What crops up when you search for your name? For some people, negative news stories rank near the top. You may not have been accused of a crime, but people might make some unpleasant remarks about you online.
Whether you run your own business or want to land a new job, a negative story in search results is the last thing you need. A bad review might have a new client thinking twice.
How can you bury Google search results? It’s easier than you think.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to push down negative search results on Google. By doing so, you can reclaim your reputation and improve your personal brand. Landing a new job or improving your business’s reputation is just a few steps away.
This Strategy for Burying Results Rarely Works
The first advice you might get about how to bury negative search results is to ask for removal of the content. Unfortunately, this strategy rarely works.
First, the negative result may be coming from a domain that is no longer monitored. Worse, it might be an extortion site, which will just replicate the content. If you’re unsure about the website, don’t contact the webmaster to request removal.
Some people will put in a DMCA request to have Google remove the negative content. Google is unlikely to remove the content unless there’s copyright infringement.
Mastering SEO is How to Push Down Negative Search Results on Google
If you want a more effective method for how to push negative search results down, it’s time to learn about search engine optimization.
The principle behind SEO is optimizing your content to rank higher in search results. You can’t control what other people are publishing about you. You can control what you put out there.
You’ll want to create some content that ranks high for your search keyword. In the case of your reputation, the keyword is your name or the name of the business. With SEO content, you can push your personal website and your social media accounts to the top spot.
Create More Content to Bury Results
You’ve improved your ranking for your website, but the negative story is still on the first page of results. Using what you’ve learned about SEO, create some more stellar content for your website.
You can also create a blog on a platform like Medium or WordPress. Don’t forget the power of backlinking either. Write for authoritative publications to push down negative search results on Google.
This is the most effective strategy for how to bury Google search results.
You Must Manage Your Online Reputation
From this discussion of how to push down negative search results on Google, you should know you must act. A negative news story could be harming your online reputation, and no one else will manage it for you.
Not sure what your online reputation looks like? Find out by getting an audit from the professionals. Click here for more ideas for overcoming a bad reputation.