Technology advancements have led to the internet’s prominence as a primary information source for most people. Today, there are many methods to learn more about a person or company, including through social media posts, online newspaper articles, and live news streaming sites like this one.
Every company or person must therefore work to preserve a positive online reputation. Unfortunately, there may be a negative newspaper story about you or your company in the Google search results for a variety of reasons. Therefore, it is possible that consumers will come across the bad newspaper story whenever they search for anything about your company.
A unfavorable newspaper story gives you a terrible reputation, as the term suggests. Because of the negative things said about you in the newspaper story, many people and companies will have second thoughts about doing business with you.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to cope with a scenario like this so that a damaging newspaper story doesn’t continue to harm your reputation in Google search results. Read this page carefully to find out how to deal with it.
What choices are there for dealing with a damaging newspaper article?
Starting off, let’s think about the several possibilities for handling a negative newspaper article on Google search results.
1. Speak with the author or editor and ask them to delete it.
Google has advised that if a bad newspaper item appears in search results, you should first contact the editor or owner of the publication. You can agree on how the article can be removed by speaking with the newspaper’s administrator, editor, or owner. The results of this alternative, however, are typically not favourable. This is the case for a number of reasons, including:
- The majority of the newspaper’s executives, editors, or proprietors are elusive. As a result, you might not even get the chance to speak with the person who has the power to have the unfavourable newspaper item about you or your company removed.
- Most website managers are frequently hesitant or unwilling to even consider taking down a previously published newspaper item. In fact, once they are aware of your request, many of them won’t grant you an audience.
- Additionally, in some circumstances, it could be challenging to refute the accusations made against you or your company.
In addition to having the story completely removed, you can persuade the media to redact information about you or your company. The term “redaction” refers to the removal of your name from the article by the publication. Even so, the administrator is likely to grant your request if the piece does not focus primarily on you or your company. Additionally, if you or your company was the victim in the tale, they might concur.
In general, don’t be afraid to test this choice. To avoid being let down, you shouldn’t place your hopes in it.
2. Submit a formal request to a court to have a bad newspaper item removed
The second choice is to submit a formal removal request. The newspaper may be ordered by the court to take down any unfavourable articles about you or your company that have appeared in Google search results. However, you should try to talk to an attorney before you start the process in order to avoid wasting your time and money.
Before the newspaper can be told to remove the story, you must first have a compelling argument. One of these two circumstances must hold true in order for the article to be taken out:
- The newspaper article was plagiarised from a separate source, whose copyright was owned by a completely other party.
- You can demonstrate that the information in the newspaper article is untrue and defamatory.
You can be certain that the court will order the removal of the article if your request satisfies either of these two requirements. The vast majority of times, those who want to remove the article do not comply with any of the requirements. As a result, the article will keep appearing in Google search results.
3. Use an internet reputation management team’s services
The third and most successful approach to deal with a bad article is to hire an internet reputation management team if the other two don’t work.
The unfavourable newspaper story won’t show up in Google search results with the aid of online reputation management services, so it can’t hurt your online reputation.
How an internet reputation management team responds to unfavourable press reports
It is important to understand that numerous strategies are used by online reputation management teams to address the issue. They may occasionally take steps to ensure that the article is completely deleted from Google search results. The business can find a way to hide the unfavourable content if they are unable to remove the article.
In other cases, the online reputation team will figure out a means to suppress the article; as a result, it won’t show up in the first page of search results and no one will ever see it again. De-indexing is one method used to accomplish this. The article is typically pushed down in the Google search results as a result of the suppression. Any article that does not appear in the first two pages of the results will likely not be seen or read by most people, as most people only glance at the first two pages of the results. As a result, the unfavourable newspaper article’s impacts will be greatly diminished.
Additionally, there are other teams offering this specific service. Consequently, you won’t have any trouble locating a group that can assist you.
As a conclusion, you should be aware that responding to a bad newspaper article in Google search results necessitates a reasoned and reliable strategy. Don’t let your rage at reading such an article cause you to act irrationally and put yourself or your company in a more difficult situation. Make sure you carefully analyse each decision before acting.
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