Niki Mistry gives his expert advice on Google removals

Niki Mistry is the New Business Manager at the online reputation management firm Igniyte. His work often includes finding ways to challenge negative content and remove it from Google’s search results. Here’s his take on Google removals, cleaning up search results and getting URLs removed.

Why are Google search results so important?

When someone searches for your personal information, they are only going to look at the first few links that appear on page 1 of Google search results.

Given that the Internet behemoth accounts for 94% of all Internet search results traffic, a Google search will quickly inform people about your personal information. It will also inform them about your business and whether you like it or not, the first few URLs they see will form your reputation

If any of the content showing from a Google search (or from other search engines) is negative, then it could have severe ramifications for your long-term reputation. This is where removal requests from Google searches come in.

Removal requests for businesses and brands

I often work with clients to find ways to get information removed. Outdated content, as well as libellous, defamatory, or otherwise negative content often crop in requests to remove URLs.

It’s not surprising when we consider statistics like, for example, the 30% of businesses that believe negative URLs have damaged their business and its future value. And the longer it takes to remove information, the more damaging it can be.

Is it easy to remove an outdated content section from Google?

In a word, no. It’s not a simple process and it’s not possible to remove online content just because you don’t like it. There are certain criteria that the Google search results must fulfil to be potentially eligible for removal.

Having said that, there are circumstances during which Google will react positively to a request for the removal of defamatory or negative content.

Content removal requests likely to be accepted by Google

Here are the legal reasons that Google gives for potentially removing details from websites. A removal request can be to report specific URLs. The data must be in some way defamatory or give other information that is somehow negative.

• Search results that show information that could cause financial harm or potentially lead to identity theft

If this kind of information pops up for Google users in search results, it violates the search engine’s service agreement. In cases like these, Google will remove credit card numbers, bank account details, signatures or other information from sites or pages on a website.

• Content that is sexually explicit

Should sexually explicit information or adult content show up in a URL, site or page in search results and it hasn’t been posted with consent, then the search engine will remove it. For anyone to submit a request for this, the following criteria must be met:

1. The subject is nude or depicted in a sexual act on a web page or adult-only content site.
2. The subject intended the information to be private and it has appeared without their consent. An example of this kind of content would be revenge porn.
3. The person depicted on the site or URL is underage.
4. The person didn’t consent to the act and the adult content is publicly available.

Under these circumstances, URLs submitted for removal will be accepted.

• The content comes under Article 17

This is the ‘right to be forgotten’ and applies to search results in the EU only. Through this, it’s possible to request outdated content and be removed from a page. This involves things like outdated media, videos, pictures, or social media content.

There is a cost linked to the right to be forgotten, which varies according to what kind of outdated content is under review. Costs start at £750 plus VAT, and it can take about six months.

Online defamation and removal tools

The potential for defamatory or libellous statements being written is huge these days, particularly on social media. I’ve found the number of cases that need legal assistance following disputes with site owners over defamatory content are increasing. But what counts as defamatory content and when could a court order make a difference?

Any search results that reveal content on a site written by a third party that is false (either on purpose or by design) comes under defamatory content. However, this doesn’t mean that any page displaying someone’s opinion could come under this kind of request. Rather it must be considered to cause serious harm to the person being defamed in a way that causes serious reputational damage. Should users believe that a piece of content on the Internet fulfils these criteria, then there may be a case to request it be removed or replaced by a new version.

Content removal rights within the EU and in the UK

If you’ve sat at your computer and found pages displaying negative content or incorrect data via Google search, then you need to know your rights. GDPR applies within the EU and impacts individuals who live in the 27 member states.

The UK Government has introduced its own legislation since Brexit but follows the same format regarding the Right to Be Forgotten. It’s not as simple as sending a request for the search engine to remove content from Google search results, however. Certain conditions have to be met:

• Content displayed on the URL or page is outdated.
• You remove or withdraw the consent you originally gave via the automatically generated form.
• A legitimate reason to keep your data no longer exists.
• The data controller is using your data for marketing.
• The data has been illegally processed.

How many requests does Google comply with?

The right for individuals to ensure specific URLs are no longer present and showing in search results has been contentious since it was first introduced. Since then, Google has had more than a million requests to remove URLs or a page that shows up through a search. It seems that Google feels that just under half of these warrant removing the URL.

Getting content removed from a page or Google search quickly isn’t always possible. In my experience, it takes about six months.