Yes! It took me 2 years to get good results, but I have learnt a lot in that journey, not only about SEO. It was really worth the time. (Prevention is great too!)

I totally agree.  I am amazed at how little effort a big brand that costs millions of dollars to create are prepared to spend on this problem.  I heard a comment once when I was talking about Rep Mgt from a tradtional PR agency which went something like this "what difference can one blogger make" The reality is that if the one blogger has a post in Google which is #2 for your brand or a malicious ex employee has filed a ripped off report the damage can be unmeasurable and I think thats the key, they cant measure it so they ignore it.   These large companies have traditional PR agencies giving them advice about a discipline they do not understand and the budget is moved back to the tradtional PR as that is what they know.

I will would not hire a company who has bad google results and I know how it works and I know some of these results are fake but thats the way it is.  If it affects my decsion to work wiht a company  then  what affect does it have on Joe Blow who only knows the basic internet.  They do not get it.