Can a Disabled Facebook Account Show on Google Search?

By Rachel Rowland-Brown

Deleting your Facebook account is a more permanent solution than deactivating it.
i Digital Vision/Digital Vision/Getty Images

Removing your Facebook account from Google can increase your privacy, but deactivating the account doesn't completely spell the end of your public visibility. Your data will still remain on the Facebook servers as well as the servers of search engines like Google. To remove yourself completely, you need to delete your account and have Google remove your account pages from its search index.

Deactivation

Facebook enables you to hide your account, which is known as deactivating, or to erase it, which is known as deleting. If you deactivate your account, it will be removed from view so other users won't be able to find you on Facebook. However, your data still remains in the Facebook server; in the event that you change your mind in the future, you can quickly bring your profile back online by logging in.

Deletion

You may choose to delete your Facebook account if you have no intention of ever returning to Facebook. To delete it, you must fill out a form that you can find on Delete Account page after you log in to Facebook (link in Resources). With both disabling and deleting, however, your account information may still be displayed when someone searches for it in Google. Search engines gather information about websites and store it in their own servers, and often this information can be out of date. Even if the original account or website has been taken offline it can still show up in search results.

Remove Profile From Search

If you would like your account information to be removed from Google, you can stop your profile from being searched by changing settings in your Facebook account. Click on the gear icon and then "Privacy Settings." Under "Who can look me up?" there is the question "Do you want other search engines to link to your Timeline?" Select "Off." This will cause search engines to stop showing the link to your Facebook profile in the results.

After Removal

If you deleted your Facebook account, the search engines’ crawlers will eventually go through their stored data and get rid of broken links, such as links to your Facebook Timeline that are no longer active, to update their pages. This can take weeks or even months, depending on the depth of the crawl and how visible your page previously was. If you have made a request to Google for removal, or if you have changed your settings on your Facebook account, the eradication should be immediate.

×