Want to remove arrest records appearing in Google? Today’s online world is more connected than ever, searches for “remove public records from Google” and similar terms have reached a record high.
Arrest records appearing online can be very damaging to a person’s reputation. This is most evident in cases of online arrest information, images of mugshots, and criminal records. States like Texas and Florida have laws against publishing arrest information online. Unfortunately, they may not always be enforced.
Why remove criminal records from Google?
People usually use Google or popular search engines to find out information about you. Chances are, if you’ve applied to school, applied for a bank loan, or applied for a new job, someone has done a background check.
What information can you find about yourself by using Google? You may be surprised. Positive information can lead to new opportunities. Negative information such as mugshots or criminal records can ruin your plans.
To protect your online reputation it is important to remove negative content. You can restore your reputation if you have a solid removal strategy in place. This includes removing any negative information, including criminal records.
Getting started
Two important considerations are required to remove criminal records from Google.
- Do you want to remove a Google search result?
- Are you looking to remove the website from the internet?
Do you want to remove the search result, or reduce its visibility?
You may also want to remove it completely from the internet. Whatever you decide, there are a few simple steps that will help you remove your criminal record.
Removing mugshots from Google
The ideal solution would be to remove your arrest information from the internet.
Paying website owners for the removal of mugshots is not a good idea since it encourages the practice of publishing arrest records online. There are other ways to achieve this goal.
Included are:
- Reaching out to the web host.
- Contact the website itself.
- Leveraging anti-mugshot legislation for removal.
- Contacting Google for removal.
- Hiring a reputation management company.
Contact the website owner
Some websites will honor requests to remove this information and other websites will not remove the information.
Search engine de-indexing
If you are unable to remove your criminal record, it’s time to contact the search engines and ask them to de-index the link.
Google Search will not display information unless it is hosted on the Internet. If you cannot remove the link at its source, you might be able to remove it from Google’s results pages.
This approach is successful in varying degrees. Google, for example, will often remove links from pages that contain personal information and content that has legal issues. They’ll only do this if there is a risk to the individual.
You’re still entitled to report content that you believe violates your rights or the law. Search engines will sometimes block, limit, or remove offending results.
Google has recently promised to remove links to websites that post mugshots and arrest details. This includes any site where the only way to remove information is to pay a fee. Contacting Google should always be a strategy that you utilize.
Suppress criminal records in Google’s search results
Suppression has been proven to be a great way to reduce the visibility of criminal information appearing in Google’s search results.
Suppression replaces negative information and URLs with positive ones you created when searching for your name. When you search for your name, it is possible that arrest records, mugshots, and other criminal information, will appear on the first page.
This is because these results have been deemed to be the most relevant. These results will be replaced when you add new, relevant content.
Start by maintaining an updated LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, or other social media accounts. You can also push down mugshots by posting better photos of yourself on Instagram or uploading vlog videos to YouTube.
The ultimate goal is to push negative information off of the first page.
If you need more information on how to execute a personal content removal strategy or would like help in removing information online reach out to us at 813-421-8334 or visit us online at RemoveMyMugshot.org.
