When you’re responsible for an independent school, you want to have the best exam results, the best Ofsted score, and the most satisfied students.
However, there’s another metric you should aspire to be the best in – online reputation.
Most prospective students and parents will research your school thoroughly before committing to an application. One negative piece of feedback could mean they opt for a competing independent school instead.
So how do you manage your school’s online reputation? You can use several free tools to keep an eye on what people are saying.
Here’s everything you need to know about managing online reputation for schools with SEO.
How to monitor online mentions of your school
It’s estimated that there are about 50 billion web pages indexed by Google. That’s a lot of content to search for mentions of your school!
The good news is that there are some shortcuts you can take to keep an eye on your feedback. Here are some ways you can easily manage your school’s online reputation!
Sign up for a Google Business Profile
Yes, we talk about Google Business Profile so much that we should earn commission! However, setting up a Google Business Profile is a great way to get and manage feedback.
Signing up for a Google Business Profile means you can manage and reply to any reviews people leave about your business on Google Search and Google Maps.
And given that there are an estimated 8.5 billion Google searches a day, it’s highly likely that the reviews you receive will be one of the first things prospective parents and students see.
Google is the most trusted review platform around, with four out of five people using it to research local businesses near them. While there are school review portals available, there isn’t a definitive one that stands out in the same way as Google.
Use Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a great way to watch for any new mentions of your school online.
Just mention the keywords and phrases you want to keep track of, and Google will send you an email every time it spots something on a website, news site, or blog. This means you can identify any positive or negative feedback as soon as it’s written.
Our top tip: If you set up searches for your school name, don’t forget to include misspellings!
Check your backlinks
It might be that a site that mentions you also links to your website. Keeping an eye on your backlink profile can help you find new reviews and comments about your independent school.
You can use Google Search Console to keep an eye on your backlinks. Go to the Links section, choose Top Linking Sites and click on an URL to see who is linking to you. Alternatively, Ahrefs Site Explorer can tell you if you get any new backlinks.
Want more backlinks for your independent school site? Our guide will show you how to get them.
Using social media for school reputation management
If you have social media profiles for your independent school, you can use them to keep an eye on what people are saying about you.
The easiest place to start is direct feedback on your profiles, or when people explicitly mention you. Check your social media profiles multiple times a day, and set up push and email notifications, so you don’t miss a comment.
However, what about comments and feedback that you’re not directly mentioned in?
You can search social media accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram for all mentions of your school. There are also social listening tools like Hootsuite and Mention that do all the hard work for you.
How to respond to negative reviews and comments like a pro
You’ve come into work, logged onto your computer, and before you can take a sip of your coffee, there it is… the dreaded one-star review.
Bad reviews stink, especially if they’re not justified. However, while it might be tempting to ignore the review, it’s generally in your best interests to respond with your side of the story.
Customers find that organisations that respond to negative feedback are 1.7 times more trustworthy than those that don’t.
Here are some of our top tips for responding to bad feedback and boosting your school’s online reputation:
- Get your facts straight before you respond. Talk to the relevant departments at your school and learn more about the issue. Is the person someone who is already known to you, and have they commented on similar topics in the past?
- Unless the feedback is spammy, offensive, or divulges personal information, don’t delete it. People might think you have something to hide
- Respond in a timely manner. You don’t have to reply half an hour after the review or comment has been posted, but offer feedback as soon as you can
- If there is any false information in the review, don’t be afraid to clarify the facts. Do this in a respectful, polite, and professional way
- Create a unique response that is tailored to the specific feedback you receive. Most people can spot a copied and pasted ‘we’re sorry you feel that way’ template from a mile away!
- Empathise with the person and understand where they are coming from. How would you want the issue to be resolved if you were in their shoes?
- If you’re in the wrong, tell the person how you will make the issue right. And most importantly… take the time and effort to make it right!
- If the issue has not been resolved after your initial response, take things offline. Offer to talk to the person through email, online chat, or even pick up the phone. One of the worst things you can do is end up in an online argument!
- Don’t forget to thank people for leaving positive feedback too. This not only makes your satisfied customers even happier, but can encourage more people to send you good reviews
Even the best schools get bad reviews from time to time. When this blog was published, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge both scored 4.6 in Google, two of the finest universities in the world!
If anything, the occasional low score can be good for your school. When you’re researching a product or service online, a solid flurry of glowing five-star reviews can come across as a bit suspicious. A few critical reviews make you look more authentic in the eyes of your prospective customers.
The importance of consistent branding when it comes to school online reputation
So far, we’ve looked at how you can control your school’s online reputation through SEO and providing genuine and high-quality feedback.
However, did you know you can use brand consistency to help your cause too? Consistent branding makes it easier for prospective customers to identify your school and makes you stand out from your competitors.
Plus, when customers repeatedly see the same logo or tagline, they’ll associate it with your school.
81% of people need to trust a brand to consider buying from it, so as you can see, trust, consistency, and reputation go hand-in-hand!
So check the colours on your website, the images you use on social media, and the tone of voice of the press releases you send out to local news desks. Every element counts when looking to grow your school’s online reputation.
Manage your school’s online reputation with Bubblegum Search
We hope this guide has shown you how to keep an eye on the feedback your school receives with SEO techniques.
For people to consider enrolling in your school, you need to get them to trust you. Encouraging positive feedback and responding to critical feedback will help you achieve this goal.
We’re the digital marketing specialists for independent schools across the UK, helping them expand their online presence, boost their search engine rankings and, most importantly, increase enrolment rates.
If you want to raise awareness of your school, get in touch for your free marketing plan. Give our experts twenty minutes, and we’ll show you how to get ahead in the rankings!