Editorial Standards and How We Verify What We Publish
Viral Spike Marketing publishes guides, explainers and news about public relations, online reputation, social media account recovery and AI search. People make decisions based on what they read here, so every article follows the standards on this page. They describe how we research, who writes, how we handle clients and outlets, why you will not find prices on this site, and how to request a correction.
- Primary sources only
- Every figure attributed and dated
- Human review of every claim
- Last reviewed: November 9, 2026
How we research and fact-check
Claims are checked against the source that owns the fact, not against another article that repeated it.
When an article says what a platform does, we read the platform’s own policy or help page. When it describes a legal process, we read the statute, the court rule or the agency page that governs it. When it cites research, we read the study itself and name it, including the publisher and the year it was released.
- Platform policies: community guidelines, help center articles and appeal procedures from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Google are quoted from the current version of the page, and the article states when that page was read.
- Government and official sources: statutes, regulator guidance, court records and official statistics are linked directly, and we note the jurisdiction they apply to.
- Named studies and data: every number carries its origin and its date. If a figure is older than two years we say so, and if we cannot trace a figure to a primary source we leave it out.
- Our own experience: observations drawn from client engagements are labeled as such and never presented as industry-wide statistics.
Who writes and who checks
The byline “Viral Spike Marketing Team” is our editorial team, not a placeholder.
Articles are produced by the people who deliver our services: the team that pitches editors, files removal requests, works platform escalation channels and measures how brands appear in search and AI answers. The team byline reflects that each article is a product of that shared work.
We use AI tools in parts of the drafting process, such as outlining, summarizing long policy documents and suggesting structure. AI never publishes. A member of the team reads every sentence, opens every link, confirms every figure against its source and takes responsibility for the finished piece. If a draft contains a claim nobody on the team can verify, the claim is removed before publication.
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Brief and source list
Each article starts with the question it answers and the primary sources that will answer it. Nothing is drafted until the sources are in hand.
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Draft and verification
The draft is written, then a second team member checks each claim, link and date against the source and marks anything that cannot be confirmed.
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Publish and review
The article is published with a reviewed date. Platform policies change often, so articles are rechecked and the date is updated whenever the content is revised.
Last-reviewed dates
Every article shows a published date and, once it has been revised, a last-reviewed date. A reviewed date means a person reopened the article, rechecked the sources and either confirmed the content or changed it. Articles about platform appeals, removal procedures and AI search behavior are reviewed most often because those systems change most often. If an article’s reviewed date is more than a year old, tell us so we can prioritize it.
How we talk about clients and press placements
We name a client only with that client’s written permission. Case studies, examples and testimonials that identify a person or company have been approved by them, and we remove a name on request. Where permission has not been given, examples are described in general terms with identifying details changed.
We do not claim that any client was placed in a specific outlet unless the placement is confirmed and we can point to it. Lists of publications on this site describe outlets where editorial placement is available through our work, not a guarantee that every client has appeared in each one. When an article cites a placement, it links to the published piece or states that the link is withheld at the client’s request.
Why there are no prices on this site
Every engagement is quoted in writing after an audit of your situation. A press campaign for a new company and one for an established brand do not cost the same, and a single negative article is not the same removal job as a cluster of mugshot listings. Publishing a rate card would either overcharge some clients or misstate what others should expect, so we do not publish one.
What we do publish is the commitment that governs every quote: the deliverables, the timeline and the refund terms are set out in writing before any payment, and the work is delivered as written or refunded. The full terms are on our guarantee page. Articles on this site that discuss cost explain what drives it; they do not quote figures for our own services.
Corrections and feedback
If something on this site is wrong, outdated or unclear, we want to hear about it.
Send the page URL and a description of the problem through our contact page. We reply by email within one business day. Factual errors are corrected in the article and noted at the bottom of the page with the date of the change. Requests to remove a name or a quote are honored when they come from the person or company concerned. Disagreements about interpretation are reviewed by the team and, where the source supports a different reading, the article is revised.
To learn more about who we are and how we work, visit our about page.
This page is itself subject to these standards. Last reviewed: November 9, 2026.