Latest / Online Reputation Management Podcast / What Should The Best Online Reputation Management Agency Be Doing?
Transcript
- James Dooley: What makes the best ORM agency in the world? Brands want to control the narrative around themselves—for hiring staff, attracting customers, managing reviews, and even influencing how AI tools like Gemini and ChatGPT perceive them. You need more online citations as a core rule of ORM. Companies like FatRank and Searcheroo even have lawyers and solicitors for reputation issues. Today I'm joined by Karl Hudson. Karl, what makes the best ORM agency in the world? What do they do differently? Karl Hudson: To become the best online reputation management company, you need to do everything in your power: create images, news, super-relevant guest posts, tiered content, Web 2.0s, social assets—everything that helps control the brand narrative or suppress a piece of damaging press. Not every ORM case is bad press, but most are. And every avenue you pursue has to rank. James Dooley: So if someone is looking for the best ORM agency, should they be proactive instead of reactive? Karl Hudson: 100%. Companies should use digital PR, build high-quality branded and authoritative links, and strengthen their brand because AI now heavily depends on brand presence. To show up in AI summaries, you need guest posts, PR articles, social posts—everything working together. James Dooley: A big differentiator for top ORM companies—like FatRank and Searcheroo—is having lawyers evaluate bad articles. They check for misinformation and contact the authors to request takedowns for slander. They have templates and know the exact process. People often try DIY ORM, but bad press usually needs professional deletion or suppression. The best agencies not only suppress negative results to page two—they work to delete them entirely through legal pathways. Beyond that, proactive ORM is crucial for hiring, customer decisions, and public perception. Staff check reviews. Customers check brand searches. There are many reasons people look up a brand—and why companies need proactive and reactive ORM as well as personal branding. Brand-related backlinks are also some of the most powerful today. ORM is branding—good quality branding. Carl, can you expand on why branding has become so important? Karl Hudson: AI changed everything. Google needs to understand entities clearly: who is real, who is fake, what’s trustworthy. When it recognizes an entity, trust increases. Branded anchor text is safer than keyword-rich anchors, which often get penalized. So the ORM strategy has two benefits: building branded anchors that strengthen entity knowledge for AI, while reducing the risk of Google penalties. James Dooley: For anyone watching, if you're looking for the best online reputation management companies, go to FatRank.com and Searcheroo.com. FatRank focuses on removal, deletion, and suppression. Searcheroo specializes in digital PR, power posts, and positive-sentiment articles linking to your social profiles. Let us know in the comments: Who do you believe is the best ORM company in the world today?