How to Suppress Negative Search Results

This page was most recently updated on June 12th, 2023

Suppression is a form of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that involves building up and updating positive content in order to remove or suppress Google search results.

suppress negative search results

Suppressing negative, false, or outdated content from search results can help businesses, brands, and individuals protect themselves from a reputation crisis.

Individuals or brands may try to remove negative search results if it is impacting their career, their sales, or their reputation, but it is often a lot harder to remove negative content from Google search than it is to suppress it.

When you suppress negative content, you are replacing it with more relevant information, providing Google and its users with more positive and accurate search results.

What is Negative Content Suppression?

Negative suppression in search results is the process of creating and pushing positive search results higher in search results to outrank negative search results.

The ultimate goal of suppressing negative content is to push the content, article, video, or search result off of the first page of Google search results. Very few search engine users will click beyond the first page of Google search results. With that in mind, suppression serves to push down negative results off of the first page, and onto the second page, so it’s not viewed as much.

Why Content Suppression is Important for Reputation

Search engines like Google are meant to help you answer any question with online search results that best match the keywords you use. Within seconds, Google will find the most accurate information to help you answer your question. 

What happens when a new customer, colleague, or hiring manager types your name or business into Google? If shocking results are the first results they see online, their ability to trust you will decrease drastically in a matter of seconds.

How to Suppress Negative Search Results

It’s never a good feeling when something is written about you online that you don’t agree with. Because of this, people often wonder how they can remove or suppress negative search results on Google for content that they don’t believe is an accurate reflection of themselves or their brand.

While it is possible in some cases to remove negative articles from Google, it’s best to hire a professional that knows how to suppress unwanted search results. Although suppression doesn’t fully remove the content, it cleans the undesirable content off your first page of Google.

So, how do you suppress unwanted content from the internet?

1. Build a personal professional website
2. Promote your new website and content
3. Strategically link all of your new sites

Why Can’t I Delete My Search Results? 

It can be difficult to remove negative articles from Google because this information is already published on the internet. Due to the viral nature of the internet and its guidelines for content removal, some search results cannot be removed entirely.

When this negative content cannot be removed, one must look towards suppression as a key reputation management strategy. Suppression of negative search results is highly effective because people rarely ever click the second page of Google search results.

First Page Google Search Results Statistics

In most cases, removing unwanted negative search results is not an option due to freedom of speech. If the search results do not violate Google’s policies against prohibited and restricted content, your best option is to push down negative search results by creating new, fresh content that far surpasses the negative results on Google.

Instead of “getting rid” of Google search results, your key focus should be to bury them in search results, by suppressing them off the first page of Google search results.

How Does Google Search Suppression Work?

If you’ve seen negative information or content online, you can use suppression to push them down in search engine results. Here’s how the suppression process works:

Step 1: Identify search phrases that trigger negative content

On the first page of Google search results, you’ll want to identify positive (or neutral) search results, as well as the ones that are perceived as negative.

Step 2: Push Positive Results Up

Once you’ve identified the positive content, you’ll want to optimize the content you have ownership over to appear. You will use SEO tactics like keyword targeting, as well as link building to do this.

Step 3: Create New Content

In addition to your current content, you’ll want to focus on creating new content that can be picked up in Google search results. Create new websites, blogs, or social media accounts as a way to suppress negative content.

Step 4: Track Your Progress

Once you’ve gone through steps 1-3 thoroughly, you’ll want to track your progress. Monitor those search terms and make sure that those negative search results are moving down in the search results, and eventually falling off of the first web page.

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High-quality content is your key to suppressing negative search results

Creating new, high-quality content is your answer when suppressing negative search results. Most importantly, creating content with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in mind is the most important factor. This takes keyword research, competitor research, and specialized techniques and software. 

Creating new, high-quality content is your answer when suppressing negative search results. Most importantly, creating content with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind is the most important factor. This takes keyword research, competitor research, and specialized techniques and software. 

Remove negative search results 

In cases where you can’t remove the negative content from Google with a removal request, your best option is to push down the negative content. This in turn helps “remove negative search results” by pushing them further and further away from your first page of search results by replacing them with the new content. 

The importance of search engine optimization 

A common misconception about pushing away negative content is that it’s quick and easy. Unless you’re trying to take down a bad post on the internet from your personal social media accounts, true reputation management takes time and attention to detail. 

Other reputation management companies may fall short by cutting corners and dazzling customers with creative visual content. However, the best results come from good writing and SEO. 

Search engine optimization is a blanket term that covers how efficiently you are gaining web traffic online. This can come from images, text, videos, writing, posts, social media profiles, articles, blogs, forums, and more. 

SEO creates organic, unpaid results. In hindsight, that means the improvements are real. Google sees organic traffic as the most important content online, helping users find the best answers to their questions from unpaid, unbiased sources.

How do I get more organic search results? 

Once you’ve built all these new sources of content to help suppress your negative search results, you have to make sure they can be found online. 

There is no sense in creating beautifully functioning websites, blogs, and social media profiles if they cannot be found online. That’s where SEO comes in handy. 

How do I push down a bad Google review? 

Some people’s main concern may be bad reviews in their search results hurting their personal brand. In order to remove this type of content from Google search, you have two options. 

If the review is fake, explicit, untruthful, illegal, or other types of problematic content, you can report the review to Google by flagging it as spam.

Your other option is to gain more positive reviews to help push down the negative reviews. This actually helps build your online reputation by gaining credibility for your brand, while taking action to bury negative search results.

What is the Best Online Reputation Management Company?

Look for a team of reputation experts that will develop a customized strategy for each individual or business to help promote and protect their online reputation and professional brand. Suppression acts as an effective reputation management strategy with just three basic steps.

1. Build a personal professional website

In order to suppress negative search results, you need to create new and better content to outperform the negative content. A personal website will help to improve your online image and get you found online.

Depending on the severity of the situation, you may need to create additional websites, press releases, articles, and social media accounts to help repair your Google search results.

Investing in a team of SEO experts who are experienced in creating content that shows on the first page of your Google results will help in cleaning up your online reputation for good. 

2. Promote your new website and content 

Promoting the new content and websites across multiple platforms is key to getting them to rank up in your search results above the negative unwanted articles and content.

This step helps Google recognize the new content to be “more important” than the negative search results which ensure that your search results are organic and will continue to perform and rank higher on the first web page of Google. 

Instead of “burying” unwanted content, experienced writers work with clients to create and promote updated, recent material. Truthful, positive highlights of your own personal profile are used to naturally suppress unwanted content further and further away from the front page of Google search results.

3. Strategically link all of your new sites

Linking all of the sites together shows Google and other search engines that they are associated with your personal websites to ensure that they are the first thing people see when they search for you online.

This is one of the most important parts of the suppression strategy and will help put a business or individual back in control of their online search results.

Suppression of negative search results allows a business or individual to define their professional brand and decide how they will be perceived on the world wide web. Look for a company that guarantees results not just the work and creates a positive online reputation for the world to see.