Google’s “Results about you” feature, designed to make eliminating search results containing personally identifiable information easier, is beginning to roll out to select users.
Google introduced the feature at its I/O conference earlier this year, stating that it will be coming to the Google app.
Google previously had a method for removing search results that included your home address, email address, or phone number, as well as a variety of other potentially harmful or detrimental information. However, that system was not the simplest to utilize. If you came across a search result that had a link to your sensitive information, you would need to go to a support website and fill out a form with the URL you want to be removed from the search results.
You’ll be able to make a request straight from the search page using the new tool; if you notice a search result referring to a website with your information on it, press the three-dotted button next to it to enter the “About this result” panel, which will include a “Remove result” option. You’ll then be able to file a request to have that result deleted.
There’s also a “Results about you” page in the Google app that you can access by touching your profile picture, which allows you to monitor the information removal requests you’ve made and view their progress. According to reports, you’ll be able to launch a new request from this page for a variety of different search result removal requests, including those containing obsolete or unlawful information. According to Google’s support documentation, this method just deindexes such URLs from its search results; anybody could still obtain that information if they went straight to the site where it’s posted.
