Blocking a specific image on Google

Summary

This article shows you how to prevent a specific image from appearing in the Google Image Search results.

Problem

Even with SafeSearch enforced, sometimes inappropriate images still show up in the Google Image Search results. This article will provide you with instructions on how to identify and block inappropriate images.

Solution

  1. Ensure you have a Decrypt & Inspect policy set up which covers - at a minimum - the 'Search Engines' category

  2. Make sure that you already have the following content modifications in place:
    'Force SafeSearch' and/or 'SafeSearch via CONNECT Header'
    'Remove QUIC header'

  3. For the Image you want to block, right click and select 'Copy image address' (Google Chrome), or  'Copy Image Link' (Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge). 

    mceclip3.png

    Paste this URL into a text editor such as Notepad or Microsoft Word and copy the embedded URL that appears after the last semicolon, as shown in the screenshot below.

    mceclip4.png

  4. Set up a custom category by navigating to 'Guardian > Policy Objects > Categories'. It should be named something sensible such as 'Blocked Google Images', and under the 'Domains/URLs filtering' heading you should paste the URL you copied in the previous step.
  5. Finally, navigate to 'Guardian > Web Filter > Policy Wizard' and create a new policy as shown below;

    Who: Everyone *
    What: Blocked Google Images
    Where: Everywhere *
    When: Always *
    Action: Block

    * Change as appropriate

Once those changes have been applied you should be able to refresh the Google Image search results and see that the selected image has now not loaded, and is instead replaced by a block of colour.

mceclip5.png