Controlling the Narrative: An Executive Reputation & SEO Suppression Strategy
Client: A C-suite executive at a publicly-traded financial services company (a YMYL, or “Your Money Your Life” topic).
Challenges We Faced
The client was a respected expert, but their search results were dominated by an old, negative article, hurting their career:
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 Narrative Control Strategy
There was no proactive PR, thought leadership, or owned media to define their story in Google—allowing a single outdated article to frame their reputation indefinitely.
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 Reputation 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 factually accurate (though misleading) and protected by free speech, so Direct Removal was impossible.
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 #18 (Page 2) | -15 spots |
| Positive-Controlled Search Results (Page 1) | 1 (LinkedIn) | 8 (Personal Site, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blog, 4 positive interviews) | +700% |
| Organic Traffic (to positive assets) | ~50/mo | 4,500/mo | +8900% |
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 outrank the negative ones.
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.
