Question

What is ORM in digital marketing?

Locus Intelligence team

Updated 6 Nov 20262 min read

Reach · Attract

Short answer 39 words

ORM stands for online reputation management: shaping how a business is seen online through reviews, replies, listings and search results. In digital marketing it is the work of monitoring what people say, answering it, and encouraging fair, recent feedback.

The fuller answer

What does ORM cover? - Reviews: Google, Facebook, Yelp, Tripadvisor and industry sites. See [which review platforms matter](/questions/review-platforms-india-businesses/). - Replies: public responses to praise and complaints. - Listings: accurate business details, so the reputation attaches to the right place. - Search results: what appears when someone searches your name. - Social mentions: comments and tags about your brand.

How does ORM fit with local SEO and PR? Reviews feed local rank through prominence ([Google](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091)), so ORM and [local SEO](/questions/what-is-local-seo/) share the same work. PR is a different discipline; see [ORM vs PR](/questions/difference-between-orm-and-pr/).

What does ORM look like in practice? It is a weekly loop: check new reviews, reply to each, ask recent customers for feedback, and pass recurring problems to operations. Reach by Locus Intelligence does the monitoring and drafts replies for approval, see [review management](/reach/review-management/). For tool options read [review management software](/guides/review-management-software/).

What is not ORM? Buying reviews, deleting honest criticism, or flooding search with fake pages. Google's policy treats paid and incentivized reviews as fake engagement ([policy](https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/11414422)). See [why buying reviews backfires](/guides/buying-google-reviews/).

The parts of ORM

Reviews

Where customers rate you.

Replies

Your public answers.

Listings

Accurate details.

Search results

What shows for your name.

ORM vs PR vs local SEO

ProactiveReactive

Review replies

ORM: reactive, per location.

PR campaigns

PR: proactive, brand-wide.

Crisis response

PR and ORM together.

Review requests and profile work

Local SEO and ORM together.

NarrowBroad

Mistakes to avoid

Deleting or hiding honest criticism
Instead: Reply and fix the cause.
Buying positive reviews
Instead: It breaks Google policy and can get reviews removed.
Replying with a template to everyone
Instead: Mention one specific from the review.

Free tool

Start free

Paste a review, get a reply.

Review reply generator

Your next steps

Today

Search your business name and note what shows.

This week

Reply to all open reviews.

This month

Choose a tool; compare in review management software.

Reach by Locus Intelligence

Reach keeps every location accurate and answers its reviews, per location, with approval before anything posts. Free for one location, no card.

Start free

Frequently asked questions

What does ORM stand for?

Online reputation management.

Is ORM the same as SEO?

No, but they overlap: reviews influence local rank.

Is ORM the same as PR?

No. PR handles media and brand story; ORM handles reviews and search presence.

Does ORM remove bad reviews?

Only reviews that break platform policy can be removed; ORM mostly means replying and improving.

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Profile score, Maps rank against the top 3, and the fixes that matter most.

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