It’s been over a month since the Google update on mugshot websites. While many of the mugshot websites are tight lipped as to the effect the changes have made you can be sure that they have had a serious impact. We have seen mugshots for our clients vanish very quickly under this new update. We have also seen our product become vastly more effective in removing or burying negative information.
One way you can be sure that the update has had a noticeable impact is by how outspoken one of the top mugshot websites has been so far. Mugshots.com posted a big long rant about how the safety of America has been compromised because you can no longer view mugshot information as easily as before…hahaha. They also are implementing a new search engine optimization campaign to boost their listings in search results. Keep in mind mugshots.com was one of the most powerful mugshot websites online. They were one of the top 500 most popular websites on the internet. They also charged $500 per mugshot removal.
Google and the NY Times are cutting in their pockets in a deep and severe manner so their first step was launch a PR campaign against the new update form Google. All in all they do raise an interesting moral dilemma on the idea of search neutrality. When and where should a certain segment of search results be targeted? Also will Bing and Yahoo follow in Google’s footsteps? Lastly going down this road what other objectionable search results will Google censor? We know that illegal activities and copyright violations are already filtered but these mugshot websites fall into an unprecedented grey area. We don’t want to see someone who has had their charges dropped be prevented from obtaining a job. But you wan’t to know if your daughter’s soccer coach has been arrested for an assault.
Alex Adekola is a thought leader in the reputation management industry who has targeted mugshot publishers since 2012. Alex Adekola is the longest-serving reputation management director online and has written a book on mugshot removal. He is the creator and director of strategy at RemoveMyMugshot.org and MyClearSearch.com.