Can Content Be Removed From Search Results?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Matt Cutts wrote on his blog that he gets asked a lot if he, or Google, can have a web page removed from the search results.

The surprising answer is yes, a web page can be removed from Google’s search results – if it breaks a law or violates Google’s spam policies. Otherwise, no. Not likely to happen.

But what if someone is using their website to defame you? Well, you first have to prove that the person is in fact defaming you. That means you have to have a court order that says a person’s communication meets the legal definition of defamation. If you can get that then the court will tell the website owner that he or she has to remove the web page. Then Google will update its indexes to have the page removed from its index.

Even if Google were able and willing to remove a web page from its index, the web page would still be there. Google doesn’t own all the web pages in the world. Nor the search engine have control over all the web pages in the world. All it does is index them. It lists web pages that exist elsewhere. Therefore, if you want something removed then you need to contact the person running the website and get them to remove it. Or fight a lengthy and costly legal battle. There really is no other way.