Google’s John Mueller explained on Reddit how to remove unwanted content from search results.

This came up when someone asked to delete an old article about his arrest that kept popping up in Google searches.

The person was arrested for a minor offense in 2018, but years later a news article about him appears in Google searches.

Although the case has been settled, the article is still on the first page of results and the person wants it removed.

What can they do? Here’s what Mueller advised.

Mueller’s Guide to Content Removal

Mueller explained that this process is not always quick or easy, even though the news portal said it had “deindexed” the article.

He suggested some ways to solve the problem:

1. Complete deactivation: The news portal refused to remove the article, but this is the most effective method because the page displays a 404 error.
2. Noindex tag: That’s probably what the news portal did. It keeps the article on its website but tells search engines to ignore it. Mueller advised checking the page’s code for this tag.
3. Name swap: Mueller suggested asking the news outlet to replace the person’s name with something generic like “John Doe” to get around the problem. This could make the article harder to find in name searches.
4. Right to be forgotten: For people in some areas, especially in Europe, this legal option might be helpful.

Regarding the fact that the article still appears in search results, Mueller said that even after de-indexing, it can take up to six months for a page to disappear from the results:

“There is no exact timeline for how long it takes for a noindex to be ‘seen’, but it’s usually less than a few months. I think I’ve seen it take up to 6 months. They don’t stay in the index forever without being updated. If you use the public removal tool (for non-site owners), Google will review the page pretty quickly (within a few days) and confirm that the page has a noindex.”

He assured that pages do not remain indexed forever without being reviewed again.

Mueller mentioned that while there are some “hidden” deindexing methods, they are not widely used.

He recommended using Google’s public removal tool, which allows Google to re-examine the page within a few days. This could speed things up if the news portal has properly deindexed the article.

Müller explained:

“It’s really rare (I can’t think of a case in the last year or so) that someone uses some sort of ‘hidden’ noindex; it’s complicated to set up and maintain. Most sites just use the visible robots meta tag to switch things to noindex, which you could see pretty quickly yourself. If you use the removal tool, Google will see all the more ‘hidden’ noindex settings too.”

This advice helped the person better understand their situation and take possible next steps in dealing with their ongoing online content problem.

Content removal tools

Mueller cites two main methods for removing content from search results:

• For website owners: The removal and SafeSearch reporting tool
• For everyone else: The Update Outdated Content tool

If you own the website, Google will remove the content upon request.

For non-owners, Google performs some checks before removing something.

Mueller said using these tools won’t inadvertently cause your page to appear more frequently in search results.

He explained:

“The removal tool for site owners has a help page titled ‘Removals and SafeSearch Reports Tool’, subtitle ‘Temporarily block your site’s search results or manage SafeSearch filters’. (Site owner = the person who runs the site in their Search Console account)

The public removal tool for non-site owners is titled “Outdated Content Update Tool” / Subtitle: “Request update of outdated content in Google search results” (non-site owner would be someone who does not work on the site themselves, like you).

The site owner’s tool processes a removal very quickly without checking whether the page is actually noindexed or not. The assumption is that you, as the site owner, can block anything you want. If they are willing to do it for you, that is the fastest way.

For non-site owners, the tool checks multiple times to see if the page has been removed, unindexed, or modified accordingly. It doesn’t do anything until this is confirmed, so there’s no harm in trying it. None of these tools make a page more visible (SEOs would love that). The tools are also labeled as “temporary” removals – because if the page becomes indexable again, it can start showing up in search again.”

Why this is important

This shows how difficult it can be to manage what people see about you online.

While Google offers ways to remove old or unwanted articles, this can take some time and sometimes requires the cooperation of the publisher.

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