Article in Time

Google Is Making It Easier to Remove Personal Info From Search

Google recently started allowing users to remove their personal information from search results, including their phone number, email, and home address. On Wednesday, the company announced at its annual I/O developer conference that it’s launching a tool to further streamline the process.

The new tool will become available in the coming months, and users will be able to quickly request the removal of results. For now, here’s how to request your personal information be removed, through Google’s support page.

https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061?hl=en&ref_topic=3285072

To submit a removal request for this kind of information ahead of the tool’s launch, head to Google’s search results removal form and select “Remove information you see in Google Search” under the “What do you want to do?” tab. Then hit “In Google’s search results and on a website” under “The information I want removed is” and “No, I prefer not to” under “Have you contacted the site’s website owner?”

The form will then walk you through the process of inputting the information that Google needs to determine whether the reported results fall under the umbrella of its removal policies. It asks for the URLs of the websites displaying your personal data as well as the URL of the Google search that brought up those sites. It also recommends including screenshots. As a result, these sites could be removed from all searches on Google, only searches involving your name, or, if your request is denied, neither.