Using mlm and 'scammy' websites to identify brand/reputation management opportunities

[ilyaelbert]

I think this almost warrants a youmoz post, but I was wondering if anyone has used MLM or 'shady' industry companies to see where they place their reputation/brand links to dominate the first 2-3 pages of google for things like 'company name + scam' 'company name + reviews'. On a side note what is your opinion of a company that goes to great lengths to create a very strong push to control those keywords? Would you recommend your clients dominate the first 2-3 pages with 'honest review about company x' and 'the truth about company x' fakeditorials? Do you guys think people see right through them.

Take any MLM..for instance

legal shield scam (not my company, but an MLM that I am very wary of)

as professionals what do you think of their reputation management build out......what do you think consumers would see when they read this? is there such a thing as going to far to refute false claims and building sponsored reviews? I'm personally against doing sponsored reviews and spamming with them, but maybe I am naive.

[Syed1]

Nope, in most cases these blogs are owned by people who simply sell links. To be able to sell links, they have to have some content around it and so they start publishing crap - since content quality/ people's opinion is not at all important here.

This is where the shady companies you mentioned come in - they create mini "review" sites and get links from these junk blogs. Obviously these are shady companies and they have something to hide which is why they are spending so much effort to bury the negative reviews, rather than go after the root cause of this negative publicity.

[ilyaelbert]

Syed

Do you think it would follow then, that a company that devotes a LOT of time to create such garbage articles has 'something to hide'? I know this is a bit off-topic but that's something I think as both a consumer AND an SEO person. I.E. if someone's spraying water, there must have been a fire.

[Syed1]

A rather not-so-exciting very long term strategy recommendation (for a legit biz/site) would be to 'feel the pain' of negative reviews -  leave the wound out in the open with fresh air and let it heal. Don't wrap it up as it just a easy lazy thing to do and it just numbs the pain and hides the problem  - the cause of the negative review still lingers around..uncared for.

But that's my suggestion to a business owner not the SEO who has no control of the 'quality' of the offer and cannot improve customer satisfaction.

Regarding the places where they get links ~ from what I have seen most of them have links coming in from blogs that seem full of garbage - posts that re-written content that doesn't make much sense (probably auto generated). It's surprising but such links still have power to push up ranks even for a temporary period. When the sites links get get caught in the filter / ie. get their links discounted/ de-ranked, they probably have a bunch of others to rely on. There is not much risk since they are not playing with the main site.