Can You Remove Negative Results in Google?

For a business, there are few things more disheartening then searching your company and finding a negative result or review in a very visible area. Consumers are often eager to share their opinion online, even if it is unfair or untrue. 

While nothing is foolproof, there are some tactics that can be used to try and remove negative results in Google. Online Reputation Management techniques can help decrease the impact of negative content about your brand. 

Removal of Content

Directly removing negative results is possible, but difficult. If the negative result is from a review that is not true or not representative, you can try and flag it to get it removed. If that doesn’t work, it is best to respond in a professional, helpful, and respectful way. This shows you have taken a complaint seriously and worked to improve the issue, which can help mitigate any damage. 

If the negative result is on an exterior web page you have no control over, it is more difficult to remove the negative content. The best way might be to contact the website owner and ask them to remove the content, explaining your position and trying your best to make things right. If the content or site violates Google policies, such as by posting sensitive financial or personal information, you can ask Google to have the site removed from their search engines.

Reverse SEO to Suppress Negative Results

Another strategy to combat negative results is to create more positive content, which will ideally rise to the top of the search results and push negative results down. Creating content that appears within the top few results will not only help your online branding, it will also likely be the only information that most potential customers will see.

There are many sound SEO strategies that can help generate positive results for searchers. This could be setting up new social media profiles and remaining active on them, starting a blog on the company website and updating it with outstanding content, and utilizing other forms of media such as podcasts and videos. 

It also helps to focus on any philanthropic efforts that your company is engaged in. Showing that your business is active in improving the community around it and making the world a better place shows a human side that can sometimes get lost when someone is seeing only negative content. 

When you see negative results out there about your business, it’s easy to overreact or do something rash, such as responding defiantly or negatively yourself. However, it’s important to be professional, create a plan, and highlight the positive side of the business by generating good content that will resonate with customers and search engines. When you do that, you mitigate any issues by either outright removing the content, or at least ensuring that it is drowned out by positive results.