Your reputation lives on platforms you don't control
Online reputation management is more than reviews. A negative news article on page 1 of Google for your brand name affects every sales conversation for years. A 2-star Yelp page can outrank a 4.7 Google profile in branded search. A single unfavorable Reddit thread can become the top organic result for prospects researching your company. ORM is the discipline of monitoring every surface where your brand appears, responding within hours when negative content shows up, and proactively building positive signal that pushes negative content off page 1.
What our ORM service monitors
Daily monitoring across 40+ platforms:
- Review platforms: Google, Yelp, BBB, Facebook, Trustpilot, Angi, HomeAdvisor, Houzz, Healthgrades, Avvo, Glassdoor, Indeed
- Social media: Twitter/X, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok mentions of your brand
- News + press: Google News, regional Baltimore publications, industry trade press
- Forums + Q&A: Reddit, Quora, niche industry forums
- Branded SERP analysis: what's appearing on page 1 of Google for your brand name search
How we respond when negative content appears
Three response patterns depending on the content type:
1. Reviews — respond + removal request if applicable
Every negative review gets a professional, empathetic public response within 24 hours. For reviews violating platform policy (off-topic, fake engagement, conflict of interest), we submit removal requests and follow through on the appeals process. Removal success rate for legitimate policy violations: 30–40%. For factually-negative-but-policy-compliant reviews, we focus on the response (which is what future readers will see) rather than removal.
2. News + press — direct outreach
For unfavorable news articles ranking on page 1 of Google for your brand name, we do reporter outreach for corrections when factually inaccurate, statement requests for fairness when one-sided, and suppression strategy (positive content production) when the article is accurate but old and no longer relevant.
3. Reddit, forums, social — engagement when appropriate
Reddit and forum content is the trickiest because aggressive response often backfires. We monitor mentions, advise on response strategy case by case (sometimes engagement helps, sometimes silence is better), and produce content that gives Google better signals to rank above the negative thread.
The suppression strategy when negative content can't be removed
Some negative content can't be removed — factually accurate negative reviews, old news articles, opinion pieces. For these, the strategy is suppression: building enough positive content for your brand that the negative content gets pushed off page 1 of Google for your brand name. Positive content production:
- Press releases distributed to news syndication networks
- Founder profile content on authoritative platforms (LinkedIn articles, industry publications, podcast appearances)
- Branded social profile expansion (every major platform with completed, optimized profile)
- Wikipedia entry if the business qualifies (Wikipedia rules are strict — most small businesses don't qualify)
- Branded video content on YouTube (YouTube videos rank in branded SERPs and on YouTube itself)
- Customer testimonial content displayed prominently on your own website
Suppression is slow but durable — once positive content holds page 1 for your brand name, it tends to stay there.
Pricing
- Monitor ($299/month) — Daily monitoring across all 40+ platforms, monthly sentiment report, alerts within 2 hours of negative content appearing, response strategy guidance (we tell you what to do, you execute)
- Manage ($699/month) — Everything in Monitor plus full response management (we write and post responses in your brand voice across all platforms), removal request management for policy-violating content, quarterly suppression strategy review
- Defend ($1,499/month) — Everything in Manage plus proactive positive content production (press releases, founder content, branded social expansion), Wikipedia entry strategy if applicable, crisis-response retainer with 4-hour response time
Request Free Reputation Audit →
The four-platform monitoring stack we run for every client
Online reputation management at the platform level isn't manual — automated monitoring tools watch your brand mentions across the entire web and route alerts to the right person at the right time. The stack we deploy for every client:
1. Google Alerts + Mention.com
Real-time web crawling for brand mentions. Google Alerts (free, broad but slow) + Mention.com (paid, faster + more comprehensive) together cover roughly 90% of indexable web mentions. We tune the alert filters so you only see what matters — not every random forum post that quotes your company name in passing.
2. Social listening (Brandwatch, Sprout Social, or Hootsuite Insights)
Social platforms aren't fully indexed by Google. Dedicated social listening tools watch Twitter/X, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok for brand mentions. Alerts route to your team for response within 4-6 business hours. Pairs with our social media management service for the underlying social presence work.
3. Review platform aggregation
One unified dashboard pulling reviews from Google, Yelp, Facebook, BBB, Trustpilot, Glassdoor, Healthgrades, Avvo, Zillow, TripAdvisor (whichever are relevant to your category). Response status tracked per review. Velocity tracked per platform. Sentiment trended over time.
4. SERP monitoring (rank tracking for your brand)
Daily checks of what appears when someone searches your brand name. Negative content moving up requires immediate intervention. We monitor pages 1-3 of branded SERPs and alert when negative content rises into positions 1-10.
When negative content reaches page 1 — what we actually do
The most stressful reputation management scenario: negative news article, bad review on a high-authority site, or competitor smear ranking on page 1 for your brand name. There's no single fix — there's a layered response that compounds over weeks:
Step 1: Rapid response on the negative source
If the negative content is on a platform with review/response capability (Google review, Yelp review, BBB complaint), we respond publicly using our standard framework. A professional, accountable response neutralizes 30-50% of the conversion damage even without removal.
Step 2: Removal request if possible
If the content violates platform policy (defamation, factual errors, content guidelines), we file removal requests with documentation. Success rates vary by platform — see our Google reviews, Yelp, Facebook, Trustpilot, and BBB management services for platform-specific removal mechanics.
Step 3: Positive content production + ranking
The most reliable long-term defense: produce strong positive content that ranks above the negative content for your brand keywords. This is where our content writing service + local SEO service + guest posting service combine into a coordinated suppression campaign.
Step 4: Search Console + structured data signaling
For Google specifically, schema markup (Organization, LocalBusiness, Person) and Google Search Console verification + Knowledge Panel claim help Google distinguish authoritative content about your brand from random third-party content. Pairs with our local SEO service for schema implementation.
Brand entity work for AI Overviews + ChatGPT
As of 2026, AI-powered search (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude with search) increasingly answers brand-related queries directly without sending users to websites. The implication for reputation management: what AI search engines say about your business often matters more than what Google says.
Our entity work for AI search includes: structured data optimization (Organization schema with comprehensive properties), Wikipedia or Wikidata entry maintenance where appropriate, consistent NAP + brand mentions across the open web, official-source content that AI engines treat as authoritative. Pairs with our AI integration service for businesses wanting custom AI search visibility tracking.
Crisis response capability
For high-severity reputation events (viral negative incident, coordinated competitor attack, news cycle covering your business negatively), our Premium tier includes crisis response capability:
- 24-hour rapid response within 4 hours of incident detection
- Public statement drafting + approval workflow
- Coordinated multi-platform response (Google, Yelp, Facebook, your website, social media)
- Media outreach if appropriate (managing journalist inquiries, providing context)
- Customer communication via email + WhatsApp for affected customer base. Pairs with our email marketing service + WhatsApp automation service.
- Internal team coordination through shared crisis-response document
- Daily situation updates until incident resolution
Industries where online reputation management matters most
- Healthcare — patient reviews directly affect new-patient acquisition. Healthgrades + Vitals + Zocdoc + Google + Yelp reviews all matter.
- Legal services — Avvo + Martindale + Google reviews critical. Bar association complaints visible publicly.
- Financial services — Trustpilot + Google + BBB + industry-specific platforms. Heavy regulatory consequences for misleading reputation claims.
- Restaurants + hospitality — Google + Yelp + TripAdvisor + Resy + OpenTable. Reviews drive table-occupancy directly.
- Home services — Google Map Pack ranking depends on review velocity + response work. Pairs with our local SEO service.
- E-commerce — Trustpilot + Google Shopping reviews + Google Seller Rating + Amazon reviews. Pairs with our e-commerce setup service.
- B2B services — Google + LinkedIn + industry-specific platforms (G2, Capterra for SaaS, Clutch for agencies).
Pricing tiers
- Monitoring tier $499/month — multi-platform monitoring, weekly digest report, alerts on negative content. No response or removal work.
- Standard tier $999/month — adds response coverage on Google + Yelp + 1 additional platform, removal request management, monthly performance reporting.
- Comprehensive tier $1,499/month — adds 4-platform response coverage, crisis response capability, brand entity work for AI search, quarterly strategy reviews.
- Premium tier $2,499/month — adds full crisis response retainer, executive reputation management, suppression campaigns for negative content, dedicated account manager.
Request a free reputation audit — we'll pull your current online reputation across all major platforms, benchmark against 3 competitors, identify the top 5 immediate improvements, and send back a written 90-day plan within 5 business days.