By Nathan Barker

It is often said that the law and justice are two entirely different things. Never was this more the case than in online defamation cases. There are six billion opinions out there and each one of them able to publish without any fact-checking any legal advice to the internet in seconds. The perceptions of you and your business are defined by what users find on Google about you. The law regarding defamation and the problem domain itself mean that solicitors and lawyers are becoming less and less effective. The internet spans international borders and so any action is subject first to locating the culprit and then bringing action. But the major motivating factor for business turning to us over the lawyers is we are faster and more cost effective.

Instead of launching expensive libel cases, those who have been maligned on the internet and in the blogosphere are increasingly turning to online web experts to rescue and then safeguard their good name. The Online Reputation Management industry would have us believe that they are the answer. But is it allowed? Well a post on Google’s official blog would suggest that it is not only allowed but actively encouraged, when dealing with negative or defamatory content they suggest “try to reduce its visibility in the search results by proactively publishing useful, positive information about yourself or your business.” (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-your-reputation-through-search.html)

Online reputation management companies’ offer instant damage limitation and can bury negative content quickly within the search result, and considering 85% of users do not look on Page2 the effects can be minimised very quickly. Whereas bringing a case to court can take up to a year. Proving liability for internet libel is notoriously difficult. There are issues over jurisdiction and the responsibilities of website owners, who tend to protect themselves with disclaimers. If you lose a court case, the result could be more bad publicity. You also run the risk of having to pay the other person’s costs.

Repairing your reputation on the internet, on the other hand, carries no such risks. So how is it achieved? Online reputation management teams use in-depth knowledge of search engine optimisation (SEO) not to optimise one site, but a whole page of sites. Google displays only 10 website results on its default setting per page. If those results are negative, the process of online reputation management is to place 10 other more favourable pieces of content above them. As more and more sites are optimised by these web experts, the negative sites fall down to page 2 and lower into the internet abyss. In short, online reputation management can effectively bury bad publicity by manipulating Google.

At its core, online reputation management is burying something negative so deep that you won’t find it. It is taking Google page one, then two, then three and using techniques to ensure the search engine only displays what we want it to.

But surely an honest company would never needs such as service? All it takes is for one disgruntled ex-employee to post malicious comments on a blog or an internet forum about a perfectly good business. Bad news travels very quickly on the web. That business is suddenly at risk because the internet has no fact-checking capability and all because of someone who has an axe to grind. Or if one order in a thousand doesn’t go smoothly and somebody posts negative comments on the web, then a company’s future is jeopardised and jobs are at risk.

There may well still be a role for good defamation lawyers and sees a future where legal eagles and reputation specialists can work in tandem. A good lawyer will tell you if you have a cast iron case and then it would be sensible to take a two-pronged approach. Hire a reputation management company to clean up as quickly as possible while at the same time pursuing the offenders through the courts.

About the author and Reputation 24/7

Nathan Barker is founder of Reputation 24/7, an online reputation management firm. He worked in SEO for 5 years before launching Reputation 24/7, following the unexpected publishing of a negative newspaper articles about one of his clients. He built upon the strategies used in this campaign and saw there was a market for a dedicated online reputation management agency.

Reputation 24/7 is a Liverpool-based online reputation management consultancy. The team have a background in technology, SEO, copywriting and public relations. Reputation 24/7's clients include many PLC companies. For more about Reputation 24/7 visit the company’s website at http://www.reputation247.com or call 0151 244 5419.

Relevant links

Google’s Stance on Online Reputation Management: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-your-reputation-through-search.html.