(Credit: Google)
Finding yourself in unflattering Google Search results is never fun. The company has offered removal request tools for several years, but it's promising a simplified process via a revamped "Results about you" tool.
Users can sign up with their name, address, and phone number, with an option to add nicknames and additional phone numbers or addresses. Google will then sift through its search results and proactively show you the ones that contain that information.
As part of the revamp, Google also added the ability to request the removal of Search results directly in Google Search on mobile and desktop browsers. Should you see a result that you don't like, you can hit the three-dot menu button and tap the Remove result option. From there, you can select to remove the result because it has your personal information or request that it be taken down for legal reasons such as copyright infringement.
A third option is to have Google Search scrape a web page to update it with more recent information. For example, if you have a bio page from your job that gets updated with new information, you can request that Google update its Search results faster.
Regardless of whether you request removal or an update, Google will send a notification once any changes have occurred.
Being able to send requests through Google Search directly makes the process much faster. Should you want to engage with the hub, you can still find the "Results about you" tool in your Google Account under the Data & Privacy settings along with the Google app.
This is the third iteration of Google's tool. The first came out in 2022 and let users request that Search remove their data so that no results appear. A 2023 update added a dashboard where people could see Search results about them without having to search for them manually. Last year, it released the tool to more parts of the world, including Australia.
Google once refused to remove search results, arguing that it could allow bad actors to manipulate information and hide past behavior. But a 2014 court ruling gave European citizens the right to request that Google prevent inaccurate or irrelevant information about them from appearing in the company's search results. By 2018, Google had received almost 2.4 million URL removal requests from 400,000 requesters; 43% of requests were approved.