I read an article in the local Jacksonville paper about taking your phone number off of the Google search engines. I never thought about personal residences being searched on Google, but it makes sense. I have a business line for my home office for the insurance company that I work for, and for some reason, it doesn’t show up as my name, but the company’s name. I get all kinds of phone calls from people that have nothing to do with what I do. It’s pretty annoying. So, does your land line show up on Google? This doesn’t have much to do with personal finance, but it could if you want to reduce the amount of sales calls and credit card company phone calls in your life.

Follow these steps to get your number off of Google.

1. Go to Google.com, type in your phone number (including the area code) and press “Enter” or click on “Google Search”.
2. Once the “Phonebook results” appear (there should be a little telephone icon next to your name), click on the link above the icon.
3. Click on the link that says “Request to have your name removed from this list.” Fill out the blank fields and click “Submit Forms”.
4. Once you’ve asked to remove your phone number from the Google Phonebook the listing will be removed permanently. It cannot be added back if you change your mind later.