tedster - 2:36 am on Jul 2, 2010 (gmt 0)

I'm getting suspicious that some kind of sentiment analysis is in play. As in "if there is a detractor site, it's going to get a boost".

I've done a fair bit of reputation management in the past, but not right now. Checking out some past clients, I see their critics ranking very well almost without exception, and this is true even with no visible means of ranking support.

Alexa, Compete and Hitwise data all show drastically lower levels of traffic, backlinks are looking really weak, etc, etc. All they've got going is keyword relevance and a dash of longevity - plus a heap of yellow journalism.

But maybe I'm taking it all too personally - ROR is showing a 3-month down trend in traffic, so maybe their rankings have taken a hit.