How To Bury Bad Search Results and Restore Your Reputation

Wondering how to bury bad search results? If negative content is damaging your digital reputation, read on.

When was the last time you Googled yourself? What did you see in the Google search results?

You might be surprised by what you find. Or, if you’re like many people, you might be horrified. Plus, if you’ve ever been arrested, that incident may be the first thing that pops up in search results.

That’s not all.

Your private pictures may be on harmful websites thanks to a jilted ex-spouse. Your business could be listed on “don’t work for” websites if you’ve ever had a problem employee. Or, if you’ve ever had an unhappy customer, your brand could suffer from negative reviews online—including fake Google reviews.

Google and other search engines are all-powerful in our digital age. First page search results determine the success or failure of businesses and employees alike. Online, a bad link, article, or arrest record can destroy your reputation. In fact, Google’s first page is now considered just as important as your resume or business card.

The good news is that you can learn how to clean up negative Google search results and negative articles to take control of your online image.

We can help you create a positive online reputation by burying negative search results and promoting positive content. Call us at 941-259-4554 for more information.

Negative Search Results Can Hurt Your Personal or Business Reputation

Google allows users to search for your name from any place and at any time. Negative content and bad search results can hurt your reputation or brand in many ways.

If a coworker, employer, landlord, or loved one ever checks your background on Google, what would they see? Would it make a good impression and strengthen your relationship? Or would it fill their head with doubt?

Take this example: Many hiring managers now Google job candidates before offering a position. In other words, your potential employer may search for your name online before taking the next step. If they find negative search results, like a scathing news article or an arrest record, they may completely take you out of the running for the job.

Is There Anything You Can Do About Negative Results?

If harmful information and negative articles about you are online, you’re not alone. What’s more: You’re not powerless. In fact, you can change your search results for the better.

Before we move forward, know that you can remove harmful and negative search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo. You can improve your online presence and build the digital reputation you deserve.

It’s time to clean up negative Google search results and take control of your reputation for good.

Where Are Negative Search Results Coming From?

Several types of websites should never show your name, face, or business information. Let’s discuss some of them.

People-Search Sites

People-search sites like MyLife and Whitepages allow anyone to access your personal information, including your home address, telephone number, email address, and more. When your personal information is online, marketers, spammers, and criminals can find it instantly. Most importantly, when your personal data is exposed online, you’re at higher risk of identity theft, credit card fraud, and more.

Monitoring your name and removing your information from people-search sites helps protect your family and your privacy.

Background Check Sites

If you’ve ever been in legal trouble or have a negative public record, remove yourself from background check sites immediately. These sites generate a great deal of traffic, as employers, landlords, and lenders check them regularly. If a bad record pops up, your application will likely get thrown to the bottom of the pile.

Ex Revenge Sites

Have you ever seen revenge sites allowing exes to post negative content about past partners? These sites keep growing in popularity, leaving countless reputations and careers in ruins.

These sites exist solely to make money. They’re notorious extortion rackets that offer negative content removal for hefty fees. Plus, they give angry exes plenty of opportunities to damage or destroy your good name online.

Fortunately, you can beat them at their own game and remove the information yourself with a search engine optimization and content strategy.

Our clients come to us when they need to hide negative search results on Google. Call us at 941-259-4554 to learn more about improving your Google results.

Mugshot Sites

Mugshot sites are very popular and valued highly by Google. Moreover, since mugshots are considered part of the public record, any mugshot you’ve ever had taken can appear on these sites at any time.

Mugshot sites get a huge amount of traffic, boosting their Google rankings and thrusting embarrassing images into the online spotlight.

Of course, this can be extremely damaging to your image, and you’ll want to remove those images as soon as possible.

Complaint Sites

Complaint sites are a common problem for businesses and business owners, and they can cause major issues down the line.

According to over 45% of internet users, one of their top reasons for going online is to research brands and products. And on social media, over 76% of users are there for the same purpose. If your brand shows up on a complaint site, it can hurt your bottom line.

Most surprisingly, complaint sites don’t have to be truthful. In fact, a competitor might try to hurt your business by posting fake reviews on a complaint site, which can influence Google results, harm your reputation, and make harmful content suppression necessary to push harmful results off page one.

InternetReputation.com provides the information and services you need to protect your digital presence and push negative search results off page one. Get started with a free online reputation analysis by calling 941-259-4554 today.

How Can You Get Negative Content Off the Internet?

If you’ve found negative content online related to your personal or brand name, you have a few options to remove or push negative search results down.

Website Privacy Policies and Removal Requests

One way to erase negative search results or personal information from the internet is to ask site owners to take it down.

Of course, the website you’re working with has to be receptive and cooperative. Asking a revenge site owner to remove negative articles will likely result in a request for money, for example, if they agree to remove the negative content at all.

Another way to remove information is to flag it as a violation of the site’s privacy policy. If the material breaks site rules, that may be the fastest way to get content removed. Unfortunately, privacy policies are often vague, and you could have trouble getting the webmaster to take your request seriously.

However, it’s still smart to start with this approach in case you get lucky and find a website owner willing to work with you, especially if you provide accurate information when requesting a correction or removal.

Google’s Refresh Outdated Content Tool

In some cases, you’ll have luck with Google’s Refresh Updated Content tool. If the content no longer exists or violates Google’s guidelines, you may be able to remove negative results from the SERP.

Note that Google’s removal policies tend to be complicated, and your outcome depends on your particular situation. In short, Google will remove certain items and leave others alone.

Because of Google’s information-removal policies, you may need other methods to remove and bury negative results online.

Removing Negative Results From Other Search Engines

Google is the heavy-hitter in the world of search engines. Yet, Bing and other search engines also have a significant number of users, giving them influence on how people see and feel about your online image.

Most search engine removal requests follow the same process. Users can reach out and request information removal. From there, the search engine decides whether to delete or update the search result.

Third-Party Removal Services

These days, companies offering to remove harmful information from the internet are everywhere.

But to get the fastest results, an experienced, award-winning ORM firm is your best bet for quality and reliability.

Our team has decades of combined content-removal experience, and we know how to remove damaging information from the web fast.

Our third-party removal services offer the best way to clean up negative results and help you build a stronger online reputation. This way, your reputation no longer depends on Google’s rules or a webmaster’s goodwill.

In short, we offer customized internet and reputation management service solutions designed to maximize your online success.

Content Suppression To Push Negative Links Down

When you can’t completely remove negative information from the internet, content suppression is your next best option.

With this strategy, creating new positive content is the most effective suppression strategy to bury negative search results, and high-quality content can outrank negative search engine results over time. Once links appear lower on the search engine results page (SERP), fewer people are bound to see them. Instead, they’ll pay attention to what’s risen to the top: positive content about you or your business.

Search engines prioritize relevance, authority, and freshness, which is why authoritative and fresh content can push down negative results and help move them off the first page.

Backlinko found that the top organic search result on Google gets an average CTR of over 27%. Plus, the top 3 search results on Google get most clicks—over 54 percent.

It gets better: DataReportal found that less than 1% of internet users don’t make it past the first SERP. In practice, about 75% of users never click past the first page, and user clicks drop significantly after the first page of search results.

That means if you can bury bad search results to page two or later, most people will never find that content. Suppression usually takes 3-6 months to show visible improvement.

Do you need to speak with an expert about search engine optimization, online reputation management, and burying negative search results? Call us at 941-259-4554 today.

3 Social Media Tips To Protect Your Digital Reputation

Once you’ve pushed negative search results off page one of Google, your job isn’t done when it comes to your online reputation. Maintaining a positive online presence takes a lot of work once you’ve achieved it, especially if you’re active on social media, because optimized social profiles can rank well and help push down negative articles. Keep these three tips in mind.

When you post regularly, stick to content that supports the image you want searchers to see. Also, claim and fully optimize your main accounts on major social platforms, since strong social profiles often earn prominent visibility in search.

Keep Your Social Media Profiles Clean

If you’re not careful, your social media profiles can quickly erode your reputation. The good news is you have several options to protect your reputation on social media without involving a third party or contacting Google.

Be thoughtful about what you post to your social media accounts, as well as the comments and likes you leave on other content. Err on the side of caution with social media — assume your content will be found and judged, and act accordingly.

Also, regularly review your social accounts and prune past content. Remove anything that’s outdated or could be problematic.

Adjust Privacy Settings

Adjust the privacy settings on your Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts. Avoid setting your profiles to public, particularly if you engage in activities often seen as controversial or unprofessional.

Everything on the internet carries a risk. For example, a picture from your Facebook account can quickly end up on a revenge site for everyone to see. You can reduce this risk by protecting your information.

Be Careful About What You Share

It’s easier to prevent a digital reputation problem than to fix one after it occurs. If you don’t want controversial images to be used against you, don’t share them in the first place.

Sharing the wrong type of information can ruin a good reputation in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, a well-managed social media profile can do wonders for your personal or professional online reputation, and positive sharing can include video or other multimedia content, which often earns strong visibility in search results for a personal brand and creates more chances to appear there.

One More Tip: If social networking sites have caused you problems in the past, consider taking a break from social media. You don’t want to make things worse while you’re rebuilding your online reputation.

Start Rebuilding Your Online Reputation Today

Once you’ve cleaned up your name on Google, other search engines, and social media, make sure it stays that way. Maintaining that position is an ongoing process: monitor searches and search terms regularly, watch the search landscape around your company name, and track progress with weekly ranking checks. Just as a plant will die if you forget to water it, your reputation will wither if you forget to maintain it.

At InternetReputation.com, we provide online reputation management information to individuals and businesses who need to promote positive content and suppress negative search results. Whether you’re prioritizing your personal or professional online reputation, our advice, services, and team of experts can help optimize existing content, improve existing websites, strengthen your online footprint, and support smart content creation using target keywords and related keywords.

Contributing guest articles, media mentions, and other relevant content on high-authority sites or industry publications can build legitimate authority, expand digital assets and bio pages, and improve search visibility.

Conduct thorough audits of negative URLs, review the searches driving them, and use Ahrefs or Moz Pro to track progress weekly and push results tied to your target keywords.

On a personal website or company website, use internal links and schema markup so search engines can better understand your company and rank owned pages.

Your personal and professional success matters. We offer a range of ORM services to hide negative results on search engines, but ethical reputation management should rely on accurate information and legitimate authority, not deceptive tactics such as fake reviews.

Contact our online reputation management team by calling 941-259-4554 today.