To remove your personal information from Google, use Results about you for search results that show your phone number, home address or email, and Google’s removal request form for other private details, such as ID or bank numbers and medical records. If a website has already deleted or changed the page, the Refresh Outdated Content tool updates the old result. No request removes your name itself: Google reviews specific results against its policies.
These tools work on Google Search only. Whether a request is approved or denied, Google says, the information still exists on the web page, so the site’s own opt-out is the other half of the job.
What removing a result from Google does, and what it doesn’t
Your details can sit in three places, each with its own fix:
- The page on the website. Even if you found it on Google, Google doesn’t own the website, its help center notes; the site’s owner can take the page down.
- Google’s description of the page. The title and snippet can lag behind: if deleted content still comes up in Search, Google says, the page description or cache might be out of date.
- Google’s search results. Removal requests act here. After a Results about you approval, the page’s URL usually stops appearing for any search, or sometimes only for searches containing your name, which Google calls query-based removal.
The old “Cached” link won’t help: Google’s documentation says the cached link feature no longer exists. And as Google’s policy on private information notes, people might still find removed content through links, social media or other search engines.
| What happens | The page on the website | What Google shows |
|---|---|---|
| The site deletes the page | Gone | The old result, until Google updates its results or approves a refresh request |
| The site removes your details but keeps the page | Updated | Possibly the old snippet, until a refresh request or Google’s next visit |
| Google approves your removal request | Still there | No result for any search, or none for searches with your name |
| Google denies your request | Still there | The result as before; Results about you shows the reason for its requests |
| You undo an approved request | Still there | The result can return, unless Google approved someone else’s request for the same URL |
Which Google route fits what you found
Start from what the result shows:
| What you found | Where to ask | What can change in Google | The page itself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your phone number, home address or email on a page you don’t control | Results about you, or Remove result in the result’s menu | Hidden for all searches, or for searches with your name | Stays up |
| An ID, bank or card number, an image of your signature or ID, medical records or login details | The removal request form | Full removal, or removal for searches with your name or another identifier | Stays up |
| Your details posted with threats, or a large collection of them with no legitimate purpose | The same form, as doxxing | As above | Stays up |
| An old snippet for a page the site deleted or changed | Refresh Outdated Content | A deleted page stops appearing; a changed one loses its old snippet | Already gone or changed |
| A post, profile or page you control | Edit or delete it; verified site owners can also use Search Console’s Removals tool | Updated or dropped in Google’s regular updates; a Removals block lasts about six months | Changed or gone |
| Intimate images shared without consent, a non-explicit image of a minor, or a site that charges for removal | The matching request on Google’s personal content hub | Can be removed under that policy’s conditions | Stays up |
| Content you believe is unlawful, such as copyright infringement | Report Content for Legal Reasons, in Google’s Legal Help | Google reviews it and may block, limit or remove access | Stays up |
| Your contact details on a newspaper’s site or a school or government website | Usually none: Google says it won’t remove these | Usually nothing | Ask the publisher or the office |
Results about you, step by step
Where to find it. Sign in with your Google Account. In the Google app, the menu behind your profile picture or initial has a Results about you entry; in a browser, go to myactivity.google.com/results-about-you. Choose Get started the first time, or Settings later.
What it looks for. You add your name and the details Google should look for, which can include a nickname, a maiden name and several phone numbers, home addresses or emails. The help page lists three kinds Google may approve for removal this way: phone numbers, home addresses and email addresses. In a February 10, 2026 post, Google’s blog said the tool would also look for results showing your driver’s license, passport or Social Security number, rolling out in the U.S. “over the coming days.” The help page still didn’t list ID numbers on October 14, 2026, so the removal form remains the documented route for them.
Notifications and review. You can get notifications by email or in the Google app, and Google says it checks regularly for matches. Matches wait on the To review tab: choose Request to remove, or Mark as reviewed. From a search, open the three-dot menu next to a result (the help page calls it More) to reach About this result, then choose Remove result, “It shows my personal info and I don’t want it there” and Contact Info. Since a February 2025 redesign, that menu helps you see what is eligible for removal.
What you hand over. Google says it stores what you enter under its standards for sensitive personally identifiable information; Remove all personal info, in Settings, stops the tool. According to the help page, some features are still rolling out, to people over 18 in certain markets.
ID numbers, bank details and doxxing: the removal request form
For private details beyond contact information, the form linked from Google’s private info policy lists what Google will consider:
- government ID numbers meant to stay confidential, such as a Social Security or tax ID number, with driver’s license and passport among the ID types;
- a bank account or credit card number;
- images of a handwritten signature or an ID document;
- highly personal, restricted records, such as medical records;
- confidential login credentials.
Doxxing, in Google’s words, is when people share your private information to harm you. It covers your details paired with explicit or implicit threats, or with calls for others to harm or harass you, and a significant amount of aggregated personal information without a legitimate purpose.
Filing. Select Start removal request on that policy page, choose “Content contains your personal information” and give the pages’ addresses (URLs); screenshots help Google find the content. You or a representative can file. An automated email confirms receipt; click its verification link to avoid delays.
Outcomes. After full removal, the page no longer shows up in Google Search; after partial removal, it doesn’t show up for searches containing your name or another identifier. Google emails you when it removes a page. Removal doesn’t undo the exposure of an ID or account number, so see the guide to checking for identity theft.
When the page has changed or is gone: Refresh Outdated Content
Use this tool after a website has acted, when Google still shows the old version. It only updates Google’s search result and doesn’t remove a page from the web, says Google’s help page for the tool. It’s meant for people who don’t own the page, and it isn’t for a page that still holds the information you want removed.
How it works. Sign in, open the tool, choose Request refresh, paste the outdated page’s URL and press Submit. If asked for text, give one or two words that were in the old snippet but are no longer on the live page. A page that’s gone stops appearing in Search; for a changed page, Google removes the old snippet and refreshes the page at its crawler’s next visit. Processing can take a few days. Statuses are Pending, Approved, Denied, Expired and Cancelled; a request expires 180 days after its approval, or when the URL no longer exists.
Pages you control. Edit or delete your own post or page; Results about you won’t act on information you can remove yourself. Search Console’s Removals tool is for verified site owners, and its block lasts only about six months, so Google says to also delete the page or block it, for example with a noindex tag.
Explicit images, images of minors, pay-to-remove sites and legal requests
Google’s hub for personal content removals lists more routes, each with conditions of its own:
- Intimate images shared without consent, real or fabricated, go through the request for personal sexual content.
- Non-explicit images of minors. Google’s request for these images covers image addresses, not whole pages, showing someone under 18; that person or a representative, such as a parent, can file. Google may make an exception for a newsworthy image.
- Sites that charge for removal. Under its policy on exploitative removal practices, Google may remove links to content about you from a site that demands payment to take it down; business review sites are excluded.
- Legal requests, such as copyright infringement or certain trademark violations, go through Google’s Report Content for Legal Reasons page, which asks for the Google product, the reason and the specific addresses. Whether a law covers your situation is a question for a lawyer.
What Google says it won’t remove
Google’s help pages name the results it keeps:
- Information valuable to the public. Google won’t remove results with your contact details from pages owned by educational or government institutions or by newspapers, and its steps mention business websites too. Such results have no Remove result option.
- Newsworthy content. If content is about something important or newsworthy, Google might not take it down, and it considers whether other people are involved.
- Your own pages and work details. Information you can remove yourself isn’t eligible, and the contact details must be your personal information. For work information posted to harm you, Google points to its detailed removal request form.
- A namesake’s details. Because the contact details must be your own, a result about someone who shares your name isn’t yours to remove; the guide to how common your name is shows how to tell namesakes apart.
Keep track of every request
Keep your own record alongside Google’s:
- The full address of each page, copied from the address bar, not the site’s home page.
- The address of the Google results page and the exact words you searched.
- Screenshots of the result and the page, taken on the device you’ll file from.
- The route you used, and the date and time you filed.
- The Request ID and status from Results about you.
- The form’s confirmation email, with its verification link clicked.
- A refresh request’s status in the tool’s queue.
- Any denial reason, word for word.
- A date to search again, signed out, and what you found.
Results about you lists each request as In progress, Approved, Denied or Undone, with the flagged link, the submission time and the Request ID, and Google emails you when a request is received, reviewed or denied.
After Google: get the page itself taken down
The lasting fix happens at the site. Google’s advice on contacting a website owner is to look for a “Contact us” link or an email address, or to search Google for whois and the site’s address. If you can’t reach the owner, Google suggests the company that hosts the site.
People-search listings have their own opt-outs: the site-by-site opt-out guide has the steps, and removing your information from the internet covers the wider plan. Recordwell is a people-search site too; taking your listing out of its results is free through its opt-out form and doesn’t change Google or any other site. After a site acts, refresh any old Google result.
Worked example: four results, four answers
An illustrative example with invented details: Dana Whitlock searches her name while signed out and finds four results.
- A people-search listing with her home address and cell number. Her personal contact details, on a site she doesn’t control: she requests removal through Results about you and files the site’s opt-out. Once the listing is gone, she refreshes any old snippet.
- A 2021 local news story that mentions her street. Google won’t remove contact details from a newspaper’s pages, so there’s no Remove result option; if the detail is wrong, she can write to the newspaper.
- An old forum profile she created, with her personal email. She deletes it, then files a refresh request when the snippet still shows the email.
- A real estate agent in another state with her name and a business number. Not her information, so nothing to remove.
Only one result needed a removal request to Google, and only the site’s opt-out took that listing off the web.
A routine for checking your name in Google
New results can appear at any time, so a light routine beats a one-time cleanup:
- Once: add every phone number, home address and email you want found to Results about you, with nicknames and a maiden name, and turn on notifications.
- Once: create a Google Alert for your name in quotation marks; its options set how often you hear, which types of sites and region it covers, and how many results you get.
- When notified: work through the To review tab.
- Every few months: search signed out for your name in quotation marks, alone and with your city or a former name, then for your phone number, email and street address. Check the Images tab and log any new page.
- After a move or a new number: update Results about you and search again.
Google’s tools stop at Google. A Recordwell self-check shows what a name search there turns up, the digital footprint audit covers old accounts and breaches, and protecting your personal information online covers account security.
Common questions about removing yourself from Google
Can I remove my name from Google search completely?
No. Google reviews specific results, not a name, against the kinds of personal information its policies list, such as contact details or ID numbers. An approved request hides a result in Google Search only; the page stays on the website, and people might still find it through links, social media or other search engines.
What does Google’s Results about you tool look for?
Search results that show the phone numbers, home addresses and email addresses you add, with optional notifications. In a February 10, 2026 blog post, Google said it would also look for results with driver’s license, passport and Social Security numbers, rolling out in the U.S. Its help page still didn’t list ID numbers on October 14, 2026; the removal request form covers them.
How long does Google take to remove a result?
Google’s help pages give no review time for personal-information requests. A Results about you confirmation email comes within a few hours of filing, and Google says there may be a delay between approval and removal. Refresh Outdated Content requests can take a few days.
Why is there no Remove result option for a result about me?
Google treats some results as valuable to the public and doesn’t offer the option for them, such as contact details on pages owned by educational or government institutions or newspapers. Information you can remove yourself isn’t eligible either. Ask the website’s owner instead.
Can I ask Google to remove information about my child?
Yes, in some cases. A result showing personal information about someone under 18 goes through Google’s detailed removal request form rather than Results about you. For a non-explicit image of a minor, the person in the image or a representative, such as a parent, can file.