Reputation Management

Reputation management is the understanding or influencing of an individual’s or business’s reputation. It was originally coined as a public relations term, but advancement in computing, the internet and social media made it primarily an issue of search results. Although it is often associated with ethical grey areas, censoring negative complaints or using SEO tactics to game the system and influence results, there are also ethical forms of reputation management, such as responding to customer complaints, asking sites to take down incorrect information and using online feedback to influence product development

Some of websites where a company may conduct reputation management is the feedback system on eBay, Google Plus, Yelp, kudzu.com,citysearch.com

Google search results are the primary target of reputation management efforts.
Some of the tactics used by reputation management firms include the following:
Improving the tagging and search engine optimization of company-published materials, such as white papers and positive customer testimonials in order to push down negative content.
Publishing original, positive websites and social media profiles, with the aim of outperforming negative results in a search.
Submitting online press releases to authoritative websites in order to promote brand presence and suppress negative content.
Submitting legal take-down requests if someone believes they have been libeled.
Getting mentions of the business or individual in third-party sites that rank highly in Google.
Creating fake blogs pretending to be a different person that shares the same name in order to push down negative search results on the actual person or brand.
Using spam bots and denial-of-service attacks to force sites with damaging content off the web entirely.
Astroturfing third-party websites by creating anonymous accounts that create positive reviews or lash out against negative ones.
Proactively offering free products to prominent reviewers.
Proactively responding to public criticism stemming from recent changes.

eBay, Google Plus, Yelp, kudzu.com,citysearch.com