Your business name
When customers search your business name
Page one is your shopfront. A news story, forum thread, tribunal decision or old liquidation notice ranking there can cost work long after the dispute ended. We map what can change and build what should rank instead. Free assessment within one business day. Confidential, no obligation.
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The short answer
What can you do about bad search results for your business name?
Start by separating what is wrong from what is merely unwelcome. Wrong content can go back to its source: news through you or your lawyer, and platforms, hosts and search engines through us where grounds exist. Accurate reporting and public records rarely come down, so the realistic plan is suppression, building pages you control until they hold page one.
What this looks like
What ranks when people search a business name?
These are results owners commonly bring to us. Customer reviews are outside our service; everything below is in scope.
News and current affairs stories
A story about a dispute, a job that went wrong or a regulator action, still ranking for the business name years later.
Forum threads
Threads naming the business or its directors, sometimes with claims that are false, out of date or about someone else.
Tribunal and court decisions
Published decisions from building, consumer or workplace disputes that rank for the business or trading name.
Old company notices
Liquidation and other insolvency notices for a former entity, showing when customers search the current trading name.
Licence and regulator entries
Public register entries and old regulator coverage that rank above the pages you actually want customers to see.
Fake listings and impersonation
Pages or profiles using your business name that you did not create, or competitor content making false claims.
Public records
Why do some business results stay up?
Much of what ranks for a business is a public record by design. Insolvency and external administration notices are published on ASIC's published notices website, listed on ASIC's register search page. Licensing bodies run public registers too: the NSW Fair Trading public register, for example, can show finalised disciplinary action against a licensee. Each state and territory runs its own licensing scheme.
Tribunal decisions are often published as well. NCAT, the NSW tribunal that hears many home building disputes, publishes a selection of its decisions on NSW Caselaw, and other tribunals have their own practices. A decision on a legal database can rank for a trading name for years.
Defamation is a narrower tool for a business than most owners expect. Under the uniform defamation laws, for example section 9 of Queensland's Defamation Act 2005, a corporation generally cannot sue unless it is an excluded corporation, such as a company with fewer than 10 employees that is not an associated entity of another corporation. Directors and other individuals named may have their own claims. Misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce is a separate question under section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law.
Rules differ between states and territories. This page is general information, not legal advice. Speak to a lawyer about your own matter.
Pathways by result
Which pathway fits each result for your business name?
Most businesses have two or three of these on page one at once, and each is worked on its own pathway.
| What ranks | Can the source change? | Realistic pathway | What you supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| News or current affairs story | Sometimes, where it is wrong or out of date | Correction or update request to the publisher made by you or your lawyer, plus suppression on your business name | Article links, what changed since, and any outcome documents |
| Forum thread | Sometimes, where it breaches the platform's rules or is defamatory | Removal requests to the platform where grounds exist, and suppression for what stays | Thread links and which claims are false |
| Tribunal or court decision | Rarely. Any change is a matter for the tribunal or court | Suppression, with any question about the decision raised by your lawyer | Decision links and what has been put right since |
| Insolvency notice of a former entity | Rarely. Published notices are public records | Make the current business clearly distinct, and build suppression on the trading name | Old and current entity names and ABNs |
| Licence register or regulator entry | Only through the regulator's own processes | Keep your current entry accurate, and suppress old coverage of it | Licence details and any regulator correspondence |
| Fake listing, impersonation or competitor claims | Often, where platform policy or the law applies | Removal requests to platforms and hosts, with misleading conduct questions raised by your lawyer | Links, screenshots and proof the business is yours |
Pages you control
Which pages can a business own on page one?
Suppression works by giving search engines better pages to rank for your name. These are the ones most businesses can build or claim.
| Page | Why it helps | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Your own website | The page you control most, and the natural result for your exact name | Clear service and about pages that use your exact business and trading names |
| Project and portfolio pages | Fresh, specific pages that show current work under your name | Photos, locations by suburb or region, and a short write-up per job |
| Licence register listing | An official page that confirms the business is licensed | Current, accurate details that match your website |
| Industry association profile | A member listing on an established site in your trade | Membership and a complete profile with a link to your site |
| Supplier and partner profiles | Installer, stockist or partner listings on manufacturer and supplier sites | Asking the suppliers you already work with to list you |
| Business social profiles | Profiles that often rank for an exact business name | Consistent names, regular posts, and links back to your site |
Builders and trades
What should builders and trades businesses do first?
Referred customers often search a builder or tradie's name before they call. These steps protect that check.
Search every name
Search the business name, any trading names, former company names and each director's name. Save page one for each.
Sort wrong from unwelcome
Mark each result as false, out of date, or accurate but damaging. Only the first two have a correction pathway.
Request corrections
Update requests to publishers by you or your lawyer. Removal requests to platforms, hosts and search engines by us where grounds exist.
Build and monitor
Build the owned pages in the table above, keep them current, and watch page one so new results are caught early.
Building a new entity after a liquidation? Give it its own name, ABN and website from day one, so search engines can tell the two apart.
Suppression compounds. Pages built early and kept current do more than a burst of pages built in a hurry. How search suppression works.
Popular questions
Common questions about business name results
If your question isn't here, ask us during the free assessment.
Can a news story about my business be removed from Google?
Accurate reporting rarely comes down. Where a story is wrong or out of date, a correction or update request can be made to the publisher by you or your lawyer, and a changed page can then be refreshed in search. For the rest, the realistic plan is suppression: building pages you control under your business name until they hold page one and the story sits lower.
Can my company sue for defamation?
Often not. Under the uniform defamation laws, a corporation generally has no cause of action for defamation unless it is an excluded corporation: broadly, a not-for-profit, or a company with fewer than 10 employees that is not an associated entity of another corporation. An individual named in the content, such as a director, may have their own claim. The wording differs between states and territories, so ask a lawyer about your own matter.
A liquidation notice for my old company shows when people search my trading name. What can I do?
Insolvency notices are published on ASIC's published notices website and are public records, so expect them to stay. The work is on what ranks around them: make the current business clearly distinct, with its own name, ABN and pages, and build suppression on searches for the trading name so current information leads page one.
A competitor is posting false claims about us. What are the options?
False content can breach the posting platform's rules, and we submit removal requests to platforms and hosts where grounds exist. Conduct in trade or commerce that is misleading or deceptive can also fall under section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law, which is a question for your lawyer. We coordinate with your lawyer and build suppression in parallel.
Do you handle customer reviews?
No. Customer reviews and review platforms are outside our service. Our work covers what else ranks for a business name: news stories, forum threads, court and tribunal records, old company notices, and fake or impersonation pages, plus building the pages you control.
Do you work with my lawyer or accountant?
Yes. Where a result has a legal side, such as defamation of a director, misleading conduct or a tribunal matter, we coordinate with your lawyer. We don't give legal advice ourselves; we handle the search-result side of the work.
Related reading: reputation management for business owners, court and tribunal records in search results, defamation pathways, or the search content support service.
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See what can change for your business name
Free, confidential, no obligation. Send the business name and the results that worry you, and most assessments come back within one business day with a pathway for each one.
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