A 90-Day DIY Reputation Management Plan You Can Actually Follow

Before you begin

Block time on your calendar. The first six weeks take the most effort, roughly two to four hours a week. After that, an hour or two a week is enough. Keep one folder for screenshots and one spreadsheet for your audit and monthly checks.

If you want the reasoning behind each step, read the full step by step DIY guide first.

Weeks 1 to 2: Audit and requests

Week 1: Audit (about 2 hours). Run your searches in a private, signed-out window and record the first 20 results for each in your spreadsheet. Check Images and News. Look up your name on a few people-search sites. Take dated screenshots. Our guide to seeing everything online about you lists where to look.

Week 2: Requests (about 2 to 3 hours). For each negative or wrong result, decide whether it breaks a rule, is wrong, is outdated, or is true. Then:

Write down each request and its date so you can follow up.

• Submit removal requests for anything that qualifies under Google's removal policies, including personal contact info through Results about you.
• Send correction requests for factual errors.
• Opt out of people-search sites that list you.
• Update or close old accounts that show outdated information.

Weeks 3 to 4: Your domain and site

Week 3: Domain and structure (about 2 hours). Register your name as a domain and turn on auto-renew. Choose a website builder. Plan five to eight pages: home, about, work, projects or writing, and contact are a good start. See choosing your name domain.

Week 4: Write and launch (about 3 to 4 hours). Write each page in plain language. Put your full name in page titles and the home page heading. Add Person structured data with your profile links. Publish, verify the site in Google Search Console, and submit your sitemap. Our guide to building a personal website that ranks has the details.

Weeks 5 to 6: Profiles

Week 5: Choose and write (about 2 hours). Pick three to six profiles that fit your work. Write a short bio and a longer bio you can reuse. Choose one photo. See free profiles that rank for your name.

Week 6: Complete and connect (about 2 hours). Fill out every field. Add your website to each profile. List your profiles on your site. Make sure your name format and photo match everywhere, as described in making your profiles consistent.

Weeks 7 to 10: Mentions and your first article

Week 7: Fix existing mentions (about 1 hour). Find pages that already mention you, such as staff pages, alumni pages, and association listings, and ask for updates and links where they make sense.

Week 8: Write your first article (about 2 hours). Write something useful about your work on your site: a lesson learned, a how-to in your field, or a project story. This gives searchers more to find and gives others a reason to link.

Week 9: Offer something (about 1 to 2 hours). Pitch a talk, a podcast appearance, or a guest article to a real publication or organization in your field. See earning mentions honestly.

Week 10: Follow up (about 1 hour). Follow up on any requests from week 2 that have not been answered, and on any pitches.

Weeks 11 to 13: Measure and adjust

Week 11: Monthly check (about 1 hour). Re-run your searches and record positions. You should already have done a quick check around weeks 4 and 8.

Week 12: Compare (about 1 hour). Compare against your baseline. Count how many of the top ten results are yours or accurate. Note where each negative result sits now. See measuring progress.

Week 13: Plan the next quarter (about 1 hour). Decide what to add: more articles, another profile, more outreach. If a strong negative result has not moved at all, read how long it takes to push down results and consider whether legal advice or a publisher request makes sense.

After day 90

Keep a simple rhythm: one new piece of content on your site each month, a monthly check, and a quarterly review of profiles. That steady rhythm is what keeps results accurate over time.

Adapting the plan to your situation

If you have a negative result. Spend extra time in weeks 1 and 2 making sure you have tried every request that applies. A correction or update can save months of building.

If you have a common name. In weeks 3 to 6, use a consistent name format everywhere, add your city or profession to page titles, and use the same clear photo across profiles so searchers can tell you apart. See personal websites with a common name.

If you are job searching. Prioritize LinkedIn and your site in weeks 3 to 6, and make sure your resume links to your site.

If you run a business under your own name. Add your business profiles to the week 5 list and make sure your personal site and business site link to each other.

If you have very little time. Do weeks 1 and 2 yourself, since requests are fast and only you can send some of them, then consider getting help with the site.

What day 90 should look like

By the end, you should have a written baseline and a three-month comparison, every applicable request sent and followed up, a personal website on your own domain with five to eight pages and at least one article, three to six complete profiles linked to it, and at least one or two new or corrected mentions. That is a solid foundation, whatever your results look like yet.

If you fall behind

Most people stall at week 4, the site. If that happens, it is fine to get help with only that part. FairlyKnown builds and grows your personal website on a domain you own, with every page approved by you, so you can keep doing the audit, requests, and outreach yourself. See pricing.

Common questions

Sources

1. Results about you (Google Search Help)
2. SEO Starter Guide (Google Search Central)
3. Google Search Console (Google)