Mastodon has a new setting that allows your posts to be included in search results. This can be helpful for Mastodon users who want to make their content more discoverable.
However, by default this setting is OFF. Users have to manually turn this feature ON to enable their posts to be searchable.
The setting is a little buried. If you are on mastodon.social, you can manually turn on this feature at: https://mastodon.social/settings/privacy
The five easy steps to enable include your posts in search results
1. Go to the homepage. Click on “Preferences”
2. You are now on your preferences page. In the left column, click on “Public Profile”
3. Now you are on the page to edit your profile. Next, click on “Privacy and reach”
4. Now that we are at the “privacy and reach page”, we can enable the option. Check ON “Include public posts in search results”.
The settings read as such:
Control whether you want to be discovered and followed by new people. Do you want your posts to appear on the Explore screen? Do you want other people to see you in their follow recommendations? Do you want to accept all new followers automatically, or have granular control over each one?
– [ ] Include public posts in search results
(Your public posts may appear in search results on Mastodon. People who have interacted with your posts may be able to search them regardless.
5. Make sure to click save changes!
This example is for the mastodon.social server. Other servers may or may not have enabled this option yet.
If you want to follow me on Mastodon I’m @spudart@mastodon.social.