How to Negotiate with People to Remove Online Content

Negative online content about you or your brand can be damaging. Fortunately, there are strategies to remove this harmful material from the internet. Many tactics involve negotiating with website owners or content creators to remove online content.

Negotiation is a vital skill for business and life in general.

Your reputation hinges on what people find when they search for you or your business online.

By employing effective negotiation strategies, you can protect your online presence from damaging material that could tarnish your reputation.

Your reputation is based on what people see when they Google your name or business. Make sure what they see is good by taking proactive measures against negative online content.

Understanding Your Rights and the Content

Before attempting to remove online content, it’s crucial to understand your legal grounds for doing so. Some common reasons for requesting content removal include:

• Copyright infringement: If the content uses your copyrighted material without permission.
• Personal data protection: If the content includes your personal information that violates privacy laws.
• Defamation: If the content contains false and damaging statements about you or your business.

However, not all undesirable content violates the law. You may encounter material that is merely unflattering or critical but doesn’t necessarily warrant legal action for removal.

Preliminary Steps Before Negotiation

Before initiating negotiations, take these preparatory steps:

1. Document the Content: Capture screenshots, URLs, and any other relevant details about the content you want removed. This documentation will be essential when communicating with content hosts or creators.
2. Identify the Content Host: Determine who is hosting the website or platform where the content appears. This could be a web hosting company, social media platform, or individual website owner.
3. Understand Removal Policies: Research and review the content host’s policies regarding content removal. Many platforms have procedures for reporting and requesting the takedown of inappropriate material.

Preparing for Negotiation

Once you’ve gathered the necessary information, prepare your case for negotiation:

• Build Your Case: Gather evidence supporting your request for content removal, such as relevant laws or policies the content violates. Clearly articulate why the content should be taken down.
• Contact the Content Creator: If possible, approach the content creator directly. Explain your concerns calmly and request their cooperation in removing the material.
• Draft a Removal Request: If you cannot reach the content creator or if they are uncooperative, draft a written request to the content host. Include details about the content, why it should be removed, and any supporting evidence.

Negotiation Tactics

When negotiating with content hosts or creators, employ these tactics:

• Start the Conversation: Initiate contact in a respectful and cooperative tone. Explain your position without making accusations or demands.
• Express Your Concerns Clearly: Communicate your concerns about the content clearly and calmly. Avoid escalating the situation or making threats.
• Offer Solutions: Suggest alternative solutions that might satisfy both parties’ needs, such as editing or modifying the content rather than complete removal.
• Streisand Effect: Be aware of the potential Streisand Effect, where attempts to suppress information online can paradoxically draw more attention to it. Manage this risk by avoiding overly aggressive tactics and focusing on promoting positive content.

How to Negotiate to Remove Negative Online Content

Negotiating to remove online content is not easy, nor is it quick. It is a highly nuanced strategy that requires research and planning to get the best results. Keep in mind that no win is too small. While the ultimate goal is complete removal, other options exist if that isn’t possible.

Ask the Author Directly to Delete Their Content

Before entering a negotiation with the author, do some research on them. Find out what motivates them. Maybe they’d appreciate a donation given to charities in their name, direct payment, or sometimes, after cooling down, they felt bad and simply needed a nudge to remove it. People are motivated by many things — you might be surprised by what works.

This blog post on content removal may be helpful to you.

Here are a few sample talking points for when you make your request. A phone call is preferable to written communication — emails or messages can be copied directly into the original post, refreshing the content and potentially strengthening its search ranking.

• Appeal to their altruistic side: “You had every right to post that review. I hope I’ve made it right. At this point, the post is really damaging my business — would you mind removing or updating it?”
• Try the charity angle: “I see you support the local Little League. Removing the post you wrote might take some of your valuable time. I’d be happy to donate to the Little League in your name as a thank you for taking it down.”
• Take the capitalist route: “I’d like to sponsor the page you wrote about our business. We’ll request a few modifications, and you’ll be well compensated for your time.” Modifications may mean removing the business’ name, adding a noindex tag to prevent Google from crawling the page, or removing the page altogether.

Ask the Webmaster or Publisher to Remove the Content

If the author refuses to remove their content, try reaching out to the webmaster or publisher of the site. While this is not possible for personal blogs, it is a good option for medium-sized sites like local or small-town news outlets. Try adapting the approaches above to negotiate content removal at the publisher level.

Ask the Writer or Publisher to Change the Content

If the writer or publisher refuses to remove the content, don’t let your negotiation end there. They may be willing to change the content to remove the search phrase damaging your online reputation. Ask them to replace mentions of your name or company with more vague descriptors. This causes the content to drop from your search ranking, since the target phrase no longer appears in the article.

Ask the Publisher to Make the Page Invisible to Google

If you’ve exhausted the tactics above and the negative content appears to be staying put, ask the publisher to add a NOINDEX tag to the page’s HTML header. A NOINDEX tag looks like this:

meta name="robots" content="noindex"

A NOINDEX tag tells search engines not to crawl the page, which typically causes it to disappear from search results within a few weeks. The negative content will still exist, but people will be significantly less likely to find it.

How to Negotiate to Improve Ratings and Reviews

Ignoring complaints or handling issues poorly can seriously damage an online reputation. Most businesses make mistakes — striving for perfection is often not a worthy goal, since customers frequently don’t want or trust perfection. Mistakes happen; it’s how you handle them that matters.

United Airlines learned this the hard way. In 2009, the airline damaged musician Dave Carroll’s $3,500 Taylor guitar. Carroll tried negotiating for over nine months for compensation. United refused to pay, so Carroll wrote a song about the experience. The song went viral, and the company lost approximately 10% of its stock value — roughly $180 million.

Here are some important factors to keep in mind when responding to negative reviews:

• Avoid taking offense to undeserved or unfair reviews.
• Polite language can give negative feedback a positive impact.
• Promise only what you can deliver.
• Take full responsibility for the issue.
• Use humor with extreme caution.
• Avoid addressing sensitive issues on a public forum.

Handling negative feedback well takes training and, often, strong negotiation skills. For a deeper look at how reviews affect your bottom line, see how positive and negative reviews affect business revenue.

How to Promote New or Existing Positive Content

Once you’ve removed as many negative mentions of your brand as possible, you can focus on the positive ones. Even if you can’t remove all the negative web content about your brand, focusing on positive content will effectively suppress negative mentions over time. The following tips serve as a starting point for negotiating positive brand mentions online.

Ask Your Customers to Write Reviews

Positive online reviews are worth their weight in gold. According to BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey, 91% of consumers say positive reviews make them more likely to use a business. Remember that even asking for a review is, in essence, a type of negotiation.

The impact of negative online reviews can be tremendous. The 2019 Peloton ad controversy, for example, wiped approximately $1.5 billion off the company’s valuation following a wave of negative public feedback.

Here are a few important things to keep in mind:

• Don’t wait for customers to offer feedback. Train yourself to be proactive. The majority of customers will leave a review when asked — so simply making the request can go a long way.
• Asking for reviews should not be a one-time activity. According to BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey, 85% of consumers only consider reviews from the past three months relevant, meaning recency matters more than ever.
• Train your team to watch for fake reviews. Fake feedback hurts more than it helps.

Companies typically benefit from positive feedback, even in the B2B sector. Ask your vendors and partners for reviews after a catch-up call or after helping them solve an issue. You don’t need to ask for “good” reviews — if you ask, they generally will leave positive ones.

Connect With Your Social Media Audience

Social media plays a pivotal role in how people perceive brands. According to Sprout Social’s 2023 Index, positive social interactions remain one of the strongest drivers of brand recommendations, with the majority of consumers saying a brand’s social media presence influences their purchasing decisions.

Engaging with your social media audience builds relationships, enhances trust, and strengthens loyalty. Consistent participation also creates a cohesive brand image and improves your overall presence on the web.

Here are a few ways to engage with your audience and improve your online reputation:

• Comment on posts.
• Spark conversations and join in with others.
• Share relevant information.
• Share user-generated content.
• Ask and answer questions.
• Address complaints and criticisms.
• Show appreciation for customers.

Keep the following in mind to make the most of social media:

• Social media networks are not all equal. Be intentional with your selections by considering who your audience is, where they are active, and where they are searching.
• Social media works best when engagement is the main focus. Keep marketing and promotional efforts balanced with other types of content.
• Effective social media management takes skill. If you lack the expertise, consider training or hiring someone with social media experience.

Showcase Customer Testimonials

Part of successful negotiation is having your own positive reputation. Social proof is the new currency of credibility and trust — two crucial elements of online reputation. According to Nielsen’s 2021 Trust in Advertising study, 88% of global consumers trust recommendations from people they know above all other forms of advertising.

Give your online reputation a boost by highlighting testimonials on your website. Those reviews can come from customers, industry experts, thought leaders, celebrities, or influencers. Use video testimonials whenever possible — video triggers emotions, which are a powerful decision-making driver. According to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report, video content consistently outperforms other formats in both engagement and shareability.

Share User-Generated Content

Sharing user-generated content (UGC) is a great way to strengthen your brand’s reputation. According to Nosto’s 2022 “The State of UGC” report, 79% of people say user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions — far more than branded content or traditional advertising. UGC also carries an authenticity that polished marketing simply can’t replicate.

Not only is user-generated content free, but it also comes across as far more genuine. You can use existing UGC or create a contest if you want something more specific. Starbucks’ holiday Red Cup Art contest is an excellent example — it encourages positive customer engagement, which in turn boosts a company’s reputation.

Claim All Your Online Business Listings

A common thread in negotiation training is to focus on what you can control. Business listings and directories are something you can control. A business listing is an online profile containing your business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and other key data.

According to BrightLocal’s 2022 Local Citations Trust Report, 68% of consumers would stop using a local business if they found incorrect information in online directories. Keeping that information accurate and consistent across platforms strengthens credibility with both customers and search engines.

Taking control of your pages allows you to respond to feedback. According to BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey, 88% of consumers say they would be more likely to use a business that responds to all reviews, both positive and negative.

Focus your efforts on the larger directories and the sites your target audience uses most. Here are some of the top online business directories:

• Google Business Profile
• Bing Places
• Yelp
• Facebook
• Better Business Bureau
• Angi
• Merchant Circle
• LinkedIn
• Yellow Pages
• Apple Maps
• Chamber of Commerce

If your industry has a niche review site, prioritize those as well. According to a 2023 PatientPop survey, 74% of patients have used online reviews to evaluate doctors, making healthcare-specific review sites a critical reputation touchpoint. Here are a few examples by industry:

• Medical/Healthcare: Caring.com, Doctor.com, ZocDoc, Wellness.com
• Residential: Trulia, Zillow
• Restaurants: OpenTable, The Infatuation, Zomato
• Hotels: TripAdvisor, Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz
• Home Improvement: Houzz, Angi
• Legal: Avvo, Lawyers.com
• Automotive: Cars.com, DealerRater, Edmunds
• Recruitment: Indeed, Glassdoor
• Financial: LendingTree, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Create High-Quality Content

Creating great content is one of the most effective ways to improve your online presence. As part of a broader strategy to push negative search results down in SERPs, high-quality content is one of your most powerful tools.

High-quality articles improve credibility and brand authority — both essential for building trust. Content must be engaging, educational, and genuinely valuable to improve your image, since positive feelings connected to content tend to track back to the creator.

Strong content also pushes down negative or irrelevant results. According to Backlinko’s 2023 analysis of Google search data, the first page of Google captures over 95% of all search traffic — meaning content that doesn’t rank on page one is effectively invisible to most users.

Monitor Your Online Reputation Consistently

Keeping a constant eye on your online presence is essential. Your personal or company image can take years to build and seconds to damage. Attempting to monitor all your online mentions manually, however, is unwise.

Things happen fast on the internet. Consider the scale:

• WordPress powers over 43% of all websites globally, with tens of millions of new posts published every month.
• TripAdvisor hosts over one billion reviews and opinions, with new contributions added around the clock.
• Instagram users share more than 100 million photos and videos every day.

Automated media monitoring tools track what people say about you or your brand from a single dashboard. Not only do social monitoring tools save valuable time, but they also ensure issues don’t slip through the cracks. For a comparison of leading platforms, see our guide to the top online sentiment monitoring platforms.

Google Alerts, Mention, and Brand24 are solid starting points for monitoring your online presence. Online reputation management companies can also help you track and improve your image over time.

Conclusion

First impressions count when it comes to negotiating. There are things you can do to help a negotiation go your way — and your reputation is one of them. People will search for you online before or during any negotiation, so what they find matters.

According to BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey, 86% of consumers say negative reviews have put them off using a business. Failing to manage your online presence is a significant risk, both for your reputation and for any negotiations that depend on it. If you’re dealing with a more serious situation, our ultimate guide to crisis management and reputation repair can help you chart a path forward.