Reputation management firms make beaucoup bucks these days claiming that they can remove damaging complaints posted by disgruntled users. But is it true? Let us take a moment to review.

Depending on the industry you compete in, review sites and forums give users the ability to post their own opinions and complaints about your products or services. Some of these reviews are honest and others are spurious. In fact, it is not at all uncommon for unscrupulous competitors to post negative comments on a review board to try to dissuade people from purchasing your products.

How can you remove online complaints? The truth is that reputation management firms cannot actually remove negative reviews. These reviews are protected by freedom of speech and even attorneys cannot force a website to delete them, even if they are dishonest. So, having them removed is highly unlikely.

What reputation management firms actually do is bury and conceal these links. They accomplish this goal by creating a series of positive reviews with higher SEO rankings. So, when a person does a search on your company, all they will see on the first few pages are the positive reviews. The link to the negative reviews will still exist, but it will be on a subsequent web page that few people will see.

The only way that you can actually have a negative review removed is if the poster violates copyright law. When this happens, it may be a good idea to contact an attorney.