How to hide your Google+ profile from search engines (reader mail)

Randy writes: I’d like my Google profile, Picasa, etc., to not show up on search engines. What do I do?

Google may be all about search, but it is possible to hide your Google+ profile from the prying eyes of search engines.

As Google points out, though, anyone on the web can still access your Google profile if they have its URL, while any sites or blogs linking to your Google profile may well pop up in search results.

That said, here’s what you do:

1. Sign in to your Google account, then click here to access your Google+ profile page.
2. Now, see the blue “Edit Profile” button to the right of your name? Go ahead and click it.
3. You’ll land on an editable version of your Google+ profile; from here, you can change the privacy settings of any section on your profile. For now, though, scroll to the very bottom of the page, and click the setting that reads “Profile discovery.”
4. Last step: Uncheck the box labelled “Help others discover my profile in search results,” then click the Save button.

From now on, Google will block search engines (including Google itself) from indexing your Google+ profile page—meaning it won’t show up in search results.

OK, but what about your Picasa Web albums? You can go ahead and hide all your photos from public view; just visit your Picasa account, click on your albums, and make sure “Visibility” is set to either “Limited” (meaning only those with the URL of your albums can see them) or “Only you.”