How Reputation Management Helped Gavin Garris

We won’t make you wait for the ending. Gavin got into law school and he can mostly avoid embarrassing articles. Even better? Their new addition, and any future bundles of joy, won’t have to worry about friends Googling him. Gavin Garris, Jr. will be forever grateful to reputation management, even if he doesn’t realize it. Why did it work? And what can they expect moving forward?

At the end of the day, reputation management uses search engine optimization best practices to boost positive contentIn Gavin’s case, that meant working with John on an ongoing plan of:

This ongoing cycle included regular analysis on John’s part. This is vital to make sure the strategies are effective. And, like ever every good plan, it changed throughout the process.

Everything on the internet is permanent except in rare cases. But, everything on the internet is also fluid. That’s why reputation management works. By producing valuable, quality content and competing with negative content by assessing keywords, it is possible to push negative results to the second page. And remember, most people don’t scroll past the fold never mind visiting the second page of results.

Every once in awhile Gavin’s name might produce a not so flattering result on page one, but that is normal. Why? Google has a pretty good memory. If there is a particular date when people read negative articles, Google uses that historical data to rank those articles So Gavin may never escape that Grunge article on the date of his arrest. But on the other 364 days of the year he can stop thinking about it.

When working with a reputation management firm, provide a calendar of important dates. Every piece should rest in the larger context — and dates are important. We’ll get into that more with a real world example.

Gavin gave us a fun way to describe this process. But, John and our team conduct reverse SEO for clients in the real world. And they get results. The best example of this is for a major university health system on the east coast.

They contacted John a few years ago. Negative results abounded for specific doctors facing a malpractice lawsuit. Context is everything. Let’s understand the situation. Then we’ll look at how Digital Firefly Marketing helped put the results back in perspective

In fact, in 2015 47% of doctors surveyed been named in at least one suit with other doctors mentioned. The same pool had 12% of the surveyed doctors say they were the sole doctor named in a suit. That’s more than half of doctors. Does that mean you can’t trust your doctor?

No. You can and should trust your doctor. Malpractice suits exist for a reason, to keep people safe. Like with any lawsuit one must remember: the number of lawsuits is not what matters. The outcome is. Anyone can sue anyone at any time. But how do you parse the information?

Companies who do this type of work must be careful to consider all sides of the situation. Sure, Google can make someone look bad but there are also lives to consider. Digital Firefly Marketing vets each reverse SEO case and says no when any member of the team feels uncomfortable.. There are some things we will never touch. Other issues need honest conversation with the staff members who will handle the case to understand. We aim to help those who have fallen prey to digital reputation pitfalls, respect every member of our team’s comfort, and avoid anything questionable.

When asked to take on the case of two doctors working for a major university health system we looked at the situation. The doctors were world-renowned, had very low incidences of suits but did have one that populated Google’s front page. It was a tragedy, but there was never a finding of fault.

Our reputation management professionals began tracking the negative articles. They also conducted deep keyword analysis. Content aimed at educating the public on the specific type of surgery. Digital Firefly Marketing produced over 100 pieces of content in under six months.

Google’s use of historical data came into play with articles rising to the first page several times a year. The winter holidays, deceased’s birthday, anniversaries of the lawsuit, surgery and death also pushed the results

Over time, negative results were pushed to the second page with limited appearances on the first page above the fold. Current searches on five of the seven keywords we targeted do not show negative articles on the first page. The two that produce negative results are minimal and below the fold. The Digital Firefly Marketing created content — well over 100 pieces — also rose in rank. These work in tandem to achieve two important things. First, the content educated those searching for the doctors rather than raising fear of injury or death. Second, it did so honestly. Digital Firefly Marketing is not here to take a side. Our job is simple: to help promote positive content.

The information on lawsuits will always be on the internet. We do see one of our roles, though, as leveling the playing field.

If you’ve found that Googling your name yields trips down memory lane you’d rather avoid, reverse search engine optimization is for you. Contact us today for a free reputation audit and to learn what Digital Firefly Marketing can do to help Google more accurately represent you.