It’s been generally thought that a webmaster could not request the removal of another webmaster’s content from Google’s search results. A Google representative says that’s not always the case and that Google will remove third-party results under certain conditions.
In most cases, Google leaves it between webmasters, and if someone wants site content removed, they should contact the site owner in question and deal with them directly for removal—from the Internet.
But there are situations where Google will consider a removal request for problem content or problem sites in its search results. They are as follows:
- If the site is a spam site.
- If a webmaster believes the site is engaged in buying or selling links that pass PageRank.
- If the content posted constitutes copyright infringement, which will require a DMCA takedown request.
- If the site is believed to house malware (viruses, malicious software, phishing, etc.).
- If a webpage contains personal, private information, request for removal can be made via the URL removal tool.
John Mueller, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, outlines other reasons a person may request third-party removal:
- The site owner has modified a page so that it no longer contains the information or image that concerns me.
- The site owner has removed a page/image or blocked it from being indexed by using robots.txt or meta tags.
- You’ve been unable to work with the site owner, but the information appearing in the search results is one of the following:
- Your social security or government ID number
- Your bank account or credit card number
- Your image of my handwritten signature
- Your full name or the name of your business appearing on an adult content site that’s spamming Google’s search results.
Hat tip to Search Engine Roundtable.
