Google Results About You: What It Does, Limits and Tips

Results about you is a free Google tool that lets you request removal of Google Search results showing your personal contact details, such as your phone number, home address or email address. Once you add your details, it can also look for new results that contain them and alert you, so you can act without searching your own name every week. It removes results from Google Search only; the information stays on the website that published it. For results the tool can’t touch, see how to erase your name from Google.

Our guide to removing personal information from Google walks through a full cleanup. This one focuses on the tool itself: what it watches for, how the alerts and statuses work, why requests are denied, and how to get the most out of it.

What Results about you does

The tool does three jobs from one dashboard in your Google account:

• Find. You tell Google which contact details to look for, and it shows you search results that appear to contain them.
• Request removal. For each result, you can ask Google to remove it from Search. You can also submit results you found yourself.
• Monitor. With notifications turned on, Google can alert you when new results with your details appear, so you can review them.

Google has expanded the tool over time, and in some countries it can now also cover certain government ID numbers. Features and availability can vary by country and language, so what you see in your account is the best guide to what it currently covers where you live.

What it can and can’t remove

Results about you is built for contact details. It is not a general tool for unwanted results.

Usually in scope	Handled elsewhere, or usually not removed
Your personal phone number, home address or personal email on a people-search page	A negative news article or review, which starts with the publisher or platform
Your contact details posted on a forum or paste site	Your name, job or photo on its own, without contact details
Supported government ID numbers, where the feature is available	Contact details on government or official sites, or in newsworthy content
Old addresses and numbers that still identify you	Business contact details you publish yourself

Content outside this scope may still qualify under Google’s other removal policies, for example doxxing, non-consensual intimate imagery or sites that charge for removal. Our guide to Google removal requests maps those routes.

How to set it up well

The setup takes a few minutes. The quality of what you enter decides how useful the tool is.

1. Open the tool while signed in. You can reach Results about you from your Google account, or in the Google app by tapping your profile picture. You can also start from a search result: the menu next to a result can offer an option to request its removal.
2. Enter your name as people search it. Include variations you actually go by, such as a maiden name or a shortened first name.
3. Add every contact detail that’s been public. Current and past home addresses, personal phone numbers and personal email addresses. People-search pages often show old details, and those are still useful to someone trying to find you.
4. Turn on notifications. Without them, the tool only helps when you remember to check.
5. Review the first batch of results. Google shows what it found. Go through each one before requesting anything.

Google says it uses the details you enter to look for matching results. If you’re uneasy about giving Google your phone number or address, remember it only helps Google find pages that are already public, and read the tool’s privacy information before you add anything.

What happens after you request removal

Each request shows a status in the tool, typically in progress, approved or denied. An approval means the result stops appearing in Google Search for the relevant queries. It doesn’t change the page itself, doesn’t affect other search engines, and doesn’t stop the site from publishing your details at a new address.

Decisions often arrive within days to a few weeks, but there’s no fixed timeline, and some requests take longer when a page needs closer review.

Why requests get denied

A denial usually comes with a short reason. The common ones:

• The details weren’t found on the page. The page may have changed, or your details appear only in a part Google doesn’t see. Check the live page and resubmit if the information is still there.
• The content is newsworthy or official. Google generally keeps contact details that appear in news reporting or on government sites.
• It’s business information. A business phone number or address you publish for customers is usually treated as appropriate to show.
• The result isn’t about you. If a page shows someone with the same name, the tool can’t help. Our guide for people who share a name with someone who has a bad reputation covers that problem.

If a denied page also involves threats, harassment or a large collection of your personal information, it may qualify under Google’s doxxing policy instead. That route lets you explain the context.

Getting the source deleted too

Because the tool only affects Google Search, pair each approved removal with a request at the source. For people-search sites, that means their opt-out process; our data broker opt-out list collects them in one place. California residents can also send one deletion request to registered data brokers through the platform created by the California Delete Act. To see what an employer or landlord screening might turn up, you can run a background check on yourself.

If a site deletes your details but Google still shows the old snippet, refresh the outdated result so Search catches up with the live page.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client. A freelance bookkeeper who works from home sets up Results about you with her current address, the apartment she left a few years ago, her mobile number and her personal email. She deliberately leaves out the business phone number on her website.

The first scan shows several people-search pages and one old community forum post listing her address. She requests removal of all of them, and skips her own Google Business Profile, which shows her service area rather than her street address. Most requests are approved within a few weeks. One is denied because the people-search site had already removed her address; she refreshes that result instead.

Some weeks later, an alert flags a new profile on a site that copied data from one of the others. She requests removal from Google and opts out on the site itself. That rhythm, alert, request, opt out, is how the tool is meant to be used.

Common mistakes

• Entering only your current details. Old addresses and numbers are often what people-search pages show.
• Treating approval as deletion. The page is still online and still visible on other search engines.
• Leaving notifications off. New pages appear as data brokers refresh their records.
• Removing your own business details. That can cost you customers without making you meaningfully safer.
• Using it for the wrong problem. An unflattering article or review needs a different route.

When to get help

Results about you is one of the most useful free privacy tools available, and most people can manage it themselves. It gets heavier when your details are spread across many sites, when you’re being harassed, or when your role attracts attention. Our personal reputation management service handles ongoing monitoring and the removal requests at source, and tells you plainly what can and can’t be removed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google's Results about you tool free?

Yes. It’s part of your Google account, and there’s no charge to use it, turn on alerts or submit removal requests.

Is Results about you available in my country?

Availability and features vary by country and language, and Google has been rolling the tool out more widely over time. If you can’t find it in your Google account or the Google app, it may not be available where you are yet; Google’s other removal request routes still apply.

Does Results about you remove my information from the website?

No. It removes the result from Google Search. To get the information deleted from the page, contact the site or use its opt-out process.

Can I use Results about you for someone else?

The tool is designed for your own information. If you’re helping someone else, such as a family member, Google’s other personal information removal routes allow requests on another person’s behalf where you’re authorized to act for them.

Why do new results keep appearing?

Data brokers refresh their records and copy from each other, so new pages with the same details can appear. Keep notifications on and pair each Google removal with an opt-out at the source.