Skeletons in the search results
May 8, 2008 – 11:49 amEvery so often I receive an email or phone call from someone asking if I could prevent Google, or some other search engine, from showing a previously published District Court Report in which their name appears.
They have discovered that when searching for their name on the internet, a page containing questionable activity and criminal charges appears from our website. This revelation often comes about while they are looking for a job. They are concerned that a potential employer will see that their name appeared in our court pages, and the offense(s) that got it there.
From the initial tone set in these emails or phone conversations, I can tell that they already know the answer I am about to give. They have usually preceded their request with something like, “I know it probably can’t be done, but maybe just this once”, “I just thought I’d give this a shot,” or that they would “really, really, appreciate it if….” The answer, and not the one they want to hear, is that we will not remove their name or the page it appears on from our website, and I have little to no control over how Google, or any other search engine, indexes and uses the content from our web pages.
The Internet is a very public place with mind boggling amounts of information available to you in fractions of a second. Whether it’s your name in a court document, photos appearing on your My Space page or something else related to you posted in some other arena, you should always be aware of your personal web presence and how it may reflect upon you. Knowing ahead of time what information someone can find about you online may help one avoid an embarrassing situation in the future.
It may not be possible to erase your past transgressions from the public record, but there are a few things you can do to be aware of your online self and give your good side a boost:
Rick Mello is the web administrator at The Martha's Vineyard Times.
4 Responses to “Skeletons in the search results”
Yes, Rick, the site owner, The Martha’s Vineyard Times in this case, can delete the Court Report.
From the site on FIVE WAYS TO DEFEND YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION:
If you’ve put stuff on your own sites that you don’t want Google to find, you can ask the search engine to delete it from its results. If someone else posted this material, though, Google won’t remove it. You’ll have to ask the site owner to take it down - or hire someone to do it for you.
By Max on May 11, 2008
Perhaps I was too vague. I never stated that the page could not be deleted. I said, “The answer … is that we will not remove their name or the page it appears on from our website, and I have little to no control over how Google, or any other search engine, indexes and uses the content from our web pages.”
I am aware of how to remove pages from Google’s index. My reference to their use of the page was related to how the page ranks in an actual search result.
In our case, this is a matter of policy not functionality.
Your quote from FIVE WAYS TO DEFEND YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION is referring to “Those drunken spring break photos …” and the like. When talking about background checks and information that is part of the public record, Google or not, the information is available. It states:
“Arrested? … that information is in the public record, and much of it is available online for a fee. When an employer does a background check on you, this is the kind of stuff that turns up - so at the very least you want to make sure the information is accurate.”
By Rick Mello on May 11, 2008
Let’s try again.
When people get in touch with you, asking if you can prevent Google from from showing a previously published District Court Report in which their name appears, do you specifically tell them you can but won’t? Can you tell readers specifically why you won’t, beyond “policy”? It is this “policy” that your blog brings up that I wanted to hear you explain further. Thank you.
By Max on May 12, 2008
Often, those that contact me have already done the research and know of the process required to have Google remove a page from its index. To all that ask, I simply tell them that it is our policy to not remove content from our website.
The caveat to requesting that Google remove a page from its index is that it would still exist on the website and be re-indexed in the future when Googlebot (Google’s web crawler) got to it.
For more information on the policy itself, you may want to contact our editors directly.
By Rick Mello on May 12, 2008