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Explore our articles on reputation optimization, customer reviews and visibility in the age of AI.
How Afrotech Canada ran a summit day on one QR code
Every conference organiser knows the moment: the programme goes to the printer on Monday, a speaker cancels on Wednesday, and on the day itself four hundred sheets of paper are wrong. Afrotech Canada, an annual technology summit in Montreal, ran its 2026 edition differently. One QR code carried the day: the schedule, the menu, the […]
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How Marché Dakar built its reputation from day one
Marché Dakar opened in Laval to bring African and Caribbean products back within reach of the community that grew up on them. Like every new store, it faced the same starting problem: the people who would love it did not know it existed yet. Most local businesses answer that problem with the storefront, the shelves […]
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Your star rating is a lagging indicator. Your reputation score is not
Ask a local business owner how their reputation is doing and you will usually get one number: the Google rating. 4.6. 4.8. It is the number on the storefront, the one competitors glance at, the one that feels like the verdict. It is also a poor way to measure your own work month to month. […]
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The Most Useful Thing Our AI Assistant Does Is Refuse to Answer
An AI now answers questions about your business whether you are involved or not. So we built one for ours, and gave it permission to stop. We have argued on this blog that customer discovery no longer runs through a single search box. Assistants read, summarize and recommend on your behalf, and they do it […]
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Why Auditing Your Digital Reputation Is No Longer Optional in 2026
A few years ago, a customer looking for a service near them opened Google, typed a few words, and scrolled through a list of links. In 2026, a growing share of them never do that. They open ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity and simply ask: “Who is the best mover in my area?” or “Is this […]
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Reputation Optimization vs SEO, AEO and GEO: What Each Discipline Actually Solves
For years, online visibility followed a familiar pattern. A customer searched, Google displayed a list of results, and businesses competed for a higher position. That journey is changing. Customers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode to compare options and recommend a short list. Instead of receiving ten links, they may receive […]
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The RepOtz Framework™. A Manifesto for Reputation Optimization
There was a time when reputation could be managed. Businesses monitored reviews, responded to complaints, and tried to correct issues after they appeared. Reputation was something reactive, something you handled once it was already visible. That model worked when customers searched, compared, and took time to evaluate options. That time is over. A fundamental shift […]
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Social Proof by RepOtz: The Next Evolution of Reputation
For years, online reputation has been built on written reviews and star ratings. But the landscape is changing. Customers are more cautious, platforms are tightening regulations, and traditional review strategies are delivering diminishing returns. In this new environment, credibility is no longer just about what is said, it’s about how it is experienced. RepOtz introduces […]
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Why Your Review Strategy Is Probably Illegal (And How RepOtz Just Fixed It)
In the world of local SEO, 2026 has become the year of the “Great Review Purge.” Google’s AI has become incredibly sophisticated at detecting a practice known as Review Gating, the act of selectively asking happy customers for reviews while funneling unhappy ones into a private feedback loop. If your current tool “filters” your customers, […]
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