BrandYourself is reputation management software that allows users to control what people find out about them when they Google their names. It can suppress results and prevent future ones from appearing. Although BrandYourself claims to “bring honesty and quality back to a broken industry” it also promises companies the ability to bury negative product reviews, too. Even those that are honest.
BrandYourself started when founder Peter Kistler was looking for a job. When he Googled himself, the Peter Kistler that showed wasn’t him — it was another Peter Kistler, a convicted sex offender. Kistler (Peter) believed that placement/ranking on Google was seriously hurting his chances of a getting a job. Recruiters rely on Google and social networks. “If you can’t put your best foot forward there, or if you don’t appear at all, they’re going to go with someone else,” said Dan Schwabel, managing partner of Millenial Branding LLC, a personal branding agency. Kistler realized he wasn’t the only one who had this problem, so he teamed up with a guy who knew search engines and created BrandYourself “to help regular people like Pete.”
