How to Change Google Search Results for Your Name

This post was most recently updated on April 1, 2023.

Strategies to Modify Google Search Results for Your Name

The internet provides an opportunity to give web users information within seconds of searching. Unfortunately, that information is not always factual. Anyone online can publish anything for the public to see. If that content is about you and is false, inaccurate, and damaging to your reputation, you will want to take action to fix it.

Have you ever wondered how to change what happens when you google yourself? If you don’t like the search engine result pages coming up from your name, there is a way to change the Google search results. Follow these steps to change the Google search results that appear when you type your name into Google or other search engines.

Google changes its search results, and some strategies can fix your search results for your name. If you have bad content that appears when you Google your name, just know there are ways to fix or modify the current search results you see. Here’s how to get you websites with a good reputation for appearing first in Google search results.

Online Search Results and Your Reputation

Negative search results can affect your life. Whether you’re dating, applying for a job, or trying to get into a school or program, people may be searching for your name—and if they find information damaging to your reputation, it can hurt your chances of getting what you want. With the number of people using search engines and their frequency, people will likely search for your name at one point or another.

If you see negative results appear when you Google your name, changing search results can help you push down results with negative content while controlling which content comes up first. This will help fix your Google search results and help control what Google shows about you. With a bit of search engine optimization, here are some steps to change your search results.

Steps to Fix or Change Google Search Results

To change, edit, or update Google search results for your name, you can use the following steps:

Step 1: View Current Search Results

To get accurate, up-to-date Google search results for your name, follow these steps:

• Use “incognito mode” in Google Chrome to see the actual search results not tied to your Google account.

• Check Google search results, Google images, videos, and news tabs.
• Identify any search results related to your name that are detrimental to your personal reputation.
• Do an image search to fix results based on how the photos are perceived online.

Step 2: Fix What You Can Control

Once you’ve identified the search results detrimental to your personal brand, see what you can do to remove the results yourself. Here’s how to control search results on Google from the online profiles you own.

Social Media Results 

Often, social media posts and images can find their way into Google search results. Removing social media results from search results is a pretty straightforward process. You can either remove the content or untag yourself.

Plus, you can also change your name on your social profiles to further disassociate from anything negative online. For example, you can use your maiden name or add a middle initial to change your name in the page title. This can either help change the order of your Google search results or help change how Google results show for your name.

Step 3: Create New Content

You can create new content as a way to suppress negative search results. Suppressing content can help show content that puts you in a better light while pushing down the search results that are negative or damaging to your reputation. 

Create a Personal Website

If you own a personal website, make sure your website is optimized to appear first on Google. If you don’t have a personal website, consider creating one for yourself—even if it’s a simple one-page site. Having a website will help improve Google search results for your name.

Write Content on Other Websites

Writing, creating, or editing content on other websites can further help push down search results you don’t want to be displayed on Google. Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Create personal profiles or pages—create a Wikipedia page, or find a website related to a hobby of yours and create a profile page, if the website allows for it.
• Guest Posts—Offer to write guest blog posts on another website—these can often rank well in a Google search for your name.

It’s important to keep in mind that it takes some time for Google to rank new content. Give it a few weeks before you see the new content appear in Google search results.

Add Social Media Profiles

Consider adding more social media profiles to add to the ones you currently have. Make sure you are on LinkedIn and Twitter and even consider more niche social media platforms like Pinterest and YouTube.

Step 4: Contact Webmasters 

While you may not have control over articles published on other websites that appear in Google searches, you can certainly attempt to reach the owner of the website via email or even phone. to ask the owners of the website to remove the content. In some cases, you may be able to reach out to a webmaster and ask them to change or remove the content that does not accurately present you. Learn more about how to remove negative content.

Step 5: Contact Google Support

If you cannot contact the website owner to remove content or they are unwilling to remove the content, you can try reaching out to Google support. Here’s how you can do that:

• If the information lives on a Google property such as YouTube or Blogger, see the removal troubleshooter for Google Properties.
• After removing the source content, you should also remove the information from Google search results using the Remove Outdated Content tool. You must request the removal of the URL of each page or image that appears in Google search results.

Hire a Professional to Change Search Results for Your Name

Changing or modifying Google search engine results for your name and personal information is possible, but it can be difficult for an untrained beginner. You can change the order of Google search results that show your name by following the strategies outlined in this article.

If you need additional help or guidance, you can reach out to a professional reputation management company. At Reputation911, we take your online reputation seriously, employing a team of trained professionals to change the Google search results for your name. They can also use suppression by crafting content driven by the most effective SEO and optimization efforts to get you the results you need to succeed. 

Getting started with professional online reputation management services is a great first step to changing Google search results for your name and putting your online reputation back in your control. If you’re ready to land a new job, sign that new client, and score that first date, then let’s get you started updating Google search results with a free reputation management consultation!