Source: Pixabay
When searching on Google or other search engines, you have the ability to use a feature called autocomplete, which is known by many people as “autofill”. This feature will allow users to see a list of a few predictions of what the search engine believes you might be searching for from the first few letters or words in your query. For example, if you search the word “best” into Google, it will provide results such as “best buy”, “best company to work for” and more.
Basically, this feature is supposed to allow for quicker human-computer interactions as these suggestions are often based on popular searches by other real people, so the algorithm lists them first. While there are likely other factors in play as well, how popular a search term is will be a big factor in if it shows up as a suggestion or not.
This often makes it simpler if you have the searching tendencies of the average person in your country, but may not help if you are looking for something niche or unpopular. However, while this autocomplete functionality is great for some of us who are searching for something in particular, it can be a source of a lot of stress and hardships for some individuals or companies.
Because it is based on real searches, if a person/company was in the press for a negative reason or has a bad online reputation, this will likely show up in in the predictions when you search their name or company. This obviously isn’t great for business and can hurt brands in a big way, for a very long time depending on the severity of what took place and how recent it was. People make lightning-quick judgements, so if the first thing a person sees is a bunch of negative keywords when they search your company’s name, they would likely make the wrong first impression.
Thankfully, it is possible to change and influence the Google autocomplete predictions that are given to users. If you want to change the autocomplete for your name or company, it involves replacing those negative predictions with positive ones. The only way this can happen is by having a lot of organic positive searches from different computers, which will eventually overtake the amount of negative searches you had in the past. The production and promotion of online content could potentially help, as well. But in general, enough authentic and real positive searches will eventually hide the negative ones.
Instead of making all of the searches yourself, you are better off working with an online marketing agency (https://blog.whitehat-seo.co.uk/how-to-evaluate-your-online-marketing-agency-partner-infographic) as they often will have solutions or strategies that can help you quicker, efficiently and more effectively. Each company or provider will have their own strategy, and many can also help you in other areas such as improving your SEO and improving your rankings in Google.
Source: Pixabay
The amount of time it will actually take to fully or partially remove all of the desired negative predictions will vary depending on how large your mishap was. If it was a relatively small and unpopular issue, it will be quicker than if you were hacked and thousands of people were affected. It could potentially take several months, so this is by no means something that can happen overnight most of the time. In fact, it could potentially take years and there is no guarantee it will ever work, if there were enough negative searches about you or your company.
In conclusion, changing the autocomplete for Google or other search engines can be done, but it can be a bit of a lengthy process. We recommend that instead of trying to change it on your own (which would surely take years), you should work with a reputable and trustworthy internet reputation or marketing agency who will be able to help. Of course, there is no guarantee it will work as ultimately, only Google themselves know exactly what goes into making the suggestions in the autocomplete feature. Hopefully this article has given you some guidance on what to do if you are experiencing negative autocomplete predictions for your company or personal brand.