I have an article that was written about me that has pretty high domain authority. If you just search my name because it has been 2 years it is already on page 3 or 4. The problem is if you include my location. Then it is the first link, and it doesn’t matter if I use my actual location where I live or use a vpn and a different location.
I have hired a reputation management service and all they have been able to do in two months is create additional content that ranks below this article. Is there anything that can be done to directly attack this article to get it deindexed or moved down faster to page 2 or lower?
If the article is already on page 3–4 for just your name, that’s actually a good sign because it means it’s already losing strength.
When it ranks #1 with your name + location, it’s usually because there isn’t much competing content targeting that exact combination. In cases like this, a few strategies can help push it down faster:
1. Create stronger competing pages targeting “Your Name + Location” (LinkedIn, Medium, personal website, press releases, etc.). These tend to rank well and can outrank negative pages.
2. Optimize your existing profiles (social media, about pages, business listings) with your name + location so Google has more relevant results to show.
3. Build backlinks to the positive pages you create. Even a few good links can help them jump above the negative article.
4. If the article contains false or defamatory information, you could also explore submitting a legal or defamation removal request to Google.
In most cases reputation management works better by pushing the result down with stronger pages rather than trying to deindex it directly, unless you control the site or there’s a legal reason for removal.
Since it’s already page 3–4 for your name alone, focusing on ranking 5–10 positive assets for “name + location” could push it to page 2 or lower relatively quickly.
