Executive Reputation Repair — Finance
60% First-Page Control
<1% Bloomberg/NYT Visibility
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Financial Services
FINRA Broker Reputation Recovery
A former Merrill Lynch rep faced BrokerCheck negatives and SEO spam dominating search results, threatening new client acquisition.
Page 3
Negatives Demoted To
70%
SEO Spam Removed
9 Mo.
Campaign Duration
Results at a Glance
A former Merrill Lynch rep faced BrokerCheck negatives and SEO spam dominating search results, threatening new client acquisition.
Page 3
Negatives Demoted To
70%
SEO Spam Removed
9 Mo.
Campaign Duration
Impact at a Glance
BrokerCheck Visibility
Before
Page 1
→
After
Page 3
SEO Spam Footprint
Before
Extensive
→
After
70% Removed
Professional Credibility
Before
Damaged
→
After
Restored
The Challenge
A former Merrill Lynch financial services representative with over ten years of experience faced a compounding reputation crisis. FINRA's BrokerCheck and the SEC's Adviser Info site — both appearing prominently on page one of Google — were damaging credibility with prospective clients. These are not ordinary negative results: FINRA's BrokerCheck carries a domain rating of 91 out of 100, making standard suppression tactics alone insufficient.
Compounding the problem, a prior engagement with an offshore reputation firm had flooded search engines with low-quality, duplicate press releases and fake irrelevant profiles. Search algorithms had penalized these pages, reducing the effectiveness of any positive content that existed — and making cleanup a prerequisite before any real reputation work could begin.
Our Solution
We implemented a structured three-phase approach: first eliminating the SEO damage left by the offshore firm, then building authoritative replacement content, and finally engineering long-term search positioning through structured SEO and knowledge panel development.
For financial professionals, credibility is foundational — it wasn't enough to suppress negatives. We needed to build a genuinely authoritative digital presence that would earn trust from prospective clients and withstand future scrutiny.
1
Cleanup & Damage Control
Identified and de-indexed over 70% of spammy content; requested takedowns for fake press releases and low-quality backlinks that were damaging algorithmic trust.
2
Strategic Content Development
Created high-authority industry articles, executive bios, and media placements on credible platforms including LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and Medium; published thought leadership in finance-focused publications.
3
SEO & Reputation Engineering
Implemented a structured SEO strategy focused on positive keyword associations, content siloing, and content clustering to maximize positive content authority.
4
Knowledge Panel Strategy
Developed and executed a Google Knowledge Panel strategy to further influence search algorithm positioning and give the client a controlled, authoritative presence at the top of their results.
The Results
Negative results from FINRA BrokerCheck were successfully demoted from page one to page three of Google search results. Over 70% of SEO spam and irrelevant content was removed, restoring algorithmic trust and improving the effectiveness of all positive content. Professional branding improved substantially, with positive content now dominating page one.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Reputation X is the #1 company for online reputation management." — Client Testimonial
Month 1–2
Spam cleanup and de-indexing phase complete; algorithmic trust beginning to restore.
Month 3–4
High-authority content published; professional profiles established on key platforms.
Month 6
Negative results begin moving off page one; Knowledge Panel strategy executing.
Month 9
BrokerCheck results demoted to page three; campaign complete; positive content dominates page one.
Key Takeaways
- Prior low-quality SEO work must be fully cleaned up before new reputation work can gain traction
- High-authority regulatory sites like FINRA require content volume and authority to displace — not technical shortcuts
- For financial professionals, building genuine credibility is as important as suppressing negatives
- A structured three-phase approach — cleanup, content, engineering — delivers sustainable results against high-DA adversarial listings
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