Reputation management is the work of finding out what people see when they look you up, fixing what is wrong, and monitoring change. It covers Google results, review sites, news coverage and the answers that Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity give. The method has four steps: audit, fix, publish and monitor. Start with the audit, because you cannot fix what you have not read.
By Ronn Torossian, founder of 5W. Last updated: Oct 22, 2026. Disclosure: 5W sells reputation management services, and this guide links to that practice once.
This guide explains what reputation management covers, how to run an audit, what to do about each type of problem and how to measure results. It applies to companies and to individual executives. A company needs it when a customer, investor, reporter or job candidate will judge it on a search before making a decision. An executive needs it when a partner, board or journalist checks their name first.
Where do people form an opinion about you?
People form an opinion about a person or company in five places: search results, review sites, news coverage, social media and AI answers. Each place has a different owner and a different way to change it.
| Where people look | What they see | Who controls it | Main way to change it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search results | Your site, profiles, news and reviews on the first page | Mostly third parties | Publish accurate, current pages that deserve to rank |
| Review sites | Star ratings and customer comments | The platform and the customers | Fix the cause, reply in public and ask happy customers to review |
| News coverage | Articles written by reporters | The outlet | Correct errors with the editor and give reporters current facts |
| Social media | Posts, comments and shares | The platform and the users | Respond fast, stay factual and keep your own accounts active |
| AI answers | The summary an AI engine writes about you | The engine, based on what it can retrieve | Make accurate facts easy to find and consistent across sources |
You control your own site and accounts directly. In the other places you influence the record, so the work is mostly about giving reporters, customers and engines better material to use.
How do you audit your reputation?
You audit your reputation by searching for yourself the way a stranger would and recording what you find. Use a private browser window so your search history does not change the results.
- List the names to check: your company, your products, your executives and any former names.
- Search each name alone, then with words buyers add, such as "reviews", "complaints", "lawsuit", "scam" and "alternatives".
- Record the top ten results for each search, with the date.
- Check the review sites that matter in your industry and note the rating and the most recent comments.
- Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity the questions a buyer would ask about you, and save each answer.
- Rate every problem on three scales: whether it is accurate, how serious it is and how visible it is.
The ratings decide the work. A false statement on page one is urgent, and an accurate but old complaint on page five can wait. Repeat the audit every quarter so you can compare results.
What should you do about each type of problem?
The right fix depends on whether the problem is false, accurate, a review or a crisis. The table matches each type to a first move.
| Problem | First move | What not to do |
|---|---|---|
| A false or outdated statement | Ask the publisher for a correction and send documents that prove the fact | Do not attack the source in public |
| Accurate but unflattering news | Publish current, factual pages and show what has changed since | Do not pretend it did not happen |
| A negative review | Reply in public, fix the cause and offer to resolve it | Do not argue or post fake reviews |
| Private or sensitive information | Ask a lawyer about removal routes and use the platform's own request process | Do not promise removal you cannot deliver |
| A sudden crisis | Use a prepared plan and a named spokesperson | Do not go silent or issue a vague statement |
Removal is the exception, not the rule. Platforms and publishers keep accurate coverage, so most of the work is adding better material and not deleting old material. The guide to removing negative articles from Google explains what is realistic, and anyone who guarantees removal of accurate news should be treated with caution.
How do you respond to a negative review?
You respond to a negative review in public, quickly and in plain words, and you fix the cause behind it. Other customers read the reply as closely as the reviewer does, so write for them.
- Thank the reviewer and name the specific problem they raised.
- Apologize for the experience without arguing about the facts.
- State what you will do and give a direct contact so the conversation moves offline.
- Fix the cause, then tell the reviewer it is done.
- Ask happy customers to share their experience, so one bad review sits among many accurate ones.
The guide to responding to negative reviews includes templates for each situation. Never write reviews for your own business or pay for them, because review platforms prohibit it and exposure turns a small problem into a large one.
How do you build a record that deserves to rank?
You build a record that deserves to rank by publishing accurate, specific material on pages you own and earning coverage from sources that others cite. Retrieval systems select sources that are clear, consistent and repeated across other sources, so consistency matters as much as volume.
Start with the pages you control: a clear company page, executive biographies with the same title and spelling everywhere, case studies with real numbers and a press room that holds your latest news. The press room guide shows how to set one up.
Then earn coverage. Reporters write the articles that search and AI engines cite, so a steady flow of useful facts to the right reporters matters more than volume. The media relations guide covers how to build a list and pitch a story. A Wikipedia page helps only when the subject meets the site's notability rules.
How do AI engines change reputation management?
AI engines change reputation management because many people now read a written summary instead of a list of links. The summary is built from sources the engine can retrieve, so the facts it repeats are the ones that are easiest to find and most consistent across sources.
Check what each engine says about you as part of every audit. Look for wrong dates, wrong titles, old products, missing facts and descriptions borrowed from competitors. When an answer is wrong, find the source it likely draws on and correct that source, because the engine cannot be edited directly. The essay on reputation as the paragraph AI writes covers this shift.
Editorial coverage matters here. In the Press Release Retrieval Study 2026 from Everything-PR, 47 of 250 wire releases (19%) were cited by at least one of five AI engines within 90 days. Releases that earned pickup from a top-50 publication were cited 38% of the time, against 6% without it, and only Perplexity cited wire URLs in meaningful numbers (7 of its 40 citations). Everything-PR News LLC and 5W share a common ownership group, so weigh the study with that in mind.
The practice of making accurate facts easy for these engines to retrieve is called generative engine optimization (GEO), and this explainer defines it. To measure the result, track citation share, which is how often AI answers about your category name you.
What should you do in a crisis?
In a crisis, answer fast with a named spokesperson, state what you know, say what you are doing and set a time for the next update. A reputation problem that becomes a crisis moves in hours, so the plan has to exist before it is needed.
Starbucks in April 2018 shows the sequence. Two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store on April 12, and on April 17 the company announced it would close more than 8,000 company-owned U.S. stores on May 29 for racial-bias training, according to the Associated Press. The Associated Press also reported that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kevin Johnson called the arrests reprehensible and met the two men to apologize in person.
Prepare the pieces now: assigned roles, fill-in statement wording and a test for the apology. The crisis communications case study library lists named cases, the apology guide and dated examples of how each response played out. For three compared cases with sources, see my reputation management case studies.
How do you monitor and measure reputation?
You monitor reputation by repeating the audit on a fixed schedule and tracking a small set of measures. Choose measures that connect to a decision, such as whether to respond, correct or publish.
| Measure | How to check it | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Top ten results for your name | Private-window search, saved with the date | Monthly |
| Review rating and recent comments | Each review platform that matters to you | Weekly |
| New mentions in news and social media | A free alert or a monitoring tool | Daily |
| What AI engines say about you | The same buyer questions, saved each time | Quarterly |
| Response time to reporters and reviewers | Your inbox and review dashboards | Monthly |
Avoid measures that only count volume, because a large number of mentions says little if they are wrong or negative. Earned media value, which multiplies reach by an advertising rate, is a common example. Report what changed in the record and what the business did about it. The framework behind these measures is in my PR measurement guide.
What does a 90-day reputation plan look like?
A 90-day reputation plan moves from audit to fixes to steady publishing. Use it as a starting schedule and adjust it to the problems your audit finds.
| Period | Work | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1 to 2 | Run the audit and rate each problem | A ranked list of issues with evidence |
| Weeks 3 to 4 | Request corrections, reply to reviews, fix the causes you control | Corrections sent and replies posted |
| Weeks 5 to 8 | Publish your core pages, biographies and case studies, and pitch reporters | Updated pages and first outreach |
| Weeks 9 to 12 | Repeat the audit and compare it with week 1 | A short report on what changed and what is next |
Reputation work compounds over months and years, so treat day 90 as a checkpoint and not a finish line. No reliable benchmark exists for how fast results arrive across industries, so measure your own record against your own starting audit. Companies and executives that want outside help running the program can review 5W's online reputation management practice.
How is personal reputation management different?
Personal reputation management applies the same four steps to one named person, whose name is searched on its own. The assets differ: a personal site, a consistent biography, bylines and speaking records matter more than a company page.
Frequently asked questions
What is reputation management?
Reputation management is the practice of finding what people see when they look you up, correcting what is wrong, publishing accurate material and monitoring change. It covers search results, reviews, news, social media and AI answers.
Can negative search results be removed?
Some can, but most accurate coverage cannot. Removal depends on the publisher's policy, the platform's rules and the law, so ask a lawyer about your case. The usual approach is to correct false statements and publish better, current material.
How do you fix a bad online reputation?
Audit what people see, rate each problem by accuracy and visibility, correct false statements at the source, answer reviews in public, fix the cause of complaints and publish accurate pages and coverage. Then repeat the audit every quarter.
Does reputation management work on AI search?
It works indirectly. You cannot edit an AI engine, but you can correct the sources it draws on and make accurate facts easy to find. Check what each engine says about you every quarter and fix the sources behind any error.
How is reputation management different from public relations?
Public relations is the broader practice of communicating with the public. Reputation management is the part focused on what the record says about you and how to improve and protect it. The two share tools, including media relations and crisis response.
Run the audit this week: search your name in a private window, save the first page of results, ask four AI engines about yourself and rate each problem by accuracy, severity and visibility.
About the author
Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W, a public relations (PR), creative and generative engine optimization (GEO) agency, and the author of For Immediate Release.