I have heard of online rep management but have not really had a reason to experience it first-hand until now. I Googled my name “Jay Granofsky” and found a couple of first page results that I did not particularly like.
First off (in the number 9 position):
I started this G rated site about 6 years ago, it had a quiz on it where you had to guess who’s famous butt was in the picture (fully clothed of course). I have not owned this site in about 4 years so I have no idea why this old info is still floating around. In the meanwhile I contacted Alexa and told them that I am no longer the owner and would like my name deleted from the owners information.
Next up (in position 10) is someone that I reported on in my SEO scam section, I caught him selling search engine submissions as part of his ‘SEO’ services. He apparently did not like the fact that I outed him so he went on some relevant blog and made a horribly phrased retort. Now most people reading his comment will realize this person is just a vengeful scammer but it still does not look that great on the first page of results for my name.
I also replied to him but the comment is waiting approval, maybe the owner of the blog will realize that both comments are way off-topic and delete them? On second thought I will contact the blog owner and make that exact request. Furthermore I decided I would manage my reputation by creating a few blog posts about my favorite hobby, photography and build a few backlinks to each post in hopes they will outrank those bottom of first page ones and will actually represent me in a more true light. If you are interested in following this case study I will post the results in the case studies section of this site at a later date.
Here is a quick update, 4 hours later this post and another have moved the two offending results off the front page!! That was some speedy rep management but is probably only short-term due to the extra juice Google gives fresh news. For the longer term solution I hope the points I touched on in the above blog come into effect.
April 23, 2009 update – Just got an email back from Alexa saying they would delete my name from the ownership of the site and I should see the search result gone in the next week or so. Great!
April 29, 2009 – The Alexa listing has been gone for a few days and the other silly listing has now been pushed to 2nd spot on page 3 which is amazingly quick! If I can get it to the bottom of page 3 I will be satisfied because although it is negative it is really just a bad SEO’s ‘sour grapes’ about me calling him out on being flakey.