Fluent Simplicity

I’ve seen some chatter in one particular legal-oriented listserv lately concerning content removal. Google does such an extremely efficient job of indexing information that it causes headaches when that information won’t go away.

Fortunately, the good folks at everyone’s favorite search engine provide a tool to deal with these sticky situations. Here’s what you have to do — please note this is the abridged version. If you need extra handholding, you might have to pay your overpriced vendor

1. You need to have a Google account.
2. Go into your account and add Webmaster tools.
3. Add your site and verify it with the necessary files. Verifying you own the site is necessary to access several of the tools. Update: @Bibble has a great blog post addressing the verification process. I suggest checking it out.
4. In my experience, verification happens quickly. You will now be able to access the Webmaster functions. Go to Tools > Remove URLS.
5. Check that the file has been deleted from your site
6. Enter the URL and any other requested information in the tool. Click Submit Removal Request
7. Wait. If all goes well, the content will be down in a few days.

Removal of URLs should be your last line of defense. Other policy driven approachs include blocking content from indexing or caching. I would suggest asking your Web vendor on how to implement each of these approaches.