Reputation management

Reputation management is the practice of monitoring the reputation of an individual or brand, addressing contents which are damaging to it, and using customer feedback solutions to get feedback or early warning signals to reputation problems.[7] Most of reputation management is focused on pushing down negative search results.[8] Reputation management may attempt to bridge the gap between how a company perceives itself and how others view it.[9]
Some examples of websites where a company may conduct reputation management is the feedback system on eBay,[10] and Wikipedia. Google search results are the primary target of reputation management efforts. Some of the tactics used by reputation management firms include the following:[11]
Improving the tagging and search engine optimization of company-published materials, such as white papers and positive customer testimonials in order to push down negative content.[12]
Publishing original, positive websites and social media profiles, with the aim of outperforming negative results in a search.[13]
Submitting online press releases to authoritative websites in order to promote brand presence and suppress negative content.
Submitting legal take-down requests if someone believes they have been libeled.[14]
Getting mentions of the business or individual in third-party sites that rank highly in Google.[14]
Creating fake blogs pretending to be a different person that shares the same name in order to push down negative search results on the actual person or brand.[14]
Using spam bots and denial-of-service attacks to force sites with damaging content off the web entirely.[14]
Astroturfing third-party websites by creating anonymous accounts that create positive reviews or lash out against negative ones.[14]
Proactively offering free products to prominent reviewers.[15]
Proactively responding to public criticism stemming from recent changes.[15]
Ethics[edit]

The practice of reputation management raises many ethical