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Why is My Twitter Profile in Google Search?

Twitter has a high Google search rank, so chances are, your profile will show up in a Google search. Depending on the degree to which this bothers you, you can do several things:

Keep in mind that the words you write in updates may also be indexed and come up in a search for those terms.

Why am I Listed on Google after Deleting or Protecting my Tweets?

  • All public Tweets posted before you select the account setting "protect my Tweets" will still be indexed in a public search engine, including twitter.com/search.
  • Once you have saved your account settings to protect your Tweets, the Tweets you make will be protected.
  • However, Google and other search engines cache search results, which means that occasionally old information is still posted. Although Twitter changes your settings immediately, these changes don't erase old information in Google's search index. 
  • Any old links appearing in a Google search will lead to Twitter's truth-telling error page: "That page doesn't exist!" 
  • The old links still appear because Google and other search engines may not have the current information updated in their search index. 
  • Until Google updates the new information and indexes your current status, links to the profile or updates posted prior to removal/protection remain online.

Send Google a Request to Remove the Information

  • Google will eventually index updated Twitter information, but if you'd like it done sooner, follow these steps.
  • If you can click on a link in a Google search, and it takes you to a dead/error page, you can request removal of that link using the URL removal tool.

Here's how:

  1. Copy the URL you'd like removed from the site (for example: twitter.com/#!/[username here]/status/12345678)
  2. Navigate to this page.
  3. Paste in the Twitter link that you'd like removed
  4. Submit your request.

You may be required to log in to your Google account. If you don't have one, you may need to create one. More information about removing your content from Google's search index is here.