Your phone number in Google results: a three-step removal request
A free tool watches for a home address, mobile and email, alerts you when a new page shows them, and tells you by mail whether each takedown is approved.
Search your own name on Google and you may find your phone number, home address or email on a page you don’t control. You can ask Google to drop those pages from its results. The tool is called Results about you, and these are the steps from Google’s own help page.
1. Ask Google to look for you
In the Google app, sign in, tap your profile picture and choose Results about you. In a browser, go to myactivity.google.com/results-about-you.
Tap Get started and enter your name and the details you want watched. The form takes several phone numbers, addresses and email addresses, plus a nickname. Then turn on notifications, by email or in the app.
2. Review what it finds
Within a few hours you’ll be told if any results match your details. They sit in the To review tab; tap one to see which site it comes from and what it shows.
3. Request removal
Open the result and tap Request to remove. An email confirms the request, and the Removal requests section shows whether it is in progress, approved, denied or undone. Changed your mind? Undo puts the result back.
The other route: straight from a search
- Sign in to your Google Account and search for your name with your city or address.
- Tap the three dots beside the result.
- Choose Remove result, then It shows my personal info and I don’t want it there, then Contact info.
- Complete and submit the form, then tap I’m done.
Enter your details exactly as the page shows them: if it lists an old address, give the old address. One type of contact detail is enough, and one request per link.
What it won’t remove
- Pages from government bodies, schools and universities, and newspapers, which Google treats as being of public value.
- Anything you can delete yourself, such as your own social media profile or blog.
- The page itself: removal hides it from Google’s results only. The information stays on the site until its owner takes it down.
Google says some features are still rolling out to adults in certain markets. If the monitoring page doesn’t appear for you, try the route from the search results. For anyone under 18, or to file on someone else’s behalf, Google points to a separate form on the same help page.
To check whether your email turned up in an old breach, see our guide to checking for leaked email addresses.
Photo: An open laptop on a wooden desk. By Kari Shea, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Google Search Help: Find and remove personal info in Google Search results.
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