When you ask seasoned veterans of the Google Reputation Management industry for advice on how to avoid being a victim of online defamation or libel, their number one reply is always to take preventative action–be proactive, rather than reactive. If you wait for something to happen, they say, it will. If you take the time to prevent online libel, it is less likely to happen and less likely to be effective–win, win.

Some of the most obvious ways that you can prevent any online libel from occurring is to purchase your domain name. For example, if your name is Alex Hernandez, you ought to consider purchasing AlexHernandez.com. Secondly, you ought to take all of the domain names and usernames for that name on messengers, like Yahoo or MSN, and on free blogging sites, like WordPress and Blogspot.