It started with Pipl and Spokeo, but now there are lots of websites that allow you to look people up online and find their contact information. Some require payment, and some don’t. If you’re like me, having this info publicly available is a little disturbing.
Thankfully, there is nobody I am trying to hide from, but if I was, these sites would be much more troubling. If you’d like to take steps to keep your information away from these sites, you may find this Google service helpful.
Setting Up Notifications
In order to use this service, you will need a Google account. If you don’t already have one, follow these instructions to create one. From a desktop or mobile browser, log in to your Google account and go to Results about You. If you don’t see that link, you can click the one in the previous sentence (while logged in).
Next, select Get Started. Enter the name(s) and contact info you’d like monitored. You are welcome to enter multiple addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and versions of your name.
Next, choose how you want to receive notifications. You can either receive emails or get notifications in the Google app. I suggest the emails if you’d like to be notified promptly.
Acting on Results
When you get a notification (or visit the results about you page in your Google account), you will be given the option to find out more information about each result. To request deletion of a result, click on it to expand it and select Request to Remove. If you review it and decide not to delete it, select Mark as Reviewed, instead.
Stop Getting Notified
If you want to stop getting notifications when your contact information is discovered, log back into your Google account and go back to the Results about You section. Select Undo. This makes it possible for the URL to appear in search results again.
Questions?
Google’s article on this service has an FAQ file at the bottom of this page. It includes information about how to submit a request on someone else’s behalf, what type of requests are denied, and what happens to your data.
