If you do not want to be found via Google – which we can well imagine – you can have your personally identifiable information (PII) removed from the search engine. You can read exactly how to do that in this background article.
In many cases, you can have such information removed without any problems. But sometimes you have to be able to demonstrate why something is a problem. That’s worth a discussion, but that’s not what this article is about. Before explaining how to do it, it’s a good idea to review what personally identifiable information is and what it includes. PII includes all kinds of information with which you can be recognized as a person and can be found online. Then think about:
- Confidential government-issued identification numbers (IDs), such as Social Security Numbers
- Bank account numbers
- Credit card numbers
- Images of handwritten signatures
- Images of identity documents
- Highly personal, limited and official data, such as medical records
- Personal contact details (physical addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses)
- Confidential login details
This is data that you don’t want to end up in bad hands. Moreover, a lot of this information simply does not concern anyone else. Whatever the reason, if you want Google to retrieve that data from the search engine, you can submit a request.
Submit a request to Google
You would do well to start with the special page that Google created for this purpose. There you can read more about PII and also see how to submit a request to delete the data. If you do not want to visit the page and want to submit a request immediately, you can contact us via this link to get started right away.
You can do and adjust various things on the page. On the right you will find icons of a pen; with that you adjust what you want to happen. For example, you can have information that has already appeared removed or you can prevent certain information from ending up in the search engine. You can also indicate whether you only want to get the results from the search engine or also directly from a website.
Obviously, Google doesn’t control the content of a website, so you may need to do some extra work and contact the webmaster of that site. But Google can help you with that too, if you can’t figure it out.
Confirmation email
Then you indicate which information you want to remove. You can enter URLs for specific websites or images yourself; Google then takes a look at that and retrieves that specific information from the query box. After you have entered all the information, you will receive a confirmation email. If not, you have to go through all the steps again.
Google will review your application and request more information where necessary, and then take action. The company may not grant your request; for example, newsworthy articles or pages with important information are not simply removed from the search engine.
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