How to Submit a Bing Legal Request
Janaya Jensen • October 23, 2019
Like any search engine, Bing search results can also contain confidential information about you from a number of different sources. These can be anything such as public records, social media accounts, online comments, or even a private chat.
While Bing encourages its users to remove this type of information by contacting the owner of the hosting sites directly, it does not have complete control over it.
If you think that the data places you at risk (for example if a website has shared your bank account number and contact information), you can ask Bing to take action directly.
How Bing Produces Search Results
Like all search engines, Bing will always provide the most relevant search results to its users. This includes high-quality content that is distributed by website owners.
To make this possible, Bing bots crawl each web page to create an index of URLs so that it can display content that is relevant to users who search for specific terms.
The pages may contain content from other online sources, which can include videos, Infographics, web content, and images. These results are produced via an algorithm that matches them with those in the aforementioned index. This allows Bing to provide a useful collection of search results, and the algorithm is continuously upgraded to ensure this.
Since it is powered by an algorithm, Bing has no control over how indexed websites are designed and operated and what they publish. As long as the information is available online, the search engine will make it available for anyone who wishes to access it.
If, however, the information is removed from the website but Bing is still showing it in search results, you can use the Removal Tool to request page removal or for outdated cache to be removed.
However, Bing can compel certain results, inform users about possible risks, or give them options to customise the content to make it unsearchable or irrelevant.
However, that is easier said than done. Bing has certain conditions and a very narrow set of circumstances that make it limit search result removal requests.
It does this so that users can access relevant information when they need to. When it does remove some results, the search engine tries to be as transparent about it as possible.
It does this by displaying a notice at the bottom of a search page which tells users that a certain result was removed
Before Requesting a Bing Removal Request…
Before submitting a Bing legal request to remove content, you should try these steps first:
Visit the website that has your information and email the webmaster to remove it. You can get that address from the Contact Us or Help option on the website. Some data websites also have links that users can follow to opt out from search results so you can check out that as well.
If you cannot find the contact information, run a WHOIS query from a website that offers this service. You will get the official registration information of the website from this source and maybe even a phone number.
However, this may be easier said than done since most web masters wish to remain anonymous online so chances are you may find contact info of a third party.
If this happens to you, you should still use that information so that they can forward your message. If you find a direct email address or phone number, don’t hesitate to use it.
Your email should contain the exact URL of the page or pages that have your information on them and a clear reason why you want it removed. If you do not get a reply in a couple of days, send a follow-up email.
This whole process can take some weeks and even if the data is removed, it may still appear in Bing search results for a few days before it disappears.
Asking Bing to Remove Content
If contacting the web master of the offending website doesn’t work, you should submit a Bing legal request. You should do this without hesitation if the site has confidential information on you such as say your Social Security Number. Follow these steps to submit the request:
Step 1 – visit the Bing support page.
Step 2 – Provide your email address and name and under the ‘What type of problems do you have’ option, select ‘Content removal request.’
Step 3 – Fill in details about the data you want removed from Bing’s search results pertaining to your confidential information.
Step 4 – Provide the keywords and search terms that are brining that information up in search results. Also mention that the request is urgent to expedite approval.
Step 5 – Copy the URL of the page that has the information you want to remove and paste it in the ‘Search result URL’ field in the page.
Step 6 – Also all of the URLs of the websites that display that data in the ‘Sites on which action needs to be taken field.’ Make sure that the addresses are separated properly.
Step 7 – Once you complete all of the steps, click on the ‘Submit’ button and you will get a support ticket and a notification that your request will be taken care of in 24 hours.
If you want to do a really thorough job, you should also submit a cache removal request. That way the data will not appear in search results after it has been removed from there.
All you need to do is visit the same Content Removal page, provide the URL of the websites that are still showing your information and select ‘Remove outdated cache.’
Also make sure to add a small piece of information in the ‘cached page text’ slot exactly as it appears on the site. This will be compared to the live data on the website before action is taken.
Click the ‘submit’ button to send the request and you are done. If you want this to happen quickly though, you should get in touch with the support team.
