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How to remove an image or photo from Google Search

Updated on October 29, 2012

Introduction to removing photos and images from Google

I recently created a Hub on how to add an image to Google and also created a website about how to remove content from Google so I thought it would only be fair to create a hub offering advice on how to remove an image from the search engine too.

Please understand that there are many different types of images and image removal requests, so please have a browse through the whole hub.

It is possible that you will not find an answer here but I will do my best. You can also have a read of my find the best online reputation management company hub or have a go at reputation management yourself.

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Images of Minors

Yes I am referring to images that show abuse to minors.

You need this form. I cannot answer any questions about this form or what happens next as I have no idea how it exactly works. I presume that the authorities are informed and Google receive a take down request.

This page explains how to lock Google's safesearch filter, handy if children use your computer.


Copyright

If you see an image of yours that has been stolen and placed on another site and now that image appears in the Google search results, your best bet is to contact the site owner and request a take down. You may have a better chance of success if you point out that search engines do frequently ban sites that break copyright law.

Once the image has been removed from the site it will naturally drop out of Google after some time (no set timetable). If the image now responds with a 404 (not found) then you can request it's removal by using the Google webpage removal tool (do a search for it). The tool will not work if the image is still live on the web.

What if the webmaster refuses your request or is non responsive?

People do steal images and place them on their sites, it's damn annoying and has happened tome on a few occasions. If you are that determined to get it taken down then you can file a DMCA request with Google. They will evaluate the evidence you provide and make an attempt to contact the site owner. If the site owner does not dispute your copyright claim they will remove the image from the search results.

Please do a search for [ DMCA Google ] you will find the official Google page including instructions.

This will only remove the image from Google and not other search engines. I do not know how things at Bing or Ask work.

Remove an image located on my site

Easy, if the image is located on your site then follow these steps:

1) add this line to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: Googlebot-Image

Disallow: /EXAMPLE-FOLDER/EXAMPLE-IMAGE.jpg

(no line space between those two above)

Replace "Googlebot-image" with "Googlebot" to remove image from all aspects of Google, not just image search.

2) either wait for Google to see the file or use the webpage removal tool to speed things up (select url blocked)

or

1) remove the image from your site and ensure that all requests respond with a 404 (page not found) or 410 (gone)

2) either wait for Google to see the image has been removed or use the webpage removal tool to speed things up. (select url blocked)

Remove Facebook image from Google

You can find information on how to remove an image or photo from Facebook on this hub.

My name shows adult images in Google!

If a search for your name reveals sites that contain adult images and it is a spam site then you can request that Google remove it. Try this form.

Please note that not all adult sites are spam. If your request is denied then the only way to remove the result is to get the images removed from the website first.

Image of signature in search results

Easy, do a search for [ remove image of handwritten signature from google ] and go fill out the form.

Remove adult image from search results

You can use the removal tool I mentioned earlier to request removal of adult images that appear when Safesearch is enabled, no need to get the image removed from the web page first.

It is not possible to remove such images from the unfiltered results, unless it is illegal images of minors (see my first comment above)

Streetview - remove house or car number plate

You can request removal of an Image from Streetview by selecting "report a problem" from the lower left corner and filling out the form.

Image I just do not like

We all have an opinion on what is acceptable and what is not. Some people couldn't care less if your religious symbol has been turned into a cartoon but you may be deeply affected by it. Others may think that images of dead animals are disturbing and should be removed from all results, I personally feel that death shouldn't be hidden from public view.

In most cases you need to first remove the image from the original website and then wait for Google to automatically drop it from the results. The only exceptions I can think of are listed on this page. Of course you should do your own research just in case I have missed something or this hub becomes outdated.

Wait! Before you post a comment...

Just a few things to bear in mind:

1) I am not a Google employee

2) I do not have a magic wand that can solve your Google issue

3) If you are angry/upset/veryupset then please do not take your anger out on me. I am aware that certain information in search results can be very distressing and potentially life threatening (think people on witness protection programs). I have created this hub as a place to share my limited knowledge and try to help.

4) I do not accept money to help people on a 1-1 basis - I would rather observe the issues people are having and try to create a help article or hub that everyone can see and benefit from free of charge.

5) I have not posted so much info on removing images from Google maps as I am not familiar with how things work on that side of Google. I know more about web search,

working

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