Defending Your Online Reputation: Bury Negative Search Results

This is where the importance of removing negative content from Google search comes into play. In today’s world, as negative content, fake reviews & negative links are growing, it’s essential for everyone that their name, or the name of their company, is featured in an accurate and positive light. A comprehensive personal reputation strategy is an asset for an individual. It is built over the course of many years through an honest dedication to a business, its customers, and its employees.

However, a positive reputation that you’ve been building for years can be compromised almost overnight. Negative content links that appear when you or your company name is typed into search engines must be addressed and neutralized as soon as possible before they become a  reputation risk .

Fortunately, there are several proven techniques and strategies that you can employ. The goal is to make the negative content and comments from the search results disappear or at least become more difficult to see. When you want a feature or highlight specific content as much as possible on search engines and simultaneously suppress the defamatory information, top reputation management companies, like Blue Ocean Global Technology use what is known as Reverse SEO. This technique does not remove negative links, negative content or pages because that objective may be impossible to achieve. However, pushing down the content that is hurting your reputation will make it far less noticeable and less accessible.

One Bad Post Can Cost You More Than You Can Imagine

Anyone who Googles you or your company and encounters links that say negative things about you may automatically write you off as a realistic option. The challenge is that it is almost impossible to measure lost opportunities and the number of people that have decided not to do business with you because of a bad review.

Let’s say you are a top attorney working at a reputable law firm, and a client writes a bad review about you or your firm. It doesn’t matter whether the complaint was true or not. The negative perception may harm your ability to obtain new clients because people who look you up will find the client’s negative feedback.

Nowadays, it’s too easy to Google someone and their business, therefore, you have to make sure the negative criticism doesn’t stay in the search results for too long. And if it does, it may do the following to your business and your reputation:

• Negatively influence how others perceive your business
• Draw experts or partners away from your company or brand
• Destroy your online reputation and perceived ability to deliver value
• Discredit the overall quality of your products and services
• Discredit you as an individual personally and professionally.

Because of that, you must react quickly and effectively to such problems.

Remove Negative Content or Bury Negative Content

The ideal scenario is to remove the complete negative search result. If the result of the search is related to pages that are in your possession or under your control, then it is not a problem to remove negative results. But how do you remove the content that is on website pages that are not under your control? A negative comment on you or your company on a blog or a social network site that is not your property is far more challenging to remove.

How to Bury Negative Search Results?

To remove negative content or bury negative content that concerns you from a blog or a website that you don’t own the rights to, there are three options that you can do.

How to Bury Negative Google Search Results?

The first option is to directly contact the owner or webmaster to explain why certain content about you is inappropriate. If successful, you can then ask them to remove it.

Another option is to contact the administrator of the search engine that gave you the controversial search result. Namely, certain data that is published may be in conflict with the terms of use of the search engine itself. For example, Google forbids the publication of some personal and financial information. This is a helpful tool for individuals and  businesses online reputation management. The same case is with aggressive and discriminating content. If Google feels that the content is truly inappropriate and in violation of its terms, it will not be deleted from the source website because Google is not its owner. However, that same content will no longer appear in the search results.

The third option is to find elements in the published content for which you can sue or explore legal recourse. Consult a firm with legal expertise to explore your options for digital expungement and evaluate what may be cost-effective. Contacting lawyers directly may be prohibitively expensive and you can potentially risk even greater negative publicity when erroneously filing a lawsuit against the site owner.

Fire to Fire: How to Push Down Negative Search Results

When you become aware that you can’t prohibit or remove certain content, you will have the ability to make it less visible. You will accomplish this by pushing the negative content as low as possible in search engine results. Research has shown that when someone enters your name into the search engine, in most cases, they only check the first or second page of the results. So, your goal is to at least remove yourself from the first page. If you manage to push down the negative result to the fourth, fifth, or lower page, it’s almost as if you completely removed it from the internet.

With the reverse SEO techniques, you can achieve results if you identify a firm with experience and a comprehensive understanding of all the factors that affect search rankings. Simply pushing down the bad information about yourself with positive information is easier said than done. Make sure you fight fire with fire!

In search engines, the results of social networks rank very high. Work with a team with expertise in creating optimized profiles on the most appropriate social networks. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr should all be considered. Register under your full name and surname or company name and start with basic information. Also, make sure that the profile is open to the public, and post only the things that align with the positive perception you seek.

Writing a blog where you will regularly publish new content can also help you realize positive search results. Regularly update your blog or company’s website, and engage in commenting on content and articles on other sites under your full name and surname. You can even start a forum and offer tips on subjects you know well. This is an excellent opportunity to not only mention your name but also showcase your expertise. Every move that includes regular and quality communication under your name is welcome when it comes to clearing your online reputation.

If all of this is too big of a job for you or you don’t have the time or sufficient knowledge on the subject, it’s best to employ the services of a digital reputation and SEO expert – one with years of experience in this area. A team of professionals can provide services tailored to your industry. Be it help you build your digital presence or do reputation management for lawyers, doctors, politicians or more. 

FAQ Bury Negative Search Results

How to Remove False Defamatory Glassdoor Reviews?

You can’t simply remove any Glassdoor review that you don’t like, you can only remove the ones that go against the community guidelines. However, one of those guidelines is to not write false or inaccurate information. Therefore, if there’s a false defamatory review that you want to remove, flag it, state the reason for reporting, and wait for Glassdoor to review your report and decide whether it’s a valid one.

How to Push Down Negative Search Results on Google?

To push a certain negative search result down, first, you have to research the possible keywords that make that link rank. Then, start writing content for each of those keywords to rank higher than the negative link. Bear in mind, that this is a process that you have to keep going, as any website can update its content regularly to keep ranking. Additionally, Google may change the factors that make websites rank from time to time, so make sure you follow Google’s latest updates.

How to Remove Defamatory Content From Google?

There are 3 ways that you can remove any defamatory content from Google by. First, to contact the owner or moderator of the website and convince them that the content is untrue or inaccurate. Two, to contact the writer of the negative content and persuade them to take what they’ve written down. Three, to contact Google and show it that the content violates a certain law or regulation.

How to Bury Bad Search Results?

To bury bad search results, you can take the following steps. First, create and optimize positive content such as blogs, articles, and social media profiles. Engage with your audience and share valuable content on social media platforms. Contribute guest posts to reputable websites to generate positive backlinks. Consider seeking professional assistance from online reputation management services.  If necessary, consult with an attorney for legal options. Remember, building a positive online presence requires ongoing effort and focus on promoting positive content.