Google Stopped Indexing My Tweets

Twitter profiles can be changed using a mobile application.

Google crawls websites, collecting information about the content present on each site. This process is known as indexing, and the information on a site must be public for Google to index it. If Google has stopped indexing your tweets, the most likely cause is that you protected your tweets from the general public.

Protected Tweets

When a user protects her tweets, only those users to whom she specifically grants access are allowed to see what she posts. If your tweets are protected, Google will stop indexing the tweets. Older tweets that were once set to public may still appear in Google search results, however if a user clicks on a tweet in Google and does not have access, she will see an error screen.

Name Change

Twitter asks users for a first and last name, but you can elect to use a pseudonym or only a first name instead. If you change your name, Google will still index your tweets, but Google users who type in your name are less likely to be directed to your Twitter page. Likewise, because your name is no longer associated with your account, your Tweets will not be indexed in association with your first and last name.

Changing Settings

Any Twitter user can change her preferences regarding name and privacy using the Twitter Settings menu. Click on your name in the top right corner of any Twitter screen after you are signed in and select "Settings" to reach the menu. To unprotect your tweets so that they become indexed again, uncheck the box next to "Protect My Tweets" and click "Save." Your name can be changed by clicking the "Profile Settings" tab at the top of the screen and then altering the text in the Name field.

Considerations

Twitter makes changes to your preferences immediate, but Google does not update the changes with the same brevity. If your tweets stopped being indexed, making them public will not result in their immediate return to Google search results. Protected tweets are also hidden in Twitter search results, but when you unprotect them they immediately turn up in a Twitter search.

References

• Twitter: Why is My Twitter Profile in Google Search?