Removing/pushing down undesirable google search results.

[Energize]

A charity I help out at has a slanderous 4 year old post from a closed and archived forum ****ging them off as the 3rd result on google when you type in the charities full name. Now somehow this result ranks higher than even a news article in the daily mail mentioning the charity. Not to mention being above loads of other more relevant results.

How do we remove or push down this erroneous result in googles search results?

 

[AJK]

Assuming the page content is illegal, you can request removal from Google:
https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?rd=1#ts=1115655

I haven't actually gone through this process so I don't know what proof or documentation they will ask for to consider the request. I'm certain they will not remove a page just because it contains a bad review or opinion of the charity.

Another approach - possibly more likely to work - would be to get the troublesome post itself removed. Once the page is removed, the Google search result will eventually disappear. If it's genuinely illegal then this is something you should be able to chase with the owners/operators of the forum or the web host.

 

[Energize]

I doubt Google will remove it based on illegal content with a simple request, as it's a civil issue. But I'll take a look at that form thanks.

It's the case of a friend (well someone claiming to be) of someone who re-homed an animal from the charity saying that it was being neglected by the charity and the management were behaving in a rude manner etc, which while criminally libelous, we don't have the resources at the moment to pursue it due to staffing shortages at the moment.

Going after the website operator and host is a good idea though, your right.