How Controversial Bachelor Contestants Could Improve Their Reputations

Posted in: Reputation Management

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The Bachelor is a cultural phenomenon that demonstrates how one person, after weeks of dating multiple people, dramatic scenarios, beautiful locations, and tear-inducing rose ceremonies, can find love on national television. Like many others, it’s one of my favorite shows to watch on Monday nights. Unlike many others, however, I work in Reputation Management.

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So, when I sit on my couch, wine in hand, ready to watch the show, I often think to myself how much the ridiculous things these men do and say affect their online reputation. I opted to break down the search results of some of the most controversial men in the history of The Bachelor to give them a few recommendations on how to optimize their online personas. 

One of the first steps in assessing a client’s online reputation is taking a look at the URLs we see ranking on page one for their name and assigning a positive, neutral, or negative sentiment label to each. For example, someone’s Instagram profile would be considered a positive URL in their rankings because they have full control over what’s posted there. A USWeekly news story, on the other hand, might be considered a negative URL if it doesn’t highlight them in the best light. 

After labeling each URL, we then calculate the overall sentiment score based on the specific label and the position we see it ranking in. The score is calculated using a 100-point algorithm that deducts points for every negative or neutral search listing on page one, which my colleague, Brian Patterson explains best here. Assigning the sentiments and calculating the score helps us see the client’s positive areas for promotion and negative areas that need to be improved or moved off of page one. 

Now let’s get down to business with these bachelors!


Nick Viall

Nick has been a part of The Bachelor franchise for what seems like forever. He was one of the Bachelors, a contestant on 3 different seasons of The Bachelorette, and even participated on Bachelor in Paradise. Throughout his time on and off each show, Nick has certainly created a questionable reputation for himself by being pretty outspoken about other contestants. 

When looking at his rankings, which can be found below, I can see several areas that could be improved. The first objective would be to clear that recent negative USMagazine story off of page one. Nick commented on the current season of The Bachelorette and how one contestant may or may not be in a relationship with someone else. Since this topic is relevant right now, we’re seeing it rank in position four of his results. It probably won’t be long until Nick inevitably says something else that creates buzz around a new, even more relevant topic, which I’m sure we will see contribute to a change in these results. 

  1. Instagram Profile – positive
  2. Twitter Profile – positive
  3. Wikipedia Page – positive
    1. People ask section
  4. UsMagazine – Nick Viall Mocks Bachelorette’s Jed Over ‘All His Girlfriends – negative
  5. Eonline – Nick Viall Gets Candid About Finding Closure With Kaitlyn Bristowe… – neutral
  6. People – Nick Viall Says He Found Closure with Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe… – neutral
  7. People – Nick Viall – positive
  8. Bachelor-nation – positive
    1. Videos carousel 

Sentiment Score: 83

My Recommendations:

  • He should continue to leverage his YouTube page by keeping it relevant and even addressing controversial topics there. He should also update the ‘About’ section by adding more details about himself, as well as adding his other social profile links (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) so people will know where to connect with him.
  • Nick should create a blog with his name in the URL, something like NickViall.com. This will allow him to take up real estate on his page one search results. It’s very important to own the domains that should be rightfully yours before some angry user leverages it first.

 

Juan Pablo Galavis

Juan Pablo, commonly known as the worst bachelor ever, has plenty of reputation issues. He had the worst attitude I’ve ever seen from any bachelor and he made a mockery out of the entire process. He even disrespected Chris Harrison! Throughout Juan Pablo’s season, he never fully committed to any of the women and when he did give his final rose to Nikki Ferrell, he made it very clear he had no plans to propose to her. I think it’s safe to say his search results reflect the bad reputation he has made for himself.

  1. Wikipedia – positive
  2. Instagram Profile – positive
  3. TheCut – Juan Pablo is the Worst Bachelor in History – negative
  4. Bustle – What’s Juan Pablo Glavis Doing in 2018? The Former Bachelor… – neutral
  5. Bachelor-nation.fandom – neutral
    1. People also ask
    2. Videos Carousel
  6. Vanityfair – Juan Pablo Is Delighted That Arie Was an Even Worse Bachelor Than… – neutral
  7. UsMagazine – Juan Pablo Galavis Trying to ‘Trick’ Wife Into Getting Pregnant – negative
  8. Facebook Profile – positive
  9. IMDB – positive

Sentiment Score: 72

My Recommendations: 

  • Apologize. He should start by making a public apology to Chris Harrison for mocking the show, and to the women he hurt in the process. This would go a long way in gathering better press for his reputation, and it’s also the right thing to do.
  • Juan lists himself as a “Sports & Music Consultant” on his Instagram and other social profiles. He should start by creating a personal blog and website that will help him with his career goals and steal a position on page one of his search results.

 

Chris Soules

This bachelor made his television debut on Andi Dorfman’s season of The Bachelorette in 2014. When Andi didn’t choose him as her final pick, he went on to become the bachelor himself the next year. The season was alright but Chris seemed to be a little confused with exactly what he wanted in a woman. He ended up choosing Whitney Bischoff, but BN (Bachelor Nation) knew this one wasn’t going to last. 

In 2017, Chris was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal traffic accident in Iowa, and as you can see below, it only made his online presence that much more negative.

  1. UsaToday – ‘Bachelor’ star Chris Soules gets sentencing for 2017 crash delayed – negative
  2. UsaToday – ‘Bachelor’ star Chris Soules’ sentencing rescheduled for August – negative
  3. Wikipedia – neutral
  4. People – Chris Soules Agrees to Pay $2.5 Million After 2017 Fatal Car Crash… – negative
  5. Instagram Profile – positive
  6. Cosmopolitan – Bachelor Chris Soules Will be Charged for Fatal Tractor Crash – negative
  7. LaTimes – ‘Bachelor’ Chris Soules’sentencing in fatal crash delayed pending… – negative
  8. FoxNews – ‘Bachelor’ alum Chris Soules’ sentencing delayed in fatal crash | Fox… – negative
  9. Chrissoules.com – positive

Sentiment Score: 16

My Recommendations:

  • Chris should start engaging with his Twitter platform a little more because this is a profile that he can control and can use it to his advantage.
  • He should also continue to make updates to his own website (which currently ranks in position 9), start a blog, and consider writing a piece about what happened after it’s all over.

 

Arie Luyendyk

Saying Arie is controversial is an understatement. When Arie was announced as the Bachelor in 2018, BN fans were shocked because he first appeared on The Bachelorette in 2012 on Emily Maynard’s season. Arie wasn’t the worst bachelor when his season started, but Bachelor Nation quickly turned on him when he dumped Becca Kufrin for the runner up, Lauren Burnham – all on national TV! 

Given all that, however, Arie has an incredibly high sentiment score. Arie’s search results were overwhelmingly positive due to the fact that he and Lauren recently got married and welcomed a baby girl into the world.

  1. Instagram Profile – positive
    1. Top Stories
  2. Wikipedia – positive
  3. UsMagazine – The Bachelor’s Sean Lowe Says Arie Luyendyk Jr. ‘Has Done a 180’ – positive
  4. UsMagazine – Arie Luyendyk Jr., Lauren Burnham’s Daughter Alessi’s Baby Album… – positive
    1. People also ask section
  5. People – Lauren Burnham and Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s Daughter Named Alessi… – positive
  6. People – Arie Luyendyk Fr. Claps Back at Criticism of Lauren’s Parenting… – neutral
  7. EOnline – Arie Luyendyk Jr. Defends Lauren After She’s Mom-Shamed Over… – neutral
  8. Twitter Profile – positive
  9. CNN – ‘Bachelor’ alums Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham are new… – positive

Sentiment Score: 94.5

My Recommendations:

  • Arie should put more effort into his owned profiles so they can be featured at the top of his search results, and simply tweeting a little more could help with this objective. 
  • I would also tell Arie to create his own website and blog since people love seeing Arie and Lauren as new parents. They could even start one together and highlight their new life with their baby. It could go a long way in securing another position on his first page. 

 

If these bachelors want a quick way to clean up their search results, they should start with my small optimization recommendations. But, as we can see from the popularity surrounding The Bachelor, the public can’t get enough of love, marriage, and babies! So, if they want that little something extra to make sure their online reputation is in good standing, they should consider doing a combination of the three – it worked for Arie!

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