How To Remove Negative Information From The Internet? - Prodima

Removing Negative Information From the Internet

Most of the internet is unpoliced. Anyone can affect personal or branded online reputation.

From the ex-partner doing revenge porn to the competitor spamming forums with bad comments, it is hard to control our digital footprint.

Even worse: as a matter of fact, negative content tends to rank high and fast across the online platforms.

People like to share their opinions.

Sometimes, they are nice, sometimes not. The problem is that negative content, such as scams or scandals, spreads like wildfire.

The reasons for this are:

• People love sharing bad news over good news (especially on social media)
• Search engines return balanced results (good and bad perspectives)
• Search engines love fresh content (whether it is positive or not)

As online users click more on negative information, it makes them rank higher on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

And of course, when it gets personal or affects our business revenue, this is unacceptable. That’s why many people need to eliminate such misinformation to protect their reputation.

Read this step-by-step guide to understand how to remove negative content from the Internet and search engines like Google.

Keep in mind, there is no easy or quick win in this field.

Types of Negative Content

Let’s identify the various types of negative content that can be found across the internet.

Inaccurate Information

Inaccurate information is any content, text, or media file that is misleading, not based on facts, or outdated.

It represents by far the most common kind of content published across the internet.

If we cannot precisely measure the volume of inaccurate information, it is safe to say it is bigger than accurate data.

Most of such wrong information is harmless, though. We must consider its suppression or update only if it negatively impacts people.

Defamation

Defamation is a false statement that impacts you (as an individual) or your business.

This negative information can be shared by mistake (for example, inaccurate information from someone who genuinely doesn’t know about the subject) or on purpose (for example, deceptive content broadcast by someone willing to hurt you).

Defamation is a serious negative content matter. We must consider its deletion.

Media Files

Media files support the kind of negative information described above.

They include these formats:

• Image
• Audio
• Video
• Animation

They are often easier to share than plain HTML content. Besides, they can quickly become viral.

If someone leaks online content without your consent, you must react immediately.

Cyberbullying

Since the 2000s, bullying has switched to cyberbullying. Nowadays, most of it happens online, especially among teenagers.

It can be embarrassing posts. Sometimes threatening ones. The most serious can bring people to suicide.

The rise of forums (until the 2010s) and then social media platforms (since the 2010s) made it easy to bully people online, as it is anonymous and tends to go viral.

People initiating such a form of online bullying are called “trolls” or “haters.”

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Depending on the country, it is legally forbidden to share private content about anyone.

For example, we consider this personal information sensitive:

• Personal info IDs
• Driving license
• Social security number
• Financial information
• Religion
• Etc.

People should take control of this negative information if it gets published without consent.

Reasons to Remove Negative Information

“If this is on the internet, it must be true.”

People trust search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, or Coc Coc. We also massively quote encyclopedias like Wikipedia.

When people read bad comments, scams, and scandals about a brand, they are likely to avoid it as a precaution.

Bad Online Information – Consequences

Decades of data say that people are more likely to buy products based on positive reviews (4-star rating and more).

If users keep uploading poor comments, the brand may lose customers or business partners.

Negative information costs money. The impact becomes even more significant if the source comes from high-authority websites.

For example, a few New York Times articles caused several brands to lose millions of U.S. dollars.

Besides, once on the internet, negative information does not stand still.

Content published in one location may spread fast and appear in other places. Other websites can copy this content. It can also show up on search engines.

Even after the hard work of content removal is completed in one place, we must monitor other web pages and social platforms. If not, the negative content can spread again elsewhere with a destructive effect.

Individuals can lose their jobs because of negative content about them.

Companies can lose clients. Online harassment sometimes leads to suicide.

Myths about Negative Information

Since fake information also concerns the online literature about how to remove negative information, we listed a few myths you should be aware of:

• Asking websites to remove negative information takes seconds: at Prodima, we have never seen that; most web owners ignore such inquiries, and those answering need time to update
• Once removed, the content is gone forever: you never know if another website will republish similar content, and online content removal is not an exact science
• Removals are 100% guaranteed: the success of content removal is never guaranteed, as it depends on many factors; each case must be considered as unique
• Once the negative content is removed from Google, the job is done: while it is a good start, you still need to check on other search engines and online platforms

Bottom line: the negative information removal process is rarely a quick and simple task. We will share more details on this below.

Factors Impacting Content Removal

Online reputation management helps businesses control their digital footprint.

As said above, it is a challenging task.

Techniques change with time. However, the content removal process mostly depends on these two factors:

• Nature of the online information
• Location where the content has been posted

Both are important because they define the feasibility of the removal project.

For example, we cannot delete negative content if it is based on facts. Similarly, it is extremely challenging to remove something that goes viral.

To remove negative content, the information must match specific conditions.

On the Google reviews platform, they have their dedicated rules, which concern the following types:

• Spam content
• Fake content
• Off-topic content
• Offensive content
• Dangerous content

Businesses can flag any reviews like this and alert Google. It takes three days to reply to the Google Business Profile.

Prodima recommends that individuals and businesses prepare the following documents to support their cases:

• Link URLs of the negative content
• Screenshots (posts, messages)
• Any paperwork proving the content is inaccurate

The more the better to justify.

What Can & Cannot Be Removed From Google Search

As explained above, not all online content can be removed.

Sources of Negative Information

First, here is a list of data formats that are eligible for removal from the internet:

• Reviews
• Articles and blogs
• Discussion forums and public social media messages
• Audio files and podcasts
• Videos
• Images

Private messages cannot be included in this list.

Online Information We Cannot Remove from the Internet

Now, whatever the offensive content is, the following formats cannot be removed:

• Date of birth
• Address
• Phone number

Individuals and businesses must be aware of this and plan their online reputation management accordingly.

How to Remove Online Content that We Own?

The process to remove online content we control is straightforward.

On a website, we only need to access the Content Management System (CMS) and make the edit. It can be quick text editing or even deleting an entire web page.

From the Google Search Console, there is a feature to temporarily remove content from your website, in case permanent deletion is not an option.

On social media platforms, individuals and businesses also have control of their fan pages. We can remove spam, bad comments, or posts.

Unfortunately, in most cases, online negative content we do not want to see is hosted on third-party platforms. The removal process is much more complex and time-consuming, as we will see below.

How to Remove Online Content that We Do Not Own?

The very first step to removing bad online information is to identify the source.

From this point, we must track all the others.

Use Google Alerts to monitor negative content publishing on the internet. Input your keywords (for example, “Your brand-name scam”), and you will receive alerts of web pages mentioning them.

Once this is done, follow our guidelines below.

Contact the Negative Content Publisher

The quest to remove bad content starts with the original publishing source.

Never directly contact Google to remove content. Google is a search engine that crawls and indexes web pages. It does not create content. It is not responsible for what third parties say about you or your business.

Contact the source, for example, the website owner.

Politely ask for the removal by being specific. Clearly say which content is wrong and how it should be updated. You certainly need to share proof to back up your statements.

During this step, record proof of any communication. In case things get more serious later (working with an attorney), having screenshots would significantly help your case.

It may be hard to find the website owner. Look at the contact form first and collect the email or phone number.

Otherwise, perform a domain lookup with Whois. Check on LinkedIn in case managers have an account there.

Another option is to contact the website hosting company (Whois also provides this information). They do not always answer, but when they do, they can share the right contact.

In case you know the author of the negative content post, go to a search engine and type “Author name email ID.” The search results should display his/her email address. Use the command Control + F and input “@” to find it quickly.

If the website owner is unwilling or unable to remove the negative content, then we can still ask him/her to apply a no-index tag. This doesn’t remove the page from the internet, but it tells search engines not to index it.

In real life, those steps rarely work. They are still necessary to perform. Don’t forget to screenshot everything.

Otherwise, we can also request a content edit. For example, instead of having the brand name associated with bad information, the publisher shall replace it with a more generic description like “a local company”.

Make sure to understand the content removal policies of the specific website or platform before reaching out. On Facebook, the community standards are strict and clear.

If contacting the negative content publisher fails, then it is time to consider the next option.

De-Index the Negative Content

Most content publishers refuse to remove their content, whether they comply with their country’s regulations or not.

If this happens to you, then request professional support to get the content out of the search results. Unfortunately, this task is technical. Individuals cannot do it without the proper tools and knowledge.

Prodima Vietnam de-indexes content for all kinds of businesses. We have the experience, the skills, as well as our entries to a few private circles like Google’s, to help you out.

Contact us if you want to remove unwanted search results from the internet.

Apply Reverse SEO

Sometimes, removing bad online information is not possible.

If there is no way to delete the negative content you want to see on the internet, check this alternative: reverse SEO.

Reverse SEO is pushing positive content at the top of the SERPs, so the negative content disappears far away in the pages no one reads.

In other words, reverse SEO pushes down the content by burying the negative search results on the second page or lower.

It means the content will still exist somewhere. However, very few people could reach it. What people do not see cannot harm your reputation.

To illustrate this alternative, check the statistics. The first page of Google SERP (the top 10 results) gets around 95% of search traffic. A small number of online users will dig further. There is a saying: “If it lays on the second page of Google, it doesn’t exist”.

Of course, pushing down negative content is not as good as totally removing it. There will be traces of it somewhere. Besides, the search engines’ algorithms change. What is on the fifth page of Google today could go up tomorrow, depending on various factors.

Reverse SEO remains a viable option for individuals and businesses willing to get rid of sticky negative information.

So, reverse SEO makes bad content less noticeable on the internet and pushes good content to the top.

Reverse SEO, like SEO itself, is technical. We recommend you contact SEO professionals if you want to consider this.

Take Legal Action

Depending on the situation, a legal request may be the last resort.

Getting the help of a lawyer makes sense in the following cases:

• Unlawful or illegal content
• Online defamation or discrimination
• Copyright infringement

Carefully consider this option. Fees can be high, and the dispute can affect the brand even more if it goes public. It also takes time to file a criminal denunciation with the police.

Working with an attorney usually implies the following steps:

• Send a cease and desist letter
• Issue a DMCA takedown notice
• Seek a court order

Then, your lawyer will be the one to guide you through the specific steps of your case.

Remove Negative Content: Next Steps

Removing negative content from the internet depends on the circumstances mentioned above.

It can take from 2 weeks to 6 months. Between sending the removal request and having the deletion done, you should expect an average of 3 months.

Online content removal is never guaranteed to succeed. This is a fastidious process that depends on many factors.

If you cannot remove the bad content as you want, reverse SEO is a great alternative. It is not as “definitive” as complete content suppression, but this is a reliable strategy if professionals handle this task.

The logic of reverse SEO is to push for positive information to replace the wrong one. If the new content is more relevant, updated, and useful, then the search engines should prioritize it.

Do not hesitate to contact Prodima Vietnam’s team of experts in case you have any questions!