Most people know that Google is a Search Engine that is extremely useful for finding all kinds of information online. But if you are a marketer or a brand, there are times when you may not want certain types of information to appear on the SERPs, because if that information or content is out of date or inaccurate, it can create problems too big to fix later on.
That said, it is impossible to remove that content from Google Search completely and cleanly. But at the very least, if information or a web page is no longer wanted, you have to try to remove it as much as you can, or otherwise make Google's algorithm see that content less. In this article, we will introduce 4 methods to help marketers or brands who want to remove information from Google Search.
Method 1: Remove information from content you created yourself
Let's start with what is easiest to follow. Of course, the type of information that you can remove so it no longer appears on Google Search immediately is content that you created yourself, whether it is on a social media platform, a website, a blog, or elsewhere. Here is how to do it.
Remove unwanted web pages. This step may vary depending on the CMS (Content Management System) you use. In this article, we will take WordPress as an example, since it is a popular tool among website builders today.
The deleted web page will be kept in the Trash folder and can still be restored at this stage. But if you do not want to restore it, you can delete it from the Trash folder permanently.
Block or remove URLs for Google Search. Removing the web page is not enough, because Google has already indexed the page, which means the deleted page may still have URL links connected to other pages on the website. To resolve this issue at this stage, we recommend using a tool such as Google Search Console to remove or block the unwanted URL, starting with the following.
- Go to Google Search Console
- Click on Temporary Removals
- Select New Request
- Select Temporarily Remove URL
- Click Next and you are done
Method 2: Contact the Site Owner or Web Master
Of course, if unwanted content or information appears on someone else's website, contacting the owner to have it removed is worth a try. The advice is to be professional, whether you communicate by phone, email, or private message.
Method 3: Content that violates Google's terms will be removed immediately
There are some cases where you can remove content directly from Google Search without having to go through the hassle of contacting the Site Owner, as follows.
Check whether the content matches Google's terms. If the content you want to remove matches the terms, Google will remove the content or De-Index it. The various terms are as follows.
- Content that displays sexually explicit material
- Content that involves data theft
- Content that raises legal issues
- Intellectual property infringement
After that, go to the Support Page, select the term that matches the content you want to remove, submit the Removal Request, and you are done.
Method 4: Don't forget to check whether the removal was successful
After trying the various methods above, don't forget to test by entering the removed URL on the Search Engine to check whether the unwanted content still appears on the SERPs. You may also need to wait for Google's algorithm to recrawl the web page first. Finally, you have to understand that removing unwanted content is difficult to do completely from the SERPs. Therefore, this process of removing unwanted pages may take a few months or a few years until the unwanted content is finally reduced in visibility by Google.
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