How to Remove Your Personal Information From Google Search
By Scott Anderson, Clearfront maintainer
Google has two tools for getting your personal information out of search results, and one important limitation you need to understand before you start: removal hides a page from Google, it does not delete the page. Here is how both tools work and when to use them.
How do you remove your personal information from Google Search?
Use Google's Results about you tool to find and request removal of pages showing your home address, phone number, or email, or use the broader personal-information removal policy for things like ID numbers and doxxing content. Both are free and built into your Google account.
Google offers two mechanisms. One finds your contact details for you; the other covers a wider range of sensitive information. Neither deletes the source page, which is the catch I will come back to.
The Results about you tool
Results about you is a dashboard that scans Google for results containing your home address, phone number, or email, and lets you request their removal in a few taps.
- 1.Open Results about you in your Google account
- 2.Enter your name and the contact details you want to find
- 3.Google surfaces matching results and can alert you when new ones appear
- 4.Request removal on any result, and track its status from in progress to approved
It is the easiest starting point for the most common problem: your phone number or address showing up in a search of your name. The tool is documented at Google's Results about you ↗.
The broader personal-information removal policy
Google's removal policy covers more than contact details. You can request removal of results exposing government ID numbers, bank or card numbers, images of your signature or ID, login credentials, medical records, and doxxing content.
This is the route for the more serious exposures. Google's policy page lists the covered categories and the request form, and it handles non-consensual intimate imagery through dedicated forms. The policy is at remove personal info from Google ↗.
The limitation you must understand
Removing a result from Google does not delete the web page. It only stops that page from showing in Google Search.
Google says it plainly: even if it removes something from Search, the page might still be on the internet, findable through direct links, social media, or other search engines. To actually remove the content, you have to contact the website or host directly. In the UK and EU, you also have stronger rights to force deletion at source, covered in UK erasure and Google delisting.
What Google usually will not remove
Google generally will not remove pages from educational institutions, government sites, or news outlets, on public-interest grounds. So a news article or an official record about you is unlikely to be delisted through these tools. For everything else, especially data-broker listings, the removal request works, but pair it with a data-broker opt-out so the source dries up too. The full method is in how to reduce your digital footprint and how to remove yourself from data broker sites.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I remove my phone number from Google Search?
- Use Google Results about you tool or the personal-information removal form to request removal, then contact the source website too, since Google only hides the result and does not delete the page.
- Does removing a result from Google delete the web page?
- No. Google removal only de-indexes the page from Google Search. The page stays live and can still be found through links, social media, or other search engines.
- Will Google remove news articles about me?
- Generally no. Google usually declines to remove pages from news outlets, government sites, and educational institutions on public-interest grounds.
Sources and further reading
Scott Anderson believes your personal data is yours to own and protect. He built Clearfront, a free, open-source tool for scanning and scrubbing your own digital footprint from public data, and he writes about OSINT, breach exposure, and personal privacy.
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