Have you ever performed a basic search online using your full name to see what type of information shows up in the results? Perhaps you have gone to Google, typed your name into the search box, and realized that there is quite a bit of info out there about you even though you never ran your own website or contributed content to any websites. And one piece of information that might have stood out is your phone number.
You might be wondering if there are ways to remove your phone number from Google results so that people won’t be able to find it so easily, especially if you, like a lot of people, tend to receive a lot of bogus phone calls from scammers every day. Well, we have some good news for you: there are ways that you can take your phone number off of Google, and a few strategies that you can try right away are listed below.
People Search Websites Are Often to Blame
First up, let’s cover people search websites. These probably showed up in the search results when you looked up your name on Google, right? Well, they are really common, and there are many of them out there. But they all basically do the same thing: they make it possible to look up information on just about anyone, and you can even use these databases to run background checks on people, e.g. find their email. In other words, these sites will give away more than just your phone number. So, if you want to take down your phone number from Google search results, you will definitely want to ask these sites to take down any listings that pertain to you.
You can visit these sites directly to look for listings that showcase your information, or you can use your Google search results to find the ones that are currently hosting your personal details for anyone to find. One example is Radaris, so if you find that your phone number is on there, you’d need to go to the Radaris opt out page to figure out how to request the removal of that information.
Another people search website that a lot of people use is FastPeopleSearch. Even if you have never heard of it before, it’s a good idea to search through this database, and to head to the FastPeopleSearch opt out instructions if your information is on there too.
Yet another site that’s worth checking is SearchPeopleFree. This site might also be home to listings with your personal contact details, so use the SearchPeopleFree opt out option.
Contact Any Other Websites That Are Sharing Your Phone Number
Are there any other websites that showed up in your Google search results that are displaying your phone number? Well, to gain control over where your information is shared, you’ll need to contact those sites directly, much like you did with the people search websites. Just tell them that you’d like them to respect your privacy by taking that info down.
Remove Your Phone Number from Your Public Online Accounts
Finally, if you have any accounts that are public, such as public social media accounts on platforms like LinkedIn or Facebook, just be sure that you remove your phone number from your profile. If it needs to be in your settings, that’s fine, but just make sure it isn’t viewable by people who find your page. That way, even if an account shows up in Google search results, it won’t contain your number.