Google search for my full name showing irrelevant results - how to remove?

Question

When I search my full name (very unique) and scroll down all the way to the bottom of the 1st page, it shows links to 2 prisoner's information in the county that I live in, but I'm not affiliated with them at all nor does any part of my name show up in either of these links, so I'm quite confused why Google is showing these 2 links when Google searching for my full name.

I tried requesting for the link to be removed from the Google request removal tool, and it shows it as removed, but it still shows up in Google searches. I also had a friend search for me and he sees it too.

In addition, typically, I see a few lines of text under the link when I google search that shows the keywords in bold. For example, like the following highlighted part of the image were searched for "first last":

But in the 2 links associated with the prisoner, there is no text under the link. It's just white space.

I don't want a search for my name leading to a prison website. Does anyone have experience with removing links from showing up in a google search, or is it even possible?

Answer 1

Google serves search results based on information they have gathered from publicly available source. Due to this, you need to get your information removed from those sources (or have them make it private) before Google Search will remove your information. Of course, there are exceptions to this.

From Google's help on removing personal information:

To contact the website owner:

Contact us link: Find a "Contact us" link or an email address for the site owner. This information is often at the bottom of the site's homepage.

Find contact information using Whois: You can perform a Whois ("who is?") search for the site owner using Google. Go to google.com and search for whois www.example.com. The email address to contact the site owner can often be found under Registrant Email or Administrative Contact.

Contact the site's hosting company: The Whois search result usually includes information about who hosts the website. If you're unable to reach the website owner, try contacting the site's hosting company.

If the website owner has removed the information, it will eventually be removed from Google Search as part of our regular updating process. To speed up the process of removing it from Google Search, use the Outdated Content Removal tool.

Situations Google will take direct action ("personal information that creates significant risks of identity theft, financial fraud, or other specific harms"):

• unwanted & explicit personal images from Google
• involuntary fake pornography from Google
• content about me on sites with exploitative removal practices from Google
• select financial, medical and national ID information from Google
• “doxxing” content - content exposing contact information with an intent to harm

If you have a legal reason for removing data from Google searches, use Google's legal troubleshooter form to get the right results.

Beyond these options, such as in a case where you share a name with someone who posts legal content with which you object, it may be impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to get a search result removed. Be careful before paying a reputation service to do this. There are many unsavory ones out there, so research and consider going with a well-known brand if you don't do the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) yourself.

If you do wish make your search results show up above others', here are some tips. This is not a simple or easy option, but is possible.

• Update & edit your Google profile
• Make your own web page. Hosting is even available for free on Google with a Google account.
• Add content you like
• Add Google SEO to your site
• Contact sites you like and trust and try to get them to share links between their site and yours. This is usually expected to be reciprocated on your site with a link to their page.
• Link to your (relevant!) content from social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• Google "how to fix google search results" to get more up-to-date tips

Answer 2

From Manage your online reputation

Nowadays, more and more personal information surfaces on the web. For example, some of your friends might mention your name in a social network or tag you on online photos, or your name could appear in blog posts or articles.

Google Search is often the first place people look for information that's published about you. Here are a few ways to manage your online reputation and help control what people see when they search for you on Google:

1. Search for yourself
2. Create a Google Account
3. Remove unwanted content and the associated search results

Note: On the source each numbered item is expansible but here is the content of item 3

If you find content online—say, your telephone number or an inappropriate photo of you—that you don't want to appear online, first determine whether you or someone else controls the content. If the unwanted content resides on a site or page you don't control, you can follow our tips on removing personal information from Google.