Category Reputation Management

Our CEO Pierre Zarokian and attorney Aaron Minc from Dinn, Hochman & Potter, LLC will be doing a free online webinar on July 19, 2016 at 2:30pm EST.

Pierre Zarokian will discuss Yelp and general reputation management, including:

– Why Yelp is so important!
– Yelp Filter : How it works and how to beat it
– Methods to get negative reviews removed on Yelp
– Ways to increase positive reviews on Yelp
– Discussion of other review sites and how they work, including: Google+, Ripoff Report, BBB and others.
– How to do proactive reputation management
– What to do if you get negative reviews on complaint sites such as Ripoff Report, including SEO push down, Copyright removals and other methods

Aaron Minc will discuss legal issues surrounding reputation management, including:

– Why Your Online Reputation Matters
– The New Age of the Internet & The Online Defamation Problem
– The Communications Decency Act
– How to Remove Online Content
– Court Ordered Search Engine Removals
– Online Reputation Management Myths
– What Can I Do To Proactively Protect Your Online Brand

Everyday, thousands of people all over the world wake up to the realization that nude pictures of themselves have appeared online. It could be that you were the victim of a targeted attack, or just a vengeful ex looking to get back at you. Whatever the case, these pictures can be damming to your career prospects, your future relationships and your life. If you, or someone you know, has had this horrible thing happen then you’ll be pleased to know that Google can help remove some of that content from search.

Google has a public policy that acknowledges the terrible truth: sometimes, vengeful people do awful things. One widespread method is to post naked pictures of that person online. These compromising pictures are often shared consensually, and they are taken under the knowledge that they will be kept private.

Google has laid out certain requirements it uses to determine if your content fits this profile:

• The subject of the photo or video, and the person making the request, must be nude or shown in a compromising sexual act.
• The content must be intended for a private audience, such as sharing between spouses.
• If the second condition is true, it follows that the subject never consented to making this information publicly available.

As long as you can prove that your content meets these conditions, Google should help you take this content off of search. It’s important to note that this only applies to Google search. Google will also display a notice that certain content was removed from the search results. The content still exists on whatever website is hosting it, which can creep up in other ways.

What if your next potential employer or spouse uses a different search engine to find information about you? What if this person is tipped off that your videos or photos exist? For these reasons, reputation management is a route you might want to look into. Reputation management offers long term solutions to these types of problems, including complete removal of your compromised content.

In the past few months we have seen Ripoff Report remove several posts from their site and change the titles to:

“(((NAME(S) REDACTED DUE TO PERCEIVED HARASSMENT / CYBERSTALKING / CYBERBULLYING / REVENGE POST)))”

Here are some examples:

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

As you will see the names and info of the victims have been replaced by words “REDACTED.”

So it appears that they would remove some posts if they are considered to be harassment, cyber stalking, cyber bullying or revenge posts!

We had some doubts whether RipoffReport did this to make it look like they are the good guys and actually care or whether they were paid removals.

We decided to try it for a client by contacting them. One of our clients was a perfect candidate for this service, because they had purchased something from a business and the item was not delivered on time for their event as promised, so our client had left a negative review for the business. The business owner in return retaliated and posted a negative report for our client. Therefore, it could be considered a revenge post.

It took several months from the first time we contacted RipoffReport about this, but we finally checked the page and noticed they had redacted our client’s name.

One word of advice… Mr. Ed Magdeson can be a tough to deal with. If you try to call him on the phone to request this, he may even hang up on you. If you piss him off, you will ruin your chances of redaction! Do not try this yourself and let a professional like us handle it. If you are listed on Ripoff Report, contact us to see if we can help you!

The hack of Ashley Madison just became real for potentially millions of users. The website that billed itself as the premier destination for adult affairs appears to have failed in its aims to provide a discreet locale for its users to meet. A new leak nearly 10 gigabytes in size has unleashed a potential firestorm. If you think your information was in that leak, we won’t judge you but you need to read this.

Search for Your Email Address

You should begin by performing a Google search for your email address, and be sure you go through all of them. Dormant accounts are the best for hacking because the owner often doesn’t know the hack occurred because the email is never checked. This could potentially cause major problems for people who didn’t even know Ashley Madison existed.

You should also use a website like Trustify, which has created a form that checks your email address against the data released in a hack.

Search Your Name

The next avenue is to search for your name. Ashley Madison doesn’t use a process to verify a user’s email account, so it’s entirely possible someone with a negative opinion of you used your credentials to create an account under your name. Your email address might not show up on any related websites, but finding your name in these leaks can still cause trouble. What if your spouse saw your name, or your boss?

A few Links to Check
Here is a forum that released much of the data, but thankfully they would remove your info if you ask:
http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/1952412.html

This site below let’s you search by an email address to see if your data was part of the hack:
https://ashley.cynic.al/

This site below let’s you check your own email and will send a verification email:
http://www.trustify.info/check

Taking Action

It’s not easy to request removal from some of these websites, as they are protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and may refuse to remove a post once it has been made. In these situations, your only alternative is to proactively manage your reputation online. Only reputation management companies can effectively monitor every search engine for references about you.

For more details on the hacking, including a message from the hackers, click here.

Today we discovered that RipoffReport.com has been completely deindexed by Google.  We have searched online for any news about this and so far there is only one other person reporting on this news on Twitter. We have confirmed we several others that are seeing the same thing.

When you search for “Site:ripoffreport.com” no pages from Ripoffreport are showing.  There is however a message stating:
“In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.”

This could been there is some kind of copyright infringement notice against them. However, what does not make sense is why is the whole website gone and not only the pages that infringe upon someone’s copyright!

Back in 2001, a similar thing happened. Search Engine Watch reported on it and it turned out the Ripoff Report webmaster had accidentally gotten the site deindexed using Webmaster Tools.

We think this removal is temporary, but let’s hope it is gone forever as it will make a lot of people happy!

UPDATE!
The outage only lasted a couple of hours. The pages are all back in Google now! We may never know what happened!

From October 5-8, Las Vegas will be taken over by Pubcon. The gathering is one of the largest annual meetings of search marketing professionals, and discussions will delve deep into all manner of organic search topics. Joining these brilliant minds in search is the veteran SEO and social media marketer: Pierre Zarokian.

Zarokian, who is CEO of Reputation Stars and Submit Express, is an expert on the art of reputation management. Through Reputation Stars, Pierre is successfully growing the reputation management arm of his successful search marketing business. He has developed a proprietary approach that can remove negative reviews and press from Google search results.

“One of the key aspects we look at is Yelp,” says Zarokian, “if a business has a bad Yelp profile, they may lose a lot of business.” Zarokian will discuss the effects that a bad Yelp reputation can have on a growing business, and he will focus on some key takeaways businesses can use to increase positive Yelp reviews.

“Yelp is all over the Web, so there is a good chance it’s the first thing someone sees when they search for local businesses,” says Pierre Zarokian. “Often, the user will bypass Google entirely and go to Yelp to search for businesses in their area.”

Starting at 3:55 on Tuesday, October 6th, Pierre will be joined by other colleagues in the search marketing industry in a roundtable discussion on reputation management. If you attend Pubcon, and you want to grow your business, this session promises insight into one of the next frontiers in search marketing.

If you are interested in attending Pubcon, here is a coupon code that will give you 15% discount: rc-1943915

We have just released a press release titled “Reputation Stars Offers Unique Solutions for Reputation Management.”

In summary, Reputation Stars works with a legal team to try and get most negative reviews removed.  These legal methods often work much better than traditional SEO methods and result in complete removal of the report from the offending site or Google.  Reputation Stars, will use traditional SEO method if the legal method is not an option or if it fails.

Reputation Stars management have 18 years of experience in SEO and online marketing services.  “I got into the reputation management industry because I figured out unique, proprietary ways to help people through their reputation crises,” said Pierre Zarokian, CEO of Reputation Stars.

You can see the full release at:

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/03/p5361249/reputation-stars-offers-unique-solutions-for-reputation-management

Anyone whose web site appears in response to an online search might need ORM. Consumer generated media offers the public an opportunity to express their views. This information can be found in search engine results. The more a product, brand or company is exposed to public attention and scrutiny, the greater the likelihood that someone will want to challenge their reputation. This can include dissatisfied clients, customers and competitors, who may have legitimate complaints, but can also include rumor mongers, and irresponsible, vindictive web site wizards, whose sole purpose is to challenge another website’s integrity.

Consider the search results for the following “name brand” web sites:

* Walmart – 2 of the first 10 Google listings is negative:

* McDonalds – 1 of the first 10 Google listings is negative;

* Coca Cola – 1 of the first 10 listings is negative;

The problem is universal. Thousands of companies like these can have the effect of their web sites neutralized by stories appearing on the search engines. And its not limited to companies. People of high profile are convenient targets; celebrities, high-power business people, government as well as individuals from all walks of life, regardless of gender, national background and social status are being victimized and insulted. If you have a company, a brand name or product, which someone could or did find fault with; or if you have ever been written about in the media in a less than flattering vein, or if you monitor your Google listing and a negative listing appears, you must realize that the negative story will not disappear on its own.

Negative reviews are there to stay and may even multiply until you retain the services of a professional online reputation management professional. Reputation management is vitally important for all organizations. Both on a personal and corporate level, everyone should be concerned about their online image. On a personal level, having a damaged reputation can result in not being eligible for employment. For businesses a bad reputation can mean tremendous financial loss. As a result of a tarnished reputation, businesses have lost millions, have replaced trusted CEO’s, and have even ceased operating within months of negative publicity.

Our CEO Pierre Zarokian has written a new article about Bing’s alleged change of heart on removing court-ordered defamatory content from its search engine. Has Bing truly changed its policy?

If your online reputation has been tainted, you know how devastating it can be to have defamatory content about you or your company featured on the web for everyone to see. Major search engines such as Google and Yahoo are usually fair about the issue. If they receive an order from the court to remove defamatory content, they usually comply by removing it from their search indexes. And up until recently that was also the case with Bing. However, leading attorney who specialize in internet defamation law are claiming that Bing has changed its policy and no longer honors court orders.

Published in SearchEngineWatch.com, the article features interviews with leading reputation management attorneys, a spokesperson from Bing, and final words on the matter by reputation management guru Pierre Zarokian. Read the full article here.

TheDirty has lost a lawsuit against Sarah Jones who claimed damaging posts were posted on thedirty.com about her that destroyed her reputation. This is a major victory for the reputation management industry as the judge has allowed the case to go through, while thedirty had claimed immunity due to the Communication Decency Act (CDA) which protects public forums from any liability when 3rd party content is posted.  Due to the owner Nik Richie making edits to posts, the judge did not accept the CDA as a defense.  Sarah Jones had previously admitted to having sex with a minor and got 5 years probation. However, the specific damaging post on The  Dirty was prior to that incident and stated that Sarah Jones as a cheerleader for the Bangles had sex with every member of a football team. The jury awarded $388K to Sarah Jones, but collection might be a problem as Nik has stated that he is $1 million in debt and that he would never pay a penny to Jones.  The Dirty plans to appeal the case.

Our CEO Pierre Zarokian has published two articles on Search Engine Watch and Examiner about this subject: