How to remove an image from Google search

The copyright route

Google accepts copyright removal requests through its legal help center, product by product, with Google Search and Images among the options. The request asks for the same things a DMCA notice needs: who owns the work, a description of it and where the authorized version is, the addresses of the copies, and statements of good faith and accuracy under penalty of perjury.

1. 1

   Gather the addresses

   The address of each page showing your photo, and the image file address where you have it. Google removes the addresses you report, so list each one.

2. 2

   Describe your photograph

   Say what it is and link to where you published it. If you never published it online, describe it clearly enough to identify.

3. 3

   Make the statements

   Good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by you, your agent or the law, having considered fair use; and accuracy and authority under penalty of perjury.

4. 4

   Keep the confirmation

   Google sends a reference for each request. Keep it with your record of the host notice.

Other routes Google offers

Copyright is the right route for a photograph you took. Google also runs separate removal processes that do not depend on copyright, which matter when the photo is of you but someone else took it.

• Intimate images shared without consent: Google has a dedicated removal policy for explicit images of a person shared without their consent.
• Personal information: some personal details, such as contact information, can be requested for removal under Google’s personal-information policies.
• Outdated results: when a page has already been removed or changed but Google still shows the old version, a refresh can be requested.

Each has its own criteria, set out in Google’s help center. We file copyright requests only, and only for photographs our clients own.

When the page has already gone

If the host has removed the page or the image but Google still shows a thumbnail, the result is out of date rather than infringing. Google’s outdated-content process asks it to recrawl the address. The thumbnail usually disappears once Google sees the image is no longer there.

Doing both together

For most copies the sensible sequence is: record the evidence, send the host or platform a notice, and file the Google request for the same addresses. If the host acts, the Google request becomes a tidy-up; if the host does not, the copy at least stops appearing in image results. Our guide to removing a photo from a website covers the host side.

Finding every Google result for a copy

Google removes the specific addresses you report, so it pays to find them all before filing. Search Google Images with your photo to see which pages it associates with the image. Then, for each site that shows a copy, search that site’s name with a few words that describe the photo; the same image often appears on several pages of one site, such as a gallery, a category page and an individual post.

Note both the page address and, where Google shows it, the image file address. A request that lists only the gallery page may leave the individual post still showing. If the same copy appears on a different domain that mirrors the first site, that domain is a separate address and needs its own line in the request.

Keep a list of everything you reported and check again after Google confirms. Results built from the same copy can take a while to drop out together, and new pages may have appeared in the meantime.