Deindexing is the removal of a page from a search engine's index so that it no longer appears in search results. It is distinct from source removal — deindexing removes the result from search but leaves the underlying page live at its origin; source removal takes the page down entirely. Both are lawful remedies, applicable in different circumstances.
Deindexing is the appropriate remedy when a page cannot be removed at the source (the publisher will not take it down, or is outside the reach of legal coordination) but the content violates platform policy, applicable privacy law, or a legal removal framework. Google, for example, processes removal requests under its content policies, under the EU right to be forgotten, and under legal removal processes for defamation and other unlawful content in applicable jurisdictions.
The practical effect of deindexing is that the content disappears from search for the relevant queries, dramatically reducing its reach, even though the page itself remains online. For reputation, this often achieves most of the goal — reducing visibility — when full source removal is not achievable. It is particularly useful for content that is hosted on sites that ignore takedown requests but where search engines will act on policy or legal grounds.
Deindexing has limits. It is jurisdiction-specific for legal removals (a result deindexed under EU privacy law may remain in other regions), it does not remove the content from other search engines or from AI answer engines that may have already indexed or trained on it, and it does not address copies and syndications. A deindexing program often needs to cover multiple search engines and to be paired with suppression and AI-correction work.
For AI reputation, deindexing from traditional search is necessary but not sufficient. AI answer engines may synthesize from content that is no longer in the search index but was previously indexed or present in training data. A complete program addresses the AI-summary layer explicitly, not just the search index. Deindexing is one tool within a layered remediation strategy, not a complete solution on its own.