Google is taking steps to crack down on so-called revenge porn - the practise in which sexually explicit images of people are posted without their consent.
The company has traditionally resisted efforts to erase online content from its internet search engine.
But now it says it will put up a form that will allow victims to make requests to remove items from searches.
"We've heard many troubling stories of 'revenge porn': an ex-partner seeking to publicly humiliate a person... or hackers stealing and distributing images from victims' accounts," Google search vice president Amit Singhal said in a blog.
"Some images even end up on 'sextortion' sites that force people to pay to have their images removed.
The company has traditionally resisted efforts to erase online content from its internet search engine.
But now it says it will put up a form that will allow victims to make requests to remove items from searches.
"We've heard many troubling stories of 'revenge porn': an ex-partner seeking to publicly humiliate a person... or hackers stealing and distributing images from victims' accounts," Google search vice president Amit Singhal said in a blog.
"Some images even end up on 'sextortion' sites that force people to pay to have their images removed.
"Our philosophy has always been that search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims - predominantly women."
Mr Singhal said Google will "honour requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google search results".
He said it was "a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures".
He added: "We know this won't solve the problem of revenge porn - we aren't able, of course, to remove these images from the websites themselves.
"But we hope that honouring people's requests to remove such imagery from our search results can help."
Twitter implemented a similar policy earlier this year, banning "intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent."
Online bulletin board Reddit also moved to curb the posting of explicit images without the consent of those featured, after it was criticised for allowing the distribution of hacked nude pictures of Hollywood stars.
Google is facing a legal dispute in Europe on a similar matter, after an EU panel ordered it honour requests from individuals to have links to information about them deleted from searches in certain circumstances.
These included when data was outdated or inaccurate.
Mr Singhal said Google will "honour requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google search results".
He said it was "a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures".
He added: "We know this won't solve the problem of revenge porn - we aren't able, of course, to remove these images from the websites themselves.
"But we hope that honouring people's requests to remove such imagery from our search results can help."
Twitter implemented a similar policy earlier this year, banning "intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent."
Online bulletin board Reddit also moved to curb the posting of explicit images without the consent of those featured, after it was criticised for allowing the distribution of hacked nude pictures of Hollywood stars.
Google is facing a legal dispute in Europe on a similar matter, after an EU panel ordered it honour requests from individuals to have links to information about them deleted from searches in certain circumstances.
These included when data was outdated or inaccurate.
