We specialize in burying negative search results on Google.
We provide affordable, monthly pricing and your first month is guaranteed – if you’re not satisfied with results, we will refund your payment.
Our solutions are effective and we’ve helped hundreds of clients take back their online reputation.
Contact us using the form for a private consultation.
- How To Bury Negative Google Search Results In 2024
- Strategy #1: Social Media
- Strategy #2: Interview Websites
- Strategy #3: Press Releases
- Strategy #4: Exact Match Domains
- Strategy #5: Alter Ego Strategy
- Interlinking Assets
- Strategies That Aren’t Working In 2024
- How Far Down To Push Negative Search Results?
- Premium Placements: Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc, etc.
- Costs To Bury Negative Search Results
How To Bury Negative Google Search Results In 2024
If you’re suffering from bad search results on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo, you’re in the right place.
Below is exactly what we do each month to help push down those negative links and make your online reputation shine.
The video below is a general discussion of what is working in 2024 and what no longer works from years gone by.
Online reputation for most people and businesses is all about controlling page one of search results.
Why?
Because the large majority of people do not click results beyond page one.
A survey by Moz.com in 2017 revealed that only 7% of respondents look past page one.
Even with the introduction of infinite scroll on mobile (2021) and desktops (2022), research still shows that the top three search results get a large majority of the clicks.
So, the primary goal of your campaign is to get control of page one, which is generally the first 10 spots.
From there, we can push your negative links down as far as you want.
In order to gain control of page one, we’re primarily using these four strategies:
- Social Media
- Interview Websites
- Press Releases
- Exact Match Domains
Read on for more detailed information about the four strategies and how they help suppress bad results.
Strategy #1: Social Media
For social media, you’ll want to claim, optimize, and be active on the best ranking platforms.
These include:
- TikTok
The two most important social media sites for online reputation management are undoubtedly LinkedIn and Facebook.
That’s because these two sites usually rank well simply by creating a profile.
The remaining four sites might rank on page one, but usually they require activity and a lot of followers in order for Google to rank them higher.
Claiming your social media assets is something you can do yourself; we usually don’t get involved with them.
Optimize each account by including your name or business in the profile, description and URL if possible.
Strategy #2: Interview Websites
Interview websites are exactly what you think they are: websites that feature interviews with people.
Most interview websites are business-focused with questions tailored towared entrepreneurs or high ranking executives.
But some of these sites will allow you to alter the questions to meet your needs.
The key to getting your interviews to rank are:
- Get your interview on a site with high authority
- Make your interview long, we recommend 1,000 to 2,500 words
- Always include your name or business name in the title, the content, and the URL if possible
- Make sure your interview is of good quality, don’t copy/paste questions and answers from other published online content
We have access to multiple interview websites such as IdeaMensch, Inspirery, DisruptMagazine, and DotComMagazine.
Each site has different criteria for admission and we get you published where we know you’ll be successfully ranking.
Strategy #3: Press Releases
Welcome to press releases!
Back when I first got into SEO and online reputation work, press releases were all the rage.
Then for a while, they fell out of favor – Google didn’t rank them as well.
But for the last few years and especially this year, press releases are a key way to bury negative search results.
The reason press releases rank so well is because the distribution sites have high domain authority.
Plus, since we have full control over the content of the press releases we publish for you, we can optimize each release to rank well for your name, business, or brand name.
You might be thinking to yourself, I don’t really have any news to share; what could you possibly do a press release on?
Well, what about a press release saying you were featured on an interview site?
I know it might seem a bit thin, but remember, our goal is to push down your negative links and press releases like the one above work well in that regard.
Our creative writers come up with unique story ideas constantly to help our clients reach this goal.
Here are a few of the paid press release distribution services we use:
-
- Globe Newswire
- AccessWire
- EIN Presswire (affilate link, I earn a small commission if you use this, thank you!)
- ZEX PR Wire
A side benefit of press releases is your news gets published on the downstream partners of PR service.
Downstream partners can include major news and media outlets, newspapers and blogs.
You can imagine how publishing unique news on a variety of press release distribution websites can help take up space at the top of Google, thus suppressing they negative links further down.
Strategy #4: Exact Match Domains
Strategy #4 is using an exact match domain website.
For most individuals, this would be YourName.com.
For some people with common names who are looking to protect their online reputation in the city they reside in, it might be YourNameYourCity.com.
The goal of an exact match website is to the have it “exactly match” the keyword you want to protect.
For example, let’s say we have a client named Tom Smith, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tom’s business went bankrupt and now the negative links about the bankruptcy are appearing when he Googles “Tom Smith Birmingham.”
We would buy and build out TomSmithBirmingham.com and usually within a few months, Google would start to rank it because it exactly matches the keyword search phrase.
Other related strategies are buying and launching domains for near matches of Tom’s name.
- TomSmithBirmingham.net
- TomSmithBirminghamCharity.com
- TomSmithOfBirmingham.com
Each of the domain names above could rank well assuming they are built out with different themes, different servers (ideally different hosting platforms), and 100% unique content from each other.
Again, you have full control over the domain name and content and given some effort, these sites can all rank well on Google and other search engines, pushing down negative links.
Strategy #5: Alter Ego Strategy
The “Alter Ego” strategy is one where we create an entire online persona for a fictional version of you and who shares your exact same name.
Then we follow all of the first 4 strategies listed above, except al of the content is written about the fictional you, which ranks well in Google and displaces negative links.
Interlinking Assets
Interlinking is a nice way of signaling to Google’s algorithm that all of your digital assets are related to you.
Each time you link from one site to another one, you’re making it stronger and thus helping it rank better.
We can even promote your existing positive content by linking to it from press releases and your exact match website.
The diagram below depicts a possible interlinking strategy for a client.
And this is just the beginning.
As more and more positive content is added over time, each digital asset in the mix becomes stronger and stronger and ranks better.
Strategies That Aren’t Working In 2024
It used to be that Web 2.0 sites would rank pretty well on Google.
Web 2.0 are free, open source platforms that allow you to claim a page for no charge and post a bio, link to other sites, or share your interests with others.
While major social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter are considered Web 2.0, most of these types of site no longer rank well.
One example of a Web 2.0 site that used to rank well is About.me.
About.me ticks all the boxes for online reputation management:
- Easy to use and looks good
- Allows for your name on page and in URL
- Allows for lengthy bio
- Allows for outbound links to other websites
The only problem with About.me is it no longer ranks.
So, while it’s nice to have it as a link building tool, it’s not going to outrank your negative content.
We don’t waste time publishing content on sites like About.me because they’re not going to help your campaign.
Aside from the major social media sites listed above, only a handful of Web 2.0 sites typically rank well.
These include Medium and Crunchbase.
Here’s a list of some Web 2.0 platforms you may be familiar with. They used to rank well, but this year, they don’t rank at all:
- WordPress.com
- Blogger.com (blogspot)
- Weebly.com
- Tumblr.com
As Matt suggests in the video above, “It’s likely that Google doesn’t rank these sites anymore because they have so much spam on them.”
So true.
You are welcome to try these sites for yourself, but they’re not part of our strategy any longer.
Since our online reputation management campaigns are so affordable, we concentrate our efforts on those 4 strategies listed above that actually work.
How Far Down To Push Negative Search Results?
People have different definitions of the word “bury.”
For some clients, pushing negative content to page two or three is sufficient, since most people don’t look beyond page one.
For others, “bury” seems to mean “obliterate.”
They want to have negative links suppressed at least ten pages or more, where no one will ever find them.
How far you want the negative items pushed down is up to you.
Certainly, the deeper you want your negative articles buried, the longer it takes and the more it costs.
Premium Placements: Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc, etc.
Getting featured in strong, authoritative sites such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc, and HuffPost is not part of our typical campaigns because these placements are very expensive.
However, if you have the means and desire, we can get you published on websites like these.
Premium placements can range from $2,500 to $10,000 or more, depending on the publisher.
There are two advantages to being published on premium sites:
- The placement will almost always land on page one of Google
- The placement is a “signature” piece that brings credibility and prestige
For example, even though Barbara Corcoran is a well-known entrepreneur from Shark Tank with a strong online presence, an article published on June 9, 2023 in Entrepreneur.com is already ranking #12 on Google for the search “Barbara Corcoran.”
The major disadvantages of premium placements are:
- Cost – placements cost thousands of dollars each
- Content control – stricter publishing guidelines make it harder to optimize content the way we want (i.e. name in title, content, URL, and outbound links)
If you’ve got the budget and are interested in premium placements, contact us for a recommendation of which ones will best support your online reputation at the right price.
Costs To Bury Negative Search Results
Without quoting specifics, as prices may change, I can tell you that 95% of our affordable online reputation management campaigns cost hundreds per month, not thousands.
Another advantage is choosing to work with us is that we don’t lock you in to long term contracts.
All of our campaigns are month-to-month.
Whenever you’re satisfied and ready to stop work, just let us know.
That being said, a large majority of our clients are happy with the work and continue to work with us for at least 6 months, and many choose to work with us for years because they see the benefit of ongoing positive reputation work.
We look forward to being your partner and helping you take control of what people see when they Google you.