What Do Companies That Clean Up Your Online Presence Do?

Learn how companies that clean up your online presence go about making sure to remove your personal info and protect your digital footprint.

Your reputation on the internet has never been more important, which is why knowing how to clean up your online identity is crucial.

In fact, almost anyone’s digital footprint can benefit from a good spring cleaning.

Colleges and universities now regularly search online to find out more about those hoping to enroll. Employers routinely do the same for job applicants. Even your Tinder matches could be conducting background checks on you through Google.

What appears online when you search for your name is critical, especially when it comes to the top 10 search results on Google (or any search engine, for that matter):

• The top organic search result on Google has an average CTR of 27.6%. Moreover, it’s 10x more likely to be clicked than the No. 10 result.
• The top 3 Google search results get more than 50% of all clicks.
• Most users don’t go past the first search engine results page, with less than 1% clicking on a second-page result.

What can you do if one or more of the leading search engine results aren’t favorable? You can use personal data removal services and ORM strategies to create the digital reputation that will best serve you.

NetReputation provides the best data removal services to help you protect your digital presence. Call us at 844-461-3632 to learn more, or fill out the contact form below for a free consultation.

How To Repair Your Personal Info Online: An Overview

Your first step is to search for your name on Google. If you have a common first and last name, also include your location to narrow down the results. Also, search for alternative spellings of your name, nicknames, initials, etc. Make sure to try all possible variations to reveal any negative information that you don’t want others to see.

Create a spreadsheet where you can keep track of the search engine results on the first two pages of Google. Then, follow the same process on Bing and Yahoo, since different search engines will have varying results. Since there will be some overlap among the three different search provider results, don’t add duplicate results to your spreadsheet.

The results you find online may include personal data from the following types of content:

• Blog posts
• Forum contributions
• News articles
• People search sites and data brokers
• Social media accounts and activity
• Photo albums
• Video uploads

Highlight the results that seem to be negative. You’ll tackle these first when submitting data removal requests. Similarly, by noting the results that seem to be positive, you can go back later on to share that content and help circulate it some more.

Next, deal with any unflattering personal data and info that’s out there about you. Think of what a college administrator, employer, or romantic interest would feel if they came across the info. Then, take steps to change it or submit removal requests to have it taken down.

Your approach will vary based on the type of content. For example, when it comes to your own online accounts, like your social media profiles, you have complete control over what you post. It’s easy to go in and remove any content that could put you in a bad light.

In other cases, it won’t be as easy. For example, when data brokers post your personal data online, you’ll have to go through a data removal process to request that the info be deleted from the database. This can be long and tedious, and there’s no guarantee that the personal data will be permanently removed from people search sites.

You can take control of your online presence, whether you’re working on your personal reputation or your professional footprint. Call us at 844-461-3632 for more information.

Social Networking Considerations

Have you previously said something questionable on X? Or maybe you shared a polarizing opinion on Facebook or an embarrassing photo on Instagram.

Now’s the time to log in and delete those posts.

If there are posts that you don’t want to delete but you also don’t want them to show up in search results, see if you can update their access. For example, on Facebook, you can set different access levels for the images you post. Some social media platforms even allow you to turn off search engine indexing.

You may also consider locking down your social media accounts altogether or making all of them private. By making your accounts private, they’re accessible only to those who know you personally. Consider doing this for Facebook, Instagram, and X — the main social profiles that are bound to show up in search engine results.

By taking steps to delete old uploads and lock down your account privacy, you’ll have an easier time keeping your online presence squeaky clean.

LinkedIn and Other Platforms

Your LinkedIn profile and posts on platforms like Medium should paint you in a favorable light, too. Instead of removing these profiles or making them private, use them to your advantage. Create content for these platforms that will improve your digital reputation and push down negative or private results from data brokers.

Additionally, evaluate posts on Tumblr, Pinterest, and Reddit on a regular basis. The same goes for any YouTube and TikTok uploads. Overall, stay up to date with your social accounts so you’re always aware of how you’re presenting yourself online and how others are engaging with your content.

At NetReputation, we work with individuals and businesses to help them build and take control of their reputation online. Give us a call at 844-461-3632 to learn more.

Take Back Full Control of Your Online Presence

As we’ve discussed, profiles on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and other social platforms are within your control. Now that you’ve successfully cleaned up your social presence, it’s time to address other types of damaging content.

Next, we’ll be tackling damaging blog posts, photo uploads, and similar types of content. Basically, anything that’s neutral or positive can remain; negative results or personal data that could make you a target for identity theft have to go.

Negative Content That’s Under Your Control

Erase or limit access to anything questionable in Google Photos and other photo-sharing platforms. Do the same with blog posts and website content that you own and have control over.

While this may mean spending the time to access older accounts, this isn’t a step you want to skip. Old content can come back to haunt you at any point.

As you remove information from the internet, be mindful of what will replace it. For example, deleting a high-ranking blog post that you no longer want to be public could make your personal data on data broker sites rise further in search results. If you need to request that data brokers update their info or remove it completely, take the necessary steps.

If you have negative content online related to your name, you don’t necessarily have to worry about your personal data on data broker websites right this second. Unless you’re worried about reputation harm or identity theft, you can always submit custom removal requests to those data brokers in the future, once the rest of your online footprint is on its way to being repaired.

Third-Party Content Not Under Your Control

By now, you’ve addressed the content that’s under your control. But what about online content that isn’t?

Without thinking they would cause any harm, your friends may have uploaded questionable pictures or videos of you. Or, perhaps you appear negatively in a story on a local news website. It’s also possible that data brokers have gotten hold of your mugshots or court records and listed them online without any context for what’s happened in your past.

Addressing this type of negative content is central to repairing your digital reputation, and it’s also important for identity theft protection. In the next section, we’ll explain how to submit custom removal requests to get rid of third-party content that’s damaging your reputation.

How To Address Harmful Third-Party Content

Whether posted by people you know or not, it’s vital to address negative third-party posts and submit data removal requests as soon as possible.

First, ask the account or website owner to remove what they posted. Friends and family will typically agree to what you ask, and it’s also possible that news outlets will respond quickly and positively to polite removal requests. If a news outlet doesn’t agree to remove the content, ask if they’ll take your personal data out of it, like redacting your name.

When it comes to data brokers that post personal data collected from your court records, make sure the information they have is accurate. For example, if your charges were dropped or you were able to have the records sealed or expunged, they may agree to data removal if you provide documentation.

You can also follow the opt-out process that many data brokers post on their websites to have your personal info taken down from the site and removed from search results.

What happens when data brokers and other sources don’t cooperate with your requests for data removal, though? Read on to find out.

We offer reputation solutions for individuals as well as businesses. Get started today with a free consultation with one of our experts. Call us at 844-461-3632 to learn more.

What To Do if You Can’t Delete or Remove Harmful Content

There are many reasons why you won’t be able to have negative information removed. Maybe a friend who posted photos from your college days hasn’t been able to access their account for years. Or, maybe a government agency or news outlet feels that your story is important for public interest reasons, and they don’t have to legally comply with your request for data removal.

In a lot of cases, individuals and websites don’t have to agree to your request for data removal, and trying to force them to do so won’t get you anywhere.

In this case, content suppression is your next best option.

Suppressing Negative Content

A great tool when learning how to clean up your reputation online is content suppression. With suppression, the goal is to replace rather than remove bad online content. Your aim is to swap negative mentions with neutral or positive assets.

Remember the search engine results you noted earlier? Those highlighted as positive are what you now need more of. Examples might include your LinkedIn profile, portfolio pages, or helpful blog posts that cover topics on which you’re an authority.

Similarly helpful are positive news stories, bios and listings on professional websites. Such websites may include those belonging to the company you work for or the schools you’ve attended. These are all extremely helpful for what you’re trying to achieve.

Do your best to secure and promote positive content whenever possible. With that, the top search results for your name will be dominated by what you want people to see.

How Content Suppression Works

During the suppression process, negative results are neutralized. These results are pushed off page one and out of sight.

In their place, you can create other positive results by publishing new content. Do your best to mirror the types of content outlined above. Guest posts on prominent blogs are a great place to start. These could be blogs tied to your work or hobbies — whatever you can speak authoritatively about.

Continue this process until you’ve pushed all negative results to page two or beyond. Ideally, look to push them back to page three or even further. Now, when someone searches for your name, they’ll see only positive results that you own and control.

Hire the Best Data Removal Services for Rapid Reputation Cleanup

While you can technically handle everything we discussed on your own, reaching out to data brokers and content suppression can take a lot of time and energy. If you don’t have the expertise to find search results or create high-ranking content, you may never achieve the positive reputation you deserve.

It’s smart to work with an ORM company that provides data removal services and other cleanup strategies. In the meantime, you can start working on your owned content, meaning your social media profiles, blog and any other platforms you have full control over.

The good news is that those steps may have a quick impact on your digital presence. From there, once you have expert data removal services on your side, you’ll take major leaps forward to repairing your digital reputation. This will be especially helpful when you’re ready to take a big step in your life, like applying to college, going after your dream job or connecting with a potential love interest online.

It’s also important to monitor your online reputation. Getting rid of negative content now doesn’t mean it won’t show up again in the future. Anyone can stay on top of their online reputation by setting up Google Alerts. These alerts notify you of any new search engine listings tied to your name. You’re then in a better position to address these as soon as they appear online.

Contact NetReputation Today

By far, the most time-consuming part of how to clean up your reputation is content suppression. The reality is that a successful suppression campaign can take weeks, months or even years of work.

Fortunately, at NetReputation, we specialize in content suppression and a host of other ORM tactics. We’re here to help you take back control of your digital footprint.

Don’t like what Google says about you? Don’t worry. Our team of software gurus, analysts, and removal specialists can help you fix it.

Let us take care of your online reputation. Call the NetReputation team at 844-461-3632 today to get started or fill out the contact form below.