There is a saying that goes, “All publicity is good publicity”. Online defamation is absolute proof that this is not the case. Defamation of any sort can be incredibly damaging and downright infuriating for those who have been hurt by it. However, at least defamation in the newspapers or on television can result in a suit which has some chance of success. Online defamation very rarely has a legal solution—the anonymity of the Internet means you can very rarely even find out who spread the defamation about you.

Negative publicity cannot be allowed to stand–it can do a great deal of damage if not properly responded to or taken care of. Negative publicity often finds its way to the top of the search results. For example, if you Google Tiger Woods or Rachel Ray, you will immediately be confronted with negative links about them, despite the fact there is a great deal of positive information about them out there. Some, like Tiger, deserve the online reputations they’ve earned. Others, like Ray, have simply attracted the attention of online malcontents and become a target.

Online reputation management can help to neutralize and then reverse the effects of negative publicity. Online reputation management is the process of replacing negative content in Google search results with positive ones.