What to Do If You Share a Name With Someone Who Has a Bad Reputation

If you share a name with someone who has a bad reputation on Google, you usually can’t remove their results, because accurate information about another person isn’t yours to take down. What you can do is make yourself easy to tell apart: use one distinctive version of your name everywhere, attach your location and profession to it, build strong profiles and a personal site that rank for that name, and tell employers or clients early that the other person isn’t you. If a background check wrongly attributes their record to you, you have the right to dispute it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

This is more common than people think, and it isn’t a sign that anything is wrong with you. It’s a search problem, and search problems have practical fixes.

Why this happens

Google doesn’t know which “Michael Torres” a searcher means. It shows the pages it judges most relevant and authoritative for that string of words. A news article about a fraud case, a court record or a mugshot site often has more links and attention than anything about a private person, so it wins the top spots.

The problem is worse when:

• Your name is common, or the other person’s story was widely covered.
• You don’t have much online yourself, so there is nothing about you competing for those spots.
• You work in the same city or the same field as the other person.
• People-search sites blend records from several people with the same name into one profile, and aggregators such as PeekYou can mix your accounts with a namesake’s.

What you can’t do (and why)

It’s natural to want the other person’s results gone. In most cases that isn’t possible. A news report, court record or review about someone else is, from Google’s point of view, accurate information about that person. Google’s removal routes cover things like certain personal information, explicit imagery shared without consent and legal requests, not “this is about someone who has my name.”

You also shouldn’t try to get their content removed with false complaints, fake copyright claims or contact with the publisher pretending to be them. Those tactics can expose you to legal risk and tend to backfire.

There are a few narrow exceptions. If a page confuses the two of you, for example a people-search listing that attaches their criminal record to your address, or an article that uses your photo by mistake, you have a genuine complaint about content that is wrong about you. Contact the site, explain the error, and ask for a correction. Most people-search sites also offer opt-out processes for your own listing.

Step 1: See what people actually find

Search your name in a private browser window, then search it with your city, your employer and your profession. Note which results are about you, which are about the other person, and which blend the two. Check image results too, since a wrong photo is often what causes real confusion. Our guide to ranking for your own name has a fuller checklist for this kind of audit. Our free Name Scanner, launching soon, will also search your name and let you mark results about the other person as “Not me”.

Ask yourself: if a stranger searched my name and my city, could they tell in ten seconds that the bad results aren’t me? That is the test the rest of this guide is trying to pass.

Step 2: Choose a distinctive version of your name

If “Michael Torres” is taken by a bad story, “Michael J. Torres” or “Michael Alvarez Torres” gives you a version of your name that you can own. Pick one and use it consistently:

• On your resume, LinkedIn, email signature and business cards.
• On your company bio, professional licenses where possible, and bylines.
• In the domain and title of a personal website.

Consistency matters more than the particular choice. Search engines and people both learn to associate one exact name with one person. Switching between versions dilutes that.

Step 3: Attach qualifiers people will search

People rarely search a name alone when they are checking out a professional. They add a city, a company or a job title. Make sure those combinations lead to you.

Qualifier	Where to use it	Example
Location	LinkedIn headline, site title, directory listings	Michael J. Torres, CPA, Tucson
Profession	Headline, bio, bylines	Michael J. Torres, tax accountant
Employer or firm	Company team page, press mentions	Michael J. Torres at Desert Ridge Tax Group
Credentials	License lookups, professional associations	Licensed CPA in Arizona

If the other person is well known in one place, your location alone may be enough to separate you for most searchers.

Step 4: Build owned profiles and a personal site

The most reliable way to push someone else’s results down for your name is to publish pages that are clearly, verifiably about you. Start with the ones that tend to rank well for names:

1. A personal website on a domain that matches your chosen name, with an About page, your photo, your city and your work.
2. A complete LinkedIn profile with public visibility turned on. Our guide to LinkedIn profile SEO walks through the settings.
3. Professional directory listings for your field, such as bar, medical or licensing directories.
4. A team or bio page on your employer’s website.
5. Published work: articles, talks, podcast appearances or an industry association profile.

Link these pages to each other and use your photo on each. A consistent photo is one of the fastest ways for a searcher to tell two people apart.

This doesn’t make the other person’s results disappear, and it doesn’t work overnight. For a common name with a heavily covered story, it can take months of steady work before your pages hold most of page one, and some results may never move.

Step 5: Consider a knowledge panel if you are notable

If you have genuine public recognition, such as press coverage, published books or a public role, Google may show a knowledge panel for you: a box with your photo, title and key facts. A panel makes it much clearer which person a search is about. Google decides who gets one, and it’s not available to everyone. Our guide to getting a Google knowledge panel explains how panels work and how to claim one if it exists.

Step 6: Tell people before they find it

For the people whose opinion matters most, such as a hiring manager, a new client or a landlord, the most effective fix is a single, calm sentence before they search. It turns a potential red flag into a non-issue.

Quick note in case you search my name: there’s another Michael Torres in Phoenix who was in the news a few years ago. That’s not me. My LinkedIn and website are linked in my signature if you’d like to confirm.

Keep it brief and factual. Don’t describe the other person’s story in detail or sound defensive. If you are job hunting, our guide on protecting your reputation during a job search covers when and how to raise things like this.

Step 7: Dispute background check mix-ups

Informal Google searches are one thing. A formal background check that attributes someone else’s criminal record or debts to you is more serious, and US law gives you specific rights.

Employment background screening companies are generally consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Guidance from the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains that:

• An employer that wants to take adverse action, such as withdrawing an offer, based on a background report generally has to give you a copy of the report and a summary of your rights first.
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information with the screening company, and it must conduct a reasonable investigation free of charge.
• Information that can’t be verified must be corrected or deleted.
• If the company doesn’t fix the error, you can submit a complaint to the CFPB or the FTC.

When you dispute, explain clearly that the record belongs to another person, and include what separates you: date of birth, middle name, addresses and any documents that show you weren’t at the relevant place or time. Tell the employer you have filed a dispute. Keep copies of everything. If the error cost you a job, talk to a consumer protection lawyer about your options. For current details, see consumerfinance.gov and ftc.gov, which publish plain-English guides to background screening reports.

A worked example

This example is illustrative. Rachel Kim is a physical therapist in Portland. A search for her name returns a news story and several follow-ups about a Rachel Kim in another state who was charged in an insurance fraud case. A new clinic she is interviewing with mentions it, awkwardly, at the end of a call.

1. Rachel settles on “Rachel S. Kim, PT” and updates her LinkedIn, her state license profile and her resume to match.
2. She registers a domain with that name and publishes a simple site with her photo, her clinic, her city and a short page on her specialty.
3. She asks her current clinic to add a bio page, and she completes her profile on two healthcare directories.
4. For the interview, she follows up by email with a short “that’s not me” note and links to her license lookup.
5. She keeps a brief template of that note to reuse with future employers and patients who ask.

Months later, the fraud stories still appear for “Rachel Kim”. But searches for “Rachel S. Kim” and “Rachel Kim physical therapist Portland” return her own pages, and that is what the people checking on her actually search.

Common mistakes

• Trying to get the other person’s content removed. Unless it’s genuinely wrong about you, it usually stays, and aggressive attempts can backfire.
• Changing your name variant every few months. Pick one and stick with it.
• Writing about the namesake on your own pages. It links your name to their story.
• Waiting for someone to bring it up. A short note up front works better than an explanation after a decision has been made.
• Ignoring a background check error. Disputes have a process and your rights under the FCRA are specific; use them.

When to get help

If the other person’s story is heavily covered, your name is very common, or the confusion is costing you work, a structured approach can help. Our personal reputation management service builds and promotes accurate pages about you so the right person shows up for your name, and we’ll tell you honestly how much page one is likely to move.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get Google to remove results about someone with the same name?

Generally no. Accurate information about another person isn’t eligible for removal just because you share their name. If a page confuses the two of you, such as a listing that attaches their record to your address or photo, you can ask the site to correct it.

Should I change my name because of a namesake?

Usually not. Adding a middle initial or middle name and using it consistently is typically enough to give you a version of your name you can own in search results, without the cost of a legal change.

What if a background check shows someone else's criminal record?

Dispute it with the background screening company. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, it must investigate a dispute and correct or delete information it can’t verify. Tell the employer you have filed a dispute, and if the company doesn’t fix it, you can complain to the CFPB or FTC.

How long does it take to outrank a namesake?

It depends on how common your name is, how widely the other person’s story was covered and how much you already have online. Search results for a name typically shift over months, not weeks, and results that are widely linked may never fall off page one entirely.