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The original was posted on /r/lifeprotips by /u/Terrible_Rutabaga442 on 2026-01-02 23:31:45+00:00.
my friend just went through hell because he didnt have this set up. his former business partner posted a long rant on medium and reddit after their startup failed. blamed my friend for everything, made it sound like he screwed over investors and employees. post went semi-viral in their industry and sat on page 1 of google for 8 months before my friend even knew it existed. only found out after getting ghosted by 3 potential clients who clearly did their research. one person finally admitted "we googled you and found some concerning things about how you handled your last venture"
he tried to ask the ex-partner to take it down-got blocked flagged it on reddit and medium - didnt violate any rules apparently
tried responding with his side of story - just made it worse and kept it ranking high created linkedin posts to push it down - barely moved after months
had to hire reputation management service that "fixed his reputation" and it worked. they built professional content to outrank that rant - industry articles, podcast interviews, proper PR pieces telling the real story. took 4-5 months and cost few grand but the rant finally dropped to page 3 where most people dont bother looking
do this TODAY: google com/alerts - set up for: 1) your full name in quotes 2) name + industry/company 3) name + city. Get emails when new content appears. my friend couldve responded immediately instead of losing business for 8 months
you can get screwed by: 1) bitter ex-partners or coworkers 2) angry clients posting reviews 3) old drama resurfacing 4) someone mixing you up with another person
google doesnt fact check and potential clients wont ask for your side. hopefully you wont need reputation services like my friend did. but if you need to fix your online presence act fast before it costs you opportunities. takes 2 minutes to set up alerts. could save your career. protect your reputation because nobody else will