Discord Discoverable Servers to Appear in Google Search

Discord is about to make the conversations on its largest public servers far easier to find on the open web. On November 16, every Discoverable Server will receive a Server Web Page showing basic details such as a description and summaries of discussions in its public channels.

By mid-December, according to the company, messages posted in those public channels could also appear word-for-word on the Server Web Pages and in search engine results. Neither the summaries nor the individual messages will show the poster's username or avatar. Discord says the goal is to let information from these communities surface in web searches, much like a Reddit thread turns up among results.

Who is affected

The change applies only to Discoverable Servers: communities with at least 1,000 members that anyone can join without an invitation. Private servers, DMs and Group DMs remain private.

How to opt out

Admins of Discoverable Servers can start excluding channels from the web presence now. Individual users can also keep their posts from being indexed through the Data and Privacy section of Discord's User Settings.

In the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia and South Korea, channel messages will be off by default to comply with local regulations, so users there must manually opt in. Teen users are excluded everywhere and cannot enable channel messages until they reach adulthood.

Why it matters

The move comes shortly after Discord faced criticism over how it implemented age verification, so it may prompt fresh questions about how the platform handles privacy. For members of large public servers, the practical takeaway is that posts once visible mainly to fellow members could soon be indexed by search engines unless they or their server admins switch the option off.