Category
Repair
How to deal with damaging search results: removal, suppression, de-indexing, crisis response, and the real limits of each approach.
285 articles
Managing Online Reviews for Small Business and How to Do It
Interesting facts Online reviews have a significant impact on a restaurant’s bottom line, and Google is particularly crucial, drawing 73% of all online feedback. Restaurants with low ratings or few reviews may struggle to get noticed on Google, making positive reviews essential for their visibility. The most popular review platforms, in order, are Google, Yelp, […]
How to Make a Page Disappear from Google Search
Can you make a web page disappear from search results? Yes, if you have access to it. You can make Google ignore a web page, making it “disappear” from search results, by adding a “noindex” meta tag to the HTML code of a single web page on your site. If you don’t have access to the […]
How to Control How You’re Seen Online: A Compact Guide
Online reputation is like a credit report everyone can see. Whether you are a movie star or an investment banker, your online reputation determines how others perceive you. Everybody can (and should!) manage their online reputation to make sure that it is the most accurate representation of themselves.
How Search Engines Work | From Archie to AI Search and Google
Brief Overview of the Role of Search Engines You’re on the internet right now. You probably found this web page with a search engine. But have you thought about how search engines came to be the way they are today? The essential role they play is to organize the seemingly infinite amount of information available […]
How to Optimize All Positive Search Results About Your Brand
Most companies only optimize their own site. But optimization of all top branded content can work wonders. When marketers perform search engine optimization (SEO), they usually only do it for their own website or websites they control completely, like product or service-specific sites. It is important to do SEO to stay competitive, but it’s also […]
Why Reputation is Important for Business and for People
Discover why reputation is critical for businesses and individuals, from building trust and competitive advantage to increasing profits and attracting better talent.
How Long Does It Take to Improve Google Rankings?
Why does it take six months for a website to rank? We get asked this quite a bit. For the most part, it’s because there is a lag time between 10 and 20 weeks before listings improve in search results. The exception to the rule is viral content—if users signal content is of superior value […]
Dark PR Exposed: The Hidden World of Reputation Manipulation
Dark PR firms charge as little as $100 to destroy reputations online using AI-generated misinformation, social media bots, and hack-and-leak operations.
Differences Between PR and Online Reputation Management
Many people think that managing online reputation and publicity are interchangeable concepts, and the two are often confused. Although they share similarities and may be used in conjunction with one another, they serve very different purposes. Consumers read an average of 7 reviews before purchasing from a business, which means mastering online PR and reputation […]
Why and How to Remove Yourself from Online Data Aggregators
Step by step directions on how to remove your data from data aggregators like Radaris, Spokeo, MyLife, PeopleFinders and Intelius. our personal data is more accessible than ever. Data aggregators such as Radaris, Spokeo, MyLife, PeopleFinders, Intelius, and even Ancestry.com have made it their mission to collect, categorize, and sell personal information. If you’re concerned […]
Eight Great Examples of Truly Excellent Content Marketing
Content marketing is a marketing strategy focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a target audience. The keywords here are ‘valuable’ and ‘relevant’. Each content piece should communicate your message in a way that adds value to your readers, answers their real questions, piques and expands their interests, […]
How to Remove An Image From Google – Steps to Delete Problem Pictures
Sometimes negative search results take the form of images. Often these negative images are very difficult to remove from the internet. When they can be removed, it is usually from a blog post, mugshot site, or article where they were initially posted, and the site publisher must take them down. You can also turn to […]
Realities and Myths of Online Reputation Management
The genie is out of the bottle. In this day and age, everything is public and visible. A plethora of information floats around the internet, and trying to control who posts feels like boiling the ocean. To make it worse, it takes so much time to build a reputation and only one bad moment to […]
Reputation Management Strategy: the Bulletproof Guide to ORM
A reputation management strategy is part of brand building, and it’s so much more than making sure your company has great reviews. This guide will help you navigate the world of reputation strategy in the online environment. Online reputation — that intangible asset, that electronic chimera — is hard to assess, let alone fix. And when […]
How to Unlock Branded Today’s Search Features In Google
Google is your new home page. When a brand dominates their own search engine results, it sends trust signals to prospective customers. Control of the many aspects of search results such as Knowledge Panel, carousel images, location information, Google posts, social media posts, and more not only provides brands with the ability to showcase why they’re […]
Google Search Results Vs. Donald Trump’s Reputation
Ex-President Trump thinks Google is rigged against him. It’s probably not, but that doesn’t stop the scrutiny. Google’s portrayal of Trump is a reflection of people’s desires – all the people, not a group or an individual. A pandemic, economic disaster, insurrection at the Capital, and Black Lives Matter marches don’t help. While Donald Trump […]
Personal Reputation Management – How People Craft Google Results
There’s a reason why the National Enquirer, The Sun, Daily Star, and US Weekly publish content that is all about scandalous behavior. We all love a good fall from grace story (unless it’s happening to us), a red hot gossip drop, or a celebrity rumor. And when personal reputations start blowing up like Philadelphia on the 4th of […]
Local Business Reputation Management Overview
Reputation matters, whether you’re an ordinary individual, an extraordinary individual, a crook, a saint, a political figure, or an entertainer. But reputation matters for more than just individuals. In the world of business, reputation has an ever broader impact than ever.
Political Reputation Management
It’s hard to change someone’s mind. However, it’s easy to confirm one’s biases. And nowhere is this more true than in the world of political reputation management. Political reputation is an untamed beast, whether you’re running for the vice president of your neighborhood HOA or vying for election to the president of the United States. […]
Measuring Corporate Sentiment in Today’s Online Environment
Corporate sentiment, or business sentiment, is how people feel about your brand. In more technical terms, it’s the level of confidence that shareholders have in a corporation or business—the prevailing mood or attitude about that company’s success (or lack thereof). Reputation management cares a great deal about corporate sentiment and the practice of sentiment analysis. […]
How Brands Are Perceived Online. Stakeholders, Bias, and Management
A person or company’s reputation is based on information (of some kind or another). And every reputation is perceived by people (of some kind or another). Put information and perception together, and you have a reputation.
Online Reputation Repair – Fixing a Damaged Company Reputation
Your company has fallen from grace. Maybe your CEO was arrested for fraud. Maybe E. coli was found in your food, making your restaurant customers sick. Or maybe you’ve just made some ill-advised business decisions over time, and it’s finally caught up with you. A reputation crisis can happen unexpectedly and be difficult to overcome, […]
All About Fake News and Corporate Reputation Information Wars
Today, it’s easier than ever before to spark misinformation, watch it spread, and then witness it take down corporations, crush reputations, and topple political figures. A brief glance at the news tells you all you need to know. Fake news is powerful enough to shake technology juggernauts, crush world-famous personalities, and wipe entire businesses right […]
How to Ruin a Brands’ Online Reputation and Why Not To
Learn the six most common reputation catastrophes and actionable steps to prevent them from destroying your brand.
Saving the Boss’s Bacon – The Executive Reputation Guide
Here’s the deal. The media thinks your CEO screwed up. According to rumors, she siphoned the company’s quarterly earnings into a private yacht spending spree. The truth? Your CEO is innocent. But what does the media care about truth? They’re hanging onto the rumors like a toddler clutching a Snickers bar. The Internet’s news minions […]
How to Delete Google Reviews Permanently
We are often asked to remove Google reviews. Here is the advice we give our clients about removing Google reviews that might be problematic. We’ll also discuss options you can take when a review on Google cannot be removed. Negative Google reviews are the plight of modern business. 91% of consumers between the ages of […]
Online Scandals – What Not to Do When Reputational Crisis Happens
Can you imagine how it felt to be the Chief Marketing Officer at Oxfam after their deputy CEO, Penny Lawrence, resigned because of a sex crimes scandal? If the first word that enters your mind is “stressed,” that’d be an understatement. A serious CEO scandal can ruin the reputation of an entire company, not just […]
Why Mentions of Your Company on Other Sites Help Improve Google Rankings
Many businesses focus on SEO, social media and content to build their online presence. One way to accelerate your online growth is to focus on growing your brand through citations and mentions. Both Google and Bing have indicated that they can track brand mentions and that they matter for search engine rankings. Duane Forrester, a former […]
How Fake News and Influencers Are Created and Promoted Online
Remember when former President Donald Trump said, “America should never have given Canada its independence”? Well, that was fake. Fake news has a long and storied history that continues right up to this day with the Russian war on Ukraine. Hundreds of years ago in the United States, Benjamin Franklin spread propaganda stories by creating […]
Online Reputation Tips to Improve Your Online Brand
Every year, take time to take stock of your online reputation and make adjustments to your reputation management campaign. Implementing an effective online reputation management strategy takes consistency and vigilance, but it can help strengthen customer trust, improve sales, and even save your company from public relations crises. Since your brand’s online presence can make […]
Are Yelp Reviews Reliable? Ratings Make or Break a Business.
With 91% of people trusting online reviews as much as personal recommendations but 20% of reviews being fake, learn how to spot manipulation and protect your business reputation.
Why Just 1 Negative Review Needs 12 to Counteract to Counter Its Negative Reputation
Have you ever bought anything online without looking for customer reviews first? If you’re like most adults in the U.S., your answer should be a straight “No!”. Studies suggest that 72% of online consumers read between two and 10 customer reviews and testimonials before actually making a purchase. Having no online reviews about your company is not […]
How Long Does Reputation Management Take?
One of the first questions we get from most of our reputation management clients is, “How long will reputation management take?” (The next question is of course “How much does ORM cost?”) Their anxiety is understandable, considering that more than 80% of consumers now search Google before doing business with a company. What Google’s first […]
How to Delete Something from the Internet Permanently
You can remove content from the internet through direct takedown requests, Google policy removals, DMCA notices, and suppression — but permanent deletion across every server is rarely guaranteed. Here is what each method actually achieves.
How to Find Hidden Bad News In Corporate Search Results
Why did the organic for your branded search traffic just drop off? Was it a Google search algorithm change, or did your results’ content change? It’s a nightmare situation when suddenly you find that you’re ranking for negative search phrases appended to your brand name, like “fraud” or “scam.” Prospects are fleeing. The sales staff […]
Content Efficiency: Five Types to Create at the Same Time
Create these five types of content at the same time, and in a specific order to give your inbound / SEO campaign consistency and make it easier to execute. Inbound marketing is one of the most effective online marketing methodologies today – it was pretty much invented by Hubspot. Done right, it can double as […]
The Elements of a Web Page for SEO Success
If you make or edit online content, you are a content creator. As a content creator, you’ll need to strike that balance between SEO (search engine optimization) and a positive user experience. Remember that you’re creating content for both the humans reading your page and the robots ranking it for Google. 93% of global traffic […]
Basics: How to Fix a Broken Online Reputation
You Google your company and BAM! Everything changes. How is this affecting prospects? Are sales down? Will this ever go away? Of all the categories involved in managing online reputation, reputation repair is the one most fraught with confusion and a lot of stress. It happened suddenly, but it can take a long time to […]
Building Web Authority to Improve Online Reputation
Websites that are “authoritative” in their space rank much better. Google pays more attention to authoritative sites and pages. But how does a website become “authoritative”? Leverage different kinds of media to accomplish your goals.
How to Rank Above Position 1? Just Get Position Zero
Why do some web pages show up “above” the first search result, and just below any paid (PPC) results? This is called a Featured Snippet, or “position zero” in the SEO field, and it’s one of the ways Google positions for SEO are counted. It’s important because as voice search becomes more common, Google uses […]
Top Resources to Learn SEO Reputation Management
A curated list of the best free and paid resources to learn SEO, from Google’s own tools to industry-leading blogs and courses. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to sharpen your skills, these 10 resources will help you master search engine optimization.
The Differences Between PR, ORM, PPC, and SEO
ORM, PR, and SEO — what are all of these acronyms for? Let’s break them down, and then delve deeper into how they all fit together. PR, SEO, and ORM are all specialized disciplines of online marketing.
An Online Reputation Management Checklist to Solve Minor Issues
If you’re musing about improving your online reputation, it might help to have an idea of the direction you’re going in. This brief guide can help you formulate a plan and take action. Reputation management is, of course, a continual effort. We have outlined the groundwork and the tune-up work to keep your reputation in […]
Online Brand Touch Points and Their Impact on Search Results
Brand touch points are like digital fingerprints; they tell a story. What are brand touch points and how do they affect business? Whether you realize it or not, your brand’s customer touch points are working to help, or hurt, your organization’s reputation with consumers. If a potential customer sees brand-related content and it piques their interest, […]
Public Relations vs. Advertising ? Differences and Similarities
PR vs. advertising. What’s the difference? Advertising and public relations share a common goal, which is to improve their clients’ visibility, usually with a goal of increasing sales or other tangible benefit. In a corporate setting, you’ll often find advertisers and PR professionals working alongside each other in the marketing department along with people from […]
How Search Engine Reputation Management is Different Than SEO
Online Reputation Management (ORM) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are both crucial for maintaining a strong online presence, but they serve distinct purposes. SEO is a stand-alone practice that usually manages organic search results for a single website. ORM manages multiple websites, profiles, databases, wikis, review platforms, images, and much more. Understanding the core distinctions […]
The Role of Reputation In the Customers Journey
Imagine a prospect is making the tough decision between using your company or your competitor. At the last minute they discover something a bit “off” about your company’s online profile. Which company will get the sale? It could be a review, a lack of publicity, a problem with your Wikipedia page, or many other things. How does reputation […]
Confirmation Bias ? Thinking With Guts vs. Brains
Why do you believe the things that you believe? Why do you defend your beliefs? Why do you like others who think as you do? We like to think that our beliefs are our own, formed from our unique, individual experiences, informed by our own logic, devoid of outside bias. But confirmation bias is one […]
Fact-Checking Fake News Today
Has any phrase been more divisive and frustrating during the election cycle and current federal administration than “fake news”? Seemingly innocent in its phrasing, the term has come to stand for entirely more than just a story with false facts. Fake news—who makes it, who reads it, who believes it, and who profits from it—are […]
Where to Guest Post Now: a Growing List
For reputation repair campaigns we employ guest blogs to support our clients by helping to promote ideas and build links. The list below is a small subset of those that accept guest contributions. So, enjoy this growing list of sites that we’re pretty sure to accept guest blogger articles. The sites in the list below […]
Why Is The News So Negative? Negativity Biases, Media Bias, and More.
Imagine that you saw two news articles. The first headline said “The weather is beautiful today!” while the second proclaimed that a dark storm was headed your way. Which would you click on?
How People Really Find a Brand Online ??The Meandering Path to Discovery
When people search online for a product or service, they rarely do so in a linear fashion. The path they take often seems random to an outside observer and, when mapped, can look like a bowl of cooked noodles.
What Internet Privacy Is ? Definition ? Overview
Internet Privacy Defined Internet Privacy (online privacy) refers to the right of personal privacy regarding the storage, repurposing, provision to third parties, and display of information about a person via the Internet. It encompasses the ability of individuals to determine what information they share, with whom it is shared, and how that information is used. […]
How to Remove Negative Content From Google Search Results
Summary Here are some options to remove negative content from Google search results:
Removing Online Defamation – Slander – Libel
Web reputations are fragile things. Sometimes it’s necessary to leverage various legal strategies to support or attack a particular position. To remove defamation, which in it written form is libel, these important laws should be top of mind. The law is often open to interpretation. Some of the body of online reputation-related law fits the […]
Easy Ways to Improve Online Reputation Related Content
You’ve written great content, now what do you do? Just post it and pray for traffic? That’s not good enough. Instead, schedule multiple social postings and then syndicate your content. Here is how to promote content in two ‘sort of easy’ steps.
Crisis Management Team Best Practices to Protect Online Brands
Crisis management is the art and science of navigating unforeseen challenges and mitigating the potential damages they can cause to an organization. From PR disasters and corporate scandals to natural disasters and cyberattacks, crises can come in many forms. But with a well-rounded understanding of the main aspects of crisis management, organizations can prepare for, […]
What Is the Streisand Effect?
Summary of the Streisand Effect Sometimes online reputation management clients make things hard on themselves inadvertently by complaining publicly about something that, initially, isn’t getting much publicity. The act of complaining creates a cycle where the negative they so badly wanted to hide becomes a huge problem that it otherwise would not have because of […]
Masking Identity on the Internet – Protecting Identity Online.
Most people around the world wore masks due to the pandemic. But can you wear a mask online? Yes, you can. Online identity management is a subset of online reputation management in that it deals with the management of who a person appears to be online. One example of online identity management is the use […]
Restaurant Reputation Management: the Challenges Franchises Face
Fast food restaurants occupy a special place in the dining ecosystem – at least when there isn’t a pandemic happening. Restaurants get blamed if a waitress is having a bad day and lets some of her mood slip in front of guests. Problems come either at the regional level as in the case of Chipotles […]
What Is a Guest Post? A Guide to Help Marketers
Summary What’s a guest post? What is a guest post? How is it different than a regular blog post? A Guest Post is an article written and posted on someone else’s blog. When you write something on your own blog, it’s just a “post,” but on someone else’s blog, the writer is a ‘guest’. Guest […]
Removal, De-Indexing, Suppression. What’s the Difference?
There are several ways to remove negative content about you or your company from search results. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking to have it taken down from the original publisher’s site. However, there are occasions when it can’t (or won’t) be removed. But even then, content can still be purged from search results under […]
How to Locate Aggressors and Nefarious People Online
How do you find out who anonymously posts information about you, your company, or your country online? We set up a fake company, imaginary CEO, social media, and fictitious backers to trap anonymous perpetrators posing as our clients’ Ministry of Finance. This is how we did it.
How to Optimize Images for Google in the Age of AI
At Reputation X, we often need to optimize images to rank higher and more visibly in our client’s search results. This is how we do it. Sometimes, the wrong image is shown in Google Knowledge Graph. This may happen because Google is confused about who the pictures should be of, or it may even have […]
A White Label Reputation Management Case Study
Our client is a global PR firm with clients in the US, Europe and Middle East. Over the years we have been tasked with a number of interesting projects ranging from helping politicians succeed to boosting search results in Thai and improving search results to enhance hiring. This case study examines a project to clean up […]
Steps to Remove PissedConsumer.com Reviews
PissedConsumer offers a place for, well, pissed consumers to vent about supposedly sketchy businesses. But how to remove PissedConsumer.com posts is the question on most people’s minds.
How to Change Healthgrades Ratings in Five Steps
Healthgrades is something like the Yelp of doctor reviews. It is one of the top 20 sites seen most often in medical practice search results. As such, your practice’s future may depend on your understanding of how Healthgrades.com affects doctors online. A fair, true, reflection of your practice on Healthgrades is essential in today’s wired […]
How to Manipulate the Media Today
Media manipulation occurs in the space between truth and website page views. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, and thanks in part to Google, the online content cycle never stops. Every second must be refreshed with new content (meat) to satisfy the needs of both man and (search) robot. That speed means news agencies […]
Understanding the Reputation Score Scale: Components, Benefits, and Implications
The importance of a strong reputation score scale cannot be overstated. About 3 out of 4 people will trust a brand more if it has positive reviews online. A high reputation score can influence these decisions positively, leading to increased trust, better customer relationships, and ultimately higher revenues. On the other hand, a low reputation […]
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