OPEN

Victoria’s Secret, the incredibly successful US lingerie brand, has come under attack from "Googlebombers", environmental activists who have tricked search engines into returning their Victoria’s Dirty Secret campaign website at the top of the search returns (at the moment it is number three on Google).

The campaigners’ website is a slickly put together spoof on the actual Victoria’s Secret homepage, and makes the case for the underwear company to adapt a more environmentally friendly approach to producing the "one million catalogues a day" that it sends out.

Presumably the activists would take the site down if the company makes the "right choice" in the next few weeks.

That’s right: they’re pretty much holding the company’s reputation to ransom on the search engines. It’s pretty much the online equivalent of protesters chaining themselves to the front of all their shops.

There’s also a "social commentary" website fairly close to the top run by artists protesting against what they see as  the idealised images of the female form promoted by Victoria’s secret.

Corporate communications teams should take heed – the practice of search engine optimisation (SEO) is not just about e-commerce: increasingly your strategy around search is a reputational issue.

When I discussed Googlebombing on Open a few months back in Top Google result for "liar" is your client’s CEO: what do you do? it was this blog most popular post ever. With good reason: most of us realise that the front page of Google is more influential in some ways than the front page of the FT or indeed any other website, in the right context.

If a hate site or incorrect information makes it to the top of page one of the search results for your name you’ve got a real problem. Even legal action may be tricky and too late: remember you can’t stop the presses on the web – once its out there, its out there.

SEO and PR aren’t working together often enough just yet – they soon will be.