Controlling the Narrative: A “Reverse SEO” Suppression Strategy for a CEO
Client: A C-suite executive at a publicly-traded financial services (YMYL) company.
Challenges We Faced
The client was a respected expert, but their search results were being damaged by an old, negative article:
Negative Search Results
An out-of-context, negative news article from a 10-year-old business dispute was “stuck” at position #3 for their full name.
Losing Opportunities
They were being passed over for board seats and major media interviews.
Failing E-E-A-T
As a finance executive (YMYL), the negative article was severely damaging their professional E-E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust).
No Long-Term Reputation Defense
There was no ongoing strategy to build, maintain, and rank authoritative personal assets (site, PR, thought leadership) to protect branded search results from future negative coverage.
No “Brand Fortress”
They had no positive assets (like a personal website) to compete with the negative result.
Protect Your Personal Brand
“Is a negative search result costing you opportunities? Our Negative Content Suppression services can help you control the narrative.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Comprehensive Personal SERP Audit
We conducted a deep SERP Analysis for their name, identifying all negative, neutral, and positive URLs.
Strategic Removal Plan
We determined the article was “factual” (opinion/news) and could not be legally removed. Our Customized ORM Strategy shifted entirely to Negative Content Suppression (“Reverse SEO”).
Positive Content Creation
This was the core of our personal reputation management services. We built a “fortress” of new, high-authority positive assets:
A professional personal website (“https://www.google.com/search?q=ExecutiveName.com”).
A new “thought leadership” blog on the personal site.
Fully optimized LinkedIn, Twitter, and Crunchbase profiles.
Off-Page SEO (Link Building)
This was the critical step. We ran a 12-month, high-authority link-building campaign to the new positive assets (the personal site, the blog) to give them the SEO power to outrank the negative article.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negative Article Ranking (for Name) | Position #3 (Page 1) | Position #15 (Page 2) | -12 spots |
| Positive-Controlled Search Results (Page 1) | 1 (LinkedIn) | 8 (Personal Site, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blog, 4 positive interviews/articles) | +700% |
| Investor Meeting “Warm Lead” Conversion | 40% (leaking) | 85% (leak plugged) | +112.5% |
Free Reputation Audit
“Not sure what employers see when they Google you? Claim a Free, Confidential Reputation Audit from our personal reputation management company!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- You can’t always remove negative content, but you can bury it. This is the core of Negative Content Suppression.
- You must build a “brand fortress” of positive content (a personal site, social profiles) to control your own search results.
- Off-Page SEO (link building) to your positive assets is the “fuel” that makes them rank.
- Executive online reputation management is a long-term SEO play, not a quick fix.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- The Off-Page SEO campaign was the real driver; it gave our new, positive pages the “authority” to rank.
- The Positive Content Creation (a new personal website) was the asset we needed to rank at #1.
- Using Brand Monitoring Tools (like Ahrefs) to track the SERP rankings in real-time.
