In a perfect world, we’d be able to remove all the unfair, outdated, and negative search results about ourselves. In reality, most content is here to stay except in special circumstances. Remove what you can, but creating your own positive content to suppress the negatives is a great way to control your image and improve your search results.
Note that if you’re looking to disappear from the web, this isn’t the solution for you. You’ll be creating more content about you, but you’ll be tipping the balance from negative to positive.
Step 1: Create and manage public profiles for yourself
Certain sites consistently appear high in the search results. By simply creating a profile on them with your name and a bit of identifying information, you can suppress negative results. Make sure that you set your privacy settings to be publicly viewed, and only post content that you’re absolutely sure you won’t regret later. Here’s a list of sites to use:
If you can’t delete something bad, bury it with something good.
- MySpace
- Google+
- Formspring.me
- Foursquare
- About.Me
- Blogger
- Tumblr
- Photobucket
- Quora
- StumbleUpon
- Digg
- Plixi
- Yahoo Pulse
- Flickr
Step 2: Comment publicly in news articles, forums, and social media
Madonna reference: hey, hey, hey, hey.
You can also use your real name to register on news websites and comment on articles, although these types of posts don’t tend to rank as highly as those on the sites listed above. If you’re prepared for a little self-censorship, posting under your real name can be a smart strategy for selling yourself. Knowing that anything you say online may show up when someone Googles you, use your postings to your advantage: post intelligent, grammatically-correct, spell-checked, well-reasoned content. Express yourself in the field in which you want to become established.
Step 3: Link Amongst your Various Sites
Link between your sites to make them all rank higher.
One of the ways that Google determines a site’s rank in search results is by analyzing how many times other sites link to it. You can get your content to rise by linking it to itself. For example, create a twitter account, connect that to your formspring account, connect both of those to your Facebook page, and link to all of them on your Blogger page. Of course, the more you use your accounts and interact with other people, the more likely they are to link to your content, which drives your results even higher.
Step 4: Take back negative keywords
If a search for your name is generally positive, but including a particular keyword brings up negative or unwanted results, try to reclaim that term. Let’s say that a search for “John Doe” is positive, but “John Doe”+ “State College” brings up negative results. John Doe should start including the phrase “State College” in his positive content creation in order to associate it with his good reputation.
Is there something online that haunts you or someone you know? What do you think about search engines and the internet preventing us from wiping our slates clean? Comment below and let us know your thoughts.
If you google my name there is one negative article on the 1st page. Thats it, I wish there were a way to get rid of it. I’ve contacted the news paper to no avail. So if you could do it please let me know.
Thanks,
Craig
Sorry to hear you’re dealing with that, Craig. We used to offer custom removal services like you’re looking for, but it ended up being simply impossible without going into the realm of legal services, which we don’t do. That’s why we took what we know and posted it on our blog, like on the post you’re seeing above. If the article is inaccurate or untrue in some way, I’d suggest hiring a defamation lawyer. Otherwise, stick to the do-it-yourself tips above to bury that result. It may take some work, but it’s not impossible. I’ve also just heard about a site called BrandYourself.com that says it can help you with it. Best of luck, Craig.
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Has anyone challenged Google on the way they push negative information in their results? They seem to post “juicy” or negative results on the first page for some reason. Just wondering if anyone has successfully challenged Google in court or petition. Great article, thanks for the tips.
It’s not really Google’s fault: it’s people’s. People tend to be more interested in juicy, gossipy, often negative headlines, and they’re more likely to click and read them. That means they get more page views, which means they rank more highly in Google’s search results. Google isn’t deciding that negative headlines should be higher: it’s just following an algorithm largely decided by human interest. It’s just a (pretty sad) fact about people that we’re inclined to check out the negative stuff–someone getting arrested or getting naked is more interesting than that same person volunteering for charity or getting a diploma, and our click behavior backs that up. In the future, it’ll be more important than ever to keep an open mind, remember that everyone makes mistakes, and try not to judge someone on an online first impression.
Uh yes it is.
I am convinced the internet is evil. Google my name and the first result portrays me as a sex offender because some jerk used an anonymizer to slander people. I am so happy about this because i am the only person in the country with my first and last name. That is so cool how this system is set up. You can even post comments in someone else’s name. And the best part is, you can act like this with absolutely no repercussions.So the only people who pay for it are the victims. And the demented authors of this stuff get to laugh. Where else but the internet can you get away with this. The cyber division of the FBI said not to worry about it because the internet is like a big bathroom wall. Nice answer only what bathroom wall is visible to the whole world? The internet. That’s which one. I hope the anonymous author of this stuff dies a slow torturous death. Sometimes think this world is set up to protect dirtbags.
the suggestions above do work and in time you can get your name fairly clean 3 to 5 pages deep on google. It takes time and effort…period. I work as an executive at the Camelback Group, an online public relations firm, we do our best for people…the bottom line is – it takes work and work takes time – that’s why hiring a company to do it and manage it makes sense for some people.
I think it’s a shame. One erroneous comment, review etc. can ruin someones reputation. A reputation that has taken a lifetime to establish. The internet and search engines should understand this and take steps that allow individuals and business owners to rectify any negative feed-back that was place on the web falsly.
Let’s see, you can’t fire anyone anymore or they’ll blog about it and leave negative reviews all over the web. You practically can’t do anything with the human race and not expect it to show up on the web. And most of these sites know the information isn’t true yet they allow people to post it.
I HAVE HAD THAT EXPERIENCE TRYING TO FIGHT PEDOPHILES IN THE UK ,THEN PEOPLE I TRUSTED GAVE MY PERSONAL DETAILS AND THERE HAVE BEEN BLOGS ABOUT ME GOING UP WITH HOLIDAY PICTURES OF ME
I HAVE JOINED BRAND YOURSELF AND RATHER THAN TRYING TO PROMOTE ME I AM PUSHING UP OTHERS WITH THE SAME NAME AS ME TO CREATE SOME CONFUSION
WILL SEE HOW IT WORKS AND WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.
I WOULD SUGGEST IF YOU GET INVOLVED IN ANYTHING THAT MAY COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU IE INTERNET CAMPAIGN YOU FOLLOW THESE TIPS
FACE BOOK TWITTER ETC
HAVE TWO PROFILES ONE FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND KEEP IT PRIVATE A SECOND FOR ANY POLITICAL ACTIVITIES ETC.KEEP YOUR SETTINGS PICTURES AND TAGS PRIVATE
ON THE SECOND “ACTIVE “ACCOUNT DONT HAVE A PICTURE OF YOURSELF AND HAVE AT LEAST 4 USER NAMES FOR ANY COMMENTS YOU MAKE ON PAGES AND DIFFERENT AVATARS
G MAIL IS EXCELLENT AS YOU CAN HAVE SAY 4 ACCOUNTS AND HAVE ALL THE MAIL FORWARDED TO ONE ACCOUNT
REMEMBER ANYTHING YOU DO STAYS ON THE NET FOREVER ,MY NIECE WHO IS STUDDING TO BE A DOCTOR HAS PUT SOME FOOLISH PICTURES UP THAT MAY COME BACK TO HAUNT HER,
THE BLOG MAY GO BUT WITH WAY BACK MACHINES DIRT CAN BE DISHED
REMEMBER YOU MAY NOT BE FRIENDS WITH THESE PEOPLE FOR EVER,FACEBOOK FRIENDS ,DO YOU REALLY KNOW THEM?
THE OTHER TACTIC IS IF YOU SUSPECT SOMEONE IS DISSING YOU START GATHERING YOUR INTEL THEN PUT UP A BLOG ON THEM,ITS A USEFUL BARGAINING CHIP IF YOU KNOW WHO ITS IS ,
HOPE THIS HELPS
BASICALLY TRUST NO ONE