How to make Facebook private and remove your account from search engines

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As of 2022’s first quarter, Facebook was the most-used online social network worldwide, boasting approximately 2.93 billion users around the globe, according to Statista. Facebook is even the top platform which American users spent the most time per day in 2021.

The social media site has become a hub for users to connect with family, friends and colleagues. However, with that many users on the platform, it could be easy for just about anyone to find your account.

If you want to secure your account, here is how to make yourself as private as possible on Facebook.

Facebook is the most used online social network worldwide, boasting approximately 2.93 billion users around the globe, as of the first quarter, 2022. — Facebook is the most used online social network worldwide, boasting approximately 2.93 billion users around the globe, as of the first quarter, 2022.

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How to make Facebook private

There are several options for privacy and who can view your Facebook profile and posts, including:

Public: “Anyone on or off Facebook.”
Friends: “Your friends on Facebook.”
Friends except: “Don’t show to some friends.”
Specific friends: “Only show to some friends.”
Only me

If you want to change your privacy settings on Facebook, on a desktop select your account icon, and go to the option “Settings & privacy.” Select “Settings,” then “Privacy.”

From there, you can chose what of your content is visible to whom. You can switch your activity for who can see your future posts, who can see the people, pages and lists you follow and who can see your friends lists, among other options.

To change the privacy settings, select “Edit” to the right of the option, and choose the privacy option in the drop-menu of who can view.

To edit who can see your future posts on Facebook, select "Edit" under the "Settings & privacy" page. — To edit who can see your future posts on Facebook, select “Edit” under the “Settings & privacy” page.

Choose the drop-menu to view the privacy setting options for who can view your future posts on Facebook.

Select from the options of who can view your future posts to adjust the privacy of your Facebook account.

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How do I remove my Facebook from search engines?

To stop your Facebook account from surfacing on search engines (such as Google or Yahoo) outside of Facebook, go into your “Settings & privacy” on a desktop and select “Settings” then “Privacy.”

Scroll to the subsection, “How people can find and contact you.” Go to the option, “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile” and select “Edit.”

If this option is left on, “search engines may link to your profile in their results,” says Facebook. If this setting is off, search engines will stop linking your account. However, your profile can still be found through Facebook search.

Deselect the box next to “Allow search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile” to confirm your profile removal from search engines.

If you want your Facebook account to not show up in search engines outside of Facebook, go to the option, “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile” and select “Edit.”