Service / Removals and suppression
A bankruptcy falls off your credit report in seven years. Nobody told Google.
Old records, old articles, old mistakes: some of it can come down and some of it cannot. We tell you which is which before you pay, then we handle both.
The internet made your worst moment permanent
Credit bureaus, courts, and even most employers have rules about how long the past can follow you. Google has none. Data brokers scrape public records and sell your address to anyone who searches. Complaint sites publish anonymous accusations without verification. Court aggregators turn one filing into a dozen copies. A single old article can outrank everything you have done since. And all of it sits on the first page when an employer, client, landlord, or date looks you up.
The reputation industry turned this into a subscription business: monthly retainers, vague suppression campaigns, and rarely a single thing actually removed. There is no secret to how we do it instead. We go item by item, tell you honestly what can come down and what cannot, price each removal flat, and you decide what to pursue. Here is the process.
What removals cost, before you ask
We communicate openly about everything we handle: the cost, the timeline, the odds, and what we will not promise. Read it before you send us a name.
Flat per-item pricing for removals, quoted after we verify the item is actually eligible. Suppression work is scoped as a project. You approve the price before we file anything.
Eligible removals often resolve in days to weeks. Suppression campaigns show movement in 60 to 90 days and typically run three to six months.
- A specific article, listing, or record is damaging you right now
- You want a straight answer on whether it can come down before paying anything
- You want the removal attempted properly the first time (failed requests can harden a no)
- The content is legitimate news or protected speech you simply dislike (we will tell you, and pivot to suppression)
- You want the source falsified or the record hidden dishonestly (we do not do that)
- An eligibility sort for every item: removable, correctable, or suppression-only
- Takedown and de-indexing requests filed and followed up
- Documentation packages (court orders, expungements, policy citations) built where they help
- A suppression plan for anything that cannot come down
Real news does not come down, and we never fake the record. What can be removed gets removed; the rest gets outranked.
01 Research · Finding every copy, not just page one
First we find everything, then we sort it
Before anything gets filed, we run your name the way a stranger would: Google, Bing, the AI assistants, the people-search sites. We inventory every item working against you, from broker listings and complaint posts to court record copies, mugshots, old articles, and imposter pages you may not know exist.
Then every item gets an eligibility verdict: removable, correctable, or suppression-only. This sort is the most important step in the whole engagement, because chasing an impossible removal wastes your money, and a badly made first request can harden a platform's no.
02 Plan · The list, item by item, with a price on each
Then we price it item by item
You get the plan in plain English: what each removal costs, what the realistic odds are, and what order the work happens in. Sequencing matters here. Sources come down before search caches get cleared, documentation gets built before requests get filed, and suppression starts only where removal has been honestly ruled out. No retainers, no bundles you do not need, no mystery fees.
03 Execute · Filing, escalating, and outranking the rest
Then we take it down or bury it
From here the work is ours. We file the takedown and de-indexing requests, build the documentation packages that support them (court orders, expungements, policy citations), and follow up until each item receives a clear disposition. Two of those paths are Google's own and open to anyone: the request to remove personal information from Search, and the refresh outdated content tool for a page that is already gone but still showing its old description. For anything that cannot come down, we build the suppression: accurate, verifiable content designed to compete with the unwanted result.
Every item stays on a disposition log: request filed, evidence supplied, platform response, source status, search-cache status, and current ranking position. That separates removals from de-indexing and suppression, so the report reflects what actually changed rather than treating every movement as a takedown.
Then we bury it where nobody looks
Removal deletes the result at its source. Suppression leaves it in place and pushes it down under stronger, truer, more recent content, off the first page where almost nobody looks. We pursue removal first, every time, and turn to suppression only where removal has been honestly ruled out.
04 Monitor · You should not have to watch this
Then we make sure it stays down
Data brokers re-scrape public records on a schedule, and legal databases re-index the courts. A listing removed today can quietly reappear months later, which is why a removal without monitoring is only half finished. Our monitoring plan checks the brokers and databases regularly and re-files the moment something returns, at no extra charge. You get a plain-English report and you get your time back. If something new lands on your name, we already know your baseline and can move the same day.
What can actually be removed
Data broker listings almost always come down. Court record copies on private aggregators usually come down, especially with an expungement or dismissal in hand. Complaint posts and mugshots depend on the platform, and we know which ones cooperate. Be careful who you pay in that corner of the internet: in 2018 the California Attorney General charged four operators of a mugshot site with extortion, describing a pipeline that routed removal requests to a second site and billed a de-publishing fee. Accurate news from a legitimate outlet almost never comes down, and any firm guaranteeing otherwise is lying to you. That is when suppression does the work: the article stays, buried where almost nobody looks. Nothing gets falsified. Nothing gets buried dishonestly. The whole truth about you gets told, not just the loudest part of it.
Clients on cleaning up the past
We have done this work for people carrying old records, old coverage, and old profiles that no longer told the truth. Real names, real words.
★★★★★“Launching my own brand after a career change felt daunting because of some outdated online profiles. The Discoverability company helped me not only clean up old results but also establish a new presence that truly reflects who I am today. ... I now have confidence that when people search for me, they're seeing the right information.”
★★★★★“Starting my own consulting business was intimidating, especially because I'd had an online presence from a past career that didn't quite fit my desired online narrative. ... They knew exactly what I needed and handled everything with care and expertise. My clients now find me quickly, and I have control over my online image.”
Frequently asked questions
What types of content can you remove from Google?
We handle removal of data broker listings (Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, Radaris, TruePeopleSearch, and dozens of others), complaint site pages (Ripoff Report, Complaints Board, Pissed Consumer), mugshot sites, negative news articles, unwanted court records, Reddit posts, and personal information that has been published without your consent. If something shows up when you Google your name and you want it gone, we will tell you whether it qualifies for removal and what that costs before you pay anything.
How long does content removal take?
Most data broker removals complete within 7 to 14 days. Complaint site removals can take 2 to 6 weeks depending on the platform. News article suppression and de-indexing varies widely, from a week to several months. Court record removals typically take 7 to 30 days per database. Every piece of content gets a realistic timeline before you commit to anything. Nothing here happens overnight. Anyone promising otherwise is selling you something.
What is the difference between removal and suppression?
Removal means the content is deleted from the source and cleared from Google search results. It is gone. Suppression means the content still exists but gets pushed off the first page of Google by stronger, more recent, more authoritative content. Removal is preferable, but sometimes impossible. Some platforms refuse to remove content. Some content is protected under press freedoms. In those cases, suppression is the next best option. We pursue removal first and recommend suppression only when removal is not viable.
Can you remove negative news articles from Google?
In some cases, yes. If the article contains inaccurate information, we can work with the publication to request corrections or removal. If the article is accurate but damaging, we pursue de-indexing through Google removal requests where applicable, and suppression through publishing positive content that pushes the article off the first page. Some of it is removable. The rest needs suppression, and you hear which is which first. The realistic outcome comes before the invoice.
Can you remove my information from data broker sites?
Yes. We handle opt-out requests across all major data brokers including Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, Radaris, TruePeopleSearch, MyLife, Intelius, PeopleFinder, and dozens of others. Each site has its own opt-out process, and most of them make it deliberately difficult and time-consuming. Every major broker has a documented process on file here. We also offer ongoing monitoring because data brokers re-scrape public records regularly, which means your information can reappear after removal.
Will removed content come back?
It can, depending on the source. Data brokers re-scrape public records on a regular basis, so a removed listing can reappear weeks or months later. Legal databases also re-index court systems periodically. Monitoring catches the re-appearances and files the next request. If you are on our monitoring plan, re-removals are handled at no additional charge. Without monitoring, we will still handle re-removal but it would be a new service engagement.
We sort it before you pay: removable, correctable, or suppression-only.
Removals are flat per item, quoted after we verify the item is actually eligible. Real news does not come down, and you hear that on the first call. What cannot be removed gets outranked. Confidential, always.