Reputation management: what would Google do?

I used to run a large profile pages website and once got a call from a professional clown, who demanded that one of the users, who happened to use the same (very generic) name, give up her nickname forever and delete the profile page. He claimed her profile page's higher position in Google cost him customers and threatened to sue me. I told him that if he tried that, I would mobilise the whole online community to Google bomb him into oblivion. Never heard of him again.
But at least the clown did one thing right: he had tried to contact the site owner. Some complainers don't even bother to do that: I really wouldn't want to be the one at Google who has to answer all these angry owners of small and medium sized companies who still think Google is the internet and is responsible for all the content it displays after a Google search.
That was five years ago, but not a lot has changed since then. Belgium's latest blogstorm (tworm?) is centered around an angry Belgian jeweler who demanded a tweet to be deleted. How could this have been avoided? Simple: by following Google's tips for Managing your reputation through search results. Replace "site's webmaster" with "Twitter account's owner" at will.

1. If you can't remove something [on the internet you dislike] yourself, you can contact the site's webmaster and ask them to remove the content or the page in question.
2. After [the] site's webmaster has removed or edited the page, you can expedite the removal of that content from Google using our URL removal tool.

But what if the one who published that nasty stuff about you can't be reached, is playing deaf of refuses to remove the content? Then you can always use a tried and trusted crisis communication tactic: let it snow. Flood the interwebs with what Google calls useful, positive information about yourself or your business. Google illustrates with a couple of examples:

• Create a Google profile. When people search for your name, Google can display a link to your Google profile in our search results[...].
• [...]ask some of your other customers who are happy with your company to give a fuller picture of your business.
• If a blogger is publishing unflattering photos of you, take some pictures you prefer and publish them in a blog post or two.

More helpful tips at the Google Web Search Help forum thread.