A government press release about you is one of the harder reputation problems to solve, but it is far from hopeless. Federal agencies like the DOJ, SEC, FBI, and IRS publish press releases on .gov domains, and those pages tend to rank well in Google because of the extraordinary domain authority behind them. You cannot get them taken down. You will not get a bureaucrat to de-index them. But you can push them off the first page of Google, and in many cases, you can do it.
Here is the framing that matters most: the press release is one page. Google shows ten results. Your job is to own the other nine.
Why government sites rank so high
Domain authority is Google's measure of how credible and trustworthy a website is, based on factors like age, inbound links, and how other sites reference it. Federal .gov domains are among the highest-authority domains on the internet. Justice.gov, sec.gov, fbi.gov, and irs.gov all carry enormous trust signals. Governments have been publishing on these domains for decades. Every major news outlet in the country links to them constantly.
When a press release is published on one of these domains about your name, it inherits all of that authority. Google has very good reasons to show it prominently. It is from a credible, institutional source. The information is considered reliable. The page is unlikely to disappear. That is the challenge. You are competing against the federal government's publishing infrastructure, not a random website.
That authority does not mean the press release is the most relevant result about you as a person. Google is trying to surface the ten most useful, relevant, and credible results for a given search. If you build enough strong, optimized content about yourself from enough credible sources, Google will find those pages more useful than a years-old press release about a legal matter that has since concluded.
The suppression strategy
Suppression works by building a body of positive content that outranks the press release. This is the same thing that every professional, executive, and public figure does when they build their online presence. The difference is that for you, there is a specific negative result you are trying to push down.
The assets that tend to move the needle most for government press release suppression are the ones that carry real authority themselves.
A personal website. Your own domain, optimized for your name, with content that tells your professional story. A personal website typically ranks on the first page of Google for your name because there is no more relevant source for information about you. Read our guide on why every professional needs a personal website.
A strong LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn pages rank extremely well for personal names. A complete, keyword-optimized LinkedIn profile is one of the most reliable ways to hold a first-page position for your name. If yours is thin or outdated, updating it should be near the top of the list.
Press coverage in legitimate publications. When a real news outlet writes a positive story about you, that page carries authority and typically ranks well for your name. Press placements, author bylines, and interview features all contribute. Our press placement services can help you earn coverage that ranks and sticks.
Wikipedia. If you qualify for a Wikipedia article, it will rank on the first page of Google for your name, and it will often outrank most government press releases. Wikipedia's notability bar is real, but for people who have been significant enough to warrant a DOJ or SEC press release, there may be a case to be made. See our Wikipedia services for what is involved.
Professional bios and industry profiles. Author pages on industry publications, speaker profiles, directory listings in professional associations, and profiles on credible third-party platforms all contribute to a strong name-search presence. Each one is another result Google might show instead of the press release.
Thought leadership content. Authored articles, podcast appearances, video interviews, and other content that demonstrates your expertise create additional pages that rank for your name. The more you contribute publicly in your area of expertise, the more relevant your name becomes in those contexts. Google can eventually rank your contributions ahead of a press release about a legal matter from years ago.
Be noteworthy for good reasons
The most durable suppression strategy involves building a life and career that generates positive coverage naturally. People who are doing interesting things, leading organizations, writing books, building companies, and contributing to their fields create a steady stream of positive search results without much effort. Each new achievement is a new page. Each new publication is a new result. The press release gets further and further behind.
This is a long-term approach. It is also the most sustainable answer to the problem. A press release from ten years ago should not be the defining search result for someone who has spent the intervening decade building something real. The goal is to make who you are today louder than what happened then.
What you cannot do
To save you time: you cannot contact the DOJ, SEC, FBI, IRS, or any other federal agency and ask them to remove a press release. They will not do it. This is strict policy. Government agencies consider their press releases public records and matters of public interest. They will not de-index them for individuals, regardless of the circumstances. Do not spend energy pursuing that path.
You also cannot use Google's content removal tools to take down a .gov press release. Google's content policies that allow removal of personal information do not apply to government records. Google is not going to override a federal agency's published materials.
Agency-specific guides
Different federal agencies publish different types of press releases about different kinds of cases. The suppression strategy is the same across all of them, but the context matters. We have written detailed guides for the agencies whose press releases we see most frequently:
- How to Suppress a DOJ Press Release from Google. Department of Justice press releases about criminal cases, fraud, and antitrust matters
- How to Suppress an SEC Press Release from Google. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions, litigation releases, and settlements
- How to Suppress an FBI Press Release from Google. FBI press releases about arrests, investigations, and convictions
- How to Suppress an IRS Press Release from Google. IRS press releases about tax fraud, tax evasion, and failure to file
Related resources
Government press releases rarely appear in isolation. You may also be dealing with news articles that covered the original press release, court records from the underlying case, and background check sites that have picked up the information. If you have already gone through expungement and are still seeing records online, see our guide on what to do after expungement. Our DIY reputation management guide also walks through what you can do without hiring anyone.
If you are dealing with a government press release that is affecting your career, your business, or your personal relationships, reach out and we will assess your situation.