Unfortunately, bad news tends to attract attention. Search engines can be used as weapons. Search engines are often used to create negative information relating to a company or individual for the purpose of defamation. Factual errors differ greatly than defamatory allegations; what some people refer to as online 'reputation terrorism' is the posting of damaging information online about an individual, product, service, or company. Many times the individual posting the information has shielded their identity by claiming anonymity in one form or another. Multiple profiles and accounts are created using false names and disposable e-mail addresses like Gmail or Yahoo mail.

We've seen cases where a single individual used multiple computers at different locations with different false names and different disposable email addresses in attempt to appear as if many people supported the false information they posted. One online reputation project even involved a single individual pretending to be multiple people by using the names from the positive testimonials page found on the victims own web site.

Whether anonymous, a known assailant, or someone using false identities, 'reputation terrorism' is a growing problem, especially when the negative search results are displayed on the first page of search results. Google's halo effect tends to add believability to search engine results, attackers use this to their advantage.

Google and other search engines attempt to post the most relevant information in search results using very sophisticated software, but the system is often easily manipulated. Detractors have learned that posting information to a site search engines already believe is important will almost guarantee high search engine placement of their postings. False allegations, misinformation, and negative reviews may appear on search results pages further back than page one, but a small amount of link building, posting on a popular site, or other forms of search engine optimization can make almost any web-based information leap to the first page of search results.