As the world grows more connected, your personal information is more accessible than ever. In fact, it is often just a quick Google search away.
Your phone number, email address, coordinates for the place you live in, and even financial details are within reach of people with malicious intent.
Research suggests that 44% of data breaches contain personal customer information. Cybercriminals can exploit this data to cause you serious financial or reputational damages.
Search engines do not control the content hosted on external websites. But they do index and display it. This makes your private details easy to find. This visibility can put you at risk. Which is why, it is important for to you learn to remove personal information from the internet.
Fortunately, you have the power to take back control of your information. You can take strategic steps to remove personal information from internet to keep it safe from access. This way, you can significantly reduce your online exposure.
This guide will walk you through the exact process of purging your data from search results. You will be able to minimize the chances of unwanted eyes looking into your personal life. So, let’s get into it and see how you can remove your personal information from the web.
Common Reasons for Removing Yourself from Search Engines
The internet is a tricky place and often dangerous place. You never know when someone might use your personal information to engage in malicious activities. This is why you need to make sure only the necessary information gets displayed online. Here is a look at some reasons why you would want to remove personal information from internet:
1. Protecting Personal Privacy
Your personal information should remain private to you. This helps protect you against unwanted exposure which may lead to issues like ransomware crimes.
Some reports say that ransomware attacks have grown to around 67% in 2023.
Search engines index vast amounts of data and this makes it easy for hackers to access your details. The removal of your information from search results allows you to reclaim control over your privacy.
2. Preventing Identity Theft
Research suggests that more than 9 million identities get stolen every year. Cybercriminals exploit publicly available information to impersonate individuals. They may commit fraud, illegal activities, and other potentially harmful stuff.
They can use your name, birthdate, or financial details to open accounts or make fraudulent transactions. In essence, they can steal your identity to do whatever they want with it.
3. Avoiding Phishing Scams
Around 91% of cybercrimes begin with a phishing email. Hackers use search engines to gather personal data. They can use it to craft phishing emails that seem convincing. These fraudulent messages can trick your contacts into giving away sensitive information about you. When you limit access to your public data it makes it harder for scammers to engage in such scams.
4. Reducing Online Harassment
Publicly available personal information can make you a target for online harassment. You may become a victim of stalking or doxxing. Malicious individuals can use search engines to track you down. They may invade your privacy to cause you emotional or financial harm.
5. Minimizing Data Broker Exposure
Some reports say that around 1400 top brands sell customer information to data brokers. The brokers collect & sell personal information to third parties. They often do it without your consent to make a profit. These companies scrape the internet for details about you and make them accessible to marketers.
6. Enhancing Digital Security
Cybercriminals can use the personal information available online to exploit individuals. Attackers use search engines to gather information to hack online users. This is why it is important to remove your personal information from the internet as it assures your digital security.
7. Removing Outdated Information
Old, irrelevant, or inaccurate information about you may still appear in search results. This information can put your credibility at a serious risk. Removal of inaccurate data ensures that only the correct information about you gets visibility in search results.
What Type of Personal Information Can You Remove from Search Engines?
Google allows individuals to request the removal of sensitive personal information from search results. The aim of this service is to protect the privacy and security of the users. Below is a look at the information that you can remove from search engines:
- Contact details
- Government-issued IDs
- Bank account and payment card information
- Images of sensitive documents
- Medical records
- Login credentials
- Images of minors, even if non-explicit
- Non-consensual explicit content
- Fake visually explicit content
- Inappropriate content linked to your name
How to Remove Personal Information from Internet | Complete Guide
Are you worried about your personal information appearing in search results? This section is for you. Here is how you can successfully remove personal information from the internet:
Step 1: Find Out When Personal Info Appears on Google
First, you need to determine the information about you that is accessible online. You can use the Results About You service by Google to do that. This page simplifies this process a lot. It alerts you when your sensitive data surfaces online.
You can sign into your Google account to access this tool. It provides key identifiers such as your physical address, the email you use, and your phone number. You can choose to receive notifications via email or push alerts through the Google app.
Google generates a comprehensive report for you within a few hours. It highlights any personally identifiable information (PII) that it detects online. You can manually review the results and select the entries you want to remove.
This platform displays real-time updates on the status of your removal requests. You can use this tool to gain greater control over your online presence.
Step 2: Submit a Manual Request for Removal
Once you know the information you want to remove, you can start to take control of your personal data. Follow these steps to remove personal information from internet:
1. Search for Your Name
Regularly enter your name in the search bar to check what information is publicly accessible. This helps you spot sensitive content that you do not want to see online.
2. Visit Google’s Removal Form
Go to the official Google Search Results Removal Form. You can use it to begin the removal process. You must be logged into your Google account to proceed.
3. Choose the Information Type
Select the specific data you want to remove. It may include government-issued ID numbers, your login credentials, or medical records. You can remove any confidential documents you want.
4. Report Malicious Content (If Applicable)
You can also report to Google if your personal information is being used for illegal activities. These may include doxxing, harassment, or other harmful activities. When Google asks for such issues, select Yes when you are prompted about it.
5. Provide URLs of Affected Pages
Copy and paste the exact webpage links where your information appears. This allows Google to process the request accurately.
6. Submit Your Request
Send the form for review. After that, you simply wait for the response of Google. The company will assess your request and notify you once they make a decision.
Step 3: Secure Your Social Media Accounts
Some reports claim that one average, about 1.4 billion social media accounts get hacked every month. You need to make sure that your social media presence is as robust, and as secure as possible.
Search engines often display content from social media profiles. Your social media profile is one of the first things people see when they search for your name. This is why you need to secure your social media presence.
Review all the social media sites you use. Also, check the inactive or forgotten ones that you do not use at the moment. You should delete older accounts as it reduces your digital footprint, minimizing the exposure of your information.
Sites like crowdfunding can automatically index your social media profiles. This makes them searchable for the public. Disable search indexing settings where possible to prevent visibility.
It is not feasible sometimes to complete remove personal information from internet. If this is the case for you, then you can modify your name on accounts to a nickname or an alias. This way it will only be recognizable to close friends. Here is an overview of tips to secure your social media information:
- Set social media accounts to private
- Delete inactive profiles
- Check search indexing settings & disable them
- Manually search your name to find older accounts
- Use an alias or nickname for better privacy
Step 4: Remove Yourself from Data Brokers & People Search Sites
Your personal information is everywhere. Data brokers and most free apps contribute to the digital exposure of this information.
Every time you sign up for a free service, you may be paying with your private data, which leads to privacy risk. This data circulates through an unseen marketplace which makes it difficult to control.
People search websites thrive on this data. Sites like Spokeo, Intelius, Whitepages, MyLife, and PeopleFinders collect and display personal details. Most of these sites gather names, addresses, phone numbers, and even birthdates without your consent.
Large data brokers build extensive profiles through this data. They pull information from multiple sources to make it marketable to their customers. They sell access to these records to advertisers and corporations.
Below are some tips to reduce the exposure of your information:
- Do not sign up for unnecessary free services
- Regularly check & secure your social media privacy settings
- Search for your personal data on people search sites
- Submit removal requests to data brokers
- Use data protection services to ensure efficient removal
Step 5: Delete Unused Email Accounts
The deletion of unused email accounts is a strategic way to minimize your online footprint. Old emails can serve as digital breadcrumbs. They can link past activities to your identity.
Hackers may expose your email and trace it back to your current profile. This makes you more vulnerable in the digital space. The elimination of unused email addresses reduces the risk of unwanted connections to your personal data.
This set will not erase you from search engines entirely. But it will make it harder for others to track you. When delete your email account, any messages sent to it, along with attachments will bounce. This signals that the address is no longer active. This helps scrub your details from corporate databases. The fewer data points available, the less searchable you become.
Step 6: Delete Unnecessary Shopping Accounts
Many online shopping accounts are often public. For example, Amazon automatically makes your Wish List visible to anyone. You need to manually switch this setting to private or else search engines will index it. This means your shopping habits and interests get exposed for the world to see.
Make sure that the platform you use allows you to make your data private. If it does not allow it, you should delete your account altogether to remove personal information from internet. Some companies prioritize convenience over privacy. They leave your information open to search engines & data brokers. They profit from your data while you remain unaware of how much personal information the public can access.
Public shopping profiles are a goldmine for data brokers. They collect data, analyze every detail, and use it to build extensive consumer profiles. Reducing your digital footprint weakens your ability to monetize your activity.
Step 7: Push Down Bad Stuff with Positive Links About Your Profile
The creation of new content about your profile is a powerful strategy to suppress bad stuff about you online. You can produce fresh material to push unwanted results lower in rankings.
Most people rarely look beyond the first page of Google. This makes content creation an effective way to control what others see about you.
You create your online presence from scratch on Google & social media websites. After that, you can publish new content on your digital channels to shape your online presence. You may also want to guest articles for reputable websites to further uplift your credibility.
Press releases are another useful tool. You can use free services like EIN Presswire to distribute content tied to your name. This improves your visibility in search engines. The more high-quality content you produce, the more you come off as credible, and the harder it gets for negative information to stay at the top of search results. This approach requires a lot of consistency. But with time, it has the potential to reshape your digital footprint.
Step 8: Monitor Your Digital Presence to Stay Ahead
The internet constantly evolves, its rules keep changing, and so does the information associated with your name. Search engines index new data daily. Social media platforms update privacy policies. And data brokers continually harvest and redistribute personal details.
This is why you need to stay ahead of these changes. You should proactively monitor your digital presence to make sure that you effectively remove personal information from internet.
Here are some tips you can use to monitor your digital presence:
- Search your name on multiple search engines regularly
- Adjust social media privacy settings to restrict public access
- Set up Google Alerts to track mentions of your name
- Review data broker sites & request the removal of your details
- Delete your older online accounts to limit exposure
Bonus Step: Choose a Reputable Content Removal Service
Your personal content can still remain visible despite your best efforts. You can try your best, contact relevant sites for removal, put in a lot of time, and still get no results. You can simplify content removal with assistance from an expert company like RBS Reputation Management.
RBS Reputation Management has been a leader in online reputation solutions since 2010. We have years of experience in the removal of content from search results. We can remove or suppress harmful content to keep your online identity clean & secure. Our services enable you to maintain a positive digital presence through expert content removal tactics.
Personal Information Removal is an Ongoing Process
The removal of your digital footprint does not equate to absolute online anonymity. Search engines merely index data from external sources. This means that your information can resurface elsewhere.
Achieving total invisibility requires an extreme lifestyle shift. Which is not possible because of the massive digitalization of information on scale. The remnants of your presence may persist in obscure databases all over the world.
This is why you need to proactively manage your digital persona. You need to regularly take steps to minimize exposure of your information to regain control over your online presence. Absolute erasure is implausible, but still, diligent digital hygiene can obscure much of your identifiable information.
Conclusion
It is essential to take control of your digital footprint in the online space. Our guide features the steps you can use to systematically remove personal information from internet. You can the strategies mentioned above to protect your privacy & online reputation.
The process of information removal may take time, but is a must to ensure your long-term privacy protection. If you find it hard to remove unwanted content yourself, you can get assistance from RBS Reputation Management.
Finally, make sure to stay vigilant, and manage your online presence with care to minimize risks to your image. This will lead to a clean that serves your best interests.
