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Tag: Ripoff Report

  • Ripoff Report Strikes Back: Removes Code on Site Left by Hacker

    The Ripoff Report has struck back against the so-called reputation management companies that claim to be able to remove posts about companies on the RipoffReport.com website. In a recent press release, Ripoff Report claims that they have removed code on their website that was left by a hacker hired by reputation management companies.


    A sample advertisement claiming Ripoff Report removal is shown above.

    Ripoff Report explained what happened.

    “Earlier this year, a hacker, promising his customers “reputation management” services, had embedded code into the website to prevent search engines from recognizing certain postings. In some cases, website visitors were misdirected to a false message stating that the posting had been redacted.”

    Although the press release itself offers no specific proof of the fact that malicious code had been embedded onto the RipoffReport.com website, I am personally not surprised that something like this was done by a hacker. There are a lot of companies out there that would like negative reviews of their products or services removed from the Ripoff Report website. From what I can tell, the website only really exists in order to report negatives about a business, company, or individual. So, naturally, a website like that would have enemies.


    Another sample advertisement claiming Ripoff Report removal is shown above.

    If you search at Google for “remove ripoff report”, or a similar phrase related to getting a Ripoff Report removed, there are a lot of reputation management companies that claim that they can get a listing removed from the RipoffReport.com website. And some will even charge thousands of dollars to get the report removed from the website.

    Currently, however, according to RipoffReport.com, there is no way to completely get a negative review or negative post removed from the website. There is a way to respond with a rebuttal. The company says that “Once a company has been named in a consumer’s report, the company may respond by posting a rebuttal. Both reports and rebuttals are posted free of charge, and once submitted they are not removed. Before a report may be submitted, users are required to create an account by providing a valid email address and warrant that any report submitted is truthful and accurate.”

    If a search for your company name or your personal name in Google reveals a RipoffReport.com listing, you have a few options:

    – Respond by posting a rebuttal.

    – Hire a company or individual who has online reputation management experience that can help bring more positive web pages about your company towards the top of the search results. By emphasizing the positive, the hope is that the negatives are pushed down.

    I recommend that you stay away form any companies that claim they can completely remove postings from RipoffReport.com, as that does not appear to be the case.

    In a related story, you might recall that recently Ripoff Report removed themselves from Google, which was apparently only a mistake by the company. In one of my recent blog posts, I examined how removing your website from Google can help–or hurt–your search engine rankings.

    Check out billhartzer.com for more articles by Bill Hartzer

  • Does Removing Your Website From Google Hurt Your Search Engine Rankings?

    You may be wondering, specifically–why would I ask a question like this? And then try to answer it. Well, it may seem like a no-brainer. Upon first thought, you might think that this is one of the dumbest questions. But let’s delve into this deeper and look at a specific example of a website that removed themselves from Google and then examine the search results a day later, after they have “undone” what they previously did–which was to remove themselves from Google.

    As you might be not be aware, RipoffReport.com accidentally removed themselves from the Google search engine by entering that directive in Google Webmaster Tools. Google verified that they removed themselves–but now, less than 24 hours later, the website is now back, with hundreds of thousands of pages back in Google.

    If you haven’t heard of Ripoffreport.com, it is a website that prides itself on making companies’ businesses difficult by catering to negative business reviews. Companies do not like the fact web pages from that website rank so well for their company name, and provides an overall online reputation management nightmare for lots of companies. I have heard from colleagues that the company charges as much as $16,000 or more to have their online listings removed from the website changed. That’s just a rumor, as I have no actual proof. But generally speaking, many think the business is no good–and is essentially blackmail.

    But let’s get back to the question at hand. Does removing your website from Google hurt your search engine rankings? Yes, obviously if your website is not listed in Google then you aren’t going to get any traffic from Google. However, it appears that once you are re-listed, as in the case of Ripoff Report, your search engine rankings will come back–and the screen capture below show exactly what I mean.

    Last night, at about 10:00pm Central Standard Time, a search for site:ripoffreport.com showed absolutely no search results in Google. But this morning, as I post this, the website is back in the Google search results. And it appears that their search engine rankings, such as a search for “Radialabs”, are back.

    Does removing your website from Google hurt your search engine rankings? Yes, as long as your site is NOT in Google. But once you are back in the search engine, your rankings appear to come back, rather quickly. Keep in mind that the website was NOT banned in Google. The search engine did not remove the website. That is a big difference here, and being banned from the search engine will hurt your search engine rankings.

    Check out BillHartzer.com for more articles by Bill Hartzer