Why Most ORM and SEO Agencies Get It Wrong
Most so-called Online Reputation Management (ORM) agencies and SEO firms claim they can “fix” negative search results.
Here’s what they don’t tell you:
❌ They focus on monitoring, not suppression – Watching your reputation tank without a real solution.
❌ They rely on PR instead of technical SEO – Press releases alone won’t push down negative content.
❌ They don’t understand Google’s ranking system – You can’t just “remove” bad results — you have to outrank them.
❌ They use generic ORM techniques – Reputation repair is NOT the same as local SEO or review management.
This is why most ORM efforts fail.
If you’ve been burned by agencies that didn’t deliver results, you’re not alone.
The Secret to Effective and Sustainable Online Reputation Management
To suppress negative content, you need to understand how Google actually works.
✅ Google ranks pages based on authority & relevance – If a negative article is ranking high, it’s because Google sees it as important. We shift that balance in your favor.
✅ The best way to “remove” bad content is to bury it – Google won’t remove an article just because you ask. But if better, more relevant content appears, the negative content moves down — and out of sight.
✅ You need strategic SEO, not just PR – Press releases alone won’t suppress negative content. You need an SEO-driven content strategy that ranks higher.
The RIGHT Way to Suppress Negative Publicity
Step 1: Assess the damage and identify opportunities
Before taking action, it’s crucial to analyze how negative content is impacting search results. This means:
Identifying which negative results are ranking and why they appear prominently.
Evaluating their SEO strength to determine how difficult they are to suppress.
Finding gaps and opportunities to introduce positive content that can rank higher.
Without a clear assessment, efforts to suppress negative content may be ineffective or temporary.
Step 2: Create positive content that dominates search results
Google rewards fresh, relevant, and authoritative content. The best way to suppress negative publicity is by publishing strategic, high-ranking content that provides a more accurate and positive representation. This can include:
Well-optimized blog posts, articles, and press releases addressing key topics.
High-authority profiles on LinkedIn, Medium, and other platforms to reinforce credibility.
A structured SEO and backlinking strategy to boost these assets above negative results.
The more authoritative and optimized the content, the higher the chances of pushing harmful content further down in search rankings.
Step 3: Leverage search engine algorithms for reputation control
Simply creating new content isn’t enough—Google needs signals to recognize and prioritize it. This involves:
Strengthening existing positive assets like personal or business websites.
Building a network of authoritative content that interlinks to reinforce credibility.
Using strategic backlinking to increase the authority of newly created content.
By aligning content strategies with how search engines rank information, negative results naturally lose visibility over time.
Step 4: Maintain and protect search results over time
Reputation management isn’t a one-time effort—it requires ongoing monitoring and proactive measures to keep negative content suppressed. Long-term success depends on:
Regularly tracking online search results to detect emerging risks.
Updating and optimizing existing content to maintain dominance in rankings.
Implementing preventative strategies to stop new negative content from gaining traction.
A strong reputation is built over time, and sustained efforts ensure that negative publicity stays buried while positive content continues to thrive.
Billionaire Under Siege [Case Study]
A successful and wealthy businessman was targeted with prolonged, highly coordinated negative publicity campaigns that cast his businesses in a very negative light.
Despite hiring an SEO agency to mitigate the problem, almost a year passed and no significant progress in suppressing the negative publicity was made. Then the client reached out to us.
We analyzed the whole situation and devised a new customized protection plan that not only involved suppressing the negative publicity, but also generating overall well-likedness for the client.
Within 6 months, we pushed 80% of the negative mentions off the first page of Google search results, while keeping the image search section clean of unflattering images of our client.
Need help suppressing negative publicity and take over the narrative?
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