How to Remove untruthful content from Google

The steps necessary to have untruthful content permanently removed from Google .

Did you find on Google , false information published about you ?

Untruthful and harmful content can be erased from your Google search results forever . You do not have to accept the fact that you have a bad online reputation , you can clean it up , easily .

As a business owner, there's nothing worse than discovering your business has a bad search result associated with it. You work hard to ensure your customers are satisfied with your products and service. You work even harder to make your business a success. Unfortunately, they're common in business transaction and interactions.

We're in the age of information, and people are eager to share their opinions online. Sometimes, these opinions are not positive.

Unless you own the content (in which case, what are you waiting for?) getting a negative result ‘taken down’ is actually quite challenging. The website owner doesn’t have to take it down, probably has little incentive to listen to you, and may even miss your email request altogether.

For these reasons, getting a negative result taken down is unlikely to work. But if you succeed it can be very effective.

Here’s how you do it. Go to whois.net and find out who the website owner is. Contact the owner by email and request (politely) for them to take down the offending material. I’d suggest going the sympathy route — explain that the material is damaging your reputation and try to show how you’ve changed for the better since the content was published. Whichever route you decide to go, remain polite and remember that if they do help you out, they’re actually doing you a favor.

Fortunately, there are a handful of techniques and strategies, used primarily by companies in the online reputation management industry, to make negative content vanish. Similar to SEO (search engine optimization), which uses strategies to make your business more noticeable on web search engines like Google, Reverse SEO uses a variety of techniques to make a particular site less noticeable. This is the backbone of how ORM (online reputation management) experts mitigate the impact of negative content about your brand.

It is very difficult to get search results legally removed because people can say pretty much anything they want online. Even if you have a strong case proving defamation or libel, the legal process can cost you thousands of dollars and take many years to settle. The court system is a notoriously difficult place to solve these kinds of problems.

If you’re interested in hearing about your legal options, definitely speak with an attorney. Just remember that a lawyer may come back to you with the upsetting news that there is nothing that can be done to take down your negative result — and still charge you for their time.

Essentially, there are two ways of doing this: removal and suppression.

Removing Negative Content Completely

If you notice a bad review, defamatory remarks, or other negative content showing up at the top of search results when you search for your name, your first instinct might be to try and have it removed. Removing a link from the internet permanently disassociates it with your name, and it makes sure consumers never see it again. It's effective, but it's hard to do. Links to negative content will be content you control or content that someone else controls. Obviously, removing content on a page you own is much easier than one you don't.

Removing Web Pages You Own

In some cases, your Facebook or Yelp page may return negative results. Perhaps it's a bad review or a negative comment. You can try updating your business profile information to be more positive and interesting. Alternatively, you can respond to comments in a professional and helpful way. If the situation is dire, you can even remove your profile altogether and create a new one. Keep in mind, some websites will keep the reviews public, even if your profile is removed.

Aside from the “right to be forgotten,” there are only a couple instances where it makes sense to ask Google to remove something.

The first is the above mentioned DMCA request. The second is regarding highly sensitive personal information like bank account numbers and signatures. The third is revenge porn. Google decided to start honoring requests to take down those kinds of damaging results as of June 2015. You can read more about that on Google’s public policy blog.

How to Remove Content from Web Pages You Don't Control

More often than not, a negative search result will happen on a page you don't own. A blogger might publish a post about a bad experience with your company, or somebody may post negative personal information about you on a website. When you don't own the site, removing negative content from Search Results is much more difficult and for those that are not familiar with SEO or internet marketing, it can often require professional help. While it's not easy, however, in many cases removal of negative content from a third-party website can be done without any assistance.

There are several ways to do this:

Contact the website owner and ask them directly. For example, you can ask a blogger to remove their post. If you can explain why they should remove it, they may reconsider their stance on your company.
Contact Google to remove sites that violate their policies. For example, publishing sensitive financial or personal information is against Google policies. Anything that can be used to commit fraud is not allowed. Offensive images or videos are also a violation. If you notice negative content that violates any of these policies, contact Google and ask for it to be removed. Bear in mind, the page will still exist, it just won't appear in Google results anymore.
Finally, there are cases where negative content may be unlawful, in which case you can take legal action. For example, online defamation, discrimination, copyright infringement, and other illegal content can be removed. This is risky territory, however. It could end up costing you thousands in legal fees and could even draw more attention to the negativity you were trying to remove in the first place. Consider the weight and the risks of taking legal action before you do so. You can find out more about removing unlawful content from search results here.