I was browsing the SEO section of Reddit today and came across a really interesting, and real world example of why you’ll eventually need reputation management. There are a lot of ways of going about it, but when it comes to out ranking some solid SERPs, you’re going to need some solid links. This case as rather interesting and more personal than corporate, but the results will drastically effect this person’s credibility if searched for. Imagine your future employer finding out something you’d never want them to see…it’s not a fun situation and by the sounds of it this guys is going to have some work cut out for him.
The problem is that a close friend of mine had an incident a couple of years ago. He went through a real nasty divorce which went through court and it really took it’s toll on him. One time during the court hearings he failed to show up and the judge convicted him on contempt of court. So he got arrested and was brought to the hearing. A mugshot was taken.
Now a couple of years ago the state he resides in made all arrest records public and websites like mugshot.com started to sprout. Now when you google his name the mugshot is usually the #1 or #2 link.
I do realize he made a mistake by not showing up, but that’s a different story. I have tried everything I can think of to try and make websites/profiles/blogs with his name but the mugshot site is always on Page 1 on Google. Other search engines (Yahoo and sometimes Bing) aren’t a problem, they show his mugshot profile on page 2-3.
You can ask the website to remove the mugshot but it’s really expensive because the site basically charges lawyer fees for it. Do you guys have any ideas or is this a lost fight? What I’m trying to accomplish is to move the mugshot website to maybe page 2-3 on Google.
Not a happy place! See original thread here.
The options for removal are up to you, and you can pay to have it removed from Mugshots.com. It’s a really dirty business in my opinion but all is fair in business and war. The OP got a handful of advice, some solid and some questionable so you really have to be careful in how you proceed in a situation like this. If you’re in a bind, then just paying to have something like this removed is worth the effort. For the rest of us, a little link building and leveraging authoritative social networks should do the trick.
We had a similar situation with a CEO of a company needing to get a certain results pushed off the first couple of pages in Google. For us, we utilised his personal blog, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Scribd, Youtube, Pinterest and other sites to build a strong network of profiles. In a case like with Mugshots.com, they have a weak link profile so it shouldn’t take too much work to over run it. Take note of what social platforms are ranking well and make good use of them. Properly done profiles will go a long way, and interlink where you can to juice the others you’re building up. Make sure each profile has a lot of unique content…I cannot stress this enough.
What tips do our readers have for the rest of us, I want to hear below!
