseveres into reaching entities that hold influential websites and blogs in order to validate its client’s reputation through those influential websites and blogs.
  • The benefits of SEO and ORM. In a bigger picture, the benefits of both SEO and ORM is the same. Through these two process, they make the business of their client prosper. If we zoom into the specifics, SEO will be able to give their clients a huge volume of website traffic. Many people will know the existence of their clients. ORM, on the other hand, is a long-term process and so it has a long-term effect as well. Their client will be able to build a good image in a given online territory. Many people or companies will then trust the ORM’s clients since they have a good image.
  • The cons of SEO and ORM. In every campaign, there will always be negative points. For Online Reputation Management, one is the redundancy or the overload of work in order to progress the campaign. Another is the effect of overloading positive campaigns for a certain brand. Overloading positive campaigns sometimes makes the image of the company fake and not trustworthy to customers anymore. For SEO, it is the techniques used for it. Many techniques such as the Grey Hat Method and the Black Hat Method do not anymore follow proper and ethical conducts.
  • SEO and ORM on Social Media. Social Media is the greatest breakthrough of the 21st century. It is very powerful in terms of influencing the global market. Online Reputation Management uses the Social Media as one of its primary benchmark in building a positive image. The number of shares and comments are very important to ORM. Search Engine Optimization, on the other hand, does not have too many uses for Social Media other than posting links and working on referrals. ORM, unlike SEO, considers Social Media Management a crucial part of its process.
  • SEO clients against ORM clients. Who are those who use SEO or ORM? SEO clients are usually companies and business big or small who wants to maintain a presence online. ORM clients, on the other hand, can be just an individual or a business who wants to clean their names up and create a desirable image online in any way possible.

Knowing the differences between Online Reputation Management and Search Engine Optimization is very important. That is so because you might need these processes in the future for you or your company. When this time comes, it is crucial that you avail the correct process that you need.

Knowing all the information above is necessary, but what is more important is for you or your company to define what your need is. Go for ORM if you or your company need to project a positive image to the online market and to gain the trust your target customers. Somehow, if you or your company needs only the online visibility every time people searches for a particular topic in search engines, go for SEO. Then, you will be good to go!

Author Bio: Jennevie Corre is a Sr. Content Writer and Researcher at Optimind Technology Solutions, a web design and SEO company in the Philippines.