If you are a true-blooded online user, you certainly know that Google is not the only search engine in the interconnected universe of the world wide web. If you have a not-so-good reputation in Google, then most probably, you have the same scenario on Yahoo, MSN, or on the other lesser known yet equally relevant search engines.

It is true that Google is the leader and to-go-to search engine and whatever kind of exposure you have is a big deal. However, the following are the reasons why you should not pour your heart out completely to Google:

• Not all users turn to Google for everything. Online users have different tastes when it comes to using search engines, they may want to browse on a global level, which Google caters to the most, or on localized level, which where the other search engines come in.
• A good number of countries have their own search engines which feature local websites. This is in lieu of the first point where other countries are becoming more aware of the logic that who would better let your countrymen know of what’s happening in your region than those who are actually living in it?
• A considerable number of websites that may appeal to your interest are not in Google. As gigantic as it is and as thousands of websites are being born every single day, Google cannot humanely and virtually track and index them at the same time and so these unknown sites creep in to other search engines first before making a grand entrance at Google.
• Other sites have different criteria when it to judging site relevance in comparison to Google. Only the Google people know how their algorithm works and they a super-secret set of guidelines on how to judge a website it is only logical to think that there are sites that might might not or take a longer time to get into it’s search results.

You may ask, so what if you have a bad reputation online? It’s just on the internet, right? No one would give a dime.

At face value, that might be the case, but in reality, what happens in the virtual world impacts the real world that one lives in. Online browsers heavily take into consideration what they read online and consider the feedback when judging a product, service, or a person. Even as we are ushering into web 3.0, many are still underestimating what online reputation can do.

You will know that you have a bad online reputation when after a simple search on any search engine returns with false and/or antagonistic content about you. One’s first instinct is to trace who did it, but chances of them removing it is very unlikely and the next logical and sensible step is to have it removed.

However, one may ask? Why remove it? It wouldn’t matter.right? O would it..

Below are negative effects of a bad online reputation:

1. Credibility will be on the downfall – you or you business’ spotless record will be diminished and all serious businesses know that credibility is a determining factor in getting customers. You will lose the trust that you have built so hard for a long time in an instant. Trust is one of the most precious thing that customers value and once they even a single thing that is out of place, they will shift their attention to the other side.
2. Decline in sales – once the credibility is gone, rest assured that patronizers will be extra hesitant to purchase and that is always bad news. Lost of revenue is inevitable and lost of profit spells a slide downhill for the business.

Belittling bad reputation might just be one of the things that you will regret.