Can you remove a harsh article from the SERPs?

[Munster]

The Gurdian wrote an article about a family friend a few years back which implies some dodgy dealings. Although this was actually nothing to do with him it is the first listing that comes up when you search on his name which is understandably upsetting.

Can anyone suggest any way that I can combat this? I dont think that the Guardian will simply just remove the article although I have asked them.

Any suggestions?

Munst

[Brett_Tabke]

Old fashioned SEO:

Go to anyone that has linked to the article and find out if you can get the link removed. Bribes often work in this case.

Generate MANY related articles and get them indexed and linked. Do this from multiple domains and blogs. eg: throw stuff up at the engines to get the bad article pushed down.

Make a video response and get it indexed on Youtube, Google, and other video engines. Link back to your articles. The video can push the bad article down in universal serps.

Hire a reputation management service.

Hire a lawyer.

[Munster]

Thanks for replying to this Brett, Its been a while since I have logged in so I've only just seen it.

Unfortunately the article is on the website of a major UK broadsheet newspaper, all of its pagerank comes from internal links.

I tried writing to the editor, no joy, published stacks of articles, wiki entries and even registered his name as a url with microsoft office live. I have every position from 2 - 20 just not number 1!

I guess its just a waiting game.

Nial