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How to bury negative publicity sites
A guy over in Google Groups asked how he can block negative publicity sites and seo101 responded “do a search for paypal - see what’s ranked 2nd”. What is ranked 2nd? A site called Paypalsucks.com.
If I was Paypal how would I get this negative publicity site removed? Well this is a tough question because the only thing that will get sites algorithmically removed is google bombing or spamming. Damaging a competitor with negative publicity by buying a domain and telling the world how bad he/she is, is not Google bombing.
What if Paypalsucks.com was actually owned by a competitor who is looking to compete with Paypal credit card processing? It looks like this could be the case.
Notice the gray link (image below) on the footer of paypalsucks.com trying to influence search engines to rank a competitor for the phrase “credit card processing”?
Look around closer and you just might find other things that search engines like Google might be interested in, report it and sit back to see if they have broken enough rules to lose their reputation damaging position in organic search.
Remember, not all things that break Google’s guidelines can be algorithmically weighted so do all you can to find stuff for your report. Paypalsucks.com is not going to drop out of sight because of one spammy footer link but look around, they might be doing other things. If the site really was setup to damage Paypal by a competitor this also might encourage hand removal because the evil intent would be clear. Would Google be motivated enough to do this even if Paypal also competes with their shopping cart?
Another good way to bury negative publicity sites is to have a contest or create a buzz. Remember Shoemoney’s “rank for my name” contest?
How about using spammy services like payperpost or reviewme to fill the serps with reviews of your site? I wouldn’t suggest this for Paypal though but for personal reputation management it could really bury them. If someone is hurting you and search engines can not do anything about it be relentless in your attempt to crush those looking to do you harm.
Want me to show you how to bury negative sites if you have authority like paypal surely does? See Google own their reputation via sub domains. Check it out, Yahoo does the same. Google uses subdomains that bury all possible negative damaging publicity sites, they might not do it on purpose but this strategy can be accomplished by any site with the amount of authority Paypal has. Wouldn’t it be great to own three or four pages in search for your product or service?
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April 4th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Creating profiles on social media type sites can also help to saturate the first page of the SERPs.
Nice tips, and good find on the semi-hidden link.
Rgds
Richard
April 4th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Yes sir, using social media is a good though the rankings for social media content is usually low. It does work for low competition phrases like your name, product or service that is yet to have a internet footprint but one negative reference from an authority site can crush a little guy sadly.
If I may also add, it is good to do this stuff early before negative publicity arrives. Old content even if from weak social media sites is sticky simply because it was there first.
For large sites with authority, sub domains are an absolute must and it is amusing how few know this.
April 4th, 2007 at 7:32 am
If you can write a wiki article about it you are pretty much promised the first page on Google :)
Subdomains, with content, do seem to carry some of the weight of the main domain, at least from what I’ve seen on my multi-blogger platforms that create a new blog on a subdomain for a client. It’s not as easy as the “billions and billions of pages” spammer from the “bad data push” era, but they still get a good bump.
April 4th, 2007 at 7:44 am
The bigger sites can certainly push a huge amount of authority and trust onto subdomains. For the smaller guy it’s going to be a wee bit more difficult.
A lot more interest in reputation management these days though, isn’t there. And rightly so - how often do you go to Google, type in a branded informational query and wait to see what comes back?
April 4th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Reputation Management? Wonder if Paypal will remove the fees they charge every time I sell a product for this great advice offered by us? ;)
April 4th, 2007 at 10:43 am
I have dealt with this and it is not easy, but I have had some success going to what I call mega sites and writing something positive on it. It is a hit and miss. Meaning there are times I can go to one of those big sites and write something positive (with creative writing sort of similar to the negative) and it will push it down some. Not completely, but some. However there are other times when something negative is out there that will always remain because it is relevant.
A good example is doing a Google search for Uhaul. There are 2 negatives on page one and I can’t see that changing as they have been there a long time.
I have had a similar issue with one particular web site for years (90’s) and its not only negative, its a flat out lie and it drops from page one and comes right back and thats because of that sites age combined with natural links.
Great Article.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:09 am
I do believe that the best defense is a good offense. Sounds like that is even tough in the world of reputation management. Good thought provoker, Aaron.
April 4th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
“What if Paypalsucks.com was actually owned by a competitor who is looking to compete with Paypal credit card processing? It looks like this could be the case.”
My guess is that is a paid link and not affiliated with them (apart from the monthly payment).
In their top 10 - they also have this less than favorable site: http://www.aboutpaypal.org/
Also - here is an interesting case of a company being proactive and registering all negative possible domain names: http://paypaysucks.com/ but if you were PayPay wouldn’t you redirect right from the index)? :)
April 11th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I wonder if paypalsucks.com had the payment processing service/endorsement before they put up the hit piece and got the ranking, or if all the traffic they now receive is the reason for the affiliation/new business venture.
Cleaning up name serps is something I’d like to do for a few friends and family members. After a few quick searches, I’ve found a small list of sites that are common front pagers on people’s names.
wikipedia (if you’re cool enough)
mybloglog member page
mybloglog community
typekey profile
digg profile
flickr profile
technorati tags
I remember a SEW thread about reputation management linking to a few sites. One site comes to mind but I can’t remember the name. It was Namez or something. Squidoo is praised for this purpose, but I can’t seem to find anyone who’s got it first page.
April 11th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Good finds corey! :)