I once had a client tell me that he’d only be satisfied when every negative comment about his company had been removed from the internet. He meant what he said. Not only did he want to remove negative comments from websites that he owned, he also wanted negative comments removed from sites that were owned by other people.

Of course, I had to inform him that removing all negative comments about his business from the internet wasn’t possible. A website administrator can remove negative articles from pages that he or she manages, but there’s little that you can do about content on other sites. You could write that site’s administrator and ask for a retraction, but that’s a waste of time because very few of them will care about your complaint.

Just because you can’t delete the negative comments, however, doesn’t mean that you have to tolerate the damaging effects that they have on your business. As a leader in the online reputation management industry, Done SEO uses several strategies to remove negative comments from the first page results of search engines.

Most internet users only look at the first page of results when they use a search engine like Google, Yahoo!, or Bing. That means we can essentially remove negative comments by creating sites and listings that get the highest possible rankings. Developing listing that achieve the highest possible rankings and promoting these listings with a link building campaign pushes the negative comments off of the first page. You’ll soon find that no one reads them at all. They still exist, but few people will ever see them.

Since Done SEO focuses on consistent SERM strategies, we can even protect your business from negative comments that might occur in the future. Creating strong business profiles, press releases, and small websites enables us to build a wall of protection for your business. That way you don’t have to worry about the damaging influence of negative comments because you have control of your online reputation.

When you find negative forum comments about your company or organization, your first impulse is probably to respond with a rebuttal that backs your position. This seems like a good way to counter the forum poster’s and remove the negative article. It might also seem like a good way to vent your anger. The truth, however, is that commenting on the forum will only make the negative comment more popular. If you really want to remove negative forums, then you have to use effective strategies that will make the posts irrelevant.

Contact Us – We Can Help!

Why You Shouldn’t Respond to Negative Forums

Search engines rank web sites according to specific parameters that are set to determine which sites are the most helpful. One of the ways that search engines like Google and Yahoo! rank the sites is by counting the popularity of forums. When you respond to a negative forum, you increase its popularity. You, therefore, improve its ranking a little bit. Since you want to remove negative forums, not make them more popular, it’s important to stop yourself from replying, regardless of how much you want to offer your side of the story.

You Can’t Completely Remove Negative Forums, but…

You can’t completely remove negative forums, but you can make them ineffective. You do this by ignoring the forum and focusing on other web sites. At Done SEO, we’ve developed effective online marketing strategies that address these situation and remove the negative forums from the top pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

We, accomplish this by developing and promoting positive sites and listings that have strong links and useful content. It usually takes a couple months, but you will soon see that the negative forum begins to receive lower rankings because the sites created by Done SEO are edging towards the top of the list. As our sites’ rankings improve, the negative forum moves off the first page of results.

Within a few months, the negative forum can be pushed down the list to rankings that few internet users ever look at. At this point, it’s as good as gone.

It has become increasingly important for today’s consumers to have accurate information about the companies they purchase products and services from. The internet has the potential to give consumers all of the information that they need to make smart purchases that will save them money while simultaneously supporting ethical business practices. Business owners, however, know that some reviews distort reality. In this case, business owners may want to remove negative articles that are inaccurate.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to remove negative articles. One of the reasons that the internet works so well is that users have the ability to publish their thoughts and opinions without censorship. Web sites that offer consumer forums know that free speech is an important factor of their work, so they usually refuse to remove negative articles at the request of companies and other organizations.

That seems fair. After all, consumers have a right to hear reviews from everyone, right? That’s the only way for individuals to make the best options in today’s competitive marketplace.

Actually, it isn’t that simple. In the real world, we’re given the opportunity to judge the validity of negative reviews by judging the person offering the information. If someone looks completely insane, then you can probably skip their testimony in favor of someone who looks a bit more reasonable.

Such judgments aren’t so easy in the online world. A complete lunatic can post articles just as easily as a reasonable consumer with a realistic complaint. Unfortunately, internet users don’t have the visual cues needed to determine whether the information comes from a reliable source.

You need to protect your company’s online reputation, but few consumer forums will retract articles. Even worse, posting a counterargument can make your company look petty. Your post will even encourage search engines such as Google and Bing rank the offending article higher on their lists.

That doesn’t mean that you have run out of options, though. Done SEO is a pioneer in online reputation management and we are using several techniques that are designed to push negative listings off the top pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing and protect your brand name.

We do this by creating positive listings and promote them on search engines. With our years of experience we know how to build web sites and other online listings that will rank better than the sites where the negative articles are posted. Within a few months, the negative article will start to become more and more obscure as they moves down the list of results. Meanwhile, the positive sites and articles remain at the top of the search results, giving your company a clean online reputation as well as a virtual wall of protection on search engines.

What can I do to remove a rip off report on Google’s first page?

Dealing with a negative listing on sites like rip off report is becoming a big problem for many companies and individuals. All it takes is 15 minutes and anybody can slander your  reputation for the world to see.

Very Important!

Don’t reply and defend yourself on Ripoffreport.com if you have noticed an article about you on that site.

Here is why:

By responding to the post you are increasing the amount of user generated content and activity on this thread. Search Engines like Google consider this increased activity as an indication that this URL might be of interest and rank the listing higher on search engines. Google considers this posting a a sign that there is an interest in this article. Furthermore there is a probability that the other party responds to your rebuttal, which will further increase activity on this post.

We can help! Contact us:

How to remove a rip off report?

Bottom line, you cannot remove a ripoff report from that site. Even if the individual who submitted the post decides to remove the post. Some of these complaint sites even post your inquiry to the administrator back to the post that you are tying to get removed! Another reason why you need to proceed with caution.

If you are dealing with a Ripoff Report, contact us first for a free consultation at 310.399.9843 #105 or send us an email.

OK, so if I can’t remove a rip off report, what do I do?
We can remove a Rip Off Report from the top pages on relevant search engines. Our strategy involves the following steps.

Step One: We start by developing various positive URL’s. We build micro sites, business listings, article syndications and press releases, with the purpose to occupy the top pages on search engines and remove the ripoff report from the first page. In many cases this approach by itself is not sufficient in removing a Rip Off Report from the first page on Google, Yahoo and Bing. These newly created listings need to be promoted so they out rank and push down the rip off report.
Step Two: After about two months many of the newly created profiles will start to rank in the top pages on search engines. Depending on the keyword competitiveness some of them have already surpassed the rip off report and therefore pushed the listing downward. But, In order to remove the rip off report from the top page on Google, Yahoo and Bing we push the positive URL’s that are below the rip off report. As these listings surpass the rip off report we target a new set of positive listings that are not yet above the rip off report until we see the ripoff report listing drop down to page two or beyond.

Getting a negative listing on sites like Ripoff Report can happen to anyone, including upstanding companies and individuals. On most of these complaint sites, users can post complaints claiming they have been ripped off by any company or person, for any reason, all while remaining completely anonymous. Even if you are able to prove that listed allegations are incorrect, most of these sites will still decline to take down posted complaints.
Seeing an unfair negative listing about you sitting on the first page of Google is like being punched in the gut. As they are posted anonymously, you have no idea from where (or whom) the complaint has come from. Is it from a customer, an employee, or maybe even a competitor? The natural instinct is to fight back and respond to these allegations directly on their forums. However, in most cases, a response is the worst thing you can do. Here is why.
By responding to the post you are increasing the amount of user-generated content and activity on the complaint. Search engines like Google then notice this increased activity and interpret it to mean the post is both relevant and important, thus listing the complaint even higher. Moreover, there is then the chance the other party will respond to your rebuttal, further increasing the complaint’s activity, and moving the ranking higher still. This back and forth can sometimes go several rounds with the end result being an entrenched ranking that’s close to impossible to get rid of.

How to remove a Ripoff Report?

Once a complaint has been posted on Ripoff Report, you will not be able to take it off the site. Not even the person who wrote the complaint, should they have a change of heart, is able to remove the listing after the fact. Some of these complaint sites will even add your inquiry to remove a listing to the complaint itself, which for reasons detailed above, is also problematic.

Okay, so if I can’t remove a Ripoff Report, what can I do?

Despite the above challenges, it is still possible to remove a Ripoff Report from the top pages of Google, Yahoo and Bing. We do this by implementing a two-step process.

Step 1: As part of an Online Reputation Management campaign, we will develop a large list of positive listings for you. Those listings come in the form of micro-sites, business profiles, article syndications and press releases, all designed to occupy the top pages on search engines and, as such, outrank the Ripoff Report. However, in almost every case, this strategy by itself is not sufficient in removing a Ripoff Report from the first page of a search engine. As such, beyond just creating these positive listings, we then also heavily promote them in order to outrank, and thus push down, the Ripoff Report.

Step 2: After, on average, eight weeks or so, most of these newly created profiles should start to appear on the top pages of search engines. A few of them, hopefully, will have already surpassed the Ripoff Report and therefore already have started the process of pushing the negative listing down. However, more work will still be necessary. As such, in order to remove the Ripoff Report from the first page of Google completely, we then start to promote listings that are just below the Ripoff Report. As these listings then start to outrank the Ripoff Report, we target a new set of positive URLs that are not yet above the Ripoff Report.  This process is then repeated until we have a completely clean first page.

More info on how to Remove Ripoff Reports

A news article in today’s Los Angeles Times reports on a new reputation management nightmare: Unvarnished.com. I am skeptical, however. As an experienced Online Reputation Management professional, I deal with this subject a lot. And while this new site is interesting, it is a far cry from the reputation management nightmares that currently exist. That is, “review” sites like Ripoffreport.com and Scam.com.

On both aforementioned sites, users can freely and anonymously post unfounded and unreviewed negative attacks on any person or company without having to provide any evidence of wrongdoing. As such, these sites have become breeding grounds for sniper attacks from competitors, disgruntled employees and customers who would rather post a negative comment than try to resolve their issues with the company directly. Granted, quite a few of these complaints are for good reason, but with such lax rules on who can complain and for what reason, it can get very difficult to discern which complaints are real and which are not. There’s no accountability.

On Unvarnished.com, however, a user can only access the site via their Facebook account. This step helps verify who is making a complaint and, as such, bringing user accountability to the table. According to the LA Times article, you also have to be invited by a current user to participate. These two steps alone provide Unvarnished.com with much-needed integrity, making it a friend within the world of online reputation, not a nightmare.

Even if it was a nightmare though, Unvarnished.com still wouldn’t be a big threat to anyone, at least not for the foreseeable future. This is because the site does not rank! The number one online reputation management issue is when negative listings are out ranking positive listings, particularly on the first page of search engine results. At this point in time, though, Unvarnished.com isn’t outranking anyone.

According to Yahoo News Presidential Candidate John McCain is using Google to check potential running mates for any potential skeletons in their closets. Well, at least someone on his campaign staff is doing the checks as John McCain has stated that he doesn’t know how to use a computer, even ‘the Google’, instead relying on his wife for help.

At DONE! SEO our team has compiled a list of specialized strategies to assist with Political Online Reputation Management.

In our effort to expand our offering in the field of Online Reputation Management we have decided to launch a site very specific to reputation and public relations related services that we offer.

Please visit our new site, www.donereputationmanagement.com and feel free to contact us through that site if you are interested in managing or improving your online reputation.

I’ve seen lots of posts over the years about how political campaigns should be using SEO principles as part of their overall effort. I’ve always agreed that would be a good idea if done tastefully and ethically, but dismissed the idea as those ideals are very rare in the political circles.

Now, with the Presidential Election fast approaching we’ve decided that we will offer our services specifically to political campaigns, with the stipulation that we will not do anything unethical or otherwise ’shady’.

So what can we search engine optimization actually do for political campaigns? Quite a bit!

Our main focus in these campaigns will be working to ranks our clients for keyword associated with big issues for the 2008 election. We already know the Iraq War, and the War on Terror will be a big part of this. Another hot button issue is Universal Health Care. Working with politicians to promote certain listings relevant to these searches can be a great way to increase the level of communication between the representatives, and the represented.

I’ll be giving updates about projects related to this post as we move forward. We’ve been in talks with some campaigns, and if all goes well we’ll have some interesting stories to tell.

Search Engine Reputation has become quite a buzz word in the last year. What used to be a small problem affecting a limited group of people has quickly become a widespread issue, affecting everyone from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. With the growth of search engine’s indexes and the huge increase in the amount of personal information being posted on the internet, through social networking sites, governments, and companies posting their records online I think it’s safe to say we’re just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg with this issue, while those still in school now will see the huge implications from our technological growth in the information age.

This leads to the main topic I want to address. Should people work on preventative measures now, making sure they control the first 10-20 results for a Google search for their name? If you don’t put any work in now, any unwanted or outright negative information that pops up will go straight to the first page. However, with proper planning and implementation one could theoretically position relevant positive information on the top of the first page, and optimize those listings through link building and social bookmarking, firmly securing those all so important top spots, preventing any newly posted negative information from showing up at the top.

We are proud to announce that we will now be offering Preemptive Search Engine Reputation Management as one of our services. We will be targeting two basic groups with this service. The first would be young people, usually college students, that want to make sure that when they leave college they will have no problem with potential employers digging up negative information on them. The second group will be companies that deal directly with consumers on a regular basis that want to protect themselves from the possibility of potentially harmful posting making it to the top of Google.

To find out more about these services, or any of our other offerings, please contact us today!