How to restore a tarnished online reputation

In today’s Internet world, when someone can learn about you in seconds, your reputation has never been more valuable – or vulnerable. But what should you do when your online standing has been compromised – either by mistakes you’ve made, or by the malicious input of others? You should defend yourself. And then you should promote yourself. You need to initiate reputation restoration.

When you’ve messed up

I know business people who ran afoul of Canadian financial regulations some 20 years ago, and are still paying the price.

Wherever they travel in the world, potential clients and partners will of course “Google” them, read the news coverage of their long-ago malfeasance, and often squash a potential deal.

The business people may have lived exemplary lives for two decades, but it doesn’t matter. They’re judged as if their offences took place yesterday.

With the Internet, there is no past or present. There is only now.

Those affected by negative information have a powerful option. In addition to employing traditional public relations strategies, they can hire highly skilled search engine optimization (SEO) professionals who can employ techniques that promote positive content about the individual, lifting it to the first page of a relevant Google search – where more than 90 per cent of visitors click on a result.

What percentage of visitors go beyond page one? About 10 per cent.

With a reputation restoration plan, a client’s accomplishments – big transactions, real estate developments, awards, charitable activities, donations, and athletic endeavours – get highlighted, while the negative stuff gets pushed down the line, where it’s far less likely to be read.

Will the negative information remain on the online record?

Absolutely. It has a place in the overall story, and if someone – a potential partner or employer – is determined to find it, it will be found.

However, at least now those who have had their reputations shaped primarily by their mistakes get to provide a more balanced depiction of their careers, and their lives.

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