50+ Sites To Help You Bury Negative Posts About You or Your Company!

The Problem:
Have you ever had a client come to you in a state of desperation, begging for help to remove a blog post that ranks for their business name, and portrays them in less than a positive light?

Or perhaps you had a very contentious break-up with an old flame, and they’ve since decided to air their beefs with you in a more public forum, and these complaints now appear every time you type your name into Google. Maybe you merely made a mistake one evening after a few too many beverages, but the proof now appears in video form online and as a result has become part of your public resume.

Edit: my friend Glen Allsopp just did a post highlighting 3 women who just took such action … its a good read A New Wave of Reputation Management Issues.

Remember this fiasco … Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s Flame

Truth be told … its happens all the time! Its becoming a whole lot more common too with the growth in personal blogging, and people beginning to understand that THEY ARE MEDIA. The service is referred to as Online Reputation Management (ORM).

The reality of the matter is that without legal injunctions and the like, the piece cannot be removed from the search results entirely. In many cases, legal tactics often have the exact opposite effect to that intended, and bring even more attention to the issue. Sure, you could also try Google Bowling it, but you’re likely to just further strengthen the post’s positioning. So, what can you do?

The Solution:
Here’s a relatively simple solution, that will work a large percentage of the time … unless you’re dealing with a more knowledgeable individual where more advanced tactics are needed. You need to bump the negative listing down in the search results to progressively lower positions, reducing the likelihood that it will ever be found. Keep in mind, most people never go beyond the 1st page of search results.

This can often be done by building a profile on various sites. The profile name should be the exact term/phrase that the negative piece is ranking for. Here’s a list of 50+ such sites you can use:

1. Digg
2. LinkedIn
3. Twitter
4. Stumbleupon
5. Facebook
6. Propeller
7. Magnolia
8. Jaiku
9. Simpy
10. Technorati
11. coRank
12. YouTube
13. BlogCatalog
14. Zimbio
15. HubPages
16. Reddit
17. UPCHUCKr
18. BlogMad
19. Curbly
20. Flickr
21. PublicBlend
22. Bumpzee
23. Pownce
24. ViewZoo
25. PeekYou
26. Hugg.com
27. Connotea
28. BlinkList
29. BlogFlux
30. Netvous.com
31. Plime
32. MyBlogLog
33. Giggg.com
34. DotNetKicks
35. Diigo
36. CoComment
37. LiveJournal
38. Faves
39. Indianpad
40. Blogmarks.net
41. MySpace
42. Mixx
43. ZiiTrend
44. FriendFeed
45. MetaCafe
46. Last.fm
47. ZippyVideos
48. Quizilla.com
49. Kirtsy
50. Photobucket
51. Deals
52. Agentb
53. BlogSpot
54. HuffingtonPost

If all goes well, merely building a profile on some of these will push the negative piece to the second page. If not, you’ll have to get more aggressive tactics. I’ve blogged about some of these Intermediate Tactics in this post How to Bury Negative Online Mentions of You - Intermediate Level Tactics

This is a good start for now though. Try it out with a few, and see how long before your profile appears in the search results for the profile name selected.

In the end … these sites can help protect your reputation from unreasonable ex-partners, angry clients, and others who wish to cause you harm online.

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56 Responses to “50+ Sites To Help You Bury Negative Posts About You or Your Company!”

Hobo (9 comments.) Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 11:58 am
This works by the way! Good post Jeff
seo (6 comments.) Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
This is a great idea. It is usually used to increase your footprint however.
Glen Allsopp (3 comments.) Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Nice list of resources, I’m currently putting together something similar but not on the exact same lines.

Thanks for mentioning me, Stumbled and Sphunn
spostareduro (26 comments.) Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
darn. foiled again.
dean (1 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Jeff,

Thank you for visiting http://deansguide.wordpress.com.

First a word of thanks–Thank You!

I am a real estate consultant and help industry professionals build their blog presence online.

My biggest pushback is the fact that 90% of the industry pros do not want to take on the task to blog.

When I show them what reputation management means to their public perception, I will show them this article as a tool to “defuse” the poor review(s).

Excellent!

dean guadagni
Utah SEO (74 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Great list Jeff! thanks. It’s good to know which sites work best for reputation management.
Kiowa Jackson (1 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am
My ex-gf asked a question on a forum about a plastic surgery procedure she had done. Turns out that post ranked #1 for her name…she was not happy. Last I checked it had been removed, but this info can be useful for private persons and companies alike
Jeff Quipp (70 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 10:27 am
@Hobo … thanks Sean! Yup it does work well.

@seo … why not serve 2 purposes with one strategy? More efficient!

@ Glen … I’m looking forward to seeing your next post about it then!

@spostareduro … haha good one!

@dean … thanks Dean. Make sure you forward them to the piece I posted this am on the SEW Blog about intermediate tactics too (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080515-110003).

@ Utah … thanks Jordan!

@Kiowa … such an innocent thing, and voila. It sure can and will happen. Thanks!
Hobo (9 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 10:32 am
@ Kiowa - now that is funny!
Brian Chappell (1 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Unfortunately, without backlinks to the profiles themselves most of them will not rank well. Especially if the term is competitive.

Some will, some wont, and get ready for a roller coaster b/c the profiles will jump around like a Hot Tamale. 9especially if you have no backlinks.

Another tidbit, if you are using two words, make sure you use a “-” if the site allows it in the username, since the page name typically will be site.com/user/user-profile vs. site.com/user/userprofile
Linda Bustos (3 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Sometimes comments on really popular sites (if you use your name) will start ranking high for ya. The best social media sites for rep management allow you to use your full name (with space) as your user name and will appear in the page title, Flickr is one.
Arnie (1 comments.) Says:
May 15th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
We have actually been recommending a proactive approach using many of these sites to all of our clients - even if they are squeeky clean. And it doesn’t hurt to get some links that way either
Jeff Quipp (70 comments.) Says:
May 16th, 2008 at 1:56 am
@ Brian Chappell … exactly right Brian, good advice about the hyphen. Right also about backlinks … which I covered in the follow up piece (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080515-110003). Links are needed, though often just internal links!

@ Linda … yes. I find it really unsettling when that happens. Makes you really consider each and every comment.

@ Arnie … agreed completely. Its a good idea to grab profiles for your own terms before someone else does.
Marketing Man (18 comments.) Says:
May 17th, 2008 at 3:30 am
That is quite the list of social sites, many of which I don’t know. My angle is to start blogging on as many popular sites as possible to bring them to the top. Will go check out the sites above.
Scott Clark (1 comments.) Says:
May 19th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hey Jeff… one question. If the phrase you’re working on is a firstname, lastname pair, would you use a dash “-” for the username?

sam-smith
julie-andrews
…or…
samsmith
julieandrews

I’m thinking dashes….but wanted your opinion.
Marty (8 comments.) Says:
May 19th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Jeff,
This is such an outstanding post that you REALLY got me thinking. Thanks for the veritable clinic sharing your tactics used to protect clients.
Make Money Blogging (35 comments.) Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Those are some nice tips. Its amazing what I found then I typed in my name in Google, posts i’d made on forums ages ago.
Jeff Quipp (70 comments.) Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 3:32 am
@Marketing Man - some of these sites are definitely more obscure and not quite a effective at bumping listings as others. Guess it just depends how far down you wish to push a post, and how much time you can invest.

@Scott - good question Scott … I typically like to use a hyphen in those situations.

@Marty - thanks! As you acknowledged in your post … just so long as these tactics are used for good and not bad.

@MakeMoneyBlogging - yeah, you can find some dated and odd stuff just typing in your own name.
Palin Ningthoujam (1 comments.) Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Nice post, Jeff. I have heard about this tactic from a SEO business partner. Now do you have any thoughts how we can go about it if we have to work on a product and not a person?
Jeff Quipp (70 comments.) Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 6:42 am
@Palin email me at jeff at searchenginepeople.com to chat more.
bosbecak (3 comments.) Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Great post! Thanks for sharing all these
insights, tips and resources. I will
surely take note of all of these. I have
in fact bookmarked this. Thanks!
Top Rated (11 comments.) Says:
May 24th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Hmm, interesting. Reputation management is something I’ve never heard of before. It makes sense, but in a scary sort of way. Maybe this makes a good case for keeping your personal name, and business branding name as separate entities.
Rani (3 comments.) Says:
May 24th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
great list, thanx for sharing
Free Advertising (1 comments.) Says:
June 1st, 2008 at 6:17 am
This is great list, some of them i already used. Many of them still new to me.
Gilberto Galea (1 comments.) Says:
June 8th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Great post! I always thing that your reputation make yourself. But some people for one or other reason problably want hurt you. But the scandals not only are at internet. I found another services like rapleaf.com that you can use to mantain your reputation at internet.
Blogging Tips And Tricks (6 comments.) Says:
June 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Aww, this makes defamation no fun!
Wii Boy (23 comments.) Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Andy Beal on Marketing Pilgrim does some fantastic work on reputation management, well worth a look there.
Wii Boy (23 comments.) Says:
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
There is some great stuff on Marketing Pilgrim on reputation management, well worth a read.
paulette (16 comments.) Says:
July 12th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Thats why if one has ambition one should always look upon his reputation in order to keep it.
Blogger Templates (3 comments.) Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
such incidences are happening a lot these days……thanks for these tips.
Success4uTeam (1 comments.) Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
If people really do their research behind a company, I’m sure they can find the truth: if it is legit or not. Digg won’t help you where the Better Business Bureau can.
Singapore SEO (26 comments.) Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 2:23 am
I have different tactics to tackle ORM, however i am sure your tactic is good enough to throw bad reviews to at least the 3rd page.
Hobo (9 comments.) Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 7:22 am
@ Singapore - Ahhhh… hammering dofollow lists…. I remember it well.
Singapore SEO (26 comments.) Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Well i wouldn’t use the word hammering, it is more of a contribution and sharing of knowledge. Hobo you do have a good memory, but got to try my new targeted keywords for SERPs purpose.
Free Wordpress Themes (4 comments.) Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Wow this is a really good idea. You can’t take back the mistake or the negative reviews, but you can hide it in the depths of the search engine

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