A plain-English reference, published by Aurawave Inc.
What is reputation management?
Reputation management is the practice of monitoring what gets published about a person or a business, correcting or removing what breaks a platform's rules or the law, and publishing accurate material so the record people find is a fair one. It covers reviews, search results, news, public records, and now AI answers.
Reputation management, by topic
Nine sections, 125 pages. Start anywhere; every page links back to where it sits.
The basics
What the term means, how the work is structured, and the vocabulary you need to search for help.
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Cost and providers
Real price ranges, what a provider actually does, how to vet one, and the red flags worth walking away from.
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Removal and suppression
How content actually comes down or gets pushed back, platform by platform, and what will not move.
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The law
Section 230, defamation, the right to be forgotten, DMCA, and the FTC review rule, in plain English.
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Digital footprint
What you have left behind, how to find it, how much of it you can remove, and what stays.
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Reviews and metrics
Review policy, responding well, and the measures people use to put a number on reputation.
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AI search
How AI answers get built, why wrong ones persist, and what can be done about them.
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Crisis and corporate
Reputational risk, crisis communication, and how larger organisations structure the work.
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Who needs it
Individuals, executives, job seekers, small businesses, and regulated professions.
Learn more →The short version of reputation management, and the long one
Most people arrive here because something specific happened. A review landed. A thread surfaced. An old record turned up in a background check. The short answer above is the definition. Everything below it is the part nobody writes down: what the work actually involves, what it costs, what the law allows, and where the free options stop working.
- What the term covers, and what it does not
- What a provider does that you cannot do yourself
- Honest price ranges and the reasons they vary
- What is legally removable and what is not
Reputation management written to be checked, not just read
Every page here cites primary sources: statutes at Cornell's Legal Information Institute, the platforms' own published policies, federal agency guidance. Where something is contested or uncertain, the page says so rather than rounding it into a claim. Nothing on this site is a guarantee, and no page invents a statistic to make a point land harder.
- Statutes and agency guidance linked directly
- Platform policies quoted from the platforms
- Uncertainty stated plainly instead of smoothed over
Three ways people reach this reputation management reference
Something just happened
A review, a thread, an article, or a record surfaced and you are trying to find out whether it is fixable. Start with removal, then the law.
You are pricing it out
You have a quote in hand, or you are deciding between doing it yourself and hiring someone. Start with cost and providers.
You are studying it
You need the concepts, the vocabulary, and sources you can cite. Start with the basics and the glossary.
Reputation management is not public relations, and it is not SEO
The three overlap enough to be confused constantly. The difference is what each one is actually trying to move.
Reputation management
- Works on the record: reviews, search results, records, AI answers
- Measured by what a search for your name returns
- Uses platform policy and legal process to remove or correct
- Triggered by a specific piece of content, usually
Public relations
- Works on the narrative: press, messaging, spokespeople
- Measured by coverage, sentiment, and share of voice
- Uses relationships and pitching to earn placement
- Runs continuously, not incident by incident
What this reputation management reference does differently
It publishes the prices
The most-asked question in this category is what it costs, and almost nobody answers it. This one does, with the reasons the range is wide.
It names the DIY ceiling
Several of the useful tools are free. The pages say which, how far they get you, and exactly where they stop working.
It says what cannot be removed
A truthful negative review is not a removal candidate. Neither is most lawful reporting. Pages that pretend otherwise are selling something.
It cites primary sources
Statutes, agency guidance, and the platforms' own policies, linked directly, so you can check the claim rather than trust the page.
It does not use fear
No countdown, no doom. The stakes are real enough stated plainly, and a reader who is frightened makes worse decisions.
It discloses who publishes it
Aurawave Inc. publishes this reference and also operates a reputation firm. That is stated here, on the about page, and in the footer.
Who publishes this reputation management reference
This reference is published by Aurawave Inc., an Orlando company that also operates The Reputation.org, a reputation and content removal firm. The free reputation audit offered on this site is performed by that firm. We think a reference is more useful when you know who wrote it and what they sell, so it is stated here, on the about page, and in the footer rather than buried.
Start here: the reputation management pages people open first
How much does reputation management cost?
The most-asked question in the category, answered with ranges and the reasons behind them.
What is Section 230?
Why a review site cannot simply be ordered to take a review down, and what that leaves you.
Reputation management glossary
Ninety terms, defined plainly, so you can search for the thing that is actually happening to you.
Questions people ask about reputation management
What is reputation management?
Monitoring what gets published about a person or business, correcting or removing what breaks a platform's rules or the law, and publishing accurate material so the record people find is a fair one.
How much does reputation management cost?
It varies widely by what is being removed and how many places it sits. The cost page sets out the real ranges, what drives them, and how to tell a fair quote from an invented one.
What does a reputation manager do?
Audits what is currently published, decides what is removable under platform policy or law, files and escalates those requests, and builds accurate material to fill the space that clears.
What are the four elements of reputation management?
Most frameworks name monitoring, responding, building, and protecting. The basics section takes each one apart and explains what it looks like in practice.
Is reputation management legal?
The legitimate parts are. Filing a policy complaint, sending a lawful demand letter, and publishing accurate content are all legal. Impersonation, fake flagging, and DMCA abuse are not, and the law section names the line.