Get a mugshot off your search results
Mugshot sites exist to be paid for removal. Google knows that, and has a policy built specifically for it — which is the lever, rather than paying them.
How do you remove a mugshot from Google?
Google does not host mugshots; it indexes them from third-party sites, so the durable fix is removal at the source. Google will also de-index results under its policy on exploitative removal practices — sites that charge a fee to take a mugshot down — and will consider removal where charges were dropped or dismissed, where a record has been expunged or sealed, or where personal information such as a home address appears alongside the image.
Do not pay a mugshot site to remove your image. It funds the model, your record frequently reappears on a sister domain weeks later, and in several US states charging for removal is itself unlawful. Paying also undermines the exploitative-practices argument that would have removed it for free.
Grounds that work
- The site charges a fee for removal — Google’s exploitative-practices policy
- Charges were dropped, dismissed, or ended in acquittal
- The record has been expunged or sealed by a court
- The arrest concerned a minor
- A home address, phone number or date of birth appears with the image
- The original sheriff or court portal has itself taken the record down
How a mugshot case runs
- 1
Full sweep
We find every site carrying the image, not the two you have seen. These networks replicate aggressively and partial removal leaves the problem intact.
- 2
Legal status
Dismissal, acquittal, expungement or sealing documents. This is what turns a weak request into a strong one.
- 3
Source removal
Through each site’s own process where one exists that does not involve payment, and through the host or registrar where it does not.
- 4
De-index filing
Per URL, under the exploitative-practices policy or the personal-information policy, whichever fits.
- 5
Monitoring
Re-checked across the window. Mirror domains are the normal failure mode, and a reappearance inside the window is re-filed, not re-billed.
- 6
Proof
A dated screenshot per URL showing the result gone from a search for your name.
The specifics
- Priced
- Per URL, with a bundle rate for a full network sweep
- Jurisdiction
- Google’s exploitative-practices policy applies worldwide
- Typical timeline
- 1 to 8 weeks per URL
- Strongest document
- An expungement or dismissal order
- Counts as delivered
- The URL no longer returns for searches of your name, evidenced by a dated screenshot
What we will not claim
- We will not pay a mugshot site on your behalf. It funds the extortion, it invites a reappearance, and it weakens the policy argument that removes it for nothing.
- Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us.
- A current, unresolved case reported by a legitimate news outlet is not a mugshot-site problem and does not come down under this policy.
- Google decides. We build the strongest documented request; nobody outside Google can force a result down, and anyone claiming a contact there is lying to you.
Questions
Terms on this page
Last reviewed . Platform policies change; we re-check every page quarterly.