Vetting prospective staff made harder as SEO company helps job seekers bury unfavourable online mentions

Skills shortage-hit employers looking to discover hidden problems with a prospective worker through the good old Google search might find the job a bit tougher thanks to a Brisbane-based search engine optimisation company that is specialising in helping job seekers bury unfavourable online references.

Dan Petrovic, director and owner of the Brisbane-based Dejan SEO, says online reputation management is “almost like removing a tattoo.”

While the type of clients vary – from company directors, those in the corporate sector and even parents trying to get their children into prestige schools – Petrovic says they share a desire to digitally distance themselves from embarrassing or regretful events.

Petrovic says while Dejan SEO doesn’t remove Google references altogether, it can help improve somebody’s online profile by “promoting what you want people to hear about, and pushing things down the list that you don’t want people to know about.”

“Of course we can’t delete things from Google – we don’t work for Google,” Petrovic told SmartCompany, saying such a service would usually require a website acquisition or negotiation.

Dejan SEO’s service works on the basis that few people trawl through Google search results. “Most people don’t go past one or two pages,” Petrovic says.

Once unfavourable mentions have been pushed further down, Petrovic says the next step is to look at places were clients should be listed.

A proactive approach helps ensure that new, more positive developments are listed higher in a Google search, he says.

Petrovic says price varies – with some clients satisfied with a $900 spend, and others spending $3,000 – and the company is choosy about which clients to accept, with a focus on somebody “trying to do the right thing.”

“If we notice that the individual might be a risk for society, or we’re talking about a well-known scammer, we won’t take them on,” Petrovic says.

He says the best way to avoid problems with your online reputation is to not get in an online fight.

“If you don’t want something to be online, don’t say it online,” Petrovic says.

And while most of Dejan SEO’s business in this area is international – with clients from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, particularly in the marketing and investment sectors – Dejan is eyeing growth in Australia.

Petrovic says online reputation management currently accounts for between 10% and 20% of its business, and Dejan SEO has four of its 32-strong staff working in this area.

“To my knowledge, I don’t think there are any big names in online reputation management [in Australia],” Petrovic says.

“I suppose any SEO might be able to offer that service, but they might not have our years of experience. We have a few tricks of the trade,” Petrovic adds.

He also advises individuals to monitor their online presence through Google Alerts, allowing them access to online mentions shortly after they occur.

“It’s almost like modern-PR,” Petrovic says.