When you have a run-in with the law, there are places that this information may appear online. News sites, press releases from law enforcement agencies, and even mugshot sites may publish criminal history information. And it doesn’t matter whether or not you were ultimately found innocent. These sites still publish that information and it can appear in Google’s search results for years to come.
Luckily, most of this information can be buried deep in Google’s search results so that it can not be easily found. But it takes commitment to creating and publishing new positive information to replace it. Being active on social media, setting up your own personal website, and attracting positive news coverage all helps. But there is still one place where your criminal history information will still easily be found. That is on any one of the many online background check websites.
It’s true that there are big companies that are profiting from the missteps and misfortune of others. They sell access to your criminal record to anyone with a computer or smartphone. And it doesn’t matter whether or not that information has expunged or sealed at the courthouse. These sites will continue to publish negative information until they are given a reason not to. These records are used by people who make offers to employ, extend credit, or rent to you. Although they aren’t supposed to use this information against you, the reality is that people who access this information use it to decide who to hire, who to fire, and who to rent to. And on a more personal basis, many people even use this data to decide who to date. That’s the materiality of the world we live in.
Luckily, there is a solution. There are services that can completely remove your criminal records and other private, personal information from more than 50 of these websites. That way, if an employer, coworker, friend, or neighbor decides to run a background check they’ll find nothing. This service can be offered as an inexpensive standalone service or as part of a complete online reputation repair plan. Using a criminal background check removal service can prevent embarrassment or worse.
There are ways to opt-out of most of these background check sites on your own, but the process can take months. The same is true for removing criminal history information from Google’s search results. You can create tons of content yourself, but it’s not likely to look natural or be placed in the right places to make a difference. That’s why we always recommend starting with a reputation repair service that handles it all, a place like SearchResults.repair.