Google shows suggestions from what people have searched, and removes very few on request. Do not try to game them; publish a clear page on your site that answers the question behind the searches, and fix its cause.

The word that follows your name

You start typing the business's name into Google, and before you finish, the box offers to complete it with the word complaints. A few days later a staff member mentions seeing scam there too.

It reads like an accusation printed beside your name. It is a record of what some people have typed, and in a small market it may take only a handful of them.

Before reacting, it helps to know where the words come from, who is typing them and what can and cannot be done about them.

Where suggestions come from

Google suggests searches as you type, drawn from what people have searched, with recent and local searches given weight. A word follows your name because people typed the two together.

A large business has thousands of searches for its name, and one odd phrase is lost among them. A small business has few, so a handful can be enough.

Suggestions also differ by person. Someone signed in to Google may see suggestions from their own past searches, so what you see may not be what customers see.

Who may be typing it

The searches behind a suggestion like this come from several kinds of people, not all of them unhappy:

The third and fourth keep it going. Every time someone picks the suggestion to see where it leads, or you type the whole phrase to check, that is one more search for it.

What Google will and will not remove

Google removes a narrow set of suggestions on its own, such as hateful, violent or explicit ones. A word like complaints after a business name is none of those.

It describes searches people really make, and Google does not remove it because the business finds it unfair. Asking is unlikely to change it.

Why gaming the suggestions backfires

Some services offer to push a suggestion away by having many computers search your name with friendlier words. Google tends to discard searches that look automated or repeated, so the money buys little.

Worse, it can draw attention to the phrase you wanted gone, and it ties your name to a practice that breaks Google's terms.

Asking friends and staff to search friendly phrases has the same problem on a smaller scale. The suggestions follow what real people want to know, so answer that instead.

A worked example

A propane delivery company serves rural homes and farms across a valley from one depot, filling tanks on a schedule or when customers call.

Over the winter it moved customers to a new billing system and to automatic deliveries based on tank readings. Some received a bill for a delivery they had not known about, and estimated readings confused others.

By spring, typing the company's name suggested complaints. In a private window, the results for that phrase showed two reviews about billing and a thread on a community forum.

The owner answered both reviews with an explanation and a direct phone number, and the office published a page titled Billing questions and complaints.

It explains automatic delivery, how readings and estimates work, how to switch to delivery on request, and who handles concerns. Every invoice email links to it, and bills now say when a delivery was made.

Nobody was paid to push the suggestion away. Anyone who chooses it can find the company's own plain answer on its site, and the cause of the searches is being fixed.

A page that answers the question

The searches behind a suggestion are questions: is this business honest, what went wrong for others, how do I get a problem fixed. A page on your own site can answer them directly.

Title it in plain words that include the term people search, such as complaints or billing questions. Explain how concerns are handled, who handles them, how to reach that person and how soon they reply.

Link it from every page's footer and from invoices, and write it for the customer with a problem, not for critics.

Answering what searchers find

Choosing the suggestion leads to a page of results: reviews, directory entries, perhaps a forum thread. Answer the reviews on your Google+ Local page and on Yelp, briefly, with a way to reach you.

Do not argue in public. Readers judge the business by the reply as much as by the complaint, and a reply that offers to fix things answers what the searcher typed.

A short, factual reply that names a person and a phone number tells every later reader that complaints here get answered.

Fix the cause

A suggestion follows what people keep asking, and they keep asking while the problem behind it continues. Find the cause in the business: a confusing bill, a missed delivery, a policy nobody explained.

Fixing it is slower than any online trick, and it is the only step that reduces the searches at their source.

The counter-case

Sometimes the suggestion is not about you. A business with a similar name in another city may be the one people are searching for, or the suggestion may reflect one week's local talk and fade.

Check before acting: look in a private window, then on a phone, without typing the whole phrase, and ask someone in another town. If they see nothing, it may be your own history.

Where the suggestion is real and about you, a page that answers the question is worth writing either way, because the people searching deserve an answer.

Answering the searches

  1. Check the suggestion in a private window, then on a phone.
  2. Read the results for the full phrase, once.
  3. Find the cause behind the searches.
  4. Fix the cause, in the business, not online.
  5. Publish a plain page on how concerns are handled.
  6. Answer each review briefly, with a way to reach you.
  7. Ignore offers to push the suggestion away.

Step four is the only one that works at the source. Everything else answers the people already asking, but only fixing the cause gives fewer people a reason to ask.

What clients find when they search the owner's own name, rather than the business, is covered in the owner's public Facebook profile clients can see.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Google suggest complaints after my business name?

Suggestions come from what people have searched. In a small market, a handful of people typing your name with that word can be enough to put it in the box.

Will Google remove the suggestion if I ask?

Unlikely. Google removes a narrow set of suggestions, such as hateful, violent or explicit ones. A word describing real searches about a business is not among them.

Can I pay someone to push the suggestion away?

Such services fake searches, which Google tends to discard, and the practice breaks Google's terms. It wastes money and can turn the attempt itself into the story.

What should the page on my site say?

In plain words, including the term people search: how concerns are handled, who handles them, how to reach that person and how soon they reply.

Do my own searches keep the suggestion alive?

They can. Typing the whole phrase to check on it, or clicking the suggestion, adds one more search for it. Check in a private window without completing the phrase.

What if I am the only one who sees it?

Then it may come from your own search history. Check in a private window, on a phone and with someone in another town before doing anything.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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