How to remove your personal information from Google search
This is the most winnable removal category there is, and it is free. Google has a published policy covering addresses, phone numbers, ID numbers and more, and unlike the right to be forgotten it applies worldwide rather than only in Europe.
How do you remove personal information from Google?
Use Google’s Results About You tool or the personal information removal request form. Qualifying categories include your home address, phone number, email address, government identification numbers, bank or card numbers, handwritten signature, login credentials and personal medical records. Submit one request per URL. The policy applies worldwide and is separate from the European right to be forgotten.
Have these ready
- A list of the exact URLs — not just the search term
- A note of what personal data appears on each one, and roughly where on the page
- A Google account, for the Results About You tool
- An hour. This is tedious rather than difficult
- 1
Find every URL, not just the one you noticed
Search your full name, your name plus your city, your phone number, and your email address, each in quotes. Go several pages deep. Data broker sites replicate the same record across dozens of domains, and removing one does nothing.
- Search "Your Name" in quotes, then with your city, employer and middle name
- Search your phone number in several formats
- Search your email address and your old addresses
- Keep a list. You will need every URL separately
- 2
Check which category each one falls into
Google removes specific categories, not anything you dislike. Match each URL to the category that fits — that is what the reviewer checks.
- Home address, phone number, personal email address
- Government ID numbers — national ID, passport, tax number
- Bank account or payment card numbers
- Handwritten signature, login credentials
- Personal medical records
- Non-consensual explicit imagery — expedited, report it immediately
- Content on a site that charges a fee to remove it
- 3
Use Results About You for the easy ones
Google’s Results About You tool lets you register your details once and then report matching results as they are found, including ongoing monitoring. Start here — it is the least work per URL.
- 4
File a removal request for each remaining URL
Use Google’s personal information removal form. One request per URL. Say precisely what data appears and where on the page, so the reviewer can confirm in seconds rather than hunting.
- Paste the exact URL, not the search result
- Name the category
- Say where on the page the data appears
- Attach a screenshot if the page requires scrolling or interaction
- 5
Opt out at the data brokers themselves
This is the step that makes the removal last. De-indexing hides the result; the broker still holds the record and will keep publishing it. Nearly every broker has an opt-out page, usually buried in the footer.
- Find the opt-out or Do Not Sell link, usually in the footer
- Expect to verify by email, and occasionally by phone
- Keep a record of which brokers you have opted out of and when
- Re-check every few months — they re-import from the same upstream sources
- 6
Re-check in a month
Search the same terms again. New URLs appear constantly because brokers buy from each other. This is maintenance, not a one-off task, which is the single most important thing to understand about it.
What goes wrong
- Reporting the search term instead of the URL. Every request is per URL.
- Stopping at the first page of results. The problem is usually twenty URLs deep.
- Skipping the broker opt-outs, so everything reappears within months.
- Trying to remove public records — company filings, court registers, property records. Those generally stay.
- Paying a broker to remove your data. That charge is exactly what engages Google’s exploitative-practices policy.
When this stops being a DIY job
If you are dealing with dozens of broker URLs, with doxxing, or with a site that ignores its own opt-out, the work is volume and persistence rather than knowledge. That is worth paying for. A handful of URLs is not — do those yourself today.
Personal information removalQuestions
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Last reviewed . Platform processes change; we re-check every guide quarterly.