Client wants record of old lawsuit moved down in rank

An old lawsuit is haunting a new client. Can I do anything to help him?

[mhNY]

I am doing a complete overhaul for a client who want to, of course, have his site ranked highly, but he also wants a report of an old lawsuit (that was thrown out of court) moved down into the 10-20 PR of Google. He knows he's stuck with it, it's the public record of the court. He just wants it on page 2 of Google instead of being the number one listing. This thing is over 10 years old, and other Google listings that lead to him (from New York Metro, NPR, Habitat Magazine, other good sites) consistantly get ranked lower. What's the deal? Is someone doing something to get the PR on the lawsuit higher? Can I not only bump up the personal site I'm putting up for him, but some of these other links as well, to push the lawsuit down?

Thanks for any info.

[kaled]

I'm still not sure about asking the court to take it down - it just doesn't sit right with me.

With respect, it's not your call. It's your job to advise the client (and his lawyer) how this could be achieved technically (by asking the court to add the meta tag). Whether to proceed with the action is a decision for the client.

Without knowing the details of the case, I cannot say whether I could support it on moral grounds, I suggested simply as an option to be put to your client. You don't have to support it and it may be a bad idea, but all such options should be put to the client so that they may choose which to take (none/some/all).

Kaled.

[rogerd]

The first thing that comes up is this case

Sounds like the client site is in need of some elementary SEO. At the very least, the case should be #2... :)

[widget]

sidewinder:

Start an affiliate program ;)

Had to laugh, but very creative. Couldn't that fill up the first few pages of SERPs?

[Nova Reticulis]

Unless this is a very large, publically known company, I don't see how a lawsuit page on a court site would gain any serious ranking. Who'd link to a ten year old lawsuit about a company that no one heard of in the next town?

So if this is a middle sized business, I'd just imagine that this problem can easily be solved with simple SEO on the target sites, organic link exchange and a little bit of patience. There's absolutely no need to ask the court to mangle their record presentation.

[trillianjedi]

Sounds like the client site is in need of some elementary SEO. At the very least, the case should be #2... :)

I agree. Also the reason I asked my question earlier (as yet unanswered) - I don't think it would be very hard at all to get the top ten listings and shove this off the page if the search phrase is the company name (I'm guessing it is).

TJ

[jbinbpt]

I would advise the client that there is not much that can be done. I would also advise against trying to mess with it.

We won a trademark appeal in Federal Court years ago, and I have watched the decision come and go on page one for the keywords that I track.

We are not happy that it is there, but it is a fact of life.

jb

[pixel_juice]

>>I would advise the client that there is not much that can be done

I certainly wouldn't advise that. But I would definitely make it clear that there are no guaranteed results for this kind of issue (as is generally the case with Google ;)).

[rogerd]

I agree with pixel_juice - there's an opportunity to help the client and generate revenue (always a good combination). It sounds pretty clear that the client's site needs some help regardless of the lawsuit issue, and a little extra effort can probably help push the lawsuit down a bit.

[mhNY]

Yes, he is in serious need of help with SEO - that's what I've been slammed with the last couple of days. We're trying to get his site up quickly and get those feeder links underway. I laid out all the issues about contacting the court's webmaster and he's thinking on that. He thinks they'll probably just refuse. I suspect both of us just want to go with SEO and hope it works.

Pixel-Juice is right, "I would definitely make it clear that there are no guaranteed results for this kind of issue (as is generally the case with Google ;)). " - I've said this over and over to him - but I've already worked a little bit of magic (not on this - on another issue) and he may have his hopes up.

And in terms of the whole discussion on the "justice" system - if anyone can find some justice, please tell me about it.

[pixel_juice]

>> but I've already worked a little bit of magic (not on this - on another issue) and he may have his hopes up.

It'll sound a bit strange but some SEO is like playing a sport, and clients are betting on your victory. Sure, backing a good team is the best way to do it, but a guaranteed victory (or a sure bet) does not exist ;)

[IITian]

He could write a few reviews at Amazon, epinion, WebmasterWorld and such sites - using his real name. That should do the trick.