# VFCore — full reference VFCore (vfcore.com) runs reputation and identity operations for brands and individuals. Three groups of service: Amplify (media placement), Defend (reputation cleanup) and Verify (platform identity). Payment is cryptocurrency only, quoted in USD. ## How buying works Each service states a defined outcome before purchase. That sentence is copied onto the order at payment and is the only description a refund is measured against. Funds are held against the case and settle only when an operator posts proof of completion — a live link, a screenshot, or both. Orders containing several items hold and release each item separately. If an outcome is not achieved, the client is refunded in full. ## Press placement URL: https://vfcore.com/press-release Group: Amplify Pricing: Priced per outlet Turnaround: 1–14 business days, stated per outlet VFCore places sponsored articles on named media outlets. You select the publications from a directory showing each one’s verified metrics and price, pay once, and receive the live URL and a screenshot for every placement. What is delivered: - A published article on each outlet you selected - The live URL and a timestamped full-page screenshot - An indexed-in-Google check after publication - A campaign report listing every placement with its metrics Counts as delivered when: A live, publicly accessible article on the agreed domain within the outlet’s stated turnaround, with the URL and a full-page screenshot delivered, remaining live for 90 days. Limits stated by VFCore: - A paid placement is not editorial coverage, and some outlets label it as sponsored. Which ones, and with what wording, is shown on every outlet page. - Publishers set their own schedule. Turnaround is an estimate; the guarantee is on the outcome. - Press placements do not count toward Wikipedia notability, whatever anyone tells you. FAQ: Q: Can I buy several outlets at once? A: Yes — that is the normal case. Add everything you want to one selection and pay once. Each placement is tracked, held and released on its own, so twenty outlets do not become one tangled conversation. Q: What if an outlet rejects my article? A: You choose: a refund for that item, or a replacement outlet of equal value. We never decide for you. Q: Do I get a dofollow link? A: It depends on the outlet, and every outlet page states it. Dofollow placements cost more because they are worth more. Q: Will you write the article? A: For outlets where writing is included, yes. For the others it is a paid add-on, shown on the outlet page. ## Negative review removal URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal Group: Defend Pricing: Per review — deposit plus a success fee Turnaround: Usually 7–30 days, depending on platform VFCore removes reviews that are fake, violate a platform’s content policy, or are defamatory, from Google Business Profile, Trustpilot, Yelp and similar sites, using policy reporting and legal escalation. Honest reviews from real customers are not removed. What is delivered: - An eligibility assessment before you commit - The filing itself, with evidence assembled properly - Before and after screenshots with timestamps - A 60-day watch in case the review reappears Counts as delivered when: The specified review is no longer visible on the public profile, evidenced by before and after screenshots. Limits stated by VFCore: - We do not remove truthful reviews from genuine customers. Nobody can do that reliably, and anyone promising it is selling you a refund. - Platforms make the final call. Where a review survives, you pay only the assessment fee. - A review that reappears inside 60 days is re-filed free. FAQ: Q: Which sites can you work on? A: Google Business Profile, Trustpilot, Yelp, Sitejabber, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, Facebook Recommendations and others. Ask about one we have not listed — the eligibility check is free. Q: How is this different from reporting it myself? A: The report itself is the easy part. What changes the outcome is matching the complaint to the specific policy clause it breaks, assembling evidence the reviewer was never a customer, and knowing when to escalate legally instead. Q: Is this legal? A: Yes. We use the platforms’ own reporting mechanisms and, where a review is defamatory, the legal routes that exist for exactly that. Q: What if it comes back? A: Our monitor checks for 60 days and we contact you first. We re-file at no cost. ## Google de-indexing URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex Group: Defend Pricing: Per URL, by difficulty Turnaround: 2–12 weeks, depending on route VFCore removes URLs from Google search results using the grounds a search engine accepts: defamation, outdated or resolved content, personal data and right-to-be-forgotten, impersonation, and DMCA. Pricing is per URL and depends on difficulty. What is delivered: - An assessment of each URL and its realistic route - The filings themselves, with evidence prepared - Before and after screenshots of the search results - A 90-day watch in case the URL returns Counts as delivered when: The URL no longer appears in Google results for the agreed query in the agreed country, verified by before and after screenshots, within 90 days. Limits stated by VFCore: - We do not suppress lawful, truthful journalism. The routes that work are the legitimate ones, and no other kind lasts. - De-indexing removes a page from search results. Removing the page from the web itself is a separate, harder job we quote separately. - Google decides. Where a filing fails on every available route, you are refunded. FAQ: Q: Does the article get deleted? A: Not by de-indexing — the page stays on its own site but stops appearing in search for the terms that matter. Since almost nobody reaches it any other way, the practical effect is close. Removal at source is a separate service. Q: How long does it last? A: A successful removal is normally permanent. We watch for 90 days and re-file free if the URL returns. Q: Can you remove it everywhere? A: Removals are granted per Google domain and sometimes per country. We state the scope achieved rather than implying a global result. ## Instagram page report URL: https://vfcore.com/instagram-lookup Group: Verify Pricing: Fixed price — standard or express Turnaround: 24 hours, or 3 hours on express VFCore produces a diagnostic report on an Instagram account covering active restrictions, policy strikes, reach and distribution limits, monetisation and feature eligibility, and verification readiness. Delivery is within 24 hours, or 3 hours on express. It never requires your password or 2FA code. What is delivered: - Account status: active restrictions, strikes and appeal history - Distribution flags, including recommendation eligibility - Feature and monetisation eligibility - A verification readiness score with the exact gaps named - A prioritised fix list, and a PDF you can keep Counts as delivered when: The report is delivered to your case, in the dashboard and as a PDF. Limits stated by VFCore: - We never ask for your password or a 2FA code. Anyone who does is phishing you. - The report explains the state of the account. Fixing a restriction is separate work, which the report will tell you whether to attempt. FAQ: Q: Do you need my login? A: No. Never. Not your password, not a 2FA code, not a "temporary" one. The report does not work that way, and a service that asks is taking your account. Q: Will it tell me if I am shadowbanned? A: It shows the distribution and recommendation flags on the account, which is the substance behind that word. You get the actual state rather than a guess from an engagement graph. Q: Is this worth it if my account looks fine? A: Often, yes — particularly before applying for verification. Most rejections come from something visible in this report. ## Instagram legacy badge URL: https://vfcore.com/instagram-verification Group: Verify Pricing: Package price, held in escrow until the badge appears Turnaround: Typically 3–10 weeks including platform review VFCore prepares and submits Instagram legacy verification applications: eligibility scoring, a notability dossier built from independent press coverage and public records, and the submission itself. This is the notability-based legacy badge, not the paid Meta Verified subscription. Meta makes the final decision. What is delivered: - An eligibility score with the specific gaps named - A notability dossier assembled from real evidence - The application prepared and submitted properly - A second attempt inside the retry window if the first is declined Counts as delivered when: The verification badge is visible on the profile, evidenced by a screenshot. Limits stated by VFCore: - Meta decides. We prepare and submit; nobody outside Meta can grant a badge, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying. - Notability cannot be manufactured overnight. If you are not close, the honest answer is a timeline, not an invoice. - This is the legacy badge. Meta Verified is a subscription you can buy yourself in the app. FAQ: Q: Is this the same as Meta Verified? A: No. Meta Verified is a monthly subscription you can buy yourself in the app in a minute. The legacy badge is granted on notability and cannot be bought — which is exactly why it still signals something. Q: What if I am rejected? A: We try again within the retry window. If the badge never appears, you are refunded per the terms on this page. Q: Do I need press coverage? A: In practice, yes — it is the main evidence of notability. If you have none, the Notability package builds it first. ## YouTube, TikTok & Snapchat verification URL: https://vfcore.com/platform-verification Group: Verify Pricing: Per platform, held in escrow until the badge appears Turnaround: 2–8 weeks including platform review VFCore prepares and submits verification applications for YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat. Each platform is judged against its own threshold — YouTube generally expects 100,000 subscribers, TikTok and Snapchat weigh press coverage and cross-platform presence. The platform makes the final decision. What is delivered: - An eligibility review against that platform’s actual criteria - The evidence package assembled - Submission and follow-up - A screenshot of the badge as proof Counts as delivered when: The verification badge is visible on the profile, evidenced by a screenshot. Limits stated by VFCore: - The platform decides. We prepare the strongest honest case. - YouTube in particular applies a hard subscriber threshold. Below it, no application succeeds and we will tell you rather than take the fee. FAQ: Q: Can you verify an account below the threshold? A: No, and we will not take the order. YouTube’s threshold is applied mechanically; an application below it is refused without review. Q: Can I apply for several platforms? A: Yes, each as its own case with its own price and evidence package. ## Wikipedia & Wikidata URL: https://vfcore.com/wikipedia Group: Verify Pricing: Fixed price per language edition Turnaround: 3–12 weeks, driven by reviewer queues VFCore writes and submits Wikipedia articles through Articles for Creation as a disclosed paid contribution, and creates Wikidata items that feed Google Knowledge Panels. Publication depends on independent, significant coverage in reliable secondary sources — press releases and sponsored articles do not count. If the article is not published, the fee is refunded. What is delivered: - A source audit telling you plainly whether you qualify - The article written to Wikipedia’s standards and submitted through AfC - Paid contribution disclosed, as the Terms of Use require - A 90-day watch, and a free second attempt if it is deleted inside it Counts as delivered when: The article is live in Wikipedia mainspace, not draft, and remains live for 90 days. Limits stated by VFCore: - Press releases and sponsored placements do not count toward notability, whatever other agencies tell you. Buying coverage to qualify usually fails on exactly this point. - Nobody owns their article. Once live it is publicly editable, and it will include controversies if sources cover them. - Paid editing is disclosed. That is a condition of the Terms of Use, not a choice. - If the audit says you do not qualify, the honest product is a Wikidata item and a Knowledge Panel — achievable for almost everyone, and what most clients actually pictured. FAQ: Q: Can you guarantee the article? A: We guarantee the money. Independent reviewers decide publication against notability rules we do not control, so if the article is not published you are refunded. Q: I have lots of press. Does that qualify me? A: It depends what kind. Wikipedia discounts press releases, sponsored content and churnalism. Our audit separates the coverage that counts from the coverage that does not, before any writing starts. Q: What is a Knowledge Panel? A: The box about you on the right of Google’s results. It is fed largely by Wikidata, has a far lower bar than Wikipedia, and is what most people mean when they say they want a Wikipedia page. Q: Will it mention bad press? A: If reliable sources covered it, yes. An article that omits it will be edited by someone else to include it. We tell you this before starting rather than after. ## Notability package URL: https://vfcore.com/notability Group: Amplify Pricing: Three tiers Turnaround: 6–14 weeks end to end The VFCore Notability package combines press placements, a Wikidata entry and a Google Knowledge Panel attempt with a platform verification application, sold as one outcome. It is designed for people whose verification applications keep being declined for lack of independent coverage. What is delivered: - Press placements chosen for evidence value, not just traffic - A Wikidata entry - A Google Knowledge Panel attempt - A verification application prepared and submitted Counts as delivered when: All contained placements published with proof, and the Wikidata item live. Knowledge Panel appearance is attempted, not guaranteed, and excluded from the refund condition. Limits stated by VFCore: - This package does not promise a Wikipedia article. Paid placements do not qualify as Wikipedia sources, and we will not sell you the opposite. - A Knowledge Panel depends on Google choosing to show one. We attempt it; the refund condition excludes it. - Verification remains the platform’s decision. FAQ: Q: Does this get me a Wikipedia page? A: No, and be sceptical of anyone who says it does. Wikipedia discounts paid coverage. This package builds what verification and Knowledge Panels need, which is a different and much more achievable bar. Q: How is it different from buying placements myself? A: The outlets are chosen for evidence value rather than price, and the Wikidata entry and application are built on top of them. Placements alone rarely move a verification decision. ## Rare username acquisition URL: https://vfcore.com/handles Group: Verify Pricing: Research fee, then a quote Turnaround: 1–8 weeks, depending on the holder VFCore acquires rare and short usernames on Instagram, X, TikTok, Telegram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and YouTube. Every handle requires proof of control and a signed release from the current holder, and funds are held until the buyer confirms access. Handles from hacked or stolen accounts are refused. What is delivered: - Research on who holds the handle and whether it can move - Negotiation and a signed release - Funds held until you confirm the handle is yours - A documented transfer you can point to later Counts as delivered when: You confirm the handle is under your control on the platform. Limits stated by VFCore: - We refuse any handle that appears to come from a hacked, stolen or force-recovered account. This is the main way buyers in this market lose both the handle and the money. - Some handles cannot be moved at any price. The research fee covers finding that out, which is worth knowing before you build a brand around one. - We will not help anyone impersonate a person or business. FAQ: Q: How do I know it is not stolen? A: Because we record proof of control and a signed release from the holder before any transfer, and we publish the policy. In a market where much of the supply is hacked accounts, that is the whole difference — a stolen handle comes back to its owner and you lose both it and your money. Q: What if the holder refuses? A: Then it is not available. We tell you early rather than stringing it out. Q: Can you get any username? A: No. Active businesses and people generally will not sell, and we do not pressure them. ## Specific questions, answered ### How do you get a Facebook Page verified? URL: https://vfcore.com/facebook-verification Group: Verify Facebook verification is requested through Meta’s verification form or Page settings, and is granted to authentic, complete and notable Pages and profiles — notability being measured by coverage in independent news sources rather than by followers or ad spend. Meta Verified for business is a separate paid subscription that does not require notability. Facts: - Applies to: Facebook Pages and personal profiles - Follower minimum: None published; notability is the test - Typical timeline: 3 to 10 weeks including Meta’s review - Counts as delivered: The badge is visible on the Page or profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - The platform makes the final decision. We prepare and submit the strongest honest case; nobody outside the platform can grant a badge, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. - Spending on Meta ads will not buy a badge, and we will not suggest it as a route. - A Page with no independent coverage is not a candidate yet, and we will say so rather than take the fee. Q: Can a business get verified without press coverage? A: Rarely. Public records and an official website help establish authenticity, but notability is the harder half of the test and independent coverage is the main evidence for it. Q: Should I verify the Page or myself? A: Whichever has the coverage. A founder written about by name is often a stronger candidate than the company, and the badge on a personal profile still signals credibility for the business. Q: Does Meta Verified for business do the same thing? A: It is a paid subscription that confirms identity and adds support features. It is a legitimate product, you can buy it yourself, and it is not the notability badge. ### How do you get verified on YouTube? URL: https://vfcore.com/youtube-verification Group: Verify A YouTube channel can apply for verification once it reaches 100,000 subscribers, through YouTube Studio under Settings, Channel, Feature eligibility. YouTube then checks that the channel is authentic and represents the real creator, brand or entity it claims to be. Below 100,000 subscribers the application is not reviewed, and the badge can be removed if a channel changes its name. Facts: - Subscriber threshold: 100,000, applied mechanically - Where it is requested: YouTube Studio → Settings → Channel → Feature eligibility - Badge persistence: Can be lost on a channel rename - Typical timeline: 2 to 8 weeks including YouTube’s review Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not take an order for a channel under 100,000 subscribers. The application is refused automatically, so selling it would be selling a refund. - The platform makes the final decision. We prepare and submit the strongest honest case; nobody outside the platform can grant a badge, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. - Buying subscribers to cross the threshold is both detectable and self-defeating, and we will not arrange it. Q: Can you verify a channel under 100,000 subscribers? A: No, and we will not take the order. The threshold is applied before a human sees the request, so an application below it is simply refused. Q: I passed 100,000 and was still declined. Why? A: The threshold makes you eligible to be reviewed, not entitled to a badge. The usual causes are an inconsistent channel name, an incomplete channel, an active strike, or nothing outside YouTube confirming who you are. Q: Does the badge disappear if I rename? A: It can. Verification is attached to the verified name, so a rebrand often means reapplying. ### How do you get verified on TikTok? URL: https://vfcore.com/tiktok-verification Group: Verify TikTok grants verification to accounts that are authentic, active, complete and notable, with notability evidenced by coverage in multiple credible news sources that are not paid or promotional. There is no public follower threshold, and verification cannot be purchased from TikTok. Requests are made in the app under Settings and privacy, Account, Verification. Facts: - Follower threshold: None published - Strongest single signal: Independent press coverage, unpaid - Helps considerably: Already verified on another major platform - Typical timeline: 2 to 8 weeks including TikTok’s review Limits stated by VFCore: - The platform makes the final decision. We prepare and submit the strongest honest case; nobody outside the platform can grant a badge, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. - There is no paid route to a TikTok badge, and we will not pretend to have one. - An account with no presence outside TikTok is rarely a candidate, whatever its follower count. Q: How many followers do I need for TikTok verification? A: TikTok publishes no threshold, and accounts with millions of followers are declined while smaller accounts with real press coverage are approved. Treat follower count as neither necessary nor sufficient. Q: Does being verified elsewhere help? A: Yes, noticeably. A verified presence on another major platform under the same name is strong corroboration of authenticity. Q: Can I buy TikTok verification? A: No. TikTok does not sell it. What can be bought is help preparing and submitting a credible application, which is what this is. ### How do you get verified on Snapchat? URL: https://vfcore.com/snapchat-verification Group: Verify Snapchat verification is granted through the Snap Star programme, which requires a Public Profile, consistent public posting, and recognition as a notable public figure, creator or brand. There is no standalone verification form for ordinary accounts, and the badge is tied to the Public Profile rather than the username. Facts: - Programme: Snap Star, attached to a Public Profile - Prerequisite: A Public Profile must exist first - Typical timeline: 2 to 8 weeks - Counts as delivered: The badge is visible on the Public Profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - The platform makes the final decision. We prepare and submit the strongest honest case; nobody outside the platform can grant a badge, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. - Snapchat runs this through a creator programme, so timelines are less predictable than on other platforms and we will not pretend otherwise. Q: Do I need a Public Profile? A: Yes. Verification attaches to the Public Profile, so a personal account cannot be verified. Converting is free and takes minutes, and it is the first thing we check. Q: Is Snapchat verification the same as a Snap Star badge? A: In practice yes — the badge on a Public Profile is the Snap Star marker, which is why the application runs through the creator programme rather than a separate verification form. ### Can you get a Google review removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/google Group: Defend Google removes reviews that breach its prohibited and restricted content policy — fake engagement, conflicts of interest, off-topic content, impersonation, personal information, harassment or hate speech. Reviews are reported through the Google Business Profile reviews panel, and a rejected report can be escalated through Google support. A genuine negative review from a real customer is not removable, and the realistic response to one is a public reply. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only for those with grounds - Typical timeline: 3 to 21 days; escalations take longer than first reports - Visible effect: The review and its star rating both leave the average - Counts as delivered: The review is gone from the public profile, evidenced by a screenshot - If it stays up: Full refund of that item from escrow Limits stated by VFCore: - A genuine review from a genuine customer cannot be removed, and anyone promising otherwise is selling you a refund with extra steps. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. It is against every platform’s terms, it is detectable, and a business caught doing it ends up worse off than the review left it. - We do not contact reviewers to pressure them into deleting a review. It backfires publicly and it is often itself reportable. - Google is the decision maker. We make the strongest documented case; we cannot overrule it. Q: How long does Google take to remove a review? A: A first report is usually decided within a few days, often automatically. Escalations to a human reviewer typically add one to three weeks, and that is where borderline cases are won. Q: Does removing a review fix my star rating? A: Yes — a removed review stops counting towards the average. On a profile with few reviews the jump is immediate and large; on one with thousands it is marginal, and we will say so before you buy. Q: Can I remove a review from a competitor pretending to be a customer? A: That is one of the strongest cases there is, because it breaches both the fake engagement and the conflict of interest rules. It still has to be documented rather than asserted — reviewer history and the absence of any matching transaction are the usual evidence. Q: What if the review names an employee? A: Personal information is a separate and often faster ground. A review naming a specific staff member, or including a phone number or address, breaches the policy regardless of whether the complaint itself is true. Q: What happens if it cannot be removed? A: You get the assessment, no charge for the item, and a drafted public reply. A measured reply under a bad review changes how the next reader reads it, which is the realistic win in that situation. ### How do you get a Trustpilot review removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/trustpilot Group: Defend A business flags the review from its Trustpilot business account and states which guideline it breaches. Where the flag claims there was no genuine buying or service experience, Trustpilot asks the reviewer for documentation; if they cannot provide it within the deadline, the review is removed. Reviews must also concern an experience within the last 12 months, and harmful, defamatory or personal-data content is removed outright. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only where grounds exist - Age limit: Experiences older than 12 months are out of scope for review - Typical timeline: 5 to 21 days, including the reviewer’s evidence window - Counts as delivered: The review is gone from the public profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A documented, genuine customer experience inside the window is not removable. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. It is against every platform’s terms, it is detectable, and a business caught doing it ends up worse off than the review left it. - Trustpilot penalises businesses that mass-flag without grounds, so we flag selectively and tell you which reviews to leave alone. - We do not invite customers to review in a way that filters out the unhappy ones — review gating is itself a violation. Q: What is the 12-month rule? A: Trustpilot expects a review to describe an experience within the previous twelve months. A review about something that happened years ago can be challenged on that basis alone. Q: What if the reviewer provides proof? A: Then the review stays, and that item is refunded in full from escrow. We would rather lose the item than argue against documented evidence. Q: Can I just reply instead? A: Often you should. A calm, specific reply visible under the review does more for the next reader than a removal attempt with no grounds, and it costs nothing. Q: Does removal change my TrustScore? A: Yes. Removed reviews stop counting, and because Trustpilot weights recent reviews more heavily, removing a recent one-star can move the score noticeably. ### Can a business get a Yelp review removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/yelp Group: Defend Yelp removes reviews that breach its content guidelines — conflicts of interest, reviews not based on a personal consumer experience, threats, lewdness, hate speech, promotional content or privacy violations — reported through the business account. Yelp does not remove reviews because a business disputes the facts, and it explicitly refuses to remove reviews in exchange for payment or advertising. Separately, Yelp’s recommendation software may move a review to the "not recommended" section, where it no longer counts towards the rating. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only where grounds exist - Typical timeline: 7 to 28 days - Also possible: A review moved to "not recommended" stops counting towards the rating - Counts as delivered: The review no longer appears in the recommended reviews, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - Yelp will not remove a review because the business disagrees with it, and advertising spend buys nothing here. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. It is against every platform’s terms, it is detectable, and a business caught doing it ends up worse off than the review left it. - We cannot control Yelp’s recommendation filter. It is software, it is not appealable, and nobody outside Yelp can direct it. - Asking customers to post positive reviews violates Yelp’s policy, so we will not build that into a strategy. Q: Why is my good review not showing? A: Yelp’s software may have classified it as not recommended, which hides it from the main listing and excludes it from your rating. It is automated, it is not appealable, and solicited reviews are among the most likely to be filtered. Q: Can paying for Yelp ads get reviews removed? A: No. Yelp is explicit that advertising has no effect on reviews, and treats the suggestion as a hallmark of a scam. Q: Is Yelp harder than Google? A: Generally yes. The grounds are narrower and the tolerance for business objections is lower, which is why our assessment rejects more Yelp items than Google ones. ### Can you get a Glassdoor review removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/glassdoor Group: Defend Glassdoor removes reviews that breach its community guidelines — naming an individual, disclosing confidential or proprietary information, discriminatory or threatening language, reviews from someone who never worked there, or duplicate submissions. Reviews are flagged through the employer account. Glassdoor will not remove a review for being negative, and it actively protects anonymous employee speech, so the reviewer’s identity is never disclosed. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only where grounds exist - Strongest ground: A named individual, or someone who never worked there - Typical timeline: 5 to 21 days - Reviewer anonymity: Protected absolutely. We never attempt to identify anyone - Counts as delivered: The review is gone from the public profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A genuine former employee’s honest opinion is not removable, however damaging. Glassdoor exists to publish exactly that. - We will not attempt to identify a reviewer, and we will not help with anything that looks like retaliation. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. Every platform detects it, the penalty is worse than the review was, and a business caught doing it loses the profile rather than the review. - The platform decides. We document the breach and escalate it; nobody outside the platform can delete a review, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: Can I find out who left a Glassdoor review? A: No, and you should not try. Glassdoor protects reviewer anonymity as a core commitment, employer attempts to unmask reviewers are a serious violation, and retaliating against an employee over a review is unlawful in many jurisdictions. Q: The review names my operations manager. Is that removable? A: Yes — that is one of the clearest grounds Glassdoor enforces. Reviews must discuss the company and the role, not identify individuals, and a review naming a person usually comes down once the clause is cited. Q: Someone who never worked here left a review. A: A strong ground, but it needs evidence rather than assertion. Payroll and HR records showing no such employment in the stated period are what make the flag succeed. Q: What if there are no grounds at all? A: Then we say so, charge nothing for the item, and draft an employer response instead. A specific, non-defensive reply from a named leader changes how the next candidate reads the review, which is the realistic outcome. ### How do you remove a review from Indeed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/indeed Group: Defend Indeed removes company reviews that breach its guidelines — naming individuals, profanity or abusive language, confidential information, content unrelated to working at the company, or reviews from people who never worked there. Reviews are reported from the employer dashboard or through Indeed support. Indeed does not remove reviews for being negative, and it does not reveal reviewer identities. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only where grounds exist - Typical timeline: 5 to 21 days - Often bundled with: Glassdoor, because the same reviewer frequently posts to both - Counts as delivered: The review is gone from the public profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - An honest account of working somewhere is not removable, and we will not sell an attempt at one. - We will not attempt to identify a reviewer or assist with retaliation. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. Every platform detects it, the penalty is worse than the review was, and a business caught doing it loses the profile rather than the review. - The platform decides. We document the breach and escalate it; nobody outside the platform can delete a review, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: Is Indeed easier than Glassdoor? A: Marginally, on procedural grounds like duplicates and off-topic content. On the substance — a critical review from a real former employee — both are equally firm, because both exist to publish that. Q: The same person reviewed us on both sites. A: Common, and worth handling together. The grounds differ slightly between the two, so each gets its own filing rather than a copied one. ### How do you get a Tripadvisor review removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/tripadvisor Group: Defend A property disputes the review through its Management Centre, citing which posting guideline it breaches — no first-hand experience, a competitor or conflict of interest, personal information, hate or threatening content, off-topic material, or content that cannot be verified. Tripadvisor also removes reviews its own fraud systems identify as fake. It does not remove reviews for being negative, and attempting to influence reviews can result in a ranking penalty on the property. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only where grounds exist - Strongest evidence: Booking or transaction records contradicting the stated visit - Typical timeline: 5 to 21 days - Counts as delivered: The review is gone from the public listing, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A genuine guest’s honest account of a bad stay is not removable, and a management response is the real answer to it. - We will not arrange solicited or incentivised reviews. The penalty is a public badge on your listing. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. Every platform detects it, the penalty is worse than the review was, and a business caught doing it loses the profile rather than the review. - The platform decides. We document the breach and escalate it; nobody outside the platform can delete a review, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: The reviewer never stayed with us. Can I prove it? A: Usually, and it is the strongest ground available. Booking records showing no reservation in that name for that period, combined with the absence of any matching transaction, is what turns the dispute from an assertion into a fact. Q: Should I respond publicly as well? A: Almost always. A calm management response is free, it appears directly under the review, and research consistently shows that travellers weigh how a property responds nearly as heavily as what the review said. Q: Can I ask happy guests to leave reviews? A: You can ask all guests. You cannot ask only the happy ones, offer anything in exchange, or use a system that filters out likely negatives — Tripadvisor calls that review-gating and penalises the listing publicly for it. ### How do you remove a bad review from a Facebook Page? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/facebook Group: Defend A Page admin reports the recommendation from the post itself, and Facebook removes it where it breaches Community Standards — spam, harassment, hate speech, false identity, or content unrelated to the business. Facebook does not remove recommendations for being negative. A Page can also disable recommendations entirely in Page settings, which hides all of them, positive ones included, and removes the rating from the Page. Facts: - Priced: Per recommendation, charged only where grounds exist - Also available: Disabling recommendations entirely — hides all of them and the rating - Typical timeline: 3 to 14 days - Strongest case: A coordinated brigading pattern, reported as a pattern - Counts as delivered: The recommendation is gone from the Page, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A genuine customer’s negative recommendation stays. Facebook does not adjudicate whether they were right. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. Every platform detects it, the penalty is worse than the review was, and a business caught doing it loses the profile rather than the review. - We will not recommend disabling recommendations permanently to make a problem invisible. It replaces one bad signal with a worse one. - The platform decides. We document the breach and escalate it; nobody outside the platform can delete a review, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: Should I just turn recommendations off? A: As a temporary measure during a coordinated attack, yes. As a permanent setting, no — an empty recommendations section reads as concealment, and you lose the positive reviews and the rating along with the bad ones. Q: We are being brigaded by dozens of accounts. A: Report it as a coordinated pattern rather than as individual posts. Facebook’s systems are considerably better at recognising inauthentic behaviour in aggregate than at judging any single post, and the pattern report is far stronger. Q: Does removing a recommendation fix the rating? A: Yes. Facebook’s rating is derived from the recommendations, so a removed one stops counting. ### Can a G2 review be removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/g2 Group: Defend G2 operates a formal dispute process for vendors. A review can be removed where the reviewer is not a verified user of the product, where there is a conflict of interest such as a competitor or an employee, where the content breaches the community guidelines, or where factual claims about the product are demonstrably false. G2 does not remove reviews for being critical, and it publishes a moderation policy it applies consistently. Facts: - Priced: Per review, charged only where grounds exist - Strongest evidence: Account and licence records showing no usage - Typical timeline: 7 to 28 days - Counts as delivered: The review is gone from the public profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A verified customer’s critical review of your product is not removable, and should not be. Answer it instead. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. Every platform detects it, the penalty is worse than the review was, and a business caught doing it loses the profile rather than the review. - We will not dispute a review solely because it hurt a comparison grid position. - The platform decides. We document the breach and escalate it; nobody outside the platform can delete a review, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: A competitor reviewed our product on G2. A: That is a conflict of interest under G2’s policy and one of the stronger grounds available. It still needs evidence — the reviewer’s stated employer, the absence of any account or licence on your side — rather than an assertion that it must be a competitor. Q: The review states something factually wrong about our pricing. A: Demonstrably false factual claims are disputable. Provide the documentation that contradicts them and G2 will generally require a correction or remove the claim. Q: What if the review is accurate but harsh? A: Then we do not dispute it. A vendor response that addresses the specific complaint and says what changed does more for the next evaluator than a removal would. ### How do you remove negative feedback on Amazon? URL: https://vfcore.com/review-removal/amazon Group: Defend Amazon strikes seller feedback that breaches its policy — feedback that is really a product review, feedback about delivery on an order fulfilled by Amazon, obscene or personal content, or feedback containing personal information. It is requested through Seller Central. Product reviews are governed separately and are only removed for breaching community guidelines, such as promotional content, conflicts of interest or abuse; a genuine buyer’s negative product review is not removable. Facts: - Priced: Per item, charged only where grounds exist - Frequently removable: Seller feedback in a listed strike category - Rarely removable: A genuine buyer’s product review - Typical timeline: 2 to 14 days for feedback strikes - Counts as delivered: The feedback is struck or removed, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A genuine negative product review from a real buyer stays. Amazon is unmoved on this and attempting it risks the account. - We will not contact buyers to trade anything for feedback removal. That is review manipulation and the penalty lands on your selling account. - We do not post fake positive reviews to bury a real one. Every platform detects it, the penalty is worse than the review was, and a business caught doing it loses the profile rather than the review. - The platform decides. We document the breach and escalate it; nobody outside the platform can delete a review, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: What is the difference between seller feedback and a product review? A: Seller feedback rates you as a merchant — packaging, despatch, service — and appears on your seller profile. A product review rates the item and appears on the listing. They have separate policies, and feedback is far more often removable, which is why the first thing we do is work out which one you actually have. Q: A buyer left one-star feedback about slow delivery on an FBA order. A: That is a listed strike category. Amazon fulfilled the order, so a delivery complaint is not attributable to you, and the feedback is normally struck once the fulfilment method is pointed out. Q: Can I offer a refund to get feedback removed? A: No. Amazon treats that as manipulation and acts at account level. Issue the refund because it is the right thing to do if it is, and request the strike separately on its own merits. ### How do you remove defamatory content from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/defamation Group: Defend 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. Facts: - 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 Limits stated by VFCore: - 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. Q: Do I need a court order? A: For a pure defamation de-index request, usually yes. Without one, the stronger routes are a complaint to the publisher, a privacy or data protection request where the content includes personal data, or a copyright claim where your material was used. Q: What if the site is anonymous? A: The host, the registrar and the CDN all remain reachable even when the author is not, and most have abuse processes that act on documented false claims. Q: Will it come back? A: Sometimes. Content gets syndicated and scrapers repost. That is why the monitoring window exists: a reappearance inside it is re-filed rather than re-billed. ### How do you remove your personal information from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/personal-information Group: Defend Google’s "results about you" and personal information removal policies let anyone request removal of search results containing their home address, phone number, email address, government identification numbers, bank or card numbers, handwritten signature, confidential login credentials, or personal medical records. The request is filed through Google’s removal form and applies worldwide, independently of the European right to be forgotten. Explicit or intimate imagery published without consent is handled under a separate and faster policy. Facts: - Priced: Per URL, with a bundle rate for broker sweeps - Jurisdiction: Worldwide — this policy is not limited to the EU or UK - Typical timeline: 3 days to 4 weeks; doxxing and intimate imagery are expedited - Counts as delivered: The URL no longer returns for searches of your name, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - 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. - Information in official public records — company filings, court registers, property registers — is generally not removable from search, and we will tell you that before taking the item. - Data brokers re-import from the same upstream sources. Removal is a maintained state rather than a one-off event, which is why the monitoring window matters more here than anywhere else. - Google decides each request on its own facts. Q: Is this the same as the right to be forgotten? A: No. The right to be forgotten is a European legal right covering a much broader range of content. This is Google’s own policy, it covers specific categories of personal data, and it applies worldwide — which makes it usable by people with no European connection at all. Q: How fast is it? A: Faster than any other removal category. Straightforward cases are often decided within a week, and doxxing or intimate imagery is handled on an expedited track. Q: My details keep reappearing on new sites. A: That is the data broker cycle: they re-import from the same upstream sources. The durable fix combines search removal with opt-outs at the brokers themselves, and then monitoring, which is why this service is sold with a monitoring window rather than as a single filing. ### How do you remove outdated content from Google search? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/outdated-content Group: Defend Google’s Remove Outdated Content tool clears search results and cached snippets for pages that have been deleted or whose content has changed, for anyone who does not own the site. The page must already be gone, redirecting, returning an error, or no longer containing the text in question; the tool updates the index to match reality rather than hiding a live page. Site owners use Search Console removals instead, which is faster but temporary. Facts: - Priced: Per URL; the cheapest removal category we run - Typical timeline: 1 day to 2 weeks - Prerequisite: The page must already be gone or changed at the source - Counts as delivered: The result and cached snippet no longer appear, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - This tool cannot touch a page that is still live with the content intact. If the page is up, this is the wrong service and we will route you to the right one. - 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. - If the publisher restores the page, the result comes back. That is a source problem, not an index problem. Q: The page is deleted but still shows in Google. Why? A: Google recrawls on its own schedule, and a low-traffic page can wait weeks. The outdated content tool is a request to recrawl now, which is why it resolves so much faster than waiting. Q: Does this work if I own the site? A: Site owners have a better tool: Search Console removals, which hides a URL within hours. It is temporary though — roughly six months — so it buys time while you remove or noindex the page properly. Q: What about the cached version? A: Handled by the same tool but as its own request. A cleared result with a surviving cached snippet is a common half-finished outcome, and we check for both. ### How do you remove a news article from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/news-article Group: Defend The only route that removes an article entirely is unpublishing: asking the publisher to take it down, usually on grounds of factual error, a resolved legal matter, or disproportionate ongoing harm. If the publisher refuses, the article can sometimes be de-indexed so it stops appearing in search while remaining live on the site. In the EU and UK this runs through a right to be forgotten request; elsewhere it generally requires a court order or a policy breach. Facts: - Priced: Per URL, including each syndicated copy - Best outcome: Unpublished at source — clears every search engine at once - Common outcome: An appended update or correction rather than removal - Typical timeline: 3 to 12 weeks; legal routes run longer - Counts as delivered: The URL no longer returns for the named query, evidenced by a dated screenshot - If nothing moves: Full refund of that item from escrow Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not try to remove accurate journalism about a public figure. It does not work, and attempting it tends to produce a second story about the attempt. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. - Google decides. We build the strongest documented request; nobody outside Google can force a result down, and anyone claiming a contact there is lying to you. - Editorial independence is real. An editor who says no has said no, and we will not pretend a second approach changes that. Q: Can a news article be removed from the internet completely? A: Only if the publisher agrees to unpublish it. Nothing else removes the article itself — de-indexing hides it from search results while the page stays live and reachable by direct link, by another search engine, and through archives. Q: The charges against me were dropped. Does that help? A: It is the strongest non-legal ground there is. Many outlets have a stated policy of updating or removing coverage of charges that did not lead to a conviction, and an official document showing the dismissal is usually what the editor needs to act. Q: What about the copies on other sites? A: Wire syndication means one story often exists at five or more URLs. We price per URL and sweep for the copies, because removing only the original leaves the rest ranking for your name. Q: Will Google de-index a news article? A: Rarely on request alone. In the EU and UK a right to be forgotten request can succeed where the article is old, inaccurate or no longer relevant. Elsewhere Google generally wants a court order or a specific policy breach such as personal information. Q: What if the article is simply unflattering but true? A: Then removal is the wrong strategy and we will say so. The realistic approach is to build enough accurate, current material that the article stops being the first thing anyone sees — which is a different service with a different timeline. ### How do you remove a mugshot from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/mugshot Group: Defend Google does not host mugshots; it indexes them from third-party sites, so the durable fix is removal at the source. Google will also de-index results under its policy on exploitative removal practices — sites that charge a fee to take a mugshot down — and will consider removal where charges were dropped or dismissed, where a record has been expunged or sealed, or where personal information such as a home address appears alongside the image. Facts: - Priced: Per URL, with a bundle rate for a full network sweep - Jurisdiction: Google’s exploitative-practices policy applies worldwide - Typical timeline: 1 to 8 weeks per URL - Strongest document: An expungement or dismissal order - Counts as delivered: The URL no longer returns for searches of your name, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not pay a mugshot site on your behalf. It funds the extortion, it invites a reappearance, and it weakens the policy argument that removes it for nothing. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. - A current, unresolved case reported by a legitimate news outlet is not a mugshot-site problem and does not come down under this policy. - Google decides. We build the strongest documented request; nobody outside Google can force a result down, and anyone claiming a contact there is lying to you. Q: Should I pay the site to remove my mugshot? A: No. Charging for removal is exactly what triggers Google’s exploitative-practices policy, so paying removes the strongest argument you had. It is also the business model: pay one site and the image frequently surfaces on a sister domain within weeks. Q: My charges were dropped. Does Google remove it? A: That is one of the categories Google will consider, and a dismissal or expungement order is the document that makes the request work. Without the paperwork the same request is usually refused. Q: How many sites will have it? A: More than you have found. These networks scrape the same public sources and mirror each other, which is why we sweep rather than file against the URLs you noticed. Q: Will it come back? A: On a new mirror domain, sometimes. That is what the monitoring window is for: a reappearance inside it is filed again at no extra charge. ### Can court records be removed from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/court-records Group: Defend Official court records are public documents and are generally not removable from search while they remain public. What is usually removable are the third-party aggregator copies — legal data sites that republish filings — particularly where a record has been expunged or sealed, where charges were dismissed, or where the page carries personal information such as a home address. Where a court seals or expunges a record, the search results can then be cleared too. Facts: - Priced: Per URL - Usually removable: Aggregator copies, especially after sealing or expungement - Usually not removable: A live official record that remains public - Typical timeline: 2 to 10 weeks per URL after the legal status is settled - Counts as delivered: The URL no longer returns for searches of your name, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A public court record that has not been sealed or expunged generally stays public and stays indexed. We will not sell an attempt that has no ground under it. - We are not a law firm and we do not file expungement petitions. Where that is the right route we will say so and step back. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. - Google decides. We build the strongest documented request; nobody outside Google can force a result down, and anyone claiming a contact there is lying to you. Q: My record was expunged but it is still on Google. A: Expungement binds the court, not every website that copied the filing beforehand. The aggregators have to be told, individually, and most will act once shown the order because continuing to publish a sealed record exposes them. Q: Can you remove the official court listing? A: Not while it is public. That is a matter for the court through sealing or expungement, and until that happens the listing is a public document. Q: Is a civil case treated differently from a criminal one? A: Yes, and often more favourably. A settled, withdrawn or dismissed civil matter has weaker ongoing public interest, and aggregators are more willing to remove it. ### Who can make a right to be forgotten request? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/right-to-be-forgotten Group: Defend The right to erasure under GDPR Article 17 and the UK GDPR lets individuals in the EU and UK ask a search engine to de-list URLs that return for searches of their name where the information is inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive. It is not available in the United States. It de-lists the result for name searches only — the page itself stays online and remains findable by other queries. Facts: - Legal basis: GDPR Article 17 and the UK GDPR right to erasure - Available to: Individuals in the EU and UK. Not available in the US - Scope: De-lists a URL for searches of your name; the page itself stays online - Per engine: Google, Bing and others are separate filings - Typical timeline: 4 to 12 weeks; regulator appeals add months - Counts as delivered: The URL no longer returns for your name on the named engine, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - This right does not exist for people in the United States, and we will not sell it to an American as though it does. - De-listing is name-scoped. The page stays live, stays reachable by direct link, and can still be found by searching other terms. - Public figures lose the balancing test far more often, because the public interest side of it is genuinely heavier. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. Q: Does the right to be forgotten apply in the US? A: No. It is a GDPR and UK GDPR right available to individuals in the EU and UK. Americans have Google’s own personal-information removal policy, source removal, and court-order routes instead — narrower in some ways, and worldwide rather than regional. Q: Does it delete the article? A: No. It stops the URL being returned for searches of your name on that search engine. The article stays published, stays reachable by link, and still appears for other queries. Q: What if Google refuses? A: A refusal can be escalated to the data protection authority — the ICO in the UK or the relevant supervisory authority in the EU — which reviews the balancing independently. A meaningful share of borderline cases turn at that stage. Q: Do I have to file separately for Bing? A: Yes. Each search engine runs its own erasure process and reaches its own conclusion, so each is a separate filing and we price it that way. ### How do you remove an image from Google Images? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/images Group: Defend An image is removed from Google Images by deleting it at the source, by a copyright takedown if you own it, or under one of Google’s own policies. Non-consensual explicit imagery is removed on an expedited track and Google will also suppress duplicates. Where the page hosting an image has already been deleted, the Remove Outdated Content tool clears the stale thumbnail. Facts: - Priced: Per image URL, with a bundle rate for a full sweep - Fastest route: Non-consensual intimate imagery — expedited, often days - Most reliable route: A copyright takedown where you own the photograph - Typical timeline: 2 days to 6 weeks depending on route - Counts as delivered: The image no longer returns in image search for the named query, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - A photograph someone else took, published lawfully, with no policy breach, is not removable. We will say so rather than sell the attempt. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. - We do not file copyright claims on images you do not own. A false DMCA notice is a legal problem for you, not for the host. - Google decides. We build the strongest documented request; nobody outside Google can force a result down, and anyone claiming a contact there is lying to you. Q: Someone posted intimate images of me. What do I do right now? A: Report them to Google under the non-consensual explicit imagery policy immediately — it is expedited and free, and you should not wait for us or anyone else to do it. Google can also suppress future duplicates. We take over the sweep for other copies and the hosts, but the first filing should happen today. Q: I took the photo myself. Does that help? A: Substantially. You own the copyright, which makes a DMCA takedown available — usually the fastest and most reliable route, because the host faces liability for ignoring it. Q: The page is gone but the image still shows. A: That is a stale thumbnail, and the Remove Outdated Content tool exists for exactly it. It is usually cleared within days. ### How do you get a Reddit post removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/reddit Group: Defend A Reddit post comes down in one of three ways: the author deletes it, a subreddit moderator removes it for breaking that subreddit’s rules, or Reddit itself removes it for breaching sitewide policy — doxxing, harassment, non-consensual imagery, or posting personal information. Reddit does not remove posts for being unflattering or commercially damaging. Where a post stays up, a separate request can be made to de-index the URL if a search engine policy applies. Facts: - Priced: Per thread - Strongest ground: Personal information or harassment under sitewide policy - Typical timeline: 3 days to 4 weeks - Why it matters more now: Reddit is the most-cited domain in AI answers, so a thread shapes what assistants say about you - Counts as delivered: The thread no longer returns for the named query, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - Honest criticism on Reddit is not removable, and trying is usually worse than leaving it. We will tell you that for free. - We will not create accounts to downvote, bury, or argue with a thread. It is against Reddit’s rules, it is obvious, and it backfires loudly. - Moderators are volunteers with their own judgement and no obligation to respond. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. Q: Why does a Reddit thread outrank my own website? A: Reddit has enormous domain authority and threads accumulate genuine engagement signals, so a single post can outrank a company homepage for the company’s own name. It is also the most-cited domain in AI answers, which means the thread shapes what an assistant tells someone asking about you. Q: Can I get a thread removed for being wrong about my business? A: Not on that basis. Reddit does not adjudicate accuracy. If it contains personal information, harassment or impersonation there is a route; if it is simply an unflattering opinion, there is not. Q: Should I reply in the thread? A: Sometimes, and it is free. A transparent reply from a clearly identified company account, admitting what is true, often ages better than anything else available. Astroturfing is spotted every time and makes it permanently worse. ### Can a Ripoff Report be removed? URL: https://vfcore.com/deindex/complaint-sites Group: Defend Ripoff Report has a long-standing policy of not removing reports once published, including reports the author wants deleted, so removal at the source is generally not available. Realistic routes are a court order finding the content defamatory, the site’s paid arbitration programme, or de-indexing the URL where a search engine policy applies. Other complaint sites — PissedConsumer, Complaints Board and similar — do operate removal processes and are more tractable. Facts: - Priced: Per URL, charged only where a route exists - Ripoff Report: Does not remove posts; routes are a court order, arbitration, or de-indexing - Other complaint sites: Most operate a removal process and are considerably more tractable - Typical timeline: 2 to 12 weeks, or immediately declined - Counts as delivered: The URL no longer returns for the named query, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - We cannot make Ripoff Report delete a report. Nobody can, without a court order or their own paid programme, and we will not pretend otherwise. - We will not post rebuttals under false identities, and we will not file a fake counter-complaint to bury a real one. - Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us. - Google decides. We build the strongest documented request; nobody outside Google can force a result down, and anyone claiming a contact there is lying to you. Q: Does Ripoff Report ever remove posts? A: Essentially not through a normal request — their published position is that reports stay up, even when the original author asks for removal. The routes that exist are a court order finding the content defamatory, their own paid arbitration programme, and de-indexing the URL where a search engine policy applies. Q: What about PissedConsumer or Complaints Board? A: Different sites, different policies, and most of them do operate a removal process. The first thing we do is identify which site you are actually dealing with, because the answer changes completely. Q: If it cannot be removed, what then? A: Suppression — building enough accurate, current, well-ranking material under your name that the listing stops being on the first page. It is slower and it is a different service, and we would rather say that than take a removal fee for something that will not move. ### How does a company get a Wikipedia page? URL: https://vfcore.com/wikipedia/company-page Group: Verify A company qualifies for a Wikipedia article when it meets the notability guideline for organisations: significant coverage in multiple reliable sources that are independent of the company. Press releases, company blogs, routine funding announcements, interviews and paid placements do not count towards notability. A draft is submitted through Articles for Creation and reviewed by volunteer editors, and anyone writing for payment must disclose that paid relationship under Wikipedia’s terms of use. Facts: - Decided by: Volunteer Wikipedia editors, not us and not you - Typical timeline: 2 to 6 months including the Articles for Creation queue - Disclosure: Mandatory and public, under Wikipedia’s terms of use - Counts as delivered: The article is live in the main namespace - If declined: Full refund from escrow Limits stated by VFCore: - Wikipedia requires paid editors to disclose who is paying them. We disclose, every time. Undisclosed paid editing gets accounts blocked and articles deleted, and it is the single most common reason a bought Wikipedia page disappears a month later. - Nobody owns a Wikipedia article, including the subject of it. Once it exists, any editor can change it, and a page that exists is a page that can carry criticism as well as achievement. - We will not write an article for a company that does not meet the notability guideline. It would be declined, and attempting it leaves a deletion record that makes a later, legitimate attempt harder. - We do not control the review queue and cannot buy priority in it. Q: How long does a company Wikipedia page take? A: Two to six months is realistic. Most of that is the Articles for Creation queue, which is volunteer-staffed and unpredictable. Anyone quoting two weeks is either not using the proper process or not telling you the truth. Q: Can the page be deleted later? A: Yes. Any article can be nominated for deletion, and articles about marginally notable companies are nominated more often than most. An article resting on genuinely strong sourcing survives that; one built on thin sourcing does not. Q: Can I control what it says? A: No, and that is the point of the thing having value. You can raise factual errors on the talk page, with disclosure, and editors generally fix clear errors. You cannot remove accurate but unflattering content. Q: Do funding rounds count as notability? A: Rarely. Routine business announcements — funding, hires, product launches — are explicitly discounted, however many outlets repeat them, because repetition of a press release is not independent coverage. ### How does a person get a Wikipedia page? URL: https://vfcore.com/wikipedia/personal-page Group: Verify A person qualifies for a Wikipedia biography when they meet the notability guideline for people: significant coverage in multiple reliable, independent sources, or a specific achievement such as a major award, elected office, or a substantial body of recognised work. Coverage of a person’s company does not establish the person’s own notability. Biographies of living people are held to a stricter sourcing standard than other articles, and paid editors must publicly disclose who is paying them. Facts: - Standard: Biographies of living people — the strictest sourcing policy on Wikipedia - Typical timeline: 2 to 6 months - Disclosure: Mandatory and public - Counts as delivered: The biography is live in the main namespace - If declined: Full refund from escrow Limits stated by VFCore: - Wikipedia requires paid editors to disclose who is paying them. We disclose, every time. Undisclosed paid editing gets accounts blocked and articles deleted, and it is the single most common reason a bought Wikipedia page disappears a month later. - Nobody owns a Wikipedia article, including the subject of it. Once it exists, any editor can change it, and a page that exists is a page that can carry criticism as well as achievement. - We will not omit documented controversy to make a biography flattering. A one-sided article is both a policy violation and an invitation for another editor to add the missing half, less kindly. - Being successful is not notability. Plenty of wealthy, capable people do not qualify, and the guideline does not bend for them. Q: My company has a Wikipedia page. Can I have one too? A: Only if there is independent coverage of you specifically. Notability is not inherited: a well-covered company with a founder who has never been written about personally supports one article, not two. Q: Can I keep bad press out of my biography? A: No. Significant, well-sourced controversy belongs in the article under Wikipedia’s neutrality policy. If your public record contains something you would not want summarised near the top of your Google results, a biography may work against you. Q: Can I write it myself? A: You can, with disclosure, but autobiographies are strongly discouraged and are reviewed with extra suspicion. The practical problem is that people write about themselves promotionally without noticing. ### How do you get a Google Knowledge Panel? URL: https://vfcore.com/wikipedia/knowledge-panel Group: Verify Knowledge Panels are generated automatically by Google when its Knowledge Graph holds enough corroborated information about an entity. There is no application form. A panel becomes more likely when the entity is consistently described across sources Google trusts — Wikipedia, Wikidata, official sites with structured data, and authoritative databases for the relevant field. Once a panel exists, the subject can claim it through Google’s verification process and suggest corrections. Facts: - Requestable: No. Panels are generated, never granted on request - Strongest input: A Wikipedia article; a sourced Wikidata item is the next best - Typical timeline: 1 to 6 months after the underlying data is in place - Counts as delivered: A panel is live for the named query, evidenced by a dated screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - Nobody can guarantee a Knowledge Panel, because nobody outside Google creates one. We build every input Google reads; the generation is Google’s. - A panel is not an endorsement and it does not filter what it shows. It can surface things you would rather it did not. - Claiming a panel lets you suggest corrections. It does not give you editorial control over it. - Where the honest route runs through a Wikipedia article you do not yet qualify for, we say so rather than selling you a Wikidata item and calling it done. Q: Do I need a Wikipedia page for a Knowledge Panel? A: No, but it is by far the strongest single input. Panels exist for entities with no Wikipedia article, built from Wikidata, structured data and field databases — they just take more corroboration to appear. Q: My panel has wrong information. A: Claim it first, which verifies you as the subject, then file corrections. Fixing the underlying source matters more than the correction itself, because Google regenerates from the sources and an uncorrected source reintroduces the error. Q: Can a panel be removed? A: Not on request. Individual elements can be corrected, and content violating Google’s policies can be reported, but the panel itself exists for as long as Google considers you an entity worth describing. ### How do you get a taken Instagram username? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/instagram Group: Verify Instagram releases a username in two situations: when a trademark holder files a successful infringement report against an account using their mark, or in limited cases where an account is inactive and the claimant has a legitimate rights-based claim to the name. Instagram’s terms prohibit buying, selling or transferring accounts and usernames, so brokered purchases risk both parties losing the account. Instagram does not release a username simply because it is unused. Facts: - Priced: Per handle, success-based and held in escrow - Strongest basis: A registered trademark in a relevant class - Typical timeline: 2 weeks to 4 months - Counts as delivered: The handle is live on your account, evidenced by a screenshot - If it fails: Full refund from escrow Limits stated by VFCore: - We do not take handles off people. No phishing, no social engineering of support staff, no exploiting a recovery flow, no buying an account from someone who hijacked it. Every one of those gets the handle clawed back later and the recipient account banned, which is a worse outcome than never having it. - Instagram prohibits buying and selling accounts. We will not broker a purchase and then present it as a claim. - We will not file a trademark report against an active, legitimate account. It is abuse of the process and Meta penalises repeat false reporting. - Meta decides. A perfect filing is still a filing. Q: Can I buy an Instagram username? A: Not within Instagram’s terms. Accounts and usernames are non-transferable, and when Meta detects a transfer it can disable the account — so the buyer loses both the money and the handle. Honest routes are rights-based. Q: The account has not posted in eight years. Can I have the handle? A: Not on that basis alone. Instagram has no general inactive-handle release programme. Dormancy helps a rights-based claim; it is not a claim by itself. Q: Do I need a registered trademark? A: It is the strongest basis by a wide margin. Common-law rights from established use can work where the use is documented and the confusion is obvious, but registration is what makes the filing straightforward. ### How do you get a taken X (Twitter) username? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/x Group: Verify X releases handles through its trademark policy, where a rights holder reports an account using their mark in a confusing way, and through its impersonation policy. X also states that accounts inactive for a prolonged period may be removed, which frees the handle — but it does not transfer or reserve a handle for a specific requester, and it does not release usernames on request. Buying and selling accounts is prohibited by the terms of service. Facts: - Priced: Per handle, success-based and held in escrow - Published routes: Trademark policy, impersonation policy, inactive account removal - Typical timeline: 2 weeks to 6 months - Counts as delivered: The handle is live on your account, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - We do not take handles off people. No phishing, no social engineering of support staff, no exploiting a recovery flow, no buying an account from someone who hijacked it. Every one of those gets the handle clawed back later and the recipient account banned, which is a worse outcome than never having it. - X does not reserve a released handle for the person who reported it. We can be fast; we cannot be guaranteed first. - A trademark report against an active legitimate account is abuse of the process, and we will not file one. Q: Will X release an inactive handle to me? A: X removes prolonged-inactive accounts, which frees the handle into the general pool. It does not hand it to a requester, so claiming it is a timing exercise rather than an entitlement. Q: Can I buy an X handle? A: Account sales breach the terms of service, and an account detected as sold can be suspended. The rights-based routes are the ones that survive. Q: Is a trademark enough on its own? A: It is necessary rather than sufficient. The report also has to show the holding account is using the mark in a way likely to confuse — a trademark holder has no claim over an unrelated person who happens to share the word. ### How do you get a taken TikTok username? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/tiktok Group: Verify TikTok releases a username when a trademark holder files a successful intellectual property report against an account using their mark, or when an account is removed for impersonation. TikTok’s terms prohibit buying, selling and transferring accounts, and it does not have a public process for releasing a username purely because the account is inactive. Facts: - Priced: Per handle, success-based and held in escrow - Strongest basis: A registered trademark in a relevant class - Typical timeline: 2 weeks to 3 months - Counts as delivered: The username is live on your account, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - We do not take handles off people. No phishing, no social engineering of support staff, no exploiting a recovery flow, no buying an account from someone who hijacked it. Every one of those gets the handle clawed back later and the recipient account banned, which is a worse outcome than never having it. - TikTok prohibits account transfers, so a brokered purchase puts the handle and the account at risk. - Inactivity alone is not a route on TikTok. Without a rights basis there is nothing to file. Q: Can I get a username just because it is unused? A: No. TikTok has no public inactive-username release process, so a claim needs a rights basis — trademark or impersonation. Q: How long does a TikTok IP report take? A: Usually two to six weeks for a decision. Reports with registration documents attached move considerably faster than ones that merely assert a right. ### Can you buy a Telegram username? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/telegram Group: Verify Yes. Telegram operates Fragment, an official marketplace where usernames are auctioned and traded as blockchain-registered assets on TON. Ownership transfers properly and the buyer can assign the username to an account, channel or group. This makes Telegram the only major platform where buying a username is sanctioned rather than a terms-of-service violation; Instagram, X, TikTok and others all prohibit account and username transfers. Facts: - Marketplace: Fragment, operated by Telegram, settled on TON - Ownership: Recorded on-chain and transferable, unlike every other platform - Priced: Acquisition cost plus our fee, both agreed before bidding - Typical timeline: Days for a fixed-price handle; an auction runs to its own clock - Counts as delivered: Ownership is in your wallet and the username is live on your account Limits stated by VFCore: - Auction outcomes are not guaranteed. If we are outbid above your ceiling, the acquisition budget comes back in full and we charge nothing for the attempt. - Handle prices are speculative. We will give you comparable sales; we will not tell you a username is an investment. - We do not take handles off people. No phishing, no social engineering of support staff, no exploiting a recovery flow, no buying an account from someone who hijacked it. Every one of those gets the handle clawed back later and the recipient account banned, which is a worse outcome than never having it. - A Fragment purchase does not override trademark law. Buying a mark you have no rights to can still result in a dispute. Q: Is buying a Telegram username legitimate? A: On Telegram, yes. Fragment is Telegram’s own marketplace and the ownership record is on-chain. This is the single case in our handle service where "buying" is the accurate word rather than a euphemism. Q: What does a short Telegram username cost? A: Four and five character handles and common words run from the low thousands into six figures depending on demand. We price each case from comparable Fragment sales rather than from a rate card. Q: Can I resell it later? A: Yes — that is the point of on-chain ownership. The username is an asset in your wallet and can be relisted on Fragment. Q: What if we lose the auction? A: The acquisition budget is returned in full and there is no fee. We only earn on a handle you actually receive. ### How do you get verified on X? URL: https://vfcore.com/x-verification Group: Verify X has three badges. The blue checkmark comes with an X Premium subscription, from roughly $8 per month, and requires a complete profile, a verified phone number and an account at least 30 days old — not notability. The gold checkmark is for businesses enrolled in Verified Organizations, a substantially more expensive tier. The grey checkmark is for government and multilateral bodies. Affiliate badges let an organisation verify its own staff accounts. Facts: - Blue checkmark: X Premium subscription, from roughly $8 per month. Buy it yourself - Gold checkmark: Verified Organizations — a business tier at a much higher price - Grey checkmark: Government and multilateral organisations only - Account age: At least 30 days - Counts as delivered: The badge is visible on the profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not charge you a markup on an X Premium subscription. It is a few dollars a month in your own settings. - The blue checkmark does not signal notability and we will not sell it as though it does. - A legacy verified account from before 2023 cannot be reinstated. That programme is gone. - The platform decides. We prepare and submit the strongest honest case; nobody outside the platform can grant a badge, and anyone claiming an inside contact is lying to you. Q: Is the X blue checkmark worth it? A: For the features — longer posts, editing, reach weighting — often yes, and you can buy it yourself in two minutes. For credibility, no: everyone knows it is purchased, so it signals that you pay for X rather than that anyone has verified who you are. Q: What is the gold checkmark? A: The Verified Organizations badge, for businesses. It costs considerably more than Premium, requires the organisation to be confirmed as legitimate, and it does carry credibility — partly because the price filters out casual applicants. Q: Can I get my old legacy verification back? A: No. X retired legacy verification in 2023 and there is no reinstatement path. The badges that exist now are the subscription and organisation tiers. ### How do you get verified on LinkedIn? URL: https://vfcore.com/linkedin-verification Group: Verify LinkedIn verification is free and comes in several forms: identity verification through a government ID partner, workplace verification confirmed by your employer through its LinkedIn Page, and email verification of a work or educational address. It is not based on notability or follower count, and there is no subscription. The badge appears in the About section and beside your name in search and feed. Facts: - Cost: Free. LinkedIn does not charge for verification - Based on: Identity and workplace, not notability or followers - Typical timeline: Minutes to a few days - Why it matters: LinkedIn is cited in roughly 14% of ChatGPT Search answers - Counts as delivered: The badge is visible on the profile, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - LinkedIn verification is free and you can do it yourself today. We will tell you that rather than invoice you for it. - We cannot verify a workplace that has no LinkedIn Page, or an employer unwilling to issue it. - This badge confirms identity. It does not confer authority, and nobody should read it as endorsement. Q: Does LinkedIn verification cost anything? A: No. All of the verification routes are free. If someone is charging you for the badge itself rather than for broader entity work, they are charging for something you can do in your own settings. Q: Why would I pay anyone for this then? A: You would not, for the badge alone. Where it fits into a paid case is entity alignment — making your LinkedIn, Wikidata item, website markup and other profiles state the same facts, which is what gets a Knowledge Panel generated and what makes an assistant describe you consistently. Q: My employer has no LinkedIn Page. A: Then workplace verification is unavailable until they create one, which is free. Identity verification is independent of it and you can do that now. ### Can you edit your own Wikipedia page? URL: https://vfcore.com/wikipedia/edit-existing Group: Verify Wikipedia strongly discourages editing an article about yourself or your company, and paid editors must publicly disclose the relationship under the terms of use. The accepted route is an edit request posted on the article’s talk page, using the request template, stating the conflict of interest and citing reliable sources for each change. Independent editors then review and apply it. Clear factual corrections are usually accepted; removing sourced criticism is not. Facts: - Direct editing: Strongly discouraged, and disclosure is mandatory for paid editors - The route: A talk page edit request, with sources - Typical timeline: 1 to 8 weeks, depending on how active the article is - Usually accepted: Sourced factual corrections - Usually refused: Removal of accurate, well-sourced criticism - Counts as delivered: The change is live in the article, evidenced by the diff Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not remove accurate, well-sourced criticism. It is a policy violation, it will be reverted, and the attempt is logged publicly against you. - We will not edit anonymously or without disclosure, whatever the fee. - Independent editors decide. A perfectly drafted request can still be declined. - Nobody owns a Wikipedia article, including the subject of it. Q: Can I just fix it myself? A: Technically yes, and it is a bad idea. Edits are logged permanently against your account and IP, conflict-of-interest editing is routinely detected, and the usual result is the change reverted plus a new paragraph in the article about the attempt. Q: The article has an old controversy that is resolved now. A: That is a legitimate and frequently successful request — not deletion, but an update showing the outcome, with a reliable source. Editors generally accept that the resolution belongs in the article alongside the allegation. Q: How long do edit requests take? A: From days to a couple of months. Articles with active watchers move quickly; a quiet article can sit until someone notices the request, which is part of why a well-formatted, sourced request matters. ### What makes someone notable enough for Wikipedia? URL: https://vfcore.com/wikipedia/notability-check Group: Verify Wikipedia’s general notability guideline requires significant coverage in multiple reliable sources that are independent of the subject. Significant means the source addresses the subject directly and in detail, not a passing mention. Independent excludes press releases, company materials, interviews, and paid or sponsored coverage. Specific guidelines add alternative routes — a major award, elected office, or a substantial recognised body of work. Facts: - Cost: Free. No account, no payment details - Turnaround: Typically 2 to 3 working days - Pass rate: Roughly half of enquiries do not meet the guideline - What you get: A source-by-source assessment and a plain verdict Limits stated by VFCore: - Our assessment is a prediction of how reviewers will read your sources, not a guarantee of their decision. - We will not tell you that you pass when you do not. A declined draft leaves a deletion record that makes the next attempt harder. - Notability cannot be bought. Where coverage is the gap, earning it is a service with a timeline measured in months. Q: How many sources do I need? A: There is no number. Three substantial, genuinely independent profiles beat thirty reprints of a press release, and reviewers count the former and discount the latter. Quality of source is the whole test. Q: My company was in Forbes. Is that enough? A: It depends entirely which Forbes. A staff-written feature carries real weight; a contributor post, a council piece or anything originating from a press release carries almost none, and experienced reviewers know the difference on sight. Q: What if I am borderline? A: We say borderline and describe the specific risk, rather than rounding up to a yes. Sometimes the right call is to wait six months for one more substantial piece of coverage. ### How do you get a YouTube handle that is taken? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/youtube Group: Verify YouTube handles are free and assigned first-come through YouTube Studio. Where a handle is taken, the route is a trademark complaint against a channel using your mark in a confusing way, or an impersonation report. YouTube also reclaims handles from channels that are inactive and have no content, though it does not reserve a reclaimed handle for a specific requester. Changing a channel name can remove an existing verification badge. Facts: - Cost from YouTube: Free. Handles are not sold - Assignment: First-come through YouTube Studio - Strongest basis for a taken handle: A registered trademark - Risk to watch: A rename can remove an existing verification badge - Counts as delivered: The handle is live on your channel, evidenced by a screenshot Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not file a trademark complaint against an active, legitimate channel. It is abuse of the process and YouTube penalises repeat false reporting. - YouTube does not reserve a reclaimed handle for whoever reported it. - No phishing, no social engineering, no buying a channel from someone who hijacked it. Q: Do YouTube handles cost money? A: No. They are free and claimed first-come in YouTube Studio. What costs money is the casework when the one you want is already taken and you have a rights basis to claim it. Q: Will changing my handle hurt my channel? A: The handle itself is low risk. Changing the channel *name* is the risk — it can remove verification, and old links pointing at the previous handle stop resolving. ### Can you change or buy a Snapchat username? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/snapchat Group: Verify A Snapchat username is permanent: it is set when the account is created and cannot be changed afterwards. Display names can be changed freely, and Snapchat’s terms prohibit transferring accounts, so a username cannot be bought or sold. The practical routes are creating a new account with the username you want, or a trademark or impersonation report where an account is using your brand. Facts: - Username changes: Not possible. Permanent from account creation - Display name: Changeable freely, and it is what most people see - Transfers: Prohibited by Snapchat’s terms - Available route: Trademark or impersonation report Limits stated by VFCore: - We cannot change your Snapchat username. Nobody can, and anybody saying otherwise is selling you nothing. - We will not buy an account to get a username. It breaches the terms and the account can be disabled. - An impersonation report removes an account; it does not hand you its username. Q: Can I change my Snapchat username? A: No. It is set permanently when the account is created. You can change your display name, which is what appears to your friends and audience, and that solves the problem for most people who ask. Q: Someone has my brand name as their Snapchat username. A: If you hold a trademark and they are using it in a way that suggests affiliation, a complaint can get the account actioned. It will not transfer the username to you, because Snapchat does not reassign usernames. ### How do you get a custom LinkedIn URL? URL: https://vfcore.com/handles/linkedin Group: Verify A LinkedIn public profile URL is free and set in the profile settings under Edit public profile and URL. It must be 3 to 100 characters, and each one is unique and first-come. A released URL can take time to become available again. Where the exact form of your name is taken, LinkedIn does not reassign it on request; the routes are a variation, or a trademark complaint where a company name is being used confusingly. Facts: - Cost: Free. LinkedIn does not sell URLs - Length: 3 to 100 characters - Changeable: Yes, though old links break - Reassignment: LinkedIn does not reassign a taken URL on request Limits stated by VFCore: - LinkedIn custom URLs are free and take thirty seconds. If yours is available, go and claim it rather than paying anyone. - LinkedIn does not take a URL from one member and give it to another without a rights basis. - We will not file a trademark complaint against someone who simply shares your name. Q: Someone has my name as their LinkedIn URL. A: If they are a real person with that name, nothing can be done and nothing should be — a shared name is not infringement. Take a clean variation and keep it consistent everywhere else, which is what actually matters for how you are found. Q: Will changing my URL hurt my profile? A: Only in that every existing link to the old one breaks — email signatures, business cards, your website. Change it once, early, and then leave it alone. ### Can media placement be guaranteed? URL: https://vfcore.com/press-release/guaranteed-placement Group: Amplify Paid placement on a specific named outlet can be guaranteed, because the outlet has agreed in advance to publish and the fee is refunded if it does not run. Earned editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anyone, because an independent journalist decides whether to write. Any provider guaranteeing coverage in a publication that does not sell placement is describing paid placement without saying so. Facts: - Priced: Per outlet, published in the directory before you sign up - Writing: Included in the outlet price - Escrow: Per item. One rejected outlet does not hold up the rest - Counts as delivered: The live article URL on the named outlet - If it does not run: That item refunds in full Limits stated by VFCore: - Genuine editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anybody. A journalist decides what to write, and a provider promising earned placement is either selling paid placement under a different name or lying outright. - A paid placement will not establish Wikipedia notability or carry much weight with a verification reviewer. Those tests are specifically designed to discount bought coverage. - We will not quietly place a sponsored-labelled nofollow article and let you believe it was editorial. The label and the link type are on the outlet page before you buy. - Outlets change their policies. Where one changes between order and publication, we tell you and refund rather than substituting silently. Q: Is a guaranteed placement the same as being featured in the press? A: No, and the distinction matters more than anything else here. A guaranteed placement is an article you paid to run. Being featured means a journalist chose to write about you. The first builds visibility; only the second builds notability. Q: Why publish the prices? A: Because the alternative is a quote that conceals the markup. Publishing the price next to the domain rating, the traffic and the link type lets you judge whether a placement is worth it, which is a harder sell and an honest one. Q: What if the outlet rejects my article? A: That item refunds in full from escrow and the rest of the order continues unaffected. We will also tell you why, which is usually a prohibited topic the outlet lists publicly. Q: Can I choose twenty outlets at once? A: Yes — that is what the directory is for. They go into one order, each held and released separately, so a problem with one does not block the other nineteen. ### Where can crypto projects get press coverage? URL: https://vfcore.com/press-release/crypto Group: Amplify Crypto placement runs through two groups of outlet: dedicated crypto and fintech publications that accept the category routinely, and mainstream business outlets that accept it subject to restrictions — commonly no price predictions, no token sale promotion, and no investment advice. Many general outlets refuse crypto content outright, and several jurisdictions treat promotional claims about tokens as regulated financial promotion. Facts: - Priced: Per outlet, published in the directory - Commonly refused: Token sale promotion, price predictions, return claims - Commonly accepted: Funding announcements, partnerships, product and technology stories - Counts as delivered: The live article URL on the named outlet Limits stated by VFCore: - We will not write investment language, price targets or projected returns. It is regulated promotion in several jurisdictions and the liability lands on you. - We will not place coverage for a project we cannot verify exists, with a team we cannot verify is real. - Genuine editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anybody. A journalist decides what to write, and a provider promising earned placement is either selling paid placement under a different name or lying outright. - Every outlet in the directory shows whether the post carries a sponsored label and whether the link is dofollow, because those two facts determine most of what a placement is worth and almost every seller obscures them. Q: Can you get my token covered in mainstream press? A: Some mainstream outlets accept crypto subject to restrictions, and the directory marks which. A technology or funding story places far more widely than anything about the token itself, which is usually where the refusals come from. Q: Why will you not write about expected returns? A: Because in the UK, the EU and several other jurisdictions that is a regulated financial promotion, and the regulatory exposure sits with the promoter. No fee is worth that to either of us. Q: Do crypto outlets label posts as sponsored? A: Many do, and the directory shows which. A labelled crypto placement still builds visibility; it carries very little weight with a verification reviewer or a Wikipedia editor. ### How does a startup get press coverage? URL: https://vfcore.com/press-release/startup Group: Amplify Paid placement on named outlets is immediate and guaranteed; earned coverage requires a journalist to find the story newsworthy, which routine funding and launch announcements rarely are. Wikipedia explicitly discounts routine business announcements as evidence of notability however many outlets repeat them, so a funding story that places widely can still contribute nothing to a notability case. Facts: - Priced: Per outlet, published in the directory - Good for: Visibility, credibility with customers and recruits, filling out a thin search result - Not good for: Wikipedia notability, or a verification dossier - Counts as delivered: The live article URL on the named outlet Limits stated by VFCore: - A placed funding announcement will not make your company notable for Wikipedia. Routine business announcements are explicitly discounted. - Genuine editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anybody. A journalist decides what to write, and a provider promising earned placement is either selling paid placement under a different name or lying outright. - We will not publish traction or revenue figures we cannot verify with you first. - Every outlet in the directory shows whether the post carries a sponsored label and whether the link is dofollow, because those two facts determine most of what a placement is worth and almost every seller obscures them. Q: We raised a round. Will that get us a Wikipedia page? A: Almost certainly not on its own. Funding announcements are the textbook example of a routine business announcement, and reviewers discount them regardless of how many outlets carried the story. Q: What is worth announcing? A: Something a journalist would want to write even if you had not asked: a real first, a number that surprises, a named investor whose involvement is itself news. Everything else is visibility, which is a legitimate thing to buy — just not the thing people think they are buying. Q: Should the founder or the company be the subject? A: Where the founder has an independently interesting story, them — it places better and it builds a personal notability case that can later support verification or a biography. Where they do not, the company. ### How do you build a personal brand in the press? URL: https://vfcore.com/press-release/personal-brand Group: Amplify Coverage has to be about you rather than your company, because notability is not inherited: a well-covered business whose founder has never been written about personally supports one Wikipedia article, not two. Paid placement under your own name builds visibility and search presence immediately. Earned personal coverage — profiles, interviews about your own work, expert commentary — is what verification reviewers and Wikipedia editors actually weigh. Facts: - Priced: Per outlet for placement; the entity work is a separate case - Immediate effect: A search result for your name that is not only your own profiles - Long-term effect: Only earned coverage contributes to notability - Counts as delivered: The live article URL on the named outlet Limits stated by VFCore: - Paid placements under your name do not make you notable. They make you findable, which is a different and still useful thing. - Genuine editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anybody. A journalist decides what to write, and a provider promising earned placement is either selling paid placement under a different name or lying outright. - Building a personal notability case takes months to years. Anyone offering it in weeks is selling paid placement. - A stronger personal search presence surfaces everything about you, including what you would rather it did not. Q: My company gets press. Why does that not count for me? A: Because notability is not inherited. Reviewers assess coverage of the person, and a founder who appears only as "the company’s CEO said" in articles about the business has no personal coverage at all in that sense. Q: Do interviews count? A: For visibility and entity resolution, yes. For notability, very little — an interview is you talking, and the test asks for independent sources assessing you. Q: How long does this take? A: Visibility shifts within weeks. A notability case that a Wikipedia reviewer or a verification reviewer would accept takes months at minimum, and sometimes does not arrive at all. We would rather say that now. ## Pricing ### How much does it cost to remove a negative review? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/review-removal Review removal services typically charge $125 to $500 per review, priced individually rather than as a package. Price varies with the platform, the strength of the policy ground, and whether escalation is needed. Most providers charge regardless of outcome; success-based pricing, where you are refunded if the review stays up, is the meaningful difference between quotes. Market range: $125 to $500+ (typical $180–$350). Source: TrueReview, Google review removal services — https://www.truereview.co/post/google-review-removal-service Per review, across US and UK providers. Platforms with narrow grounds — Yelp, Glassdoor — sit at the upper end because more cases fail. What moves the price: - Platform: Trustpilot and Google are cheaper than Yelp or Glassdoor, because the grounds are wider and more cases succeed - Strength of ground: A documented fake review costs less than a borderline conflict-of-interest argument - Evidence gathering: Where we have to reconstruct transaction history rather than being handed it - Escalation: A case that needs a human reviewer after an automated rejection takes more work - Volume: Several reviews on one profile share the evidence work, so the per-review price falls Not charged for: - The assessment. We tell you which of your reviews have grounds before any money moves. - Reviews with no grounds. Those are named in the assessment and never appear on the invoice. - A drafted public response where removal is not possible. That comes with the assessment. - Re-filing inside the monitoring window if a removed review reappears. Q: Why do prices vary so much between platforms? A: Because success rates do. Yelp and Glassdoor have narrow grounds and refuse more, so providers price in the failures. On a success-based model that shows up as a higher per-review price for the harder platforms rather than as a hidden loss. Q: Is per-review or monthly better? A: Per-review, unless you have a continuous inflow of fake reviews. A monthly retainer bills whether or not anything comes down, which inverts the incentive — the provider is paid for activity rather than results. Q: Can I do this myself for free? A: Yes, and for a clear-cut case you should. Reporting a review that names an employee or comes from a competitor takes about twenty minutes and costs nothing. What you are buying here is the assessment, the evidence work and the escalation on cases that are not clear-cut. ### How much does it cost to create a Wikipedia page? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/wikipedia-page Professional Wikipedia page creation costs between $100 and $10,000, with an average around $2,200 and a typical range of $1,000 to $2,500. Price depends chiefly on how many independent sources have to be researched and integrated, and on whether ongoing monitoring is included. A page built on thin sourcing is cheaper and far more likely to be deleted later. Market range: $100 to $10,000 (typical $1,300–$3,100). Source: WikiConsult, Wikipedia page creation price — https://wikiconsult.com/en/wikipedia-page-creation-service-price Average across the market is about $2,200. The low end is almost always undisclosed paid editing, which gets the account blocked and the article deleted. What moves the price: - Number of sources: The single biggest factor. Each independent source has to be read, assessed and cited correctly - Company or person: Biographies of living people are held to a stricter sourcing standard, so they take longer - Language edition: Each edition is a separate community with its own notability bar and its own draft - Existing deletion history: A previously deleted article raises the bar for the next attempt considerably - Monitoring: Watching the article afterwards for damaging edits is an ongoing cost, priced separately Not charged for: - The notability assessment. Roughly half of enquiries do not pass, and those people get the assessment and no invoice. - Revisions requested by Articles for Creation reviewers. They are part of the job, not a change order. - Disclosure. Declaring the paid relationship is mandatory under Wikipedia’s terms and is not an optional extra. Q: Why is there a $100 option and a $10,000 option? A: Because they are different things. The cheap end is typically an undisclosed paid editor pasting a promotional draft, which breaches Wikipedia’s terms of use, gets the account blocked and the article deleted. You are not buying a worse version of the same product. Q: Do I pay if the article is declined? A: Not here. The fee sits in escrow and releases on the live article URL. If reviewers decline it, the item refunds in full. That is also why we refuse cases that will not pass — we would simply be processing our own refunds. Q: Is monitoring worth paying for? A: For a company with any controversy in its public record, usually yes. Articles get edited by anyone, and an unwatched article about a company that has had bad press tends to acquire a criticism section nobody noticed for six months. ### How much does Instagram verification cost? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/instagram-verification Meta Verified, the subscription badge, costs $14.99 per month on web and $19.99 on iOS and Android, with business tiers from $21.99. The legacy blue badge cannot be purchased at any price — it is granted on notability and Meta charges nothing for it. A verification service charges for eligibility assessment, building the notability dossier, and preparing and submitting the application, not for the badge itself. Market range: $14.99/month to $21.99+/month (typical $19.99/month). Source: Buffer, how to get verified on Instagram — https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-get-verified-on-instagram/ That is Meta Verified, which you buy yourself in the app. The legacy notability badge has no price because Meta does not sell it. What moves the price: - Existing coverage: An account with real press behind it needs a dossier assembled, not built. That is the cheap case - Coverage gap: Where notability has to be earned first, that is a separate service with its own timeline and cost - Previous rejections: A history of declined applications means working out what the gap was before resubmitting - Number of platforms: Applying across Instagram, Facebook and others shares the dossier work Not charged for: - The eligibility score. If you are not close, you get the score and the gap, not an invoice. - Meta Verified. It is $14.99 a month in your own app and we are not going to add a markup to it. - A second attempt inside the retry window after a decline. Q: Can I just pay for the blue tick? A: You can pay for Meta Verified, which is a subscription that confirms your identity. You cannot pay for the legacy notability badge, at any price, to anybody — which is precisely why it still signals something. Q: Is a verification service worth it if I can apply myself? A: Only if the dossier is the bottleneck. Applying is free and takes minutes. What costs money is assembling the evidence a reviewer can act on, and knowing honestly whether you are close enough to be worth the attempt. Q: What if I am not notable yet? A: Then the answer is a timeline rather than an invoice, and Meta Verified is the sensible interim at $14.99 a month. We will say that rather than sell you an application that will be declined. ### How much does platform verification cost? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/platform-verification YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat do not charge for verification and do not sell it. X Premium is a paid subscription that includes a checkmark, from roughly $8 per month. A verification service charges for eligibility assessment, evidence preparation and submission — typically a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on how much notability work is needed — not for the badge itself. What moves the price: - YouTube: Cheapest, because eligibility is mechanical: 100,000 subscribers or the application is not reviewed at all - TikTok: Mid-range. No published threshold, so the whole case rests on independent coverage - Snapchat: Runs through the Snap Star creator programme, so timelines are longer and less predictable - X: The subscription tick you buy yourself. A notability-based grey or gold badge is a different application - Multiple platforms: The dossier is shared, so the second and third applications cost substantially less than the first Not charged for: - An eligibility check that comes back negative. - A YouTube application below 100,000 subscribers — we refuse the order rather than take it. - Subscription badges you can buy yourself in the app. Q: Does any platform sell verification? A: Meta and X sell subscription badges that confirm identity. YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat do not sell verification in any form. Anyone offering to buy a badge from those three is describing a scam or a compromised employee account. Q: Why is YouTube cheaper to apply for? A: Because the hard part is a number. Above 100,000 subscribers you are eligible and the remaining work is making the channel consistent and the identity verifiable. Below it, no amount of work helps and we will not take the order. Q: Can I get a discount for several platforms? A: Yes, and it is not a courtesy — the dossier is the expensive part and it is the same dossier. The second and third applications genuinely cost us less. ### How much does it cost to remove content from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/deindexing Content removal is priced per URL and varies widely by category. Outdated content, where the page is already gone, is the cheapest because the tool exists for exactly that. Personal information sits in the middle and is covered by a worldwide Google policy. Defamation and news article removal are the most expensive, because they usually require source negotiation or a legal route rather than a policy filing. What moves the price: - Category: Outdated content is cheapest; personal information mid-range; defamation and news removal highest - Legal route needed: Anything requiring a court order or a regulator appeal is a different order of work - Number of URLs: One story is usually five URLs after syndication, and brokers replicate into dozens - Source cooperation: A publisher with a corrections policy is cheap; an anonymous site with no contact is not - Monitoring window: Longer monitoring on content that is known to reappear — mugshots, broker data Not charged for: - The assessment, including telling you that a URL is not removable. - URLs with no viable route. Named in the assessment, never invoiced. - Re-filing inside the monitoring window when something reappears. - Reporting non-consensual intimate imagery — do it yourself today, free, through Google’s expedited process. Q: Why is removing a news article more expensive than a mugshot? A: Because mugshot sites usually breach a published Google policy, which is a filing. A news article means persuading an editor, and where that fails, a legal or regulatory route. Different work, different cost, different odds. Q: Do I pay per URL or per problem? A: Per URL, because that is the unit of work and the unit of proof. We will tell you up front how many URLs your problem actually is — it is almost always more than you have found. Q: What if it comes back? A: Inside the monitoring window, we re-file at no charge. Outside it, it is a new item. Data broker content and mugshots reappear often enough that the window is part of the service rather than an upsell. ### How much does it cost to get published in the media? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/press-release Paid media placement is priced per outlet, and the price tracks the publication’s authority and traffic rather than a package tier. Small niche sites start in the low hundreds; major business publications run into the thousands. Whether the article carries a sponsored label and whether the link is dofollow or nofollow both materially affect the price and the value. What moves the price: - Domain rating: The main driver. Authority is what the placement is actually buying - Monthly traffic: Real readership, as distinct from authority. They do not always move together - Link type: A dofollow link costs more than nofollow, and a sponsored label changes what the placement is worth - Turnaround: Express placement costs more because it displaces someone else in the queue - Volume: Selecting several outlets in one order reduces the per-outlet handling cost Not charged for: - Writing the article. It is included in the outlet price, not a separate line. - Outlets that reject the piece. That item refunds in full. - Access to the directory. Every outlet, price and metric is public without an account. Q: Why are your outlet prices public when nobody else’s are? A: Because the alternative is a quote that hides the markup. Publishing the price next to the domain rating, the traffic and the link type lets you work out whether a placement is worth it, which is a harder sell and a better product. Q: Is a sponsored label worth avoiding? A: It depends what you want the placement for. For SEO authority a sponsored-labelled nofollow link passes little. For credibility with a reader or a verification reviewer, an unlabelled editorial piece is worth several labelled ones. Q: Can I pay for guaranteed placement? A: On paid outlets, placement is effectively guaranteed and refunded if it does not run. Genuine editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anybody, and we will not take money claiming otherwise. ### How much does a rare social media username cost? URL: https://vfcore.com/cost/og-username On Telegram, where usernames are officially tradeable through the Fragment marketplace, short and dictionary-word handles run from the low thousands into six figures depending on demand, with prices visible publicly. On Instagram, X, TikTok and others, buying a username breaches the terms of service, so the honest route is a trademark or impersonation claim, priced as casework and charged only on success. Market range: $50 to Six figures (typical Low thousands). Source: handles.gg, rare username marketplace — https://handles.gg/ Marketplace asking prices for short and OG handles. Only Telegram’s Fragment is an officially sanctioned market; elsewhere a purchase risks both parties losing the account. What moves the price: - Length: Three and four character handles are the top of every market by a wide margin - Dictionary word or name: A real word or a common first name commands far more than a coined string - Platform: Telegram has a real market with real prices. Elsewhere you are paying for casework, not an asset - Rights basis: A registered trademark makes a claim cheap and fast. Common-law use makes it slow - Current holder: An empty dormant account is a different case from an active one, which is not a case at all Not charged for: - A rights assessment that comes back negative. - A lost Fragment auction. The acquisition budget returns in full and there is no fee. - Any claim against an active, legitimate account. We will not file it at any price. Q: Why can I buy a Telegram handle but not an Instagram one? A: Because Telegram built a marketplace for it and records ownership on-chain, while Instagram’s terms prohibit transferring accounts and usernames outright. A bought Instagram handle can be reclaimed and the account disabled, so you lose both the money and the name. Q: What makes a four-letter handle so expensive? A: Scarcity that cannot be expanded. Every four-character combination was claimed years ago, nothing new is minted, and demand keeps rising — which is also why these markets attract theft. Q: Do I pay if the claim fails? A: No. Handle work is charged on success and the fee sits in escrow until the handle is live on your account. ## Step-by-step guides ### How do you report a Google review? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/report-a-google-review Time needed: 20 minutes, plus 3 to 14 days waiting. Difficulty: Easy. Open your Google Business Profile, go to Reviews, find the review, click the three-dot menu and choose Report review. Select the policy category it breaches — spam and fake content, off-topic, conflict of interest, personal information, or harassment. If the report is rejected, escalate through Google Business Profile support, where a human reviews it. Steps: 1. Work out which policy it breaches — This is the whole job and everything after it is clerical. A review is removable only if it breaks a specific rule, so read the policy and find the clause before you touch the report button. - Fake engagement — the reviewer was never a customer - Conflict of interest — a competitor, a former employee, or the business itself - Off topic — about a different business, a different branch, or not about the experience - Personal information — a named employee, a phone number, an address - Harassment — profanity, slurs, threats - Promotion — advertising, spam links, or an incentivised review 2. Check the reviewer’s profile first — Click the reviewer’s name. A profile with fifty one-star reviews across unrelated businesses in three countries is evidence of fake engagement; a profile with one review that happens to be yours is weaker but still worth noting. - How many reviews have they left, and over what period? - Are they all one star, or all five? - Are the businesses geographically plausible for one person? - Does the account have a real name and photo, or a generic one? 3. Confirm there is no matching transaction — If your argument is that they were never a customer, you need to have actually checked. Search your booking system and your CRM for the name, and for the date range the review describes. 4. File the report — In your Business Profile, open Reviews, find the review, use the three-dot menu and choose Report review. Pick the category that matches the clause you identified — not the one that feels most serious. - Choose the narrowest category that genuinely fits - Do not report the same review under several categories; it reads as spray-and-pray - Report once and wait. Repeat reporting does not speed anything up 5. Wait for the automated decision — The first pass is usually automated and takes a few days. A rejection at this stage is common and is not the end — it means a machine did not see a match, not that a human disagreed with you. 6. Escalate to a human — This is the step almost nobody takes, and it is where most successful removals actually happen. Go to Google Business Profile support, open a case, and state the policy clause and your evidence in plain sentences. - Name the exact policy clause - State the factual basis in one or two sentences - Attach or describe the evidence — no matching booking, the reviewer’s pattern - Be brief and unemotional. The reviewer reads dozens of these a day 7. If it stays up, reply publicly — A calm, specific reply under a bad review is free and changes how the next reader interprets it. Address the substance, do not argue, do not mention the reporting attempt, and sign it with a name. Common mistakes: - Reporting it as "false information" because the review is wrong. That is not a category — Google does not adjudicate accuracy. - Never escalating. The automated pass rejects a lot of valid reports and most businesses stop there. - Reporting every negative review at once. It trains the system to treat your reports as noise. - Asking staff or friends to report it. Volume does not help, and coordinated reporting can be flagged. - Contacting the reviewer to pressure them. It frequently produces a second, angrier review and a screenshot on social media. Q: How long does Google take to remove a reported review? A: The automated pass is usually a few days. Escalation to a human reviewer typically adds one to three weeks, and that is where borderline cases are won. Q: Can the reviewer see that I reported them? A: No. Reporting is not disclosed to the reviewer. A public reply is visible to everyone, which is a separate decision. Q: Does reporting a review hurt my profile? A: A reasonable number of well-grounded reports does nothing. Reporting every negative review you receive is detectable and makes your future reports less likely to be acted on. ### How do you remove personal information from Google? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/remove-personal-information-from-google Time needed: 1 to 2 hours, plus days to weeks waiting. Difficulty: Easy. Use Google’s Results About You tool or the personal information removal request form. Qualifying categories include your home address, phone number, email address, government identification numbers, bank or card numbers, handwritten signature, login credentials and personal medical records. Submit one request per URL. The policy applies worldwide and is separate from the European right to be forgotten. Steps: 1. Find every URL, not just the one you noticed — Search your full name, your name plus your city, your phone number, and your email address, each in quotes. Go several pages deep. Data broker sites replicate the same record across dozens of domains, and removing one does nothing. - Search "Your Name" in quotes, then with your city, employer and middle name - Search your phone number in several formats - Search your email address and your old addresses - Keep a list. You will need every URL separately 2. Check which category each one falls into — Google removes specific categories, not anything you dislike. Match each URL to the category that fits — that is what the reviewer checks. - Home address, phone number, personal email address - Government ID numbers — national ID, passport, tax number - Bank account or payment card numbers - Handwritten signature, login credentials - Personal medical records - Non-consensual explicit imagery — expedited, report it immediately - Content on a site that charges a fee to remove it 3. Use Results About You for the easy ones — Google’s Results About You tool lets you register your details once and then report matching results as they are found, including ongoing monitoring. Start here — it is the least work per URL. 4. File a removal request for each remaining URL — Use Google’s personal information removal form. One request per URL. Say precisely what data appears and where on the page, so the reviewer can confirm in seconds rather than hunting. - Paste the exact URL, not the search result - Name the category - Say where on the page the data appears - Attach a screenshot if the page requires scrolling or interaction 5. Opt out at the data brokers themselves — This is the step that makes the removal last. De-indexing hides the result; the broker still holds the record and will keep publishing it. Nearly every broker has an opt-out page, usually buried in the footer. - Find the opt-out or Do Not Sell link, usually in the footer - Expect to verify by email, and occasionally by phone - Keep a record of which brokers you have opted out of and when - Re-check every few months — they re-import from the same upstream sources 6. Re-check in a month — Search the same terms again. New URLs appear constantly because brokers buy from each other. This is maintenance, not a one-off task, which is the single most important thing to understand about it. Common mistakes: - Reporting the search term instead of the URL. Every request is per URL. - Stopping at the first page of results. The problem is usually twenty URLs deep. - Skipping the broker opt-outs, so everything reappears within months. - Trying to remove public records — company filings, court registers, property records. Those generally stay. - Paying a broker to remove your data. That charge is exactly what engages Google’s exploitative-practices policy. Q: Is this the same as the right to be forgotten? A: No. The right to be forgotten is a European legal right covering a much broader range of content. This is Google’s own policy, it covers specific data categories, and it works worldwide — including for people in the United States, who have no right to be forgotten. Q: How fast is it? A: Often within a week for a clear-cut category. Doxxing and non-consensual intimate imagery are handled on an expedited track and can move in days. Q: My details keep coming back. A: That is the broker cycle. They re-import from the same upstream sources, so search removal alone is temporary. The opt-outs are what make it stick, and it still needs re-checking a few times a year. ### How do you flag a review on Trustpilot? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/trustpilot-flag-a-review Time needed: 30 minutes, plus up to 3 weeks. Difficulty: Easy. From your Trustpilot business account, open the review and click Flag, then select the guideline it breaches and explain why. Where you flag that there was no genuine buying or service experience, Trustpilot asks the reviewer for documentation and removes the review if they cannot supply it within the deadline. Reviews must also concern an experience within the last 12 months. Steps: 1. Check the date first — Trustpilot expects a review to describe an experience within the previous twelve months. If the review describes something older, that is a ground on its own and the easiest one to evidence. 2. Search your records for the reviewer — Before flagging for no genuine experience, actually look. Search the display name, the email if visible, and the date range. If you find an order, this is not the right ground and flagging it anyway wastes your credibility. 3. Pick the guideline — Flag against one specific guideline. A flag that says "this is unfair" is closed without consideration. - No genuine buying or service experience - Experience older than 12 months - About a different company or misattributed - Contains personal data — a named employee, contact details, order numbers - Harmful, defamatory or unlawful content - Promotional, or posted in exchange for something - Conflict of interest — a competitor or former employee 4. Write the flag properly — Two or three factual sentences. State the guideline, state the fact that breaches it, state the evidence you hold. No adjectives, no history of the dispute. - Good: "No record of any order under this name or email between January and March. Flagging under no genuine experience." - Bad: "This person is clearly a competitor trying to damage us and the claims are completely false." 5. Let the evidence window run — Where you flagged a missing experience, Trustpilot contacts the reviewer and asks them to prove it. Many simply do not reply, and the review comes down. Do not chase during this period. 6. Escalate once if declined — If the flag is rejected and you have something new, take it to Trustpilot’s content integrity team. If you have nothing new, stop — repeat flagging damages your standing with them. 7. Reply to the ones that stay — A reply is free, appears directly under the review, and is read by everyone who reads the review. On a genuine complaint it does more than removal ever would. Common mistakes: - Flagging every negative review. Trustpilot tracks this and penalises businesses that mass-flag without grounds. - Review gating — inviting only happy customers. It is a violation in itself and Trustpilot acts on it visibly. - Flagging for no genuine experience without checking your own records first. - Arguing the facts of the complaint in the flag. Trustpilot is not adjudicating who was right. Q: What happens after I flag a Trustpilot review? A: Trustpilot assesses the flag and, where you claimed there was no genuine experience, asks the reviewer to provide documentation. If they do not respond within the deadline, the review is removed. Q: Can I flag an old review? A: Yes, and the age itself may be the ground — Trustpilot expects reviews to concern an experience within the last twelve months. Q: Does removing a review change my TrustScore? A: Yes. Removed reviews stop counting, and because recent reviews are weighted more heavily, removing a recent one-star can move the score noticeably. ### How should a business respond to a negative review? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/respond-to-a-negative-review Time needed: 15 minutes. Difficulty: Easy. Reply publicly within a few days, address the reviewer by name, acknowledge the specific problem without disputing their experience, say what you have changed, and offer to continue the conversation privately with a direct contact. Keep it under 100 words, sign it with a real name, and never argue the facts or mention legal action. Steps: 1. Wait a few hours, not a few weeks — Do not reply angry, and do not reply three months later. A day or two reads as attentive. A reply written in the first ten minutes usually reads as defensive, because it is. 2. Open by addressing them, not the audience — Use their name if you have it. A reply that begins "We take all feedback seriously" tells the next reader that this is a template and that nobody read the review. 3. Acknowledge the specific thing — Name the actual problem they described. This is the single biggest differentiator between a reply that helps and one that does not — it proves a person read it. - Good: "You waited forty minutes for a table you had booked, and nobody explained why." - Bad: "We are sorry you did not have a positive experience." 4. Do not dispute their experience — Even when you believe they are wrong. "That is not what happened" convinces nobody and makes the next reader side with them. If a factual correction is genuinely necessary, state your version in one neutral clause and move on. 5. Say what changed — This is the part that persuades the reader. A concrete, verifiable change — a process, a policy, a hire — does more than any amount of apology. - Good: "We have added a second person to Friday evenings and we now call ahead when the kitchen is running behind." - Bad: "We will strive to do better in future." 6. Offer a private route, with a real contact — Give a name and an email or a direct line. "Please contact our support team" is not an offer. It also moves the remaining conversation off a public page, which is where you want it. 7. Sign it with a human name — A name and a role. Replies signed "The Management" read as institutional and are discounted accordingly. Common mistakes: - Anything mentioning lawyers or defamation. It is the fastest route to the review being screenshotted and shared. - Details of their order, visit or medical treatment. You are publishing their personal data, which is a policy breach and in many places unlawful. - Sarcasm. It plays well with your staff and badly with everyone else. - A copy-pasted reply used under several reviews. Readers scroll, and they notice. - Asking them to take the review down. Ask privately or not at all; asking in public looks like pressure. Q: Should I respond to every negative review? A: To most, yes, and to every recent or detailed one. A profile where management replies thoughtfully reads better than a profile with a slightly higher average and silence underneath the complaints. Q: What if the review is completely false? A: Report it under the platform’s policy, separately and quietly, then reply briefly and neutrally in the meantime. Do not use the public reply to call them a liar, even when they are. Q: Should I offer a refund publicly? A: No. Offer to discuss it privately. A public refund offer invites everyone else to complain for one, and it reads as buying silence. ### How do you file a DMCA takedown notice? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/file-a-dmca-takedown Time needed: 45 minutes per notice. Difficulty: Moderate. Send a written notice to the host’s designated copyright agent containing six elements: your signature, identification of the copyrighted work, identification of the infringing material and its URL, your contact details, a statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorised, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate. Google also accepts notices to de-index infringing URLs from search. Steps: 1. Confirm this is a copyright matter — DMCA covers copying your work. It does not cover someone saying something unpleasant about you, using your name, or publishing facts about you. Filing a DMCA notice over non-copyright content is a false statement made under penalty of perjury. 2. Find the right recipient — Send to the host, not the author. Hosts act because they lose their safe harbour if they do not; authors usually ignore you. - Check the site footer and terms for a designated agent or abuse address - Run a WHOIS lookup on the domain to find the registrar and hosting provider - Large platforms have a copyright form — use that rather than email - The CDN is a fallback when the host is unresponsive 3. Include all six required elements — A notice missing any of these is defective and the host can ignore it without consequence. This is the most common reason a DMCA notice does nothing. - 1. Your physical or electronic signature - 2. Identification of the copyrighted work being infringed - 3. Identification of the infringing material, with its exact URL - 4. Your contact details — address, telephone, email - 5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is unauthorised - 6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and you are authorised to act 4. Keep it factual and short — One page. No history of the dispute, no legal threats beyond the statutory language, no emotion. The person reading it is processing a queue. 5. File a search de-index notice in parallel — Google accepts DMCA notices to remove infringing URLs from search results. That does not remove the page, but it removes the way people find it, and it works while the host is still deciding. 6. Expect a counter-notice, sometimes — The uploader can file a counter-notice claiming the use was lawful. The material is then typically restored unless you file a court action within the statutory window. This is why a weak claim is worse than no claim. Common mistakes: - Filing over content you do not own the copyright in. That statement is made under penalty of perjury and people have been sued for it. - Using DMCA to remove criticism. It is misuse, it is obvious, and it often produces the Streisand effect in full. - Omitting the perjury statement or the good-faith statement, which makes the notice defective. - Sending it to the author instead of the host. - Forgetting that fair use and fair dealing exist. A short quote with attribution is frequently lawful. Q: Does a DMCA takedown cost anything? A: No. Filing is free. You are using a statutory process, not buying a service. Q: Can I file anonymously? A: No. A valid notice requires your real contact details, and they are usually passed to the uploader. For sensitive situations that matters, and it is worth knowing before you file. Q: What if they file a counter-notice? A: The host will typically restore the material unless you begin a court action within the statutory window. If your claim is strong, a counter-notice is often bluff; if it is weak, this is where that becomes expensive. ### How do you get a news article taken down? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/contact-a-publisher-for-unpublishing Time needed: 1 hour to draft, weeks to resolve. Difficulty: Hard. Contact the publication’s editor or corrections desk in writing, under their own published corrections or unpublishing policy, stating a specific factual error or a material change such as charges being dropped, with documentary evidence attached. Most outlets refuse outright removal but will append an update or correction, which is usually the realistic outcome and often achieves what you needed. Steps: 1. Decide honestly what you are asking for — If the article is accurate and you are a public figure, you are asking a newsroom to suppress true reporting, and they will refuse. Knowing that before you write saves you from the version of this that generates a second article. 2. Find the right person — Not the reporter, in most cases. Corrections desks and standards editors exist for this and handle it procedurally; the reporter has a personal stake in the piece. - Look for a corrections, standards or readers’ editor contact - Failing that, the section editor rather than the writer - For smaller outlets, the editor-in-chief is usually the only route 3. Lead with the specific error or change — First sentence: what is wrong, or what has changed. Not who you are, not how damaging it has been. Editors triage on whether there is a factual issue. - Good: "The article states I was convicted. The charges were dismissed on 14 March; the court order is attached." - Bad: "This article is destroying my business and my family and I need it taken down immediately." 4. Attach the evidence — A court order, a dismissal notice, a correction from another outlet, a regulator finding. Assertions get filed; documents get acted on. 5. Offer the middle ground yourself — This is the technique that works most often. Editors refuse removal far more readily than they refuse an update. Propose an appended note recording the outcome — many will accept that in the same reply where they decline removal. 6. Never threaten — A legal threat converts an editorial question into a press-freedom question, and newsrooms write about those. More than one person has turned a buried article into a front-page story this way. 7. Accept the answer, then look at other routes — If they say no twice, they have said no. The remaining options are de-indexing, a right to be forgotten request where you are eligible, or suppression — not a third email. Common mistakes: - Any mention of lawyers in a first approach. - Emailing the reporter and the editor and the publisher simultaneously. - Offering money. It is insulting to a newsroom and it has been published as a story in itself. - Asking for removal of accurate reporting without offering an alternative. - Sending the same email every week. It gets you filtered, permanently. Q: Do publishers ever remove articles? A: Yes, but rarely, and most often where there is a factual error, a legal outcome has changed, the subject was a minor, or the subject is a private individual with no continuing public interest. Removal of accurate reporting about a public figure essentially does not happen. Q: What is an appended update worth? A: More than people expect. A note at the top recording that charges were dropped changes what a reader takes away, and it is achievable in many cases where removal is not. Q: What about the syndicated copies? A: Each is a separate request to a separate outlet, and the wire service that distributed it is worth approaching too. Clearing the original while five copies remain achieves very little. ### How do you apply for Instagram verification? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/apply-for-instagram-verification Time needed: 2 hours to prepare, up to 30 days to hear back. Difficulty: Moderate. Open Instagram, go to Settings, then Account type and tools, then Request verification. Enter your full legal name, upload a photo of a government ID, select your category, and provide links to independent articles about you. Applications are reviewed within about 30 days. This is the free notability badge; Meta Verified is a separate paid subscription. Steps: 1. Test your own notability first — Search your name in an incognito window. If the first page is your own social profiles and nothing written by anyone else, you are not close, and applying now wastes the attempt without teaching you anything. - Count articles written about you by someone who chose to write them - Discount interviews — those are you talking - Discount anything labelled sponsored or partnered - Discount press releases and anything that reads like one 2. Fix the profile before applying — Incomplete profiles are declined on sight and it has nothing to do with notability. This takes ten minutes and removes an entire category of avoidable rejection. - A profile photo of you or your logo - A bio that says who you are, with no "verification" references - At least one post, and ideally recent activity - A public account — private accounts cannot be verified - The same name and handle you use on other platforms 3. Open the request form — Settings, then Account type and tools, then Request verification. On some account types it sits under Settings and privacy, then Account. It is free, and Instagram will never charge you for it. 4. Enter your name exactly as on your ID — Legal name in the legal name field, the name you are known by in the known-as field. A mismatch between the ID and the entry is a routine rejection reason. 5. Give them the links that count — You get limited space, so use it on the strongest three to five sources rather than everything you have. One national profile beats ten blog mentions, and a reviewer scanning a long weak list concludes you have nothing strong. - Strongest first - Independent publications with editorial oversight - No sponsored content, no press release syndication - A Wikipedia article or Knowledge Panel, if you have one 6. Submit once and wait — Reviews take up to about 30 days. Reapplying immediately after a decline does nothing — you can apply again after the stated interval, but only a changed situation changes the answer. 7. If declined, work out what was missing — Instagram does not tell you why. In practice it is almost always one of three things: not enough independent coverage, a profile or name inconsistency, or an account with enforcement history. Fix the fixable ones before the next attempt. Common mistakes: - Applying with no independent press coverage at all. Follower count is not a criterion and never has been. - A name on the application that does not match the ID. - An incomplete or private profile. - Submitting interviews and sponsored posts as evidence of notability. - Paying someone who promises a badge. Nobody outside Meta can grant one. - Reapplying repeatedly with nothing changed. Q: Is applying for Instagram verification free? A: Yes. Meta charges nothing for the legacy badge application. Meta Verified is a separate paid subscription at $14.99 to $19.99 a month, which is a different badge with different meaning. Q: How many followers do I need? A: None in particular. Accounts with millions are declined and accounts with a few thousand are approved, because the test is notability — whether independent sources have written about you — not audience size. Q: How long does it take? A: Up to about 30 days. You will get a notification either way, with no explanation if declined. Q: Can I apply again after being rejected? A: Yes, after the stated interval. But the same application produces the same answer, so only apply again once something has actually changed. ### How do you know if you are notable enough? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/check-your-own-notability Time needed: 1 hour. Difficulty: Moderate. Count the sources that are significant, independent and reliable. Significant means the piece is about you in detail rather than mentioning you. Independent means nobody connected to you produced it — which excludes press releases, interviews and sponsored content. Reliable means a publication with editorial oversight. Three strong sources beat thirty weak ones, and most people who think they qualify are counting the weak ones. Steps: 1. Collect everything — Search your name in quotes, your name with your company, your name with your city, and your name with your field. Go at least five pages deep. Add every result that is about you. 2. Score each source on significance — Is the piece about you, in detail? A paragraph in a roundup is a mention. A profile is significant coverage. This is the first filter and it removes most of the list. - Significant: a profile, a feature, a case study, a substantial section of a book - Not significant: a quote, a listing, a mention in a roundup, a directory entry 3. Score each source on independence — Did someone unconnected to you decide to write this? This is the filter people hate, because it usually removes their favourite links. - Not independent: press releases, and anything reprinted from one - Not independent: interviews and Q&As — that is you talking - Not independent: contributor and council posts the subject or their circle wrote - Not independent: sponsored, partnered, or paid placements - Not independent: your own site, blog, LinkedIn, or company materials 4. Score each source on reliability — Does the publication have editorial oversight and a reputation for fact-checking? A national newspaper does. A content farm that republishes press releases does not, regardless of its domain rating. 5. Count what survives all three — Only sources that pass significance, independence and reliability count. Three or more is a real case. One or two is borderline. Zero is an answer, and a useful one. 6. Check the alternative routes — Specific guidelines provide other paths that do not depend on press coverage at all, and people routinely overlook the one they already satisfy. - A major award in your field from an independent body - Elected or appointed public office - A substantial published, exhibited or performed body of work - Academic standing — a named chair, or highly cited research - For companies: regulatory significance, or substantial treatment in industry analysis 7. Be honest about the gap — If you have one strong source, you need more of the same kind, and that takes months rather than weeks. Knowing that is worth more than an optimistic guess, because it stops you paying for an application that will be declined. Common mistakes: - Counting a press release reprinted by forty outlets as forty sources. It is one source, and it is not independent. - Counting Forbes without checking whether it was staff-written or a contributor post. They are not the same thing and reviewers know it. - Assuming revenue, headcount or funding counts. None of it does. - Assuming follower count counts. It does not, on any platform. - Confusing being good at something with having been written about. Q: How many sources do I need? A: There is no fixed number. Three genuinely significant, independent, reliable sources is a real case. Thirty mentions and reprints is not, however impressive the list looks. Q: Does a Forbes article count? A: It depends which kind. A staff-written feature counts substantially. A contributor post, a council piece, or anything derived from a press release carries little weight, and experienced reviewers can tell the difference immediately. Q: Can I become notable deliberately? A: You can earn coverage, and that is a legitimate service with a timeline in months. What you cannot do is manufacture notability with paid placements, because those are precisely what the independence test excludes. ### How do you write a Wikipedia article? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/write-a-wikipedia-draft Time needed: 10 to 20 hours, plus months in the queue. Difficulty: Hard. Create a draft through Articles for Creation, write in neutral encyclopaedic tone with every claim supported by an inline citation to a reliable independent source, declare any paid or personal connection on your user page and the draft’s talk page, then submit for review. Volunteer reviewers assess notability, neutrality and sourcing, and the queue commonly takes weeks to months. Steps: 1. Declare the conflict of interest first — Before writing anything. Put it on your user page and on the draft’s talk page. Paid editors must disclose under Wikipedia’s terms of use, and undisclosed paid editing is the most common reason a bought article is deleted and the account blocked. 2. Start from the sources, not from the story — List the facts your sources actually support, then write only those. The usual failure is writing the story you want and then hunting for citations, which produces an article full of claims nothing supports. 3. Write the lead as a definition — The first sentence states what the subject is, in the plainest possible terms. No adjectives, no achievements, no mission. - Good: "Acme Corp is a British software company founded in 2015." - Bad: "Acme Corp is an innovative, award-winning leader in enterprise software solutions." 4. Strip every promotional word — Leading, innovative, award-winning, renowned, visionary, cutting-edge, passionate, world-class. Reviewers scan for these, and a draft containing them is declined for tone before anyone assesses the sourcing. 5. Cite inline, after every claim — Not a list of references at the bottom. Each statement needs a citation immediately after it, so a reviewer can verify any sentence without hunting. 6. Include what you would rather leave out — Significant, well-sourced controversy belongs in the article. Its absence is itself a signal to a reviewer that the draft was written by someone connected to the subject — and omitting it invites another editor to add it later, less kindly. 7. Submit and wait properly — Submit through Articles for Creation. The queue is volunteer-staffed and unpredictable. When a reviewer leaves comments, address them on the merits and resubmit; arguing never works and is remembered. Common mistakes: - Promotional tone. This is the most common reason by a wide margin, ahead of notability. - Claims with no citation, or citations to the subject’s own website. - Undisclosed conflict of interest, which is detected and is treated seriously. - Treating a press release as a source. - An article with no criticism when the public record plainly contains some. - Resubmitting unchanged after a decline. Q: Can I write a Wikipedia article about myself? A: You can, with disclosure, and it is strongly discouraged. Autobiographies are reviewed with extra scepticism, and the practical problem is that almost nobody can write about themselves neutrally without noticing. Q: How long does Articles for Creation take? A: Weeks to months. The queue is staffed by volunteers and the wait is unpredictable. Nobody can buy priority in it, and anyone claiming to can be dismissed on that basis alone. Q: What happens if my draft is declined? A: The reviewer leaves comments explaining why. Address them specifically and resubmit. Repeated resubmission without changes gets the draft rejected outright and makes a later attempt harder. ### How do you stop your username being stolen? URL: https://vfcore.com/guides/protect-a-handle-you-already-own Time needed: 90 minutes. Difficulty: Easy. Secure the recovery email first, because that is how most account takeovers happen. Use a dedicated email address nobody knows, protected by a hardware security key. Enable app-based or hardware two-factor on the account itself rather than SMS, remove the phone number where the platform allows it, and audit connected third-party apps. SIM swapping defeats SMS two-factor, so it should not be your second factor. Steps: 1. Start with the recovery email, not the account — This is where almost every handle theft actually happens. Whoever controls the recovery email controls the account, so securing the account while leaving the recovery email on an old address you use publicly protects nothing. - Create a new email address used for nothing else and shared with nobody - Protect it with a hardware security key, not SMS - Do not use it to sign up for anything, ever - Set it as the recovery address on every valuable account 2. Replace SMS two-factor — SIM swapping is how high-value accounts are taken, and it is not exotic — it is a social engineering attack on a phone shop. Move to an authenticator app, or better, a hardware key. - Hardware security key where the platform supports it - Authenticator app where it does not - Remove the phone number entirely where the platform allows it - Store backup codes offline, on paper, not in the same password manager 3. Audit connected apps — Every scheduling tool, analytics dashboard and follower app you ever authorised still has access. Revoke everything you do not currently use, and check what the survivors can actually do. 4. Lock down the email provider too — Check forwarding rules, filters and recovery options on the email account itself. A common attack sets a quiet forwarding rule rather than changing the password, so nothing looks wrong for months. 5. Register the trademark if the handle is a brand — This is the one that matters if the worst happens. A registered trademark is what lets you get a stolen handle back, and without it recovery is substantially harder. 6. Document that you own it, now — Screenshots of the account, dated, with the profile and settings visible. Evidence of when you started using it. Keep it somewhere you will still have access to if the account is gone. 7. Never respond to verification or collaboration offers — The standard theft script is an offer: a brand partnership, a verification opportunity, a copyright warning with an appeal link. The attachment or the link is the attack. No platform ever asks for your password or a code. Common mistakes: - SIM swap, then SMS two-factor reset. The most common route for valuable accounts. - An old recovery email that was itself compromised years ago. - A phishing page reached from a "copyright strike" message, which is urgent by design. - A third-party app authorised long ago and later sold or breached. - Social engineering of platform support using leaked personal details. - Reusing a password that appeared in a breach. Check yours. Q: Is SMS two-factor good enough? A: Not for a valuable handle. SIM swapping is routine against high-value targets and it defeats SMS entirely. Use an authenticator app, and a hardware key wherever the platform supports one. Q: What if my handle is already stolen? A: Report it to the platform immediately as account compromise, and if you hold a trademark, file that complaint in parallel. Speed matters — once the handle is changed and traded on, recovery gets much harder. Q: Should I register a trademark just for a username? A: If the handle is genuinely valuable to a business, yes. It is the difference between a recoverable account and a lost one, and it costs a fraction of what the handle is worth. ## Comparisons ### What is the difference between Meta Verified and the blue checkmark? URL: https://vfcore.com/compare/meta-verified-vs-legacy-verification Meta Verified is a paid monthly subscription, $14.99 on web and $19.99 on mobile, available to anyone who confirms their identity with a government ID. The legacy blue badge is granted free on notability — evidence that independent news sources have written about you — and cannot be purchased at any price. Both display a blue tick, but only the legacy badge signals that anyone assessed your significance. Meta Verified: A subscription. Confirms you are a real, identified person. Available to almost anyone. Legacy blue badge: Granted on notability. Free to apply for, impossible to buy, and declined far more often than granted. - Cost — Meta Verified: $14.99/month web, $19.99/month mobile, $21.99+ business | Legacy blue badge: Free to apply for. Cannot be bought at any price - What it proves — Meta Verified: You have a government ID matching your profile name | Legacy blue badge: Independent sources consider you notable - Who qualifies — Meta Verified: Almost anyone over 18 with ID and a complete profile | Legacy blue badge: Very few. Notability is the whole test - Time to get it — Meta Verified: Usually within 48 hours | Legacy blue badge: Up to 30 days, and usually declined - If you stop paying — Meta Verified: The badge disappears | Legacy blue badge: It stays. It was granted, not rented - Follower requirement — Meta Verified: None | Legacy blue badge: None either — but coverage is required, which is harder - Extra features — Meta Verified: Impersonation monitoring, direct support, increased reach | Legacy blue badge: None beyond the badge itself - What a journalist thinks — Meta Verified: That you pay Meta $15 a month | Legacy blue badge: That somebody independent assessed you Verdict: If you need the badge for practical reasons — impersonation protection, support access, the reach weighting — buy Meta Verified today, yourself, in the app. It takes a minute and nobody should charge you for it. If you need the badge to signal that you are someone, Meta Verified does not do that any more, because everybody knows it is bought. Only the legacy badge does, and only if you genuinely have the coverage. Rule: Buy Meta Verified for the features. Apply for the legacy badge for the meaning. Never pay anyone a markup on the first one. Q: Can I have both? A: They are not stacked — an account with the legacy badge does not need the subscription for the badge itself, though the subscription features are separate and can still be bought. Q: Does Meta Verified help my legacy application? A: No. They are assessed on entirely different criteria. Subscribing does not make you more notable and does not influence a notability review. Q: Can anyone tell which badge I have? A: Not from the tick alone — they look the same. People infer it from context: whether there is press about you, whether you have a Wikipedia article, whether your name returns anything. Which is rather the point. ### What is the difference between removal and suppression? URL: https://vfcore.com/compare/review-removal-vs-suppression Removal takes the content down, either at the source or by de-indexing it from search, and requires a policy breach, a legal ground, or a cooperative publisher. Suppression leaves the content in place and pushes it down the results by building and ranking other material. Removal is faster, cheaper and permanent when it works; suppression always works but takes months, costs more, and has to be maintained. Removal: The content goes. Requires a ground — a policy breach, a legal basis, or a publisher willing to act. Suppression: The content stays and gets pushed down. Needs no permission from anyone, and never finishes. - What happens to the content — Removal: It is gone, or no longer indexed | Suppression: It stays exactly where it was, on page two or three - Needs a ground — Removal: Yes. No ground, no removal, at any price | Suppression: No. It works regardless of what the content says - Typical timeline — Removal: Days to weeks | Suppression: Three to twelve months before it holds - Cost — Removal: Per URL or per review. Lower | Suppression: Ongoing content and placement spend. Much higher - Permanence — Removal: Permanent when removed at source | Suppression: Reverses if you stop. It is a maintained position - Can it fail outright — Removal: Yes — no ground means no removal | Suppression: Rarely fails, but can stall against a very strong page - Works against accurate content — Removal: No | Suppression: Yes. That is the whole reason it exists - What you are paying for — Removal: Evidence and escalation | Suppression: Content production and ranking, indefinitely Verdict: Always test removal first, because it is cheaper, faster and final — and because the assessment costs nothing here. Suppression is the answer only when removal has genuinely been ruled out: the content is accurate, the publisher has refused, and no policy or legal ground applies. Anyone selling you suppression without first telling you whether removal was possible is selling the more expensive product by default. Rule: Removal first, always. Suppression only after removal has been ruled out on the facts. Q: Can you do both? A: Often that is the right answer: remove what has grounds, suppress what does not. The mistake is paying for suppression on something that would have come down in a fortnight. Q: Why is suppression so expensive? A: Because you are outranking an established page, and that means producing genuinely good content and getting it placed and linked. It is an SEO campaign with a specific target, and it has to be sustained or the old result climbs back. Q: Do you sell suppression? A: Media placement is part of how suppression works and we sell that. We do not sell open-ended suppression retainers, because the incentive is wrong — a retainer pays whether or not the position holds. ### Do you need a Wikipedia page to get a Knowledge Panel? URL: https://vfcore.com/compare/wikipedia-vs-knowledge-panel No. A Knowledge Panel is generated automatically when Google’s Knowledge Graph holds enough corroborated information about an entity, and panels exist for subjects with no Wikipedia article, built from Wikidata, structured data on an official site, and authoritative databases. A Wikipedia article is the single strongest input, which is why the two are confused, but it is not a prerequisite. Wikipedia article: Requires notability. Months of work, frequently declined, and nobody owns the result. Knowledge Panel: Generated by Google from corroborated entity data. No application, no notability test. - Can you request it — Wikipedia article: Yes, via Articles for Creation | Knowledge Panel: No. Panels are generated, never granted on request - Entry requirement — Wikipedia article: Notability — multiple significant independent sources | Knowledge Panel: Enough corroborated data across sources Google trusts - Typical timeline — Wikipedia article: 2 to 6 months, including the review queue | Knowledge Panel: 1 to 6 months after the underlying data is in place - Who decides — Wikipedia article: Volunteer Wikipedia editors | Knowledge Panel: Google, algorithmically - Can you correct it — Wikipedia article: Via a disclosed talk page edit request | Knowledge Panel: By claiming the panel and suggesting corrections - Can it carry criticism — Wikipedia article: Yes, and policy requires it where sourced | Knowledge Panel: It surfaces what it finds, including unflattering material - Achievable without press — Wikipedia article: Essentially no | Knowledge Panel: Often yes, with enough structured corroboration - Effect on the other — Wikipedia article: A Wikipedia article makes a panel very likely | Knowledge Panel: A panel does nothing for a Wikipedia application Verdict: If you clearly meet the notability bar, pursue Wikipedia: it is the harder thing, and the panel tends to follow from it. If you do not — and roughly half of people who ask do not — pursue the Knowledge Panel directly through Wikidata, structured data on your own site and the authoritative databases for your field. That route is open to people who will never qualify for an article, and it produces most of the visible result people actually wanted. Rule: Notable: Wikipedia first, the panel follows. Not notable: the panel directly, and stop asking about Wikipedia. Q: Will a Knowledge Panel appear automatically if I get a Wikipedia article? A: Usually, though not instantly. An article is the strongest single input Google reads, and a panel commonly appears within weeks to months of one going live. Q: Can I have a panel without any press coverage? A: Often yes. Panels are about corroborated identity rather than significance, so a Wikidata item, structured data on your own site and consistent profiles across authoritative databases can be enough. Q: Which one is worth more? A: For search visibility, the panel — it is what people actually see. For credibility with a verification reviewer, a journalist or a partner, the Wikipedia article, because it required someone else to judge you worth writing about. ### Is a paid press placement as good as real press coverage? URL: https://vfcore.com/compare/press-release-vs-editorial-coverage No, and they are not substitutes. A paid placement is guaranteed to run, usually carries a sponsored label, and typically has a nofollow link — so it builds visibility but counts for little with verification reviewers, Wikipedia editors or search authority. Earned editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed by anyone, but it is what establishes notability, because an independent journalist chose to write it. Paid placement: You pay, it runs. Fast, certain, labelled, and discounted by everyone assessing notability. Earned coverage: A journalist decides to write about you. Nobody can guarantee it, and it is the only thing that counts for notability. - Guaranteed to run — Paid placement: Yes, and refunded if it does not | Earned coverage: No. Anyone guaranteeing it is lying to you - Timeline — Paid placement: Days to a few weeks | Earned coverage: Months, and often nothing - Cost — Paid placement: Published per outlet, from hundreds to thousands | Earned coverage: A retainer for the work, with no guaranteed output - Counts for Wikipedia notability — Paid placement: No. Explicitly excluded as not independent | Earned coverage: Yes. This is the evidence the test asks for - Counts for platform verification — Paid placement: Very little. Reviewers discount labelled content | Earned coverage: Yes. It is the main evidence of notability - SEO authority — Paid placement: Limited — usually nofollow and sponsored-labelled | Earned coverage: Substantial, and the links are editorial - Control over the message — Paid placement: High. You largely write it | Earned coverage: None. They write what they think - What it is genuinely good for — Paid placement: Visibility, credibility signals to customers, filling a search result | Earned coverage: Notability, authority, and being cited by assistants Verdict: If you need to be visible — a search result that looks substantial, something to point a customer at, coverage to fill out a thin presence — paid placement does that quickly and predictably, and our directory publishes what each outlet costs. If you need notability for a Wikipedia article or a verification badge, paid placement will not get you there and we will tell you so before you spend. Those are different budgets with different timelines, and conflating them is how people spend thousands and remain exactly as unverifiable as before. Rule: Paid placement for visibility. Earned coverage for notability. They do not substitute for each other. Q: Will paid coverage help me get verified? A: Marginally at best. Reviewers look for evidence that the press chose to write about you, and a sponsored label is evidence of the opposite. A single unlabelled editorial feature outweighs a great many paid placements. Q: Why does the sponsored label matter so much? A: Because it is a declaration that the coverage was bought, and every test that matters — Wikipedia notability, verification review, search authority — is specifically trying to filter out bought coverage. Q: Can I get unlabelled placements? A: Some outlets do not label. We publish which do and which do not, next to the price, because that is the single most important thing about a placement and most sellers obscure it. ### What is the difference between de-indexing and removing content? URL: https://vfcore.com/compare/deindexing-vs-source-removal Source removal deletes the page itself, which clears it from every search engine at once and from any future crawl. De-indexing asks one search engine to stop returning a URL that remains live — so the page is still online, still reachable by direct link, still findable on other engines, and still in archives. De-indexing is usually easier to obtain; source removal is the only one that is permanent. Source removal: The page is deleted. Clears every engine, every archive crawl, every direct visit. De-indexing: The page stays live. One search engine stops returning it. Scoped, reversible, and often name-only. - Is the page gone — Source removal: Yes | De-indexing: No. It is live and reachable by link - Covers other search engines — Source removal: Yes, automatically | De-indexing: No. Each engine is a separate filing - Covers direct links — Source removal: Yes | De-indexing: No. Anyone with the URL still reads it - Who has to agree — Source removal: The publisher or the host | De-indexing: The search engine - How hard — Source removal: Harder. Publishers refuse routinely | De-indexing: Easier where a policy or legal ground applies - Permanence — Source removal: Permanent unless republished | De-indexing: Can be reversed, and re-filing may be needed - Scope — Source removal: Total | De-indexing: Often limited to searches of your name - Typical cost — Source removal: Higher — it is negotiation or legal work | De-indexing: Lower — it is a documented filing Verdict: Try source removal first, every time, even though it is the harder job and the smaller fee for us. It is the only outcome that actually ends the problem. De-index when the source has refused, or where the publisher is unreachable, or in parallel while a slow source negotiation runs. A provider who goes straight to de-indexing without having tried the source is choosing the easier billable work over the better outcome. Rule: Source removal first. De-index when the source has said no, or while waiting for them to answer. Q: If it is de-indexed, can people still find it? A: Yes. By direct link, through another search engine you did not file with, through archives, and by searching terms other than your name. De-indexing reduces discovery substantially; it does not end it. Q: Why would anyone choose de-indexing then? A: Because very often it is the only thing available. A publisher who refuses to unpublish cannot be made to, and de-indexing removes the route by which almost everyone would have found the page. Q: Does de-indexing on Google cover Bing? A: No. Each search engine runs its own process and reaches its own decision, so each is a separate filing and should be priced as one. ### Can I do reputation work myself? URL: https://vfcore.com/compare/diy-vs-done-for-you For a single clear-cut case, usually yes and for free. Reporting a policy-violating review, requesting personal information removal, applying for verification and filing a DMCA notice are all self-service processes with no fee. Hiring makes sense at volume, where evidence has to be reconstructed, where a first attempt has already been refused, or where the work needs sustained follow-up over weeks. Do it yourself: Free, immediate, and entirely sufficient for most single, clear-cut cases. Hire someone: Worth it for volume, evidence reconstruction, escalation after a refusal, and sustained follow-through. - One obvious fake review — Do it yourself: Do it yourself. Twenty minutes, free | Hire someone: Not worth paying for - Fifteen reviews across four platforms — Do it yourself: Days of work, and easy to get wrong | Hire someone: Worth paying for - Your address on one site — Do it yourself: Do it yourself. Google’s form, free | Hire someone: Not worth paying for - Your details across thirty data brokers — Do it yourself: Weeks of tedium, and it recurs | Hire someone: Worth paying for - An Instagram application with real press behind it — Do it yourself: Do it yourself. The form is free | Hire someone: Worth it only if you have been refused - A Wikipedia draft — Do it yourself: Learnable, but neutrality is hard on yourself | Hire someone: Worth it mainly for the tone, which you cannot self-assess - A news article you want unpublished — Do it yourself: Try first. The approach matters more than who sends it | Hire someone: Worth it for syndication sweeps and parallel legal routes - A rejected request you think was wrong — Do it yourself: Escalation is where most people give up | Hire someone: Worth paying for. This is where removals happen Verdict: If it is one item, the ground is obvious, and you have the evidence to hand, do it yourself today using our guide. You will probably succeed, and you will understand your own situation better afterwards. Hire someone when the volume is real, when the evidence has to be assembled from systems rather than looked up, when you have already been refused once, or when the job needs somebody to keep pushing for six weeks. That last one is the real product — most self-service attempts fail by abandonment rather than by error. Rule: One clear case: do it yourself, free. Volume, evidence work, or an escalation after a refusal: hire someone. Q: Why would you tell me not to hire you? A: Because taking money for a job you could have done in twenty minutes produces a refund request and a bad opinion of us, and because the people who read the guide and hit a genuine wall arrive understanding exactly what they are buying. It is a better filter than any sales page. Q: What is the single thing I am actually paying for? A: Persistence, mostly. The assessment and the evidence work matter, but the thing that distinguishes a successful case from an abandoned one is somebody still filing in week six. Q: Do you charge for the assessment? A: No. The assessment is free on every service, including the ones where it ends with us telling you there is nothing to do. ## Glossary ### Domain Rating (DR) (also: DR, Domain Authority, DA) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/domain-rating A 0–100 score estimating how strong a website’s backlink profile is, published by Ahrefs; Moz’s equivalent is Domain Authority. Domain Rating is logarithmic, not linear. Moving a site from DR 20 to DR 30 is ordinary; moving it from DR 80 to DR 90 is close to impossible. That is why the gap in price between a DR 50 and a DR 80 outlet is far wider than the numbers suggest. It measures links, not readership. A site can hold a high DR with little real traffic, which is exactly why our directory shows traffic separately rather than letting one number stand for quality. ### Monthly traffic URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/monthly-traffic An estimate of how many visits a website receives per month, usually from Similarweb or Ahrefs rather than the publisher’s own analytics. Every public traffic figure is an estimate built from clickstream panels and search data. Two tools will disagree about the same site, sometimes by a factor of two. What matters for a placement is the order of magnitude and the trend, not the exact number. A site at roughly a million visits is a different proposition from one at fifty thousand; the difference between 980,000 and 1,040,000 is noise. ### Global rank (also: Alexa rank, Similarweb rank) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/global-rank A website’s position in a ranking of all sites by traffic — commonly Similarweb rank now that Alexa has been discontinued. Alexa, the rank everyone used to quote, was shut down by Amazon in May 2022. Any site still displaying an "Alexa rank" is showing a number that stopped updating years ago. Similarweb’s global rank is the usual successor, with Ahrefs Rank as an alternative. Both are ordinal: the gap between rank 1,000 and 2,000 is enormous, while the gap between 400,000 and 401,000 is nothing. ### VFCore Score URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/vfcore-score A 0–100 score and letter grade combining an outlet’s authority, reach, link value, discoverability, label transparency and operational reliability. Six components, with published weights: authority 30%, reach 25%, link value 15%, discoverability 10%, transparency cost 10%, operational quality 10%. Two deliberate choices make it differ from a raw metric dump. Traffic is log-scaled, so outlets are compared by order of magnitude rather than crowded at the bottom of a linear axis. And a prominent sponsored label costs points, because two outlets with the same traffic are not worth the same if one stamps "Sponsored" across the top. ### Dofollow link URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/dofollow A link that passes ranking signals to its destination, as opposed to a nofollow or sponsored link, which tells search engines not to. A link is dofollow by default. Adding rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" tells a search engine to discount it. Most large publishers mark paid placements as sponsored or nofollow, which is both their policy and Google’s stated requirement. Outlets that do pass a dofollow link on paid content charge more for it, and that premium is the honest reason for the price gap. ### Sponsored label (also: Paid post, Partner content, Advertorial) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/sponsored-label A visible disclosure on an article saying it was paid for — shown as "Sponsored", "Paid post", "Partner content" or similar. Labels range from an unobtrusive byline note to a banner above the headline. Some outlets apply none at all. The label affects how the piece reads to a human and how it is treated by Wikipedia editors, journalists and anyone assessing notability. An article stamped "Sponsored" is not evidence that someone independent chose to write about you. ### Editorial coverage URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/editorial-coverage An article a publication chose to write, with no payment involved — the opposite of a paid placement, however similar the two can look. The distinction is invisible on the page when there is no label, and decisive everywhere it matters: Wikipedia notability, verification applications, and the judgement of anyone who researches you properly. Earned coverage cannot be bought, only made more likely — by doing something worth writing about and making it easy to find. ### De-indexing (also: Delisting, Search removal) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/de-indexing Removing a URL from a search engine’s results so it no longer appears for a given query, without deleting the page itself. The page stays online at its own address. What changes is whether Google returns it when someone searches your name. Routes that work are the lawful ones: a court finding of defamation, outdated or resolved content, personal data and right-to-be-forgotten requests, impersonation, and copyright. Each has its own form, evidence requirements and success rate. ### Right to be forgotten (also: RTBF, Right to erasure) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/right-to-be-forgotten A right under EU and UK data protection law to have search results about you delisted when the information is inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive. It applies to individuals, not companies, and it delists results for searches on your name rather than removing the page. Search engines weigh your privacy against the public interest. A public figure’s professional conduct is rarely removable; a private person’s decade-old personal matter often is. ### DMCA takedown URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/dmca A copyright notice under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act requiring a host or search engine to remove infringing material. It applies to copyright only: your photographs, your text, your video reproduced without permission. It does not apply to someone writing something unflattering but original about you. Filing a knowingly false DMCA notice carries legal liability. Services that file them against ordinary criticism expose their clients as well as themselves. ### SERP URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/serp The search engine results page: what a person sees after typing a query. Results differ by country, by language, by device and by personal history, which is why removals are granted per Google domain and sometimes per region. Because of that variation, any claim about a removal has to name the query and the country it was verified in. "It’s gone from Google" on its own is not a verifiable statement. ### Google Knowledge Panel URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/knowledge-panel The information box that appears beside Google results for a recognised person, company or thing, assembled from Google’s Knowledge Graph. Wikidata and Wikipedia are major inputs, alongside official sites and other structured sources. Google decides whether to show a panel at all. The bar is far lower than Wikipedia’s. A Wikidata item, a consistent official presence and some third-party references are often enough. ### Wikidata URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/wikidata A free, structured, machine-readable database run by the Wikimedia Foundation; each entry has a Q-number such as Q42. It stores facts as data rather than prose: founding date, occupation, official website, identifiers on other platforms. Its inclusion standard is notability of a different kind — an item must be identifiable by a serious, publicly available reference. That is a far lower bar than a Wikipedia article. ### Notability (Wikipedia) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/notability Wikipedia’s standard for whether a subject deserves an article: significant coverage in multiple reliable, independent, secondary sources. Companies are judged under WP:NCORP, people under WP:BIO. Both require coverage that is independent of the subject, meaning not written, placed or paid for by them. Press releases, sponsored articles, interviews that simply repeat what you said, routine funding announcements and churnalism are all explicitly discounted. This surprises people who have spent heavily on coverage. ### Articles for Creation (AfC) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/articles-for-creation Wikipedia’s review queue, where a draft is assessed by an independent volunteer before it can go live in the main encyclopedia. Anyone with a conflict of interest — including anyone paid to write — is expected to use AfC rather than publishing directly. Reviewers check notability, sourcing, tone and conflict-of-interest disclosure. Queues run from days to months depending on backlog. ### Paid editing disclosure (also: WP:PAID) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/paid-editing A Wikimedia Terms of Use requirement that anyone compensated for edits discloses their employer, client and affiliation. Disclosure goes on the editor’s user page, on the article talk page, or in edit summaries. It is a condition of use, not an optional courtesy. Undisclosed paid editing is treated as a serious violation. Accounts are blocked and the articles are examined — which puts the subject in a worse position than having no article. ### Legacy verification (also: Legacy blue tick, Notability badge) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/legacy-verification The original verification badge granted on the basis of notability and authenticity rather than a subscription — still visible on accounts that earned it. It signalled that a platform had confirmed the account belongs to the real, notable person or brand it claims to be. Platforms have largely replaced new grants with paid subscriptions, but notability-based verification still exists in limited form on several of them. ### Meta Verified URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/meta-verified A paid monthly subscription from Meta that adds a blue badge, impersonation monitoring and support, available to buy directly in the Instagram or Facebook app. It requires a government ID matching the profile name, and a minimum age. It does not require notability. Because anyone can buy it, it signals that an identity was checked — not that the account is significant. ### Shadowban (also: Reach restriction, Distribution limit) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/shadowban An informal term for reduced distribution: an account’s content stops being recommended to people who do not already follow it, without any notification. Platforms rarely use the word. What exists under the hood is a set of eligibility flags — whether an account can be recommended, appear in search, be surfaced in Explore or Reels, or run ads. Those flags are usually set by a policy strike, a borderline-content classification, or activity that looks automated. ### Community guidelines strike URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/community-guidelines-strike A recorded policy violation against an account, which accumulates and progressively limits what the account can do. Strikes typically expire after a set period. While active they can block live streaming, monetisation, advertising and recommendation eligibility. Several platforms show only some of an account’s strike history in the app, which is why an account can feel restricted with no visible reason. ### Escrow URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/escrow An arrangement where payment is held and released only once agreed conditions are met. True third-party escrow places funds with a neutral agent. On-chain escrow places them in a contract that releases automatically. VFCore operates neither: funds are held by VFCore in company-controlled wallets and released when proof of completion is posted. The protection is contractual rather than technical, and we state it that way because the difference matters. ### Proof of delivery URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/proof-of-delivery Evidence that an agreed outcome was achieved — a live URL, a timestamped screenshot, a before-and-after of a search page, a visible badge. Proof is only meaningful when the outcome was defined before the work started. "We did our best" is not a deliverable, and neither is a report describing effort. At VFCore the proof artifact is also the release trigger: posting it is what settles the payment, and it is what any later dispute is judged against. ### Syndication URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/syndication Republication of an article across a network of other sites, common with newswires. A wire placement may appear on dozens or hundreds of sites. Most are automated republications with little readership of their own. Syndication reach is real for visibility and brand-name searches, and close to worthless for SEO, since the copies are usually canonicalised or nofollowed. ### Google News indexing URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/google-news Whether a publication’s articles are eligible to appear in Google News and the news carousel in search results. Eligibility is a property of the publication, not of an individual article, and Google can remove it. A placement on a News-indexed outlet can appear in news results for your brand name, which is often more visible than an ordinary blue link. ### Anchor text URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/anchor-text The visible, clickable words of a hyperlink. Anchor text gives a search engine context about the destination. Over-optimised anchors repeated across many paid placements are a recognisable pattern and can do harm rather than good. Brand name and natural phrasing are the safer choices on paid placements, especially at volume. ### OG username (also: Rare handle, Short handle) URL: https://vfcore.com/glossary/og-username A short, early or dictionary-word username — typically one to four characters, a first name, or a common noun. Most were registered in a platform’s first years and are now held by dormant accounts. Platforms generally do not release or sell them, so transfers happen between holders. A substantial part of this market runs on compromised accounts, where a handle is taken from its owner and resold. ## Media directory 6 outlets listed. Full detail at https://vfcore.com/media - Example Finance Wire (https://vfcore.com/media/demo-finance-wire): tier 1, DR 91, 18400k monthly visits, nofollow, $4200, up to 3 days - Example Business Daily (https://vfcore.com/media/demo-business-daily): tier 2, DR 78, 1240k monthly visits, dofollow, $890, up to 5 days - Example Crypto Desk (https://vfcore.com/media/demo-crypto-desk): tier 2, DR 69, 890k monthly visits, dofollow, $1280, up to 5 days - Sample Tech Review (https://vfcore.com/media/demo-tech-review): tier 3, DR 58, 240k monthly visits, dofollow, $340, up to 4 days - Sample Lifestyle Weekly (https://vfcore.com/media/demo-lifestyle-weekly): niche, DR 41, 62k monthly visits, dofollow, $145, up to 6 days - Sample Regional Herald (https://vfcore.com/media/demo-regional-herald): regional, DR 52, 150k monthly visits, nofollow, $460, up to 9 days