Hide playlists from Google results

[drfed]

Hey guys,

I basically make all my playlists public to share them with my friends or to be able to find them while using a friend's device or whatsoever.

I noticed that those playlists appear public on google results when searching my account name and I'm pretty uncomfortable with that fact.

Is it possible to hide the playlists from Google search? Or is it possible to share playlists only with people I'm following or at least only with my followers?

Regards,

dr. fed

[Brunelicia]

Hi there,

Unfortunately, there's no way to do this. All you can do is right-click on your playlist and make it Secret, you can find more information about Privacy Settings here.

Your private playlist will be only visible for users that follow it, you can still share it with your friends.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[jacobgrumley]

Hey,

I don't think this is right. I have playlists that were at one point public, but were then made private, and then eventually deleted. Months later, by searching my name into google and doing an image search, those playlists still show and are accessible (see image).

This is quite possibly a security issue. What if there were personal information in the playlist name? I understand that Spotify keeps playlists saved even after they're deleted, but surely when someone makes the decision to remove something connected to them on the internet Spotify should respect that and remove playlist titles and thumbnails attached the playlist, but leave the music as is, so anyone who follows the playlist doesn't lose what's actually important about the playlist, but the playlist creator is no longer attached to the playlist.

Not a massive deal. But, I think we should all be able to decide what data connected to us belongs on the internet, and what should be deleted.

[Ivan]

Hey there @drfed, @jacobgrumley, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Community about this. 
 

Keep in mind that search results provided by Google aren't stored and managed by Spotify. With your Spotify account you can only set the privacy level of your personal data and playlists. 

We suggest in this case you contact the Google Privacy Team. You can reach them here.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions.

[supervixen]

“Keep in mind that search results provided by Google aren't stored and managed by Spotify.”

Why not?

I don’t remember consenting to Spotify to let my personal data (my playlists, name, photos, and name) appear in public Google search results at any point. The only reason I keep them public is to be able to use your app, so that it gives me proper recommendations. This is a huge privacy issue . And yes I contacted Google too (btw that link you provided just tells us to contact the webmaster, that owns our content).  Not sure how you can shake it off like this. 

[Codigo]

Hi, i have the opposite problem, i would like my playlists to show on google search but they are not showing in google. How do i make them appear in google search ?

[CarlosE]

Hey @Codigo,

Thanks for your reply in this thread 🙂
 

Take into account, as @Ivan pointed out, Spotify does not keep or administer the Google search results. You can only control the privacy level of your playlists and personal data using your Spotify account.

However, if you'd like your playlists to show up in Google searches, we can only recommend to give more visibility to your playlists by sharing them with other users via social media, forums, etc. The more visibility your playlists get, the more possible it is to find them in Google results. 

If you have further questions, it's best to contact Google directly so they can explain to you better how this works.

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

[Codigo]

Hi Carlos,

Thank you for your response, i have shared the playlist in social media, but seem to not be visible when i search the playlist in google. I can’t seem to find my profile too. Also i find it weird as it has over 30k followers.  If there is another option would really appreciate knowing. 

thank you once again

[OscarDC]

Hey @Codigo,

Thank you for keeping us in the loop.

What we recommended previously is just a suggestion to give more visibility to your playlists and account. However, the Google search results are managed by Google and only they can provide you with tips or best practices to make your account part of the searching results.

In this case, we'd recommend contacting directly with Google for more info.

If anything else comes up, don't hesitate to ask.

[anouk12]

I was not aware that uploading an image as an album cover was the same as consenting to these images being uploaded to google search. I need them taken down as they are personal pictures that i don't want the world to have access to. Any insight would be great 🙂