Google: Personal data will not be removed from the index

July 10, 2022

Even a successful request to remove personal information from the search will not remove it from the index. Deletion is done page by page.

After Google presented the possibility to remove personally identifiable data from the search, the question arose whether the data in question would actually be deleted from the index or whether Google would simply remove it from the search results.

Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to a request that the results would be removed from the search. He referred to the documentation from Google:

“Removed from search. The page explains in more detail.”

On Google’s dedicated page, what happens to the URLs if the removal is approved is that they will either no longer appear in the search results for any search query or will no longer appear for any search queries that contain a name or a similar term contain with which a person can be identified. But that also means: Basically, the data in the Google index is retained.

It is also a page based system. The data is therefore removed from the search page by page. In such cases, the entire website is not automatically affected. This can be relevant, for example, with regard to possible negative SEO attacks, in which websites are hacked and personal data is added to them, only to be removed by Google:

It remains to be seen how the changes will specifically affect the search results and whether it will actually be possible for data subjects to receive better protection of privacy.