A reputation audit is the inventory of everything a customer, investor, or hire finds when they look you up, scored by how much each item is costing you. Most owners have never run one, so the first damaging result they hear about is the one a client already read. This checklist walks you through the audit yourself. If you would rather we run it and tell you what can be removed before you pay, reputation management from The Reputation.org handles the full sweep.
The point is not to feel bad about what surfaces. The point is to separate what can be removed at the source from what has to be de-indexed or suppressed, because those three jobs have different timelines and different odds. Work through the steps in order, and write down every URL you find.
Step 1: Audit your branded Google search
Open an incognito window and search your business name, then your name plus "reviews," "complaints," and "scam." Record what sits on page one and the top of page two.
Note anything negative in the first two pages, because a single damaging result on page one is the one costing you customers you will never hear from. Check Google autocomplete by typing your name and reading the suggestions, since negative autocomplete shapes the search before anyone clicks. Confirm your knowledge panel is accurate, scan your Google reviews for fake or unfair entries, and check Google Images, where old mugshots, screenshots, and leaked photos often rank quietly.
Step 2: Audit your reviews across every platform
Reviews are the fastest-moving part of any audit. Work through the platforms that apply to you: Google, Trustpilot, the Better Business Bureau, Yelp, G2, and Glassdoor.
On each, flag reviews that are fake, that violate the platform's own policy, or that came from someone who was never a customer. Policy-violating reviews are the ones that can often be removed at the source. Genuine criticism is not removable, and pretending otherwise is how other firms take your money. When a specific Google review is the problem, our Google review removal process matches it to the exact policy it breaks before anything is promised.
Step 3: Audit third-party content, threads, and articles
Search your name on Reddit, since threads rank fast and get cited by AI, so an old complaint can outlive the problem. Check complaint sites like Ripoff Report and Complaints Board. Note any article, press hit, or blog post that frames you negatively, and whether it is factual or not. Search YouTube for your name in case a review or callout video is ranking.
For anything you find, our brand reputation work can tell you honestly whether it qualifies for removal, de-indexing, or suppression before you commit to anything.
Step 4: Audit records and personal exposure
For founders, executives, and any high-stakes individual, the audit has to include the record layer. Search your name alongside your city and state, and check the data brokers and record sites that republish public data.
Note mugshots, arrest pages, and court or criminal records that surface, plus background-check aggregators that scrape and rank. These are handled through different channels than reviews, so list them separately and keep them off the same line as your review findings.
Step 5: Audit what AI assistants say about you
This is the step almost no checklist includes yet, and it is the one that matters most now. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to describe your business and to tell you whether they would recommend it, then read the answer as a customer would.
AI models train on the same reviews, threads, and articles you just inventoried, then repeat them to everyone who asks, long after the original is gone. That is why removal speed matters: the longer a negative sits live, the deeper it sets into the models. If the AI answer is already wrong or damaging, our AI answer cleanup work is built for exactly that.
Score what you found: remove, de-index, or suppress
Now sort every URL on your list into one of three honest buckets. Content that violates a platform policy or the law can sometimes be removed at the source, which is the cleanest outcome and the only bucket where pay-on-success applies. Some content cannot be deleted but can be de-indexed from Google through the right channel, so it stops surfacing on your name. Genuine content that cannot be removed or de-indexed gets suppressed by building stronger owned assets around it, which is slower but durable.
What to do after the audit
The audit only has value if it turns into a plan. Prioritize by damage, not by ease, and fix the result a buyer sees first even if it is the hardest. Move fast on anything live, because every day a damaging result stays up is a day closer to permanent in search and AI. Then bring the list to a case review, where we tell you what qualifies for removal, what does not, and what it will realistically take, before you pay for anything. For an active crisis that cannot wait for a full sweep, our crisis management team moves the same day.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a business run a reputation audit?
Run a full audit at least twice a year, and again any time you launch, hire, raise, or notice a drop in inbound. Set alerts on your brand name so a new result does not sit undiscovered for months.
Can you guarantee everything on my list gets removed?
No, and any firm that guarantees removal is a red flag. Genuine reviews and lawful content usually cannot be removed. We tell you honestly what qualifies, and on qualified removals you only pay when it is gone.
How long does a reputation audit take?
Running the checklist yourself takes a focused afternoon. A professional audit and the plan that follows usually take a few days, because we verify each item and confirm which bucket it belongs in before quoting anything.
What is the difference between a reputation audit and reputation monitoring?
An audit is the point-in-time inventory you are doing now. Monitoring is the ongoing watch that catches the next problem early, so your next audit starts from a clean baseline.
Do you handle personal records, not just business reviews?
Yes. We work with businesses and with high-stakes individuals, including mugshot, arrest, and record exposure. Keep those items on a separate line of your audit, since they are handled through different channels.