Frequently Asked Questions

Whatever you have: a link, a screenshot, your name, and the search terms someone would use to find it. You do not need anything formal. We do the research ourselves from there.

We look at everything showing up for your name, not just the one result you know about. We assess the strength of each result and the realistic path forward, then send you a short private video explaining it, on your own time, with no pressure on the line.

Google does not move quickly, and anything promising an overnight fix is not telling you the truth. Pushing one bad result down requires real, strong content built above it, which takes time to create and time for Google to trust. Once it holds, it holds.

We check in regularly and we are reachable. This is not an automated dashboard you stare at alone. A real person is behind every engagement, and you will know what is happening and when.

Removal means the content comes down entirely. Suppression means it stays up but stops being the first thing someone sees, because stronger content is ranking above it. Most real reputation work is suppression, no matter what other companies tell you.

Sometimes removable: false and defamatory statements, content violating a platform’s policies, certain private information, non-consensual images, and content you own the copyright to. Usually requires suppression: truthful news articles, public court records, and real but unflattering reviews. We tell you honestly which category you’re in.

No, and anyone who says they can is not being straight with you. Some content is removable. Most gets suppressed. We tell you honestly which applies to you after we look, not before.

Yes. Building positive, accurate, authoritative content about yourself and earning search prominence is not manipulation. It’s what every well-managed personal brand does. We do not use fake content, manufactured links, or tactics that violate Google’s guidelines.

Sometimes. It depends on who published it, whether it’s true, and whether the outlet will talk. A handful get removed outright; most get corrected or suppressed. We will not tell you removal is guaranteed because it isn’t. After we look at the article and outlet, we tell you which path fits.

This is the most common version of this problem. Google doesn’t care that you’ve changed; it keeps serving the same headline. Removal usually isn’t realistic here, so the work becomes building a stronger, current story and pushing it above the old one.

You can, and sometimes it works. But going in without a strategy can lock a reporter into publicly defending the story, making it harder to unwind later. Talk to us first so we can tell you whether a direct approach helps or hurts your case.

In the US, truthful, lawfully published reporting is strongly protected, and there’s no legal button that forces a newsroom to delete it. Real exceptions: the story is false and defamatory, the facts have materially changed, or the outlet grants an unpublishing request. We pursue whichever fits.

Opinion is generally protected, however mean-spirited. A false statement of fact, like claiming a conviction that never happened, is where defamation law may apply. Which side of that line you’re on isn’t always obvious, and it’s exactly what needs assessing before anyone spends money or takes action.

Yes. Not every defamation situation requires litigation. A properly structured legal notice is sometimes enough. Where legal routes aren’t right, we focus on suppression: building a presence so strong and accurate that the false content loses its grip on the top of the page.

Not without talking to us first. Some mugshot sites operate in a legal gray area, and paying can mark you as a target for a sister site. There are cleaner paths, including legal notices and suppression, that don’t put money in the pocket of the site that posted you.

Mugshot sites don’t automatically know your case changed, and even if told, they’re not always required to remove it. A dropped case or expungement is meaningful leverage in removal requests, and we use it. It’s not the automatic fix people expect, but it isn’t worthless either.

Usually not on its own. Expungement clears the court record, but news articles, mugshot pages, and third-party sites are separate publishers not bound by that court action. The expungement is useful leverage, but it has to be paired with actual removal or suppression work.

Rarely directly. More realistic: getting it deindexed in specific cases, working with Reddit when content violates their rules, or suppressing it with stronger content so it stops showing on the first page for your name.

Almost never. Engaging publicly almost always makes things worse: it pulls in attention, invites comments, and signals to Google the thread is active. The quiet approach, outranking rather than arguing, is almost always more effective.

Google can hold onto a cached or indexed version even after the source is gone. This is a technical fix in some cases and a suppression project in others. We’ll tell you which applies to your thread specifically.

Only if it violates Google’s review policies: reviews from non-customers, competitor sabotage, or threats and harassment. We check every fake review against those policies before filing anything, since a report that doesn’t fit the policy just gets ignored.

Document everything, including anything suggesting the reviewer never used your business. Depending on what we find, this can go through Google’s report process, a direct legal path, or both.

Not before talking to us if the review is dishonest or coordinated. An emotional public response can make you look worse even when you’re right. We can help word a response, or advise holding off entirely if a report or removal is already in motion.

Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity read what’s been written about you and stitch it into a confident summary. When the most prominent material is negative, outdated, or wrong, that’s what the machine uses. It isn’t malicious. It’s doing what it does, and sometimes it makes things up along the way.

OpenAI has a formal process for factually inaccurate information, and we help navigate it. Google’s AI Overview works differently. The more durable fix is correcting the sources the AI pulls from, which changes the answer across every tool, not just one.

Screenshot the exact response, note the date and the tool, and send it to us. We’ll trace where it’s likely pulling that information from before deciding the fix.

Sometimes, depending on where it lives and who controls that site. If you own the copyright or the site violates its own policy, removal is realistic. If the site won’t cooperate, suppression through stronger, better-optimized images becomes the path.

These protections are strong, and we pursue them without hesitation. Many states have laws covering non-consensual intimate images, and several platforms including Google have explicit removal policies. This is one case where removal is genuinely on the table, and we move quickly.

In a lot of cases, yes. Google has a specific process for personal information like addresses, phone numbers, and financial details, and we file these requests directly. Data broker sites are a separate, ongoing fight since there are dozens of them.

Ongoing monitoring. Data broker sites resell and repost information constantly, so a cleanup without monitoring usually comes back within months. We build this into any privacy-focused plan.

Both exist. The tell is usually in the promises: guaranteed full removal, a price quoted before looking at your situation, or refusal to explain their process. We look at your actual search results before we tell you anything about cost or timeline.

It depends entirely on what’s showing up and what it takes to fix it. A single review is a different job than a coordinated attack across five platforms. We give real numbers after a private assessment, not a generic price list.

Almost never on its own. A page tends to keep its rank as long as people click it. Waiting is not a neutral choice. It’s a decision to let the problem harden into place.

There’s no built-in expiration date. A page doesn’t drop just because time passes. Some of the results that hurt people most are a decade old. Waiting for it to age out is, in most cases, waiting for something that won’t happen.

Vague promises, upfront full payment with no clear plan, and refusal to explain methods. Ask any company, including us, what they’re specifically going to do and why. If the answer is vague, that’s your answer.

Reach out and tell us what’s showing up. We look at exactly what’s there, walk you through what we’re seeing, and tell you what’s realistic. No pressure, no scripted guarantees.

No. We do not sell software, dashboards, review platforms, patient survey tools, EHR integrations, or automated review-request systems. Search Result Repair is a service-based reputation repair company. We look at what is actually showing up in Google, AI search tools, review platforms, forums, images, and public records, then build a strategy to reduce the visibility of damaging or unwanted results. Software can help monitor a problem. Software does not fix the problem by itself.

No. Review management usually means helping a business collect more reviews, respond to reviews, monitor ratings, or display testimonials. That is not our core service. We help when something damaging is already showing up online: negative articles, mugshots, court records, Reddit threads, bad review pages, false AI answers, unwanted images, old accusations, or personal information. If the problem is simply needing more reviews, a review platform may be the better fit. If the problem is people finding something damaging when they search, that is where we help.

No. There is no button that pushes down a negative article, mugshot, Reddit thread, or court record. Suppression requires strategy, content creation, search engine optimization, authority building, indexing, asset development, and time. Tools can help with research, monitoring, and reporting, but the work itself is not automated magic. Anyone claiming otherwise is selling fantasy with a login screen.