Search Privacy
How Privacy Works with Search
Who can search for me on Facebook?
Who can search for me on Facebook?
Facebook takes privacy concerns seriously, including when it comes to search results.
Everyone, except people you've blocked, can search for you by name and click on your profile, but what they can see about you in search results depends on what's shared with them.
Search results respect your privacy settings, whether it's info you’ve shared or posts with tags of you that others have shared. You can adjust what others can see on your profile
, and who can see the things you share
.
Keep in mind that posts and photos you've hidden on your timeline are still visible to the audience they're shared with in other places on Facebook, like Feed and search. Learn more
about how you can control what people will see on your profile and timeline.
Control who Facebook can suggest your profile to based on your email address or phone number
Control who Facebook can suggest your profile to based on your email address or phone number
Through your privacy settings, you can control who Facebook can suggest your profile to based on your email address or phone number using the setting labeled Who can Facebook suggest your profile to based on your phone number or email address
.
You can choose to limit suggestions based on your email address or phone number to:
Possible Connections
. People who have uploaded your phone number or email address and your Friends of Friends.
Friends of Friends
. Your Friends of Friends on Facebook who have your phone number or email address.
Friends
. Your Friends on Facebook who have your phone number or email address.
No one
. Your profile won’t be suggested to anyone based on your phone number or email address.
Adjust Who can Facebook suggest your profile to based on your phone number or email address
Adjust your settings:
1.
Tap 
in the top right of Facebook.
in the top right of Facebook.2.
Scroll down and tap Settings
.
3.
Tap How people find and contact you
in the Audience and visibility
section.
4.
You'll see a setting for your email and a setting for your phone number.
To update your email setting, tap Who can Facebook suggest your profile to based on your email address?
To update your phone number setting, tap Who can Facebook suggest your profile to based on your phone number?
5.
Select whether your email address or phone number can be considered as a factor in suggesting you to different groups of people who have your phone number or email address.
How these settings apply to People You May Know
People You May Know
can help suggest you as a friend to people you may know on Facebook. There are many factors used to determine who to include in these friend suggestions. One reason we may suggest you to someone else is if the other person’s contacts that they have uploaded to Facebook or Messenger include your phone number or email address. Learn more about how Facebook may use your information
to show suggestions in People You May Know
.
Note
: Your phone number or email address is not shared in People You May Know
as part of the suggestion.
Keep in mind
:
By default, your setting is set to Possible Connections
. This means that your profile might appear as a friend suggestion in People You May Know
to people who have uploaded your phone number or email address to Facebook.
Even if you restrict these settings, People You May Know
may suggest your profile based on information other than your email address or phone number. Learn more about what information is used
to show suggestions in People You May Know
.
If someone searches for your email address or mobile phone number using Facebook’s search feature, the search results won't show your profile. But if someone searches using your email address and it includes your full name, your profile may be shown in search results.
We’ll also check this privacy setting before we confirm your profile to your friends of friends or friends when they’re adding you to their business account, or if they help you recover your password, and we won’t provide that confirmation if your setting is restricted to exclude them.
You control who can see your mobile phone number or email address on your profile separately. If you choose to share your phone number or email address on your profile with an audience, everyone in that group can see it
. Learn how to adjust who you share your email address or mobile phone number with
.
Something I hid from my profile is showing up in search on Facebook
Something I hid from my profile is showing up in search on Facebook
Keep in mind that things you've hidden from your profile may still show up in other places on Facebook, including Feed and search (example: if you shared a photo or post with someone). To limit who can see your things in search, you can change the audience for something you share, or you can remove it from Facebook.
To review all the posts you’ve hidden from your profile, go to your activity log
.
How do I see what others can search about me on Facebook?
How do I see what others can search about me on Facebook?
Facebook search respects privacy settings, which means people can search for info about you that they can see on Facebook, based on what's been shared with them.
Content that isn't shared publicly is searchable only if you're directly connected to that content. For example, if someone you're not friends with posts and shares to friends only, then you won't see their post in your Facebook search results. Learn more about clearing your Facebook search history
.
To manage what others may see about you:
Use the audience selector
to choose who can see things you share.
Go to the About section
on your profile to view and manage basic info about yourself.
Keep in mind that your privacy choices
determine what your friends see when they search. For example, any posts that you've shared with your friends can only be found by them.
Learn more about managing your privacy in the Privacy Center.
How search works for minors on Facebook
How search works for minors on Facebook
Like adults, minors may appear in search results. We protect sensitive information, like their contact info, school and birthday, from appearing in search to a public audience.
Can other people search for and view things that I post or share on Facebook?
Can other people search for and view things that I post or share on Facebook?
The people you choose to share things with (example: status updates, photos, likes) may see these things in search results.
For example, things you post publicly may show up in search results for anyone, things you share with friends may show up in search results for your friends and so on. Keep in mind that if you share your phone number or email in a post, people may be able to search for your post using your email or phone number.
Use the audience selector
to choose who can see things you post. To see and review posts you’ve hidden from your timeline, go to your activity log
.
Who can see my photos and photos I’m tagged in on Facebook?
Who can see my photos and photos I’m tagged in on Facebook?
Your photos and the photos you're tagged in are visible to:
The audience they're shared with
.
The people tagged in the photo.
Friends that the people tagged choose to add
to the audience.
To adjust who can see photos you've uploaded, change the audience or remove them. If you've been tagged in a photo you don't like, you can remove the tag
or ask the person to take it down.
Keep in mind, photos and posts hidden from your timeline are still visible to these people other places on Facebook, such as in Feed and search. To see and review posts you've hidden from your timeline, go to your activity log
.
Understand Your Internet Search Listing
What should I do if I don’t want search engines to link to my Facebook profile?
What should I do if I don’t want search engines to link to my Facebook profile?
If you don’t want search engines outside of Facebook to link directly to your profile, you can adjust this setting from your privacy settings.
Turn this setting on or off
1.
Tap
in the top right of Facebook.
in the top right of Facebook.2.
Scroll down and tap Settings
.
3.
In the Audience and Visibility
section, tap How People Find and Contact You
.
4.
Tap Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?
5.
Review your current settings and make your selection.
When you adjust this setting, keep in mind:
Turning this off only controls if a search engine will link to your profile in a search engine's search results. Information from your profile and some things you share (such as public information
) can still appear in search engine results even if you select No
.
This includes things you share with the audience set to Public, posts and comments on Pages and public groups and posts in the Community Forum section of the Help Center.
Can people that aren't logged into Facebook see my information and can I preview what they see?
Can people that aren't logged into Facebook see my information and can I preview what they see?
People who aren't logged into Facebook can still see things you've shared with the audience set to Public
, as well as your public info
(example: your name, profile picture and cover photo).
Your public search listing preview
shows you what others see when they're logged out of Facebook and click the link to your Facebook profile from a search engine result, like Google or Bing. Keep in mind you can only preview your public search listing when you're logged into Facebook.
Learn how to control if search engines can link to your profile
.
I haven't allowed my Facebook profile and timeline to be publicly indexed by search engines, but comments I made on a group or Page appear in search results.
I haven't allowed my Facebook profile and timeline to be publicly indexed by search engines, but comments I made on a group or Page appear in search results.
The privacy setting Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?
only applies to search engines indexing a preview of your Facebook profile. This means if you select No
, some things on Facebook (such as public information
) can still appear in search engine results.
Things that can still appear in search engine results include:
Things you share with the audience set to Public
Posts and comments on Pages
Posts and comments in public groups
What can I do if I don’t want comments made on Pages or public groups to appear in search engine results?
You can delete any comments you’ve made on a Page or public group to keep them from being indexed by search engines. When you do this, the content may still show up in search engines, but the link to that content will be invalid.
Facebook does not have control over content that has already been indexed and cached in search engines. To request the immediate removal of this search listing, you will have to contact the specific search engine’s support team.
Unfortunately, Facebook cannot submit requests on behalf of someone who is on Facebook. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
You can contact the appropriate support team using one of the links below:
Google
Bing
Yahoo
I'm showing up in the results of other search engines even though I've chosen not to.
I'm showing up in the results of other search engines even though I've chosen not to.
I'm showing up in the results of other search engines even though I've chosen not to.
The privacy setting Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?
controls if people who enter your name on a public search engine may get a link to your profile as a result.
If you’ve turned this setting off but you’re still showing up in search engine results:
Facebook doesn’t have control over content that has already been indexed and cached in search engines. This means the information may still be saved in a search engine’s cache or search memory. The link may appear until the search engine updates and deletes it, but the link will not be valid.
To request the immediate removal of this search listing, you’ll have to contact the specific search engine’s support team.
You can contact the appropriate support team using one of the links below:
Google
Bing
Yahoo
