Remove Unwanted Content on Third-Party Sites: New Google Removal Tool
Sometimes you might see content on Search that you think is illegal or unauthorized.
It could be a competitor that has copied your content onto a page on their website, or you might see a webpage infringing a law in your country, but you don't know how to remove that content from Google Search or even other Google products.
So, how do you remove potentially illegal content on Google?
Google made it easier for you to report illegal content on any Google platform through intuitive troubleshooter at g.co/legal
This will direct you to a page listing Google’s product. After selecting the product, you want to remove content from, such as Google Search, select the reason for removal, such as an intellectual property violation like copyright.
When reporting a possible copyright violation, make sure that you're the holder of the content, otherwise, your request will not be successful.
Handy tip:
you generally hold the copyright in content that you create. For example, the copyright in a photo generally belongs to the photographer, even if it's a photo of someone else. So, unless we're talking about a selfie, you might not be the holder of the copyright in a photo, even though, you are in it.
Once you reach the form, fill out all information as required, so the team at Google can review your request. This will help google to review your request more quickly and with the best chance of success, by providing specific information.
Note:
- Only send the specific page URL, don’t send the entire website.
- Clearly describe what content on the page belongs to you.
- Once you have submitted your request, depending on the Google product at issue.
you'll either be given a link to a dashboard, or sent an email confirming receipt of your request and containing a case number.
The length of time taken to respond will depend on the type of complaint you are making.
You will receive confirmation on your dashboard or through email, once your request has been processed.
Note that while google may be able to remove links to the potentially illegal content on Google Search results page, only the host of the website can remove the content from their website.
You will need to contact the website owner if you want to remove the content at its source.
Legal Help Center → https://g.co/legal
Google Transparency report → https://g.co/legal/transparency