How Do I Get My Information Removed from Google Search?
If your personal information appears in Google search results and you want it removed, you can often get Google to remove it for you. It has an extensive list of the types of personal information it will remove from its search results on request. You can make the request with an online form. Before you can do that, however, you have to try to contact the webmaster of the site with your information for help.
Things on the internet have a tendency to stay on the internet forever. However, sometimes information can get out there that is so personal, you need to have it removed, or at least made more difficult to find. Google is the most widely used search engine, so if you can get Google to remove your information from its search engine's results, you will have gone a long way toward effectively getting it off the internet. This article will teach you how to do that.
Types of Personal Information that Google Will Remove
As a matter of policy, Google will remove the following types of personal information from its search results:
- Non-consensual intimate images
- Fake pornography purporting to feature you
- Content on sites that require you to pay to have it removed or that use any other exploitive content removal policies
- Doxxing information
- Bank account numbers
- Credit card numbers
- Government ID numbers
- Images of your handwritten signature
- ID document images
- Medical records
- Personal contact information
- Login credentials
- Images of minors
- Irrelevant pornography results appearing in searches for your name
Getting Google to Remove the Content
Before you contact Google about removing the content, you should contact the webmaster of the site the content is on and ask to get it removed at the source. This may cause it to disappear from Google and all other search engines the next time they are updated. However, if the webmaster will not help or you have specific reasons not to contact them, just go ahead and contact Google directly, though you will have to explain why you didn't try to get help from the webmaster first.
Once you have done what you can with the webmaster of the site hosting the content, you can make your request to Google. Go to Google's personal information removal request page, and start answering the questions. As you provide more information, the page will reveal additional questions. Once you have sent the report in, Google will review the matter to see if it falls within its guidelines for removal.
Contacting Google
For additional help, you can reach out to a Google customer service representative by phone or help forum.
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