Google To Send Users Proactive Alerts Upon Detecting Personal Info In Search Results

Google has announced that it will notify the users if their personal information such as phone number, e-mail or home address shows up in the search results. This feature will be a part of Google’s “Results About You” tool.

While the large-scale roll out of this feature is expected to happen sometime next year, the company has already begun launching it. 

The feature of receiving an alert of user’s information present in the search results will be optional. 

Google already takes on requests to take down personal information but had no mechanism in place to proactively raise the issue of a user’s info being present in the search results. Users had to write to Google for such takedowns which were evaluated before removal. 

In a statement, Danielle Romain VP, Trust at Google said, “Now, we’re making it easier for you to remove results that contain your contact information from Google. We’re rolling out a new tool to accompany our updated policies and streamline the request process.

Notably, the feature will only notify users if their personal information shows up on Google search results. This would mean that an aggrieved person could just request for a takedown in the search results. Meanwhile, the information will still be on the website that is hosting it.

But removal of personal information from Google search results would greatly help reduce visibility. 

The “Results About You” tool will be available in the US within the next few weeks followed by a larger roll out across the globe.