If unwanted or misleading search results appear when you look up your name, they can impact your reputation, opportunities, and peace of mind. Negative content—whether outdated, inaccurate, or taken out of context—can influence how employers, clients, and even friends perceive you.
At Reputation911, we help individuals take control of their online presence. Our team works to suppress harmful search results, promote accurate and positive content, and protect your digital reputation—so what people see online reflects who you truly are today.
Most people don’t realize there’s a problem with their online reputation until it costs them something.
A job you never hear back about.
A client who ghosts after a quick Google search.
A first impression shaped by old posts or negative mentions.
Your online reputation works quietly in the background, influencing how people judge you before you ever get the chance to speak for yourself.
If search results about you don’t reflect who you are today, it’s time to take control. This guide will walk you through how to clean up your online reputation, step-by-step.
Here are the steps to clean up your reputation online:
Cleaning up your online reputation means managing what shows up when someone searches your name, removing or correcting harmful or outdated content, and pushing positive, accurate information higher in search results.
That way, when someone (employers, clients, peers, etc) Googles you, they see your best self. You get to control the narrative.
In practice, this includes:
Your online presence influences decisions long before you’re part of the conversation. What people find can open doors for you…or close them without you ever realizing.
Different people face different reputation challenges:
Business owners and entrepreneurs find their personal name tied directly to their brand, meaning negative reviews or poor search results directly affect trust, sales, and partnerships.
Executives and leadership teams face scrutiny from investors, customers, and media. Unmanaged search results can undermine confidence in both the leader and their organization.
Job seekers and professionals are routinely Googled by employers during the hiring process. Negative or outdated content can eliminate you from consideration before you even interview. Cleaning up old posts and incomplete profiles ensures you’re judged on your qualifications, not your digital baggage.
Small and local businesses live or die by reviews and local search results. Even a handful of unaddressed negative reviews can drive potential customers to competitors.
Enterprise brands face reputation risks at scale. News articles, complaints, and third-party content can dominate branded searches without active management.
Public figures and personal brands—including influencers, consultants, creators, and founders—depend on perception to drive opportunities. Negative or misleading content directly impacts sponsorships, authority, and growth potential.
Companies in regulated or trust-driven industries like healthcare, finance, legal services, and B2B often find that search results determine whether prospects move forward or walk away.
Anyone thrust into the public spotlight can experience significant backlash from a single incident. Online scrutiny strips away context, allowing one moment to define an entire reputation and damage relationships, opportunities, and wellbeing.
The professionals at Reputation911 specialize in the takedown and monitoring of unwanted content.
Cleaning up your online reputation is about taking control of what people see when they search for you. Follow these steps to manage your online presence effectively and proactively.
Open an incognito or private browser window. Search for your full name, common name variations, nicknames, and any combinations with your location or profession.
Pay close attention to what’s on the first page of your results. Most people never click to page two, so your first page is where people will do their decision-making.
As you search, keep track of everything in a simple document or spreadsheet.
Include:
Label each result as:
Keeping track of everything will help you prioritize the actions that will make the biggest impact fastest.
Next, review every account you control and clean it up deliberately.
Start by identifying all of your owned accounts, including social media profiles, personal websites, blogs, portfolios, and old forum accounts – even if they don’t appear on the first few pages of your search results.
Don’t overlook platforms you no longer use. Old, forgotten accounts often contain outdated posts or photos that can resurface in search results.
Go through each account one by one and remove anything that works against you.
Once you scrub your accounts, you can use them as leverage to help push down negative results and build a more positive presence.
Separate your personal presence from your professional one.
Set personal social media accounts to private and limit connections to people you actually know. These accounts don’t need to appear in search results or be accessible to employers, clients, or the public. Still, be careful what you post on there – you never know who will take a screenshot and share it elsewhere.
At the same time, maintain at least one strong public, professional presence. Profiles like LinkedIn, a personal website, or an online portfolio should remain visible and polished. These are the accounts people expect to find when they search for you.
To use privacy and indexing settings intentionally:
Next, start tackling the harmful content that’s about you, but you don’t control. This can include articles, reviews of your business, forum posts, news coverage, or other third-party profiles.
When possible, request removal or corrections by contacting the website owner, publisher, or platform directly. You should also remove unwanted listings from people search sites and ask friends or family to delete posts or photos that reflect poorly on you.
For a detailed breakdown of removal options, timelines, and what works best for different types of content, our guide on how to remove something from the internet walks through the process step-by-step.
Some content will come down. Some won’t.
An inactive online presence makes it easier for negative content to dominate search results.
Stay active by publishing positive, relevant content that reflects your professional identity. Search engines prioritize recent, credible information. Consistent updates help push older or harmful results lower over time.
Focus on what strengthens your presence:
Set up Google Alerts for your full name, common variations, and any relevant brand or business names. These alerts notify you when new content appears so you can respond quickly instead of discovering problems after they’ve spread.
In addition to alerts, check search results periodically in an incognito or private browser. Do not repeatedly search yourself in a regular browser, especially if you have negative content out there about you. This can signal to Google that there is something of interest, potentially making the negative content rank higher.
As new content appears, keep track of what’s ranking and whether it helps or hurts your reputation. Address negative mentions early, update profiles as needed, and continue strengthening positive content.
To clean up your online reputation, understand what content is out there about you, fix what you can control, and strengthen the content that represents who you are today. This process combines removal and suppression strategies so search results work for you instead of against you.
If you’ve taken these steps and negative results are still holding you back, it may be time to bring in help. Reputation911 works with individuals, professionals, and businesses to remove harmful content, suppress what can’t be removed, and rebuild online credibility when DIY efforts aren’t enough.
