How do you handle negative search results caused by someone with the same name?

When a client shares a name with someone whose digital footprint includes negative content, the reputation problem is identity collision rather than reputation damage. The other person is being conflated with the client in search and AI responses. The work is entity disambiguation (teaching the engines to tell two same-named entities apart) through deliberate signal-building. Apply Person schema across the client’s owned properties with distinct biographical anchors the other person does not share: date of birth, employer, education, location, professional affiliations. Build sameAs links (identifiers that tell Google your profiles are the same entity) from the client’s verified profiles (LinkedIn, employer page, association directories, Wikipedia if applicable) so the engines have a clear identity graph for the right person. Produce authoritative content tying the client’s name to current activities and affiliations the other figure does not share. Monitor through AIQ to catch AI engine conflation early. Over months the engines learn the disambiguation, and the SERP (the Google results page) and AI narrative resolve to the correct entity.