With the more usage of internet, personal information which is previously have been seen by your family or friends only, nowadays shared in public sites on the internet. But what will you do if you find out that some confidential information is appeared in Google search results which you actually want to keep confidential? Read this article and find out how the personal or confidential information can be removed from Google search results.
Keep in mind that pages or sites can be removed from Google search results only by webmasters or by Google itself. To remove any personal information from search results you need to decide what kind of content you want to remove from web.
Remove personal information from your own site from Web
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Remove the Entire page from the web
- On the homepage of Webmaster Tools click on the desired site.
- On the left hand menu of Dashboard, click on Google index
- Now click Remove URLs
- Go to New Removal Request
- Click on Yes to remove page
- Click on Submit request.
Ensure that page is completely removed either by making use of robots.txt or by noticing the 410 (Gone) or 404 (Not Found) http status code.
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Remove the Cached Version of Page from Web
To remove cached version of page from web you can send request of removing cached version of a page.
- On the homepage of Webmaster Tools click on the desired site.
- On the left hand menu of Dashboard, click on Google index and then click Remove URLs.
- Go for New Removal Request.
- Go for Remove cached version of this page.
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Remove the whole site or a directory from web
Follow the instructions given below to remove it from Google search results:
- Click the desired site on Home page of Webmasters Tools.
- Click Google index which is set on the left hand menu on the Dashboard.
- Here you see an option “Remove URLs”. Click on it.
- Click on “New Removal request”.
- Enter the URL which you want to remove and then click on “Continue”. Keep in mind that URLs are case sensitive, so use the same capitalization and characters which the site’s URL has.
- Now you will get an option of “Remove directory”. Click on it.
- Click on “Submit request”.
Always remember that use URL removal tool only if you want to remove a page urgently because of containing some confidential or personal content.
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Remove an images of your site from Google search results
If you want to remove images from Google’s search results then it is essential to know the precise URL of Image which you want to remove. Follow the given instruction to do it:
- Click on the image that you want to trace in search results.
- First do right click on Full size or view original image and then copy the link address.
- Note down the URL of the image in a file and make it ready when you make of URL removal tool.
- Now follow the instructions of removing the entire page.
Remove personal information from another site from search result
- If you are concerned about the confidential information that is appearing in some forms in Google’s search results then you should make use of the tool to remove personal information from the web.
- If the site or page is removed from Google search result and it is still appeared then you should make use of the tool to request Google not to show the outdated content from the page
What would you do if you get some negative information for your site?
The simplest thing which you can do to come out from this situation is to neutralize the negative effect on your site with valuable and positive content. For example if a customer gives a negative review on your business which you find is not appropriate then what you will do in this situation. You can deal with customer complaints by asking to other customers which are happy with your services and can give a very positive review for your business. This way you can reduce the visibility of negative information about your site.
Get more information on Google Support: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/164133?hl=en
Matthew Anton knows various useful search engine optimization techniques and strategies. He is specialized in website security and management and has written various articles on it.