The Magic Bullet For Your Online Reputation - Affordable Reputation Management

For individuals on a budget, exact-match and partial-match domains are the magic bullet for repairing your online reputation for 3 reasons:

They have long lasting impact
They exactly or closely match your name
They’re affordable and easy to setup

In this post I’m going to explain what exact- and partial-match websites are and why they are so effective at suppressing negative links on Google.

I’ll give you multiple examples and then I’ll teach you step-by-step how you can do it yourself.

Let’s begin.

What Are Exact-Match And Partial-Match Domains?
Partial-Match Domains For Business
How To Setup Exact-Match and Partial-Match Domains
A “Real Life” Example
The One Downside of Exact- and Partial-Match Domains
FAQ
Summary

What Are Exact-Match And Partial-Match Domains?

Let’s start with exact match match domains, abbreviated EMDs.

Exact Match Domain Names

Exact match domains are websites that literally match your name, verbatim.

For example, my name is Mike Munter.

My exact match domain is mikemunter.com.

If you Google me, mikemunter.com is going to be one of the top search results (probably #1) and that’s because the domain name EXACTLY matches my name.

Since only a few other guys share my name, Google currently shows multiple listings from the same website.

This is GREAT news for you if you need to bury negative search results on Google.

Why Do Exact Match Domains Rank So Well For Individuals?

Think about this from a search engine algorithm’s perspective.

When we search for someone on Google, the algorithm’s job is to help us find what we want–fast.

That’s why the #1 result for almost any person you search for on Google – if they have an exact match domain – is their website.

And that is what makes EMDs such an effective strategy for your online reputation.

Even if you don’t have a reputation problem, acquiring your exact match domain is a good way to protect your brand.

Exact-Match Domains Rank High On Google

Let’s look at someone who’s a little more well-known than me.

Basketball player, turned firefighter, turned comedian Damien Speranza.

When I search Google for him, there’s his website sitting at #1 (below the knowledge panel).

And in August 2026, just like me, Google shows two more results from Damien’s website on the first page of organic search results.

His “About” page and “Upcoming Shows” page rank #3 and #4, right below his Instagram.

Even Joe Rogan’s Exact-Match Domain Ranks High On Google

If we level up to someone known nationally–former actor, comedian, and podcaster Joe Rogan–even his exact match website ranks high on Google.

The search results were too extensive to reasonably show you, but once you get past the knowledge panel, videos and other random information Google shows for celebrities, there sits JoeRogan.com as the 3rd clickable search result.

In fact, Joe’s exact match website even outranks his Spotify, Facebook, YouTube and IMDb pages.

If Joe’s website ranks so well amongst such heavy competition, imagine what an exact match domain name could do you for?

It’s my #1 choice for outranking all types of nasty negative links such as government websites (.gov) and news stories.

I hope you have a good understanding of exact match domains and their importance to your overall reputation.

Let’s move on to partial-match domains.

Partial Match Domain Names

What are partial-match domain names, anyway?

I’m glad you asked 🙂

These are domains which closely match your name.

If your name is John Doe, examples of partial match domains would be:

johndoefishing.com
drjohndoe.com
johndoetampa.com
johndoeflorida.com

Notice how each partial match domain listed above still contains the person’s name in order of first name, last name.

The domain name is preceded or ends with one other word.

My favorite choice is to have the “other word” be after the person’s name.

I just think johndoetampa.com has a slight edge over tampajohndoe.com in rankings.

What About Hyphenated Names?

Domain names with hyphens also rank well, although I don’t consider them to be exact match.

John-doe.com only has the name in it–no other words, but I still view this as a partial match, due to the hyphen separating first and last name.

That being said, Google still puts high relevance on hyphenated domains that match the individual’s name, so they rank well.

What About .net, .org, .info, etc?

My #1 preference (and Google’s) is to use a .com top level domain.

In the presence of a .com and a .net where both match your name exactly, I’d prefer the .com.

i.e. For reputation management purposes, I like johndoe.com more than johndoe.net.

I also prefer partial-match domains over the .net, .org or any other top level domain.

“.com” just feels like it’s part of our lexicon and they typically rank higher.

And with a limited budget and effort, we want to do the things that are going to rank the best.

The only time I’d invest in a .net domain for your name would be if someone else had already grabbed the .com.

Partial-Match Domains For Business

The focus of this post is on individual’s and their online reputation, but if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I think it’s worth mentioning that even business owners can benefit from partial-match domains.

One example of this is the home security company ADT.

Below adt.com is the company’s login portal for it’s customers–myadt.com.

Then, after the local ADT search results in maps and ADT’s wikipedia page, look what else is ranking in the top 10.

adtsecurity.com is on page one of Google.

And if you’ve read some of my other posts, check out the press release right above it and the LinkedIn right below.

Press releases and major social media such as LinkedIn are both powerhouses when it comes to suppressing negative links about you.

A big caveat for businesses is that it’s going to take a lot more work in web design and content in order to prove to Google that partial match domains should rank for your business name.

That’s why for businesses, our top online reputation strategy is press releases.

How To Setup Exact-Match and Partial-Match Domains

In this section, I’ll show you how to purchase your domains, get them hosted, install WordPress, and build out content that will rank on Google.

Buying The Domain Names

I’m partial to GoDaddy because I’ve used them to purchase several domains over the years.

Plus, I know they offer phone support and I like having someone I can call if I need technical help.

NameCheap is another reliable option I’ve used.

Ironically, both companies are headquartered in Arizona.

Each domain registration will cost you between $10-$20 per year and it’s common for companies to offer a discount for the first year.

You can search and see if your name is available right on the GoDaddy home page.

Since johndoe.com is taken, I’m going to switch it up to his brother, Johnson.

If your exact name is not available as a .com, you can always use GoDaddy’s broker service to try to buy it, but that can get time consuming and expensive.

When our client’s names are not available as a .com, we’ll pivot to a .net or to the hyphenated version.

In this case, johnsondoe.com is available, so I’d buy that.

How many partial-match domain names you buy is up to you.

For our client campaigns, we usually buy 3-5 partial-match domains, in addition to the single exact-match domain.

Just remember that each one is going to cost you the annual registration and hosting fees each year.

How to Choose Your Partial-Match Domains

Let’s say you wanted to buy 4 partial-match domains to round out your online reputation plan.

What should you get?

It depends.

Your first goal is to protect your name when you Google it.

But let’s say when you Google yourname + city or yourname + state and that brings up all the negative stuff.

In that case, I’d buy johnsondoetampa.com and johnsondoeflorida.com.

You’d substitute your city and state, of course.

Or maybe you’re a doctor and dr + yourname or yourname + MD pulls up the bad stuff.

Then, I would purchase:

drjohnsondoe.com
johnsondoemd.com

But if you’re just an ordinary person and the bad stuff on Google only comes up when you Google your name, you have many options.

Some common partial domain purchases we and other reputation companies purchase include:

johnsondoecharity.com – the site talks about your charity work
johnsondoebusiness.com – this site highlights your business work
johnsondoemarketing.com – talks about your work as a marketing pro

The ideas are limitless and don’t even have to be about things you’re into.

For example:

johnsondoedetroit.com – could be all about your favorite tourist spots in Detroit
johnsondoerestaurants.com – is all about your favorite restaurants
johnsondoebaseball.com – has content on it about all of the baseball stadiums you’ve been to, or just reviews of ones you want to visit

And don’t forget that your name plus a hyphen is also a good choice: i.e. johnson–doe.com.

Hopefully, you get the idea.

You can’t screw it up as long as you have your name in the domain and my preference is to have your name first before the variable term.

And don’t worry about writing a lot of content, I’ll show you how to do this fast and easy in a little bit.

Hosting

Both GoDaddy and NameCheap offer affordable shared hosting.

Shared hosting just means your site(s) will on one of their servers with many other websites.

It helps them keep their costs lower and that helps make it more cost efficient for you.

We use Siteground, which offers bulk hosting because we are hosting hundreds of sites for our clients.

So, unless you’re planning to start your own online reputation management agency, I’d use GoDaddy because of their excellent phone support in case you get stuck.

Hosting is a lot more expensive than domain name registration.

Hosting for WordPress will cost you between $7 -$20 or more per month, per site.

GoDaddy offers a 3 website hosting plan for WordPress for $14.99/month for the first year with options to add more sites for a small added fee.

How to Setup Hosting With GoDaddy

I asked the GoDaddy chatbot for step-by-step instructions to show a novice how to setup WordPress hosting on a new domain.

This is what it said.

And not to be a broken record, but a 5-minute phone call with them will also get the job done.

Why WordPress?

The only reason I recommend WordPress is because it’s what I learned back in 2011 when I designed my first website.

It was recommended to me for it’s ease of use, SEO-friendly, and well supported platform.

For your purposes, it’s perfect.

But if you’re familiar with SquareSpace, Joomla, Wix or any other content management system, feel free to use it.

For my money, I’ll take WordPress because I know it and it’s easy to rank on Google.

Web Design

Once you have your hosting setup, you’ll need to install a theme and you might want to make some design changes if you don’t like the fonts, colors, etc.

I’m not going to get into details on web design because we hire that out.

You can find inexpensive designers on Fiverr or Upwork.

Tell them you want a simple WordPress website with the following:

Free theme (or theme they own) – there’s no need to pay $59 or more for a theme
Home page
Contact page
About page
Blog

A basic web design setup with the above from a competent overseas designer will cost you about $100-$150 per site in 2026.

It’s only an hour or two of work for a designer, assuming you’re not looking for wholesale changes–which you shouldn’t be.

When we do exact and partial match sites like these for our clients, our mission is to get them up fast and keep expenses down.

We’re not trying to win design awards; we’re offering affordable online reputation management.

Content Plan

Speaking of which, let’s talk about your positive content for each of your sites.

Words are important.

Googlebot loves words.

If you put up a new website with 50 words and a couple pictures, it’s not going to rank unless you get really lucky.

For your websites, I recommend 500-1,000 words per page, per site.

Here’s how we typically do it:

Home Page – should be all about you and an overview of what you’re doing now. Include a picture of yourself.
About Page – also about you, but go deeper – where you grew up, college, dreams, hobbies, family.
Contact Page – have the designer put a contact form (you won’t need it).
Blog – this is where the action is and I’ll give you more detail on this below.

If you’re doing multiple websites, make sure the content on each one is different.

You can’t just copy/paste the Home page from one website to another one, Google won’t rank both of them.

The content on each page must be 100% unique–this is what gives each one the best chance to rank well on it’s own.

How To Do Blog Content For Your Websites

This, in my opinion, is the best part.

It’s super easy and kind of fun.

Let’s say you purchased johnsondoedetroit.com, which I mentioned above.

Each blog post can be a review of a different tourist destination in Detroit.

Aim for three posts of 500-1,000 words each.

I’m going to do it right now as I write this.

First, I go to ChatGPT and ask what the top 3 tourist destinations are and it tells me:

Next, I’m giving it this prompt:

i’m writing content for a guy called johnson doe and i need a 750 word review of each of these 3 places. the 1st line should be “johnson doe visited [location] in 2026 and wrote this review.” Then write a hypothethical review based on your research, reviews and include use positives and negatives for a reader. Insert 1-2 quotes from johnson within each post. understand?

Of course, ChatGPT understands exactly 🙂

So, I asked it to write me the first post and the output is linked up on this Google doc.

777 words–perfect.

Now when you post it, the title should be “Johnson Doe review of Detroit Institute of Arts in 2026.”

By putting your name first in the title, you give EACH blog post a chance of ranking individually.

While not super common, it is possible.

That took five minutes.

And optional not necessary if you want to make it pretty, go to wikicommons and grab a photo, then add that to your post.

Rinse and repeat this blog content strategy for each website and when you’re done, each one will look great, have unique content and have a high likelihood of ranking on Google.

Use Your Websites To Promote Your Other Positive Links

Lastly, you should link to all of your social media from each of your exact- and partial-match websites.

This strengthens Google’s awareness and helps promote each site with a “backlink.”

You can also link to press releases and other positive content to tie everything together.

A “Real Life” Example

While preparing this blog post, I stumbled across an individual who has SEVEN exact-match and partial-match domains with variations of his name ranking in the top 10 of Google.

Just look how powerful these micro websites are–seven of the top 10 spots on Google are occupied by them.

My guess is someone helped him do this and if you want to see real world examples, just Google his name and look at the sites yourself.

Note that this person is not a client of ours, nor do I have any clue as to who he is.

I just found him randomly while looking for a case study I could share with you.

The One Downside Of Exact-Match and Partial Match Domains

The only downside of this strategy is the ongoing costs of domain registration and hosting.

Each domain name needs to be renewed annually and you have to keep the domains hosted (live) in order for them to keep appearing on Google.

If you don’t pay your bill or let them lapse, Google will eventually take notice and the sites will fall out of search results.

And that means your negative stuff will climb back up.

So, this is a long-term commitment that does carry a cost, but for lots of our clients, it’s worth it.

FAQ

What if I go by different names?

Each name is a different online reputation management campaign–unless Google recognizes that “Mike Munter” and “Michael Munter” are the same person. The only way to know for sure is to look at the search results for each version of your name. We usually recommend folks begin with the most common usage of their name, then go from there.

What if bad stuff only comes up when I add ‘city’ or something else to my name?

This actually makes it easier because there is far less competition for something like “Mike Munter Portland” than there is for “Mike Munter.” We’d create all of the websites like this: mikemunterportland.com, mikemunterportlandor.com, mikemunterportlandracquetball.com, etc.

What if I share a name with someone else?

This can be beneficial because if there are 2 or 3 or more people with your name, Google is going to have a harder time figuring out which person a user is searching for. And if you like, we can even promote the other people with your same name (in addition to yourself), to help clog up search results and push down the negative links faster.

Are exact-match and partial-match domains only good for people are for business owners, too?

Primarily, this strategy is for individuals because it’s so easy and affordable to implement. And as shown in the example above with ADT, it is possible to have multiple websites ranking on page one for your business name. This takes careful planning and usually a higher investment in web design and content, in order to get the additional sites to pop on page one. Press releases are usually a better bang for the buck for business owners looking to suppress negative links quickly.

Summary

Investing in exact- and partial-match domains is my #1 strategy for long-lasting control of your online reputation.

Google is constantly changing it’s algorithm and the press releases and interviews that rank so well today, might not rank so well tomorrow.

But for years, the websites that contain your name have ranked well and I suspect that to continue.

I know this post has been a long one and if you’re doing it yourself, start with one site and see if you enjoy the work.

If you want us to handle it for you, this is our expertise and we don’t waste time doing things we hope will rank and push down your negative links.

We only focus on what DOES work and we do it more affordably than anyone.