Is Your Brand Meeting Google’s Core Criteria?

In a recent report, a Search Liaison at Google helped to unravel some SEO mysteries. It is no secret that the rulebook for SEO is a moving target, that the algorithm is constantly shifting, and that businesses jump through significant marketing hoops to make a splash on the Search Engine Results Page. In a couple of rare instances, however, Google will flat out remove sites from search results.

 These days, “Googling” has become synonymous with looking something up. While Google intends to provide (mostly) open access to information, its teams and algorithms act as gatekeepers. Content that does not comply with legal requirements or could potentially compromise users’ privacy will be removed from Google’s search results. 

Legal compliance becomes an issue when sites violate laws around privacy, defamation, or locally imposed legal restrictions. Laws vary from country to country, or even state to state within the U.S. Interestingly, Google is not able to sniff out illegal activity through its algorithms alone but relies on users and authorities to report content that needs to be removed. If you have illegal content on your website and someone reports it to Google, you will probably receive a notification from Search Console that it has been removed.

The second instance of content that Google will remove from its search engine results includes highly personal information, such as a person’s medical or financial information, confidential ID information, or intimate imagery. Google will decide to remove website content if it is deemed potentially harmful to a user in any way – or if the harm it might cause outweighs any benefit it could provide to users.

Individual requests are not a particularly scalable form of online governance – however, Google pulls insights across removal requests to determine where there are high volumes of potential compliance or protection issues. 

If you’re interested in deepening your SEO impact and steering clear of roadblocks around compliance and protection, ASTRALCOM is here to help. Learn more about our comprehensive SEO and content marketing services.