How to remove a page on your own site from Google Search
- Verify the site in Search Console. The Removals tool only works for properties you have verified as an owner. If the site is not verified yet, do that first.
- Make the removal permanent on the site. Delete the page so it returns a 404 or 410, add a noindex robots meta tag, or put it behind a password. Without one of these, the page can come back.
- Submit a temporary removal. In Search Console, open Removals and submit the URL or URL prefix. This hides it from results quickly while Google recrawls.
- Leave the block in place. A temporary removal lasts about six months. Keep the 404, 410, noindex or password in place so the page does not come back when it expires.
Pick the route that matches your situation
Google does not remove pages because someone asks nicely. Every removal goes through a specific route, and each route has its own conditions. Picking the wrong one is the most common reason a request goes nowhere.
| Your situation | Route | What it achieves |
|---|---|---|
| You own the site | Search Console Removals tool, plus a 404, 410, noindex or password |
Hidden quickly; permanent once the block is in place |
| Someone else's page changed or was deleted, but Google still shows it | Refresh Outdated Content tool | The stale result or snippet is refreshed or dropped |
| Someone else's page copies your work | A copyright removal request through Google's legal forms | That URL is delisted if Google accepts the claim |
| Someone else's page breaks the law or Google's policies, e.g. exposes your personal contact details | Google's legal troubleshooter or its personal-information removal requests | Delisted only if the content falls into a category Google removes |
| Someone else's page is negative but lawful | The site owner, not Google | Google will not remove it on request |
Removing a page on your own site
This is the only route you fully control. The steps above cover it, but the most common mistake is worth repeating: the Removals tool is temporary. Google's documentation says a removal lasts about six months. If the page is still live and indexable when that ends, it comes back.
So the tool and the on-site change do different jobs. The tool hides the URL quickly. The 404, 410,
noindex or password keeps it out. Do not block the URL in robots.txt instead:
a robots block stops Google crawling the page, which also stops it seeing the noindex, and
the bare URL can still be listed.
To remove a whole site, submit a removal for the domain prefix and then take the site down, password it,
or noindex every page. Google's own
guide to removing information
covers the edge cases, such as images and cached snippets.
Removing an outdated page you don't own
If a page has already been edited or deleted, but Google still shows the old version, use the Refresh Outdated Content tool. It needs no ownership. It only works when the live page has actually changed. It will not remove a page that still says what you want gone.
If you own the site, these requests show up in your Search Console under Removals → Outdated content, so you can see who has been asking for refreshes of your URLs.
Removing a page for legal or policy reasons
For pages you neither own nor can get changed, Google removes results only in defined categories. These include copyright infringement, personal contact information shared to harm someone, non-consensual explicit imagery, and content that is unlawful in a given country. Start from Google's legal troubleshooter, which sends you to the right form.
Copyright is the most heavily used of these routes by a wide margin. If the page reproduces your work, report it as copyright infringement. The request, including your name and the URLs, will be published in Google's Transparency Report and usually archived on Lumen.
If your own pages disappeared and you didn't ask
These routes run the other way too. Anyone can file a copyright removal request against your URLs, and
Google does not have to tell you when it accepts one. A page that vanishes from Google with no
noindex, no crawl error and no manual action is a typical sign of
a copyright delisting.
Check the domain against the public removal records before you spend a day on a
technical audit.
Removal from Google is also only Google. Bing and other search engines run their own processes, and the page itself stays online until the site owner or host takes it down.
FAQs
How long does a Search Console removal last?
About six months. To keep the page out after that, it must return a 404 or 410, carry a noindex tag, or be password-protected.
Can I remove someone else's website from Google?
Only through a legal or policy route, such as a copyright removal request, or with the Refresh Outdated Content tool if the page has already changed. Google does not remove lawful pages because someone objects to them.
Does removing a page from Google delete it from the internet?
No. Google only removes it from its search results. The page stays live, other search engines can still list it, and direct links still work.
Should I use robots.txt to remove a page from Google?
No. Blocking a page in robots.txt stops Google crawling it, so Google never sees a noindex tag, and the URL can still appear in results without a description. Use noindex, a 404 or 410, or a password instead.
How do I find out if someone removed my pages from Google?
Copyright removals are published in Google's Transparency Report. A DMCA check shows which requests name your domain, who filed them and which URLs they listed.
Keep reading
DMCA removal from Google Search
How URLs get delisted from Google Search after a copyright complaint, what removal does and does not do, how to request one, and how to tell whether your own pages were affected.
How to report copyright infringement
Where to report copyright infringement and how to choose between the platform, the host, Google Search and a formal notice — plus what each route can and cannot achieve.
How to run a DMCA check on any domain
Run a free DMCA check on any domain. See how many Google copyright-removal requests name it, who filed them, and which URLs were listed.
False and abusive DMCA takedowns
How copyright-removal requests get misused — bulk-list errors, copyfraud, competitor attacks and reputation suppression — and how to build an evidence trail when it happens to you.