When Your Name and Your Business Share Bad Search Results
When a search for your name brings up bad results about your business, or a search for your business brings up something about you personally, you have one problem showing up in two places. Start by sorting every result on the first two pages into three groups: about you, about the business, and about both. Each group has different tools.
Reviews on a business listing go through that platform's reporting process. Personal details like your home address go through Google's personal information tools. Articles and complaint posts that name both you and the business usually can't be removed, so the realistic route for those is building stronger results that push them down.
Step 1: Map the overlap
Open a private browser window, sign out of your accounts, and run these four searches: your full name, your name plus the business name, the business name alone, and the business name plus words like "reviews," "complaints," or "scam." For every result on the first two pages, write down:
This usually shows the problem is smaller than it felt. It often comes down to two or three pages that rank for both names, and those are where to spend your effort.
- The URL and who controls the site.
- Whether it's about you, the business, or both.
- Whether it's accurate, outdated, or false.
- Whether it breaks a platform rule you could report it under.
- Where it ranks for each of the four searches.
Step 2: Decide whether to tie the names together or pull them apart
This choice shapes everything that follows. If you are the brand, as many consultants, real estate agents, attorneys, and coaches are, linking your name and your business helps, because your good pages lift both. Put your name on the business site and the business on your personal profiles.
If the business is a separate company, or you might sell it someday, separate them. Use the company name, not your personal name, in the domain, social handles, and press materials. Give the About page a team focus instead of making it about you, and list the business under its LLC name where you can. Some overlap can't be avoided. State business filings, for example, often list owners, officers, or a registered agent, and those are public records.
Step 3: Handle reviews by the platform's rules
On Google, only reviews that break Google's policies can be removed. Disagreeing with a review isn't enough. Google's help page on reporting inappropriate reviews gives the steps:
What you are not allowed to do
Under the FTC's rule on fake reviews, which took effect October 21, 2024, businesses can't buy fake reviews or suppress real ones with groundless legal threats, intimidation, or false public accusations. The Consumer Review Fairness Act also voids clauses in standard customer contracts that bar or penalize honest reviews. The safe path is to report reviews that break the rules, reply calmly to the rest, and get more reviews from real customers by asking every one of them. This is general information, not legal advice. Our review management page covers replies and review requests in more detail.
- Open your Business Profile and select Read reviews.
- Next to the review, select Report (the flag icon).
- Choose the reason that actually fits, such as spam and fake content, or profanity.
- Select Send report.
- If Google decides the review doesn't break its rules, you get one appeal.
Step 4: Deal with content that names you personally
Complaint sites, forum threads, and news articles often name the owner along with the business. Here's what applies to each:
- Your home address, phone number, or personal email on a page about the business can often be taken out of Google Search through Results about you.
- Sites pretending to be you or your business are an impersonation problem, not a reviews problem. See our page on fake website takedowns.
- Statements that are false and damaging may be defamation. Talk to an attorney before you respond publicly, because what you post can be used against you later.
- Accurate but harsh content, such as a real customer's complaint or an accurate news story, will usually stay up. For those, the real choices are to respond or to outrank it.
Step 5: Build strong results for both names
Search engines fill the first page with whatever is most relevant and trusted. If the only strong pages that mention both names are negative, they win by default. Give each name its own set of pages that you control:
Expect this to take months. Results that have ranked for years don't move quickly, and nobody can promise a specific page will drop off page one.
- For the business: a complete Google Business Profile, a website with real service and location pages, a LinkedIn company page, and listings in the main directories for your industry.
- For you: a LinkedIn profile, a short bio page, speaker or author pages, and interviews or guest articles that use the exact form of your name you want to rank for.
- Only link them together if you chose to in Step 2. If you're separating the two, don't put your personal name all over the business's pages.
When outside help makes sense
If there are a few reviews and one old article, you can usually handle it with the steps above. Help makes sense when the same negative content is ranking for both your name and your brand, when impersonation or fake review campaigns are involved, or when you're short on time. Our page for business owners explains how we approach these cases, including what drives the cost.
Want this handled for you? See our remove it from Google search service.
