714 suppression campaigns: what actually moves negative search results
Reputation management is a real operational problem for founders, brands, and public-facing solopreneurs. One bad article or forum thread ranking on page one can cost customers for years. Erase.com published findings from 714 suppression campaigns that show which variables actually predict whether you can move a negative result off page one.
What the data shows
Two factors determined outcomes more than anything else: where the negative result started in the rankings, and whether it was sitting inside the top 10. Publishing volume of positive assets was not the deciding variable.
For each of the 714 campaigns, Erase.com tracked starting position, how many positive assets were published, how long it took to clear page one, and which negatives refused to move.
Which results are hardest to move
Not all negative results are equal. According to the campaign data, difficulty breaks down roughly like this:
- Easier to suppress: Court and legal record pages, mugshot sites, and arrest record pages.
- Middle difficulty: Local news coverage, social media posts, government and regulator pages, and major national outlets.
- Hardest to move: Reddit threads, review profiles, and complaint site listings.
The AI Overviews wrinkle
Page 2 placement is no longer a safe destination for pushed-down results. The report notes that AI Overviews can surface content from page two and beyond, meaning a result that used to be functionally invisible can resurface inside a Google AI-generated summary.
The operator takeaway
If you are managing a brand or a personal name in search, the practical read here is that your starting position matters more than your content output. Flooding the zone with new positive content is less predictive of success than how deeply entrenched the negative is before you start. And if you are pushing results to page two, that may not be enough in an AI Overview world.
I’m founder of BizStack at Cagri Sarigoz LLC and a passionate advocate for entrepreneurs.
With over 14 years in tech, marketing, and AI, including my role as Head of SEO at CitizenShipper and co-founder of TaleBot at Intale AI, I’m dedicated to sharing genuine, useful product insights and tips.
At BizStack, I aim to cut through the digital noise to provide clear, actionable advice.
And more than all else, I’m a father to a (always) little girl and a husband.
Contact me at [email protected] for assistance.
