Fatrank Podcast

James Dooley: You are not going to be able to get rid of that search volume, and that is what a lot of autocomplete comes down to. It is users actually searching for those queries. You start putting the name in and then, in the dropdown, something shows up, let us say bankruptcy. Google AI Gemini overviews make it more important than ever to focus on online reputation management and actually deal with the Google autocomplete suggestions that show up. Today I am joined with Karl Hudson, and today we are going to go through Google autocomplete suggestions. So Karl Hudson, is there a way, if a business or a personal brand has their name and then something alongside it like scam, divorced or bankrupt, or something else with a negative stigma, to remove that?

Karl Hudson: Yes. There are ways and means. However, you are probably more likely to control the narrative. You are not going to be able to get rid of that search volume, and that is what a lot of autocomplete comes down to. It is users actually searching for those queries. So what you have to end up doing is controlling the narrative of the search string by creating power posts, which is something we offer, creating social media buzz and creating different reviews of the brand. You can also mention things like, is brand X a scam, but then put a more positive spin on the back end of it. Coming from a gambling background, there is a lot of negativity around gambling companies, but a lot of the time it comes from people who have lost money. It is not actually about the quality of the company. So it is about trying to turn that around, control the narrative and make things rank. I know yourself, James Dooley, has had a lot of success with social signals and things like that, right?

James Dooley: Yes, for sure. There are lots of different ways. If you have got some negative stigma in the autocomplete, where you start putting the name in and then something like bankruptcy shows up in the dropdown, if you have previously gone bankrupt or your business has gone bankrupt and you do not want people to know it, that needs removing from the suggestions. A way of doing that would be to try and get other things that are more popular, because search volume influences it. Like you mentioned, social media can help. A lot of social media mentions around something more neutral, even if it is just name contact, name Facebook or name Twitter. It could also be name reviews if you have got lots of positive reviews, and trying to get other things to come up above it. Get lots of mentions on social media, get lots of mentions on guest posts or niche edits just of the brand with reviews, and then build the search volume. It is important to lift that search volume for the brand and keyword that you want to start showing up in autocomplete.

Karl Hudson: I think nowadays as well, with Google AI Gemini overviews, it is more important than ever to be trying to get into listicles and getting in with competitors. All of that will help strengthen the generative summaries of brands as well.

James Dooley: Exactly. So, if anyone is watching this and you do have any sort of negative stigma or any sort of negative keyword after your brand name or your personal name and you want that removed from the autocomplete, get in touch with Searcharoo. Head on over to the contact page and myself, Karl Hudson or one of the members of the team will come back to you and see exactly what we think needs to be done. It could be search volume, it could be social media mentions, it could be some power posts or just some unlinked mentions. There are lots of different ways we can try to do it. It is very niche dependent and there are different nuances depending on the country. But head on over, fill in the form and say you are looking to have Google autocomplete removal, and we can have a look at what we can do at Searcharoo.