Reputation management is a process to remove negative information about you or your business from the first page of a search engine. Since Google.com has the majority of searchers, I focus on moving your site off the first page of Google.

Your online reputation management (ORM) is very similar to your reputation in real life.  What people think and say about you or your business can be harmful.  Can you imagine someone saying something slanderous about your and then putting it up on a billboard? You would likely want the billboard company to remove it, but they won’t and there is nothing you can do.

Then you have an idea.  You call the billboard company and offer to pay more than your slanderer paid.  The billboard company accepts this proposition and takes down the negative statement.

This is a rough idea of what reputation management is.  I will move everything negative off the front page so you’re only left with good information.

What about review sites?

According to many clients I have talked to, sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor seem to magically publish good reviews when you’re a paying customer and remove good reviews if you are not a paying customer.

Instead of playing that game, I prefer to just push these sites off the first page.  Then you don’t have to worry about them or any other sites like them.

What about Mugshots websites?

Mugshots.com, Arrests.org and other sites that publish mugshots should be ashamed! If you make a mistake should everyone in the world know about that for the rest of your life? Is it the first thing people should see if they Google your name?

Mugshot sites that charge you a fee to remove your name is almost equivalent to extortion and they’re even being sued in some states!

Should you pay to get your mugshot removed? Absolutely not! If you pay to get it removed from one site, what about the other sites? Before you know it you’ll be paying every site out there and that still won’t ensure that there won’t be more that pop up in the future.

By controlling the first page (that’s what I do!) you can essentially block any additional negativity from creeping back in.

Why only the first page?

Studies show that 98.5% of people click on a link on the first page.  Moving a negative article off the second page is double the work, but only a 1.5% return.  It’s just not worth it in most cases. Here are a few links showing data from first to second page listings. 1, 2.