How to Remove Your Phone Number From Google Results
The fastest way to remove your personal phone number from Google results is Google's free Results about you tool, which lets you request removal of search results that show your contact information. That only hides the results in Google, though. To get the number off the web, you also need to remove it from the sites publishing it, which are mostly people-search sites and old pages you posted yourself.
Here's the process in order.
Step 1: Find out where your number appears
Search Google for your number in quotation marks, in each common format, because sites format numbers differently:
Also search your full name together with your city. Paste every URL that shows your number into a list, and note what kind of site it is: people-search site, your own profile or listing, a directory, a forum or something else. That list drives everything that follows.
- "555-123-4567"
- "(555) 123-4567"
- "555.123.4567"
- "5551234567"
Step 2: Request removal from Google Search
Open Results about you. In the Google app, tap your profile picture and choose Results about you. On the web, open the Results about you page and select Get started. Add your name and the phone number, or numbers, you want monitored.
Google will show matching results it finds, and you can request removal of each one. Turn on email notifications so Google alerts you when new results with your number appear.
Know the limits before you rely on this. Google says removals apply only to Google Search, not the website itself. It may decline results from government, school or news sites, and it won't remove information you control, such as your own social media profile. Removals can also be partial, meaning the result disappears for searches on your name but can still appear for other searches.
Step 3: Remove the number where you posted it
A lot of phone number exposure is self-inflicted and easy to fix. Look for:
Edit or delete the number at the source. For pages you don't control, like a club directory, email the site owner and ask them to take it down. Most will. If you run a business from your personal phone, get a separate business line and update your listings so your personal number stops spreading. Our page for business owners covers keeping personal and business footprints apart.
Once a page has changed, use Google's Refresh Outdated Content tool to ask Google to update its stored copy, so the old snippet with your number stops showing.
- Old resumes on personal sites, job boards or portfolio pages
- Marketplace or classified listings that are still live
- Social profiles where the number is set to public
- A business listing or website that uses your personal cell
- Club, church, HOA or nonprofit directories that list members
- Old forum posts or comments where you shared it
Step 4: Opt out of people-search sites
People-search and reverse-lookup sites are usually the biggest source. Most have a free opt-out: you find your listing on the site, copy its URL, submit it on the site's opt-out or suppression page, and confirm by email or a phone verification code.
Work through your list one site at a time and record the date and confirmation for each. Opting out of one site doesn't remove you from its sister sites, and a single site may hold separate listings under name variations or old addresses.
If you live in California, file one request through the state's DROP system first. It reaches every registered data broker. You can file at consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov. For everyone else, see our overview of personal information removal.
Step 5: Deal with caller-ID apps
Caller-ID apps can show your name to anyone you call, and some build their databases from users' uploaded contact lists. Truecaller has an unlisting page where you enter your number and confirm. Read its warning before you proceed: Truecaller says unlisting can't be reversed and that you lose features like caller identification. If you use the Truecaller app yourself, deactivate your account there first.
Step 6: If your number was posted to harass you
If someone posted your number to encourage calls or threats, that falls under Google's doxxing policy, which covers contact information shared with explicit or implicit threats or calls to harm. Screenshot the posts with URLs and dates before reporting them, since they may be deleted. Keep a simple log of each post, its URL and your report number so platforms and police can see the pattern.
If the calls are relentless, changing your number may honestly be the quickest fix. Give the new one out sparingly and don't attach it to public profiles.
Why the number keeps coming back
People-search sites refresh their data from sources you don't control, such as public records, marketing lists and other brokers. A number you removed in spring can reappear on a new profile by fall. That's normal, not a sign you did it wrong.
The low-effort defense is to leave Google's Results about you alerts on, so you hear about new results quickly, and to re-check your top few people-search sites every few months. Use a secondary number, such as a separate line or a forwarding number, for sign-up forms, loyalty programs and deliveries so your main number stops feeding new databases.
When outside help makes sense
Most people can handle this themselves in an afternoon plus a few check-ins a year. Outside help earns its cost when your number is tied to harassment, when it keeps resurfacing on dozens of sites, or when you don't want to keep looking at the results yourself. You can see what professional removal typically involves on our cost page.
Want this handled for you? See our remove your phone number from Google service.
