Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
The web has a very long memory. Removal is nearly impossible. Avoid posting sensitive information in any way that can be seen publicly.
It was unwise of me to take part and put in my name in some guestbooks. I'd like to remove my information from the search results of the major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and so forth. I tried in vain to contact the webmasters of those sites. I'm becoming fussier about that and it's getting more awkward as far as my profession is concerned. Would you please assist me in dealing with this problem?
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Search engines are amazing. They've collected and indexed billions of pages of information out on the internet. And while we think of Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other name brand search engines, the reality is that there are hundred of search engines that could all be indexing pages on the web.
Getting into the search engines is not terribly difficult. Getting out? The news is not good.
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I'll be blunt. In my opinion, it's a lost cause. The search engines do have opportunities for webmasters to remove specific pages from the search results. However, it a) does have to be a page or an entire site, and b) they'll only do it at the request of the owner of the site.
On top of that, there are many services and sites which take additional cached snapshots of web pages for historical records. Google, for example, often allows you to view a cached copy of a page, even if that page is no longer online. The internet archive, archive.org, is another example of a site that keeps archive copies of web pages for historical archiving purposes.
So, if you've left your information in a guest book or a blog's comment form, and the search engines have scanned it ... you're pretty much out of luck.
Now, you can certainly contact all the webmasters of all the sites that you've left your information on, and ask them to remove what you posted. If they listen and do what you want (there's no guarantee there either), then eventually those pages will be updated on most of the search engines. I say most, because there's also no guarantee that all the search engines will update, or when. Once you're there, you might be there for a long, long time.
So, ultimately, I don't have an answer or an approach for you, other than to avoid things such as those guest books in the future.
Article C2450 * March 22, 2013 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
April 7, 2009 9:31 AM
Legal is not the way to go here... Even if you get a court order to take the negative info down, which is very unlikely, it is still not guaranteed that you'd get the negative link off of google... although I guess you could take the same court order to google then and see if they remove it.
April 22, 2009 6:24 AM
On a related matter: it's a good move, when the phone company gives you a 'new' telephone number, to google it and see if it's secondhand. I was getting lots of calls from catering companies and soon found out that my number had once been used by a visitor centre up the road, and was listed in various online business directories!
May 5, 2009 9:11 AM
Depending on the size of the site, the site owner can remove individual links or entries from many of the search engines. I have a site that I did not want showing up in the search engines. As the site owner, it was very easy to have Google remove all links to it. They were gone in three days time and it was all automated. If the site is small enough, you might be able to get them to make a similar request for entries with your information - chances are they wont, but you could always give it a try. Not all of the search sites are as helpful, and your best hopes would be for removal from the biggest few.
October 17, 2009 8:22 PM
I need some help ....please.
There is an news story that my name is involved from 2006 and when my name is entered into a search box it comes right up. I have moved away and landed a wonderful job.
Today someone from work searched my name and it came up.....this will destroy me if the owners of the company get a lead on this.....please help.
October 18, 2009 5:57 PM
18-Oct-2009