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Simon Cowell of American Idol Using SEO for Reputation Management

August 14, 2010 by Pablo Palatnik

In the past 2/3 years plus, online reputation management has been included in many packages for search engine optimization and online marketing agencies. Especially with the rise of social media, celebrities as well as companies need reputation management more than ever as stories are spreading faster than ever in history and a negative story can get around faster than you can say ‘wait.’

The NyDailyNews.com reports that ex American Idol Simon Cowell who is also involved in working on other projects, has hired a search engine optimization company to ensure that his Google searches are top-heavy with positive stories.

“Meanwhile, insiders say that online critics of Cowell can have an incredibly hard time finding their work on the Web. Or worse.

For instance, one insider tells us the story of Hans Ebert, a former executive for Universal Music and EMI in Asia and a blogger who frequently writes about music on the Web.

On Aug. 5, Ebert posted an essay titled “Why ‘American Idol’ Is Better Off Without Simon Cowell,” which asserted that Cowell is “the Sarah Palin of music,” that the “Simon Cowell brand is seen as something horribly uncool” in the U.K. And that his “choices appeal to the lowest common denominator.”

A source close to the situation tells us that after posting his blog, Ebert discovered that it was “de-activated” by the host of his blog, WordPress, because it had violated the “Terms of Condition.”

After a 12 hour “hiatus,” the source says the blog was reinstated, and after Ebert did some investigating, the trail led to “an SEO company out of Bangalore, who is hired by a company based out of London to ‘monitor’ news of a few ‘name personalities.’”

Celebrities are jumping more and more into online reputation management. How is your name/brand/business reputation online? What are you doing to improve its outlook?

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