How To Remove Negative News Articles Online and Fix Your Reputation

When you, a family member or your business is hit by a negative news article online, you’ll need to know how to remove negative news articles as quickly as possible. Whether the harmful content is in a small local news publication or on the front page of a national one, you’ll want those negative headlines gone from Google search results immediately.

No matter where the original article was posted, once it’s indexed by a search engine, it can pop up every time someone searches your name. And Google doesn’t simply remove harmful news stories simply because you ask it to.

While you can always make removal requests or appeal to the source directly, these paths are rarely successful. Harmful content has to meet certain criteria to be removed. Most of the time, even if what’s posted is unflattering and damaging to your online reputation, it’s perfectly legal. Unless you have legitimate legal claims against the content being public, it will stay online for anyone to find.

However, that doesn’t mean you’re powerless. Even when damaging news articles can’t be taken down entirely, there are proven strategies to push them down in search results, limit their visibility and rebuild a stronger online presence than before.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the most effective ways to remove or suppress unwanted news articles so you can take back control of your online reputation. Because executives and other public figures face the same problem with even higher stakes, this guide covers both the general steps on how to remove negative news articles and what is different for leaders.

NetReputation provides information and services to help you remove news articles online. Call us at 800-200-3000 to learn more about legal content removal, or fill out the contact form below for a free consultation.

Key Takeaways

• Negative news is hard to remove because most of it is legal and legitimate.
• Realistic options to remove negative news articles are source requests, Google de-indexing where eligible, and suppression.
• Suppression combined with a strong positive footprint is usually the most effective approach.
• The stakes and difficulty of executive negative news removal are greater than what the general public faces.
• When negative coverage is serious, coordinate with legal and communications teams.

Why Is Negative News So Bad?

Search results influence our online reputations. When people are looking for information about a person or business, they typically turn to Google for answers. A quick search on Google can find links to social media profiles, news articles, reviews, and so much more. It is the quality of these results that influences a person’s next moves.

Negative news isn’t only embarrassing. It can also damage your reputation. If you’re a business owner, unflattering news stories can drive your potential customers away, resulting in lost revenue. If the news is bad enough, it will erode the trust you’ve built between you and your customer base, eventually impacting your bottom line. Here are other ways that harmful content can impact your life:

• Considerable stress and anxiety
• Lower chance of finding a job
• Rejection by the schools you apply to
• Unintended harm to your loved ones

To make things worse, Google and the other major search engines place more value on negative news items than neutral and positive content. In other words, these negative articles have a tendency to rank at or near the top of search results, especially when they’re newly published. If the first results in a given search are negative, consumers are more likely to spot them and move toward your competition as a result.

Negative news articles can have long-lasting and far-reaching effects on your reputation. While bad headlines once came and went with the daily newspaper, online headlines can stick around forever. And once indexed by the major search engines, bad news ends up dominating every search of your name, business or brand.

You can take control of your online reputation, whether you’re working on your personal reputation or your professional digital presence. Call us at 800-200-3000 for more information about submitting removal requests to news outlets.

Possibility of Being Turned Down by Schools

Colleges and universities commonly review the online presence of applicants as part of the standard admissions process. When negative Google search results appear, they can raise concerns about an applicant’s character, judgment or risk profile, regardless of the full context of the situation.

Even one unfavorable result can influence how admissions officers perceive an applicant, potentially limiting their opportunity to further their education.

Impact on Employment Opportunities

Like admissions officers, employers also research job candidates online during the hiring process. Harmful articles can quickly become a deciding factor, especially in competitive situations.

When candidates have similar qualifications, the one without damaging Google search results is much more likely to move forward. This is especially true for roles that require discretion, public visibility or trust.

Even if no conviction occurred, an article that simply references a criminal allegation can mean missing out on a job. Employers may not investigate past the initial headline and make their decision based on a single search result.

Lasting Reputation Damage

On top of impacting immediate, short-term opportunities, negative content can also shape long-term perceptions. These stories can influence how you’re viewed by business partners, clients and lenders, not to mention acquaintances, friends and family members.

With time, the persistent visibility of negative articles can erode your credibility and make it harder to build new relationships or access opportunities.

Unintended Harm to Others

The effects of negative coverage can extend beyond the person who is directly involved. Business partners, colleagues and family members can also be impacted, especially when they share the same name or are mentioned in the article. In niche industries and small communities, this overlap can be especially pronounced.

Unnecessary Stress and Anxiety

Being the subject of negative online content can take a serious emotional toll on the victim. Ongoing visibility in Google search results can lead to anxiety, chronic stress and even fear.

This gets worse when you feel like you have no control over the situation. With time, this can impact your mental well-being and your quality of life.

The Stakes Are Higher for Executives and Public Figures

Negative articles can hit senior leaders even harder than a private individual. For a CEO or executive, coverage can affect investor and board confidence, make it harder to recruit senior talent, and complicate appointments and board seats.

Due to how executives are vetted online, the negative coverage can also surface during investment and acquisition due diligence. And the coverage can be amplified deliberately by activist investors, short sellers, or litigation-driven publicity, in ways a private person rarely encounters.

At NetReputation, we can help you remove news articles online and take control of your online reputation. Give us a call at 800-200-3000 to learn more about improving your Google search results.

What Are Your Best Options To Remove Negative Press?

There are two primary techniques used when you want to remove news articles:

1. Content suppression
2. Hiring a lawyer

As you might expect, hiring a lawyer to handle the situation for you can get expensive. Plus, much of what a lawyer can do, you can do yourself, given enough time and resources.

Suppression, however, is one of the best ways to remove news articles. This is especially true when requests to publishers and search engines have been rejected. First, though, you can try contacting the source directly in the hopes that they remove the content without requiring further steps.

Let’s go over each of these options.

Contact the Website Owner for News Removal

In an ideal world, asking the site owner to remove negative content would be all that’s needed. Unfortunately, your plea is not likely to work unless you have significant grounds for removing a negative news article from the site.

When contacting the site to have your article removed, provide as much information as needed to convince the site owner that the information shouldn’t be publicly accessible. For example, if the content includes private information, like your medical records or a photo of your signature, you could have a legal argument.

You could also show the site owner proof that the information is untrue or that the situation has been resolved. For example, if your arrest records appear online, you could send the site owner your record expungement court order, which is often enough to have them remove the content.

Submit a Removal Request to Google

If the content violates Google’s guidelines, you may be able to have the link removed from Google search results. While this won’t remove a news article at its source, de-indexing it will make it much less visible.

There’s certain personal information that Google commonly removes from search results. For example, if you’re requesting to have an article removed from search results because it includes your financial information or Social Security number, it’s likely that Google will comply. Additionally, you can also ask Google to remove a news article that contains content that violates the law.

Hire a Lawyer To Pursue Legal Content Removal

Pursuing legal measures may seem a surefire way to remove a news article online, but the reality is far different. Lawyers often have little success when tackling negative news article removal, especially when compared with what you can do on your own.

Here’s why: If valid legal grounds exist for removal, you can present the case yourself. A lawyer may do this on your behalf, but that’s an expensive way to achieve the same outcome. Your lawyer will likely take the steps we’ve already outlined. Those include contacting the source, providing reasons to remove the content, and requesting de-indexing by Google.

The only time it’s reasonable to hire a lawyer is if you’re positive you have legal grounds to have the content removed, and the website didn’t comply with your request. Otherwise, this option is a waste of time and money.

Influence Search Results With Content Suppression

By far, search engine suppression is the best way of removing negative content from key search results. When the coverage sits on a major, authoritative outlet, which is common for executives, removal at the source is rare. Suppression combined with a strong positive footprint is the best approach.

Suppression pushes those negative results so far back that they’ll rarely be found. In their place, neutral and positive content will show up to further strengthen your online reputation.

The top organic search result on Google is 10x more likely to be clicked than the No. 10 result, and the top three organic Google search results get more than 68% of all clicks. Here’s what’s most important when it comes to content suppression, though: Most users don’t go past the first search engine results page (SERP). Less than 1% click on a result on the 2nd page.

In other words, by pushing problematic results down to page two or three, you reduce the likelihood of their ever being seen or of impacting your reputation.

To successfully suppress negative content, you need to publish positive news, stories and other information to replace it. You can do this on personal blogs or your personal website, your social media platforms, and third-party sites.

Some of the content you post will gain traction, and some of it won’t. However, with consistent effort, you should be able to influence search results over time and create a better presence online.

Removing Negative News About an Executive or CEO

Negative press about an executive can sometimes be removed; however, it is usually harder for these professionals than for private individuals. This is because the content regarding executives is more likely to appear in established, authoritative outlets. In these cases, the reporting is legitimate journalism and less likely to be eligible for removal.

To remove negative news about an executive, you can submit a request to the source, or you can ask Google to remove the link from search results (de-index). But you must have legitimate grounds for your request, based on Google regulations or relevant laws. Otherwise, the request will simply be denied.

Keep in mind that legitimate reporting is generally lawful, even when it is unflattering. Defamation and similar claims have a high bar that negative news typically does not reach.

Because these challenges can make it difficult to remove negative press about a CEO, suppression is usually a more effective route. This strategy allows you to build a positive executive footprint that suppresses the negative content.

Here’s how: Executives should have an active professional presence online, with a complete, accessible bio. Consistent thought leadership achieved through professional posts, interviews, speaking engagements, and other shared content deepens this positive footprint.

Monitoring of this reputation is also crucial. To successfully bury negative search results, new coverage must be caught early. As part of a comprehensive executive reputation management plan, monitor content continuously for anything that may need to be removed or suppressed.

If negative coverage is serious, an executive should align the response with corporate communications. And if the situation is fast-moving, as most negative reports are, the response should be coordinated with the organization’s crisis response plan, so personal and company messaging do not conflict.

These steps offer general best practices, but they are not legal advice. To determine the best next steps in a specific situation, consult an attorney for legal counsel.

Contact Our Content Suppression Experts Today

Removing or suppressing negative content isn’t always straightforward. Yes, the strategies we’ve outlined can help you take meaningful steps on your own. However, the truth is that effective online reputation management takes consistency, time and an understanding of how search engines rank.

If the stakes are high or if you need fast results, working with an experienced online reputation management (ORM) team can make all the difference. Professional content suppression strategies push negative articles down in search results and replace them with positive, authoritative content. This restores control over how you’re perceived online.

You don’t have to go through this process alone. Contact us today at 

800-200-3000 to learn how we can help you protect and build your digital reputation.

Get a Confidential Reputation Analysis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you remove a negative news article from the internet?

It is sometimes possible to remove negative news articles. You must have genuine grounds for the removal, through a policy or legal violation. Often, the most realistic path to mitigate the impact of negative news is suppression of the content.

Can you remove negative news about a CEO or executive?

Executive negative news removal can be more difficult because executive coverage often sits on authoritative outlets where the reporting is legitimate. Executive reputation management through content suppression combined with a strong positive footprint is usually the most effective approach.

Why is executive press so hard to remove?

It can be hard to remove negative news about an executive because the established outlets that generate the content rarely remove lawful reporting. And Google does not de-index content simply on request. You must have a legitimate claim for removal of the content.

How should an executive handle a negative story in a major outlet?

Executives should coordinate with their communications department and, if needed, apply a crisis plan. The focus should be on suppression of the content and a consistent positive presence. For any genuine legal claims, seek advice from an attorney.