Online reputation management is a process of using strategic SEO (search engine optimization) and various other methods to reverse damage done to an individual's or a business's reputation. There are many ways for a reputation to be marred through online websites, including social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and also review sites can tarnish a reputation and destroy careers.
Company and product review sites can also have damaging effects on a reputation. Former employees, unhappy clients and customers, rivals, and competitors all can post negative feedback about you and your company. Online reputation management can reverse these negative reviews and remarks by employing SEO practices, such as posting positive comments to bring your company's reviews to the top of search engine search pages (Google and Bing are two popular search engines).
Most ORM's run regular online searches, looking for any reference to an individual or business, and research any mention or comments they find. Since most companies are now using social networking sites, like LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as other online communication methods, ORM is important to not only repair a company's or individual's reputations, but to effectively deal with unhappy customers and hopefully to resolve any conflicts and issues that affected the person or business.