Brian Carter, Internet Expert
I’ve been working as an SEO expert witness for an internet defamation case in South Carolina lately, and find it extremely rewarding. I get to put to use my 12 years of experience with Google, Facebook, search engines, SEO, and other Internet marketing on something where I can help someone who’s been attacked online.
I had already worked on several SEO Reputation Management clients, and have experience in all aspects of search engine optimization, so I understand how damaging it can be to get the wrong person mad at you. In the worst cases, someone with control over a lot of websites or very authoritative websites can not only write reputation-damaging words about you, but they can ensure that it shows up on the first page of search results for your name. Negative search results can have dramatic consequences for your business and personal life.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project found in 2010 that:
- 31% of employed internet users have searched online for information about co-workers, professional colleagues or business competitors, up from 23% in 2006.
- 16% of all internet users have looked online for more information about someone they were dating or in a relationship with, up from 9% in 2006. Among those who use online dating sites, 34% go online to check up on their dates.
4% of online adults say they have personally had bad experiences because embarrassing or inaccurate information was posted about them online, a number that is unchanged since 2006.- 8% have requested that someone remove information about them that was posted online, including things like photos or videos.
When new customers look for you, when they see something disturbing about you, they may not believe it, but they are less likely to hire you or work with you. They don’t have a way to fact-check the negative things that are being said about you, so it turns into a “he said, she said” battle you can’t win.
Fighting a search engine reputation issue time-consuming and expensive… it’s about 10x more difficult than normal Google optimization, because you have to affect the entire first page of search results to fix it.
Sometimes, legal action is the best course. You need to get the offending party to remove the attacks and the website links that make them show up for your name.
If you have a legal case you need an internet expert for, please contact me here.