An Online Reputation Management Campaign is a plan to target, isolate, move, and suppress negative content on search engines that might be causing damage to an individual or business. It involves creating positive content on a number of sites that, over time (key words: “over time,” it cannot be done all at once) comes to supplant negative listings as the most relevant information for that particular search as it rises in the search engine rankings. Say for example, that you had a hardware store named “Jane’s Pine Village Hardware”; then that would be in general the specific search term that you would wish to target. If you are an individual, then generally you would target the search rankings of your full name.

All ORM Campaigns take several months (or in some cases more), that is their nature; there is no way to accomplish all the objectives of one overnight. Therefore, it’s important to have a good plan about how you will approach it. What sites will I use? What type(s) of content will I create? What order will I roll out my new sites in? What type(s) of content are search engines most likely to be interested in? How much content will go on my own sites that I own or create (if any), versus sites that others hold the proprietary rights to (like blogs, social media, etc., which usually make up the bulk of 95% of all campaigns)? How will I update these sites periodically, and with what? These are all important questions to ask when it comes to ORM, and making a good plan is surely important. But the reality is, these campaigns can be very effective, and can drive negative listings far down in search engine rankings, so they can no longer cause any more problems. That’s why if you need help with internet results, an ORM campaign should certainly be considered.

In May, 2014, the European Court of Justice turned the “Right to Be Forgotten” into law throughout all of Europe — literally anywhere within the EU’s borders. For those who are unfamiliar, we should explain what exactly it is and how it works. This ruling states that any information that is deemed harmful to an individual’s reputation on google or any other search engine can be removed provided the information is “outdated, irrelevant, or no longer relevant”; and, perhaps equally importantly, assuming that there is no major “need to know” in a particular regard about the data for the public. No matter what you think of the new law in Europe, the reality is, one way or another, this makes dealing with Online Reputation Management easier over there than it is here in the United States.

This article from ico.org.uk (the British Information Commissioner’s Office) explains how the removal process works in England. It goes over in simple language what information can be removed, how to apply, what action to take if you feel the judgment is unfair, etc. The “Right to Be Forgotten” should be taken very seriously by all those who care about or are interested in ORM, as some reports say, the new idea (which is now law in Europe) could spill into other countries like Canada or perhaps the US. Don’t just take our word for it, just check out this other article on the subject here. This is an evolving issue to be sure. Check back regularly for updates on it.