Get a defamatory page out of your search results
There are two levers: persuade the publisher to take it down, or persuade the search engine to stop listing it. They need different arguments, and the order matters.
How do you remove defamatory content from Google?
There are two routes. The first is removal at the source, by approaching the publisher or host with a documented complaint, which removes the content entirely. The second is de-indexing, where Google is asked to stop returning the URL — available through its legal removal process, and in the EU, UK and similar jurisdictions through a right to be forgotten request. Google generally requires a court order before de-indexing material purely on defamation grounds, so the legal position is usually established first.
Opinion is not defamation, however damaging it feels. "This company is terrible" is protected in most jurisdictions; "this company was convicted of fraud" when you were not is actionable. The line between them decides whether there is a case at all.
What strengthens a defamation case
- A factual claim that is demonstrably false, rather than an opinion
- Documentation proving the claim false — records, judgments, correspondence
- An identifiable publisher or host who can be served
- A jurisdiction with a workable defamation or data protection route
- The page being recent enough that the publisher still maintains the site
- A court order or formal legal determination, where one exists
How a defamation case runs
The assessment is the whole value here. Filing a weak removal request creates a record of a rejected claim, which makes the next one harder.
- 1
Legal assessment
Is the statement fact or opinion, is it false, and can you evidence that it is false? If the answer is no, we say so and stop.
- 2
Source approach
A documented complaint to the publisher or host. Many sites remove on evidence alone, and that removes the problem rather than hiding it.
- 3
De-index filing
Where the source will not act, the request goes to the search engine through the legal removal path with the full record.
- 4
Monitoring
Removed URLs are rechecked across the warranty window, because content reposted elsewhere needs a fresh filing.
- 5
Proof
A search result screenshot showing the URL gone, dated and captured from a clean session.
The specifics
- Priced
- Per URL
- Typical timeline
- 2 to 10 weeks; legal routes are slower than policy routes
- Best outcome
- Removal at source, which also removes it from every other search engine
- Counts as delivered
- The URL no longer returns for the named query, evidenced by a dated screenshot
- Warranty
- Re-checked across the monitoring window; a reappearance is re-filed
What we will not claim
- De-indexing hides a page from search results; it does not delete the page. Where the source can be removed at origin, that is the better outcome and we say so even though it is the cheaper job.
- We will not pursue removal of true reporting. Accurate journalism about something that happened is not a defamation case, and attempting it tends to amplify the story.
- Google decides. For defamation specifically it usually wants a court order, and we cannot substitute for one.
- De-indexing on one search engine does not cover the others; each is a separate filing and we price it that way.
Questions
Terms on this page
Last reviewed . Platform policies change; we re-check every page quarterly.